Sunday, September 25, 2011
Surviving Long Runs...
Jeff and I will be running the Philadelphia Marathon in less than 2 months! I can't believe how close it is...we have been training for so long and are so ready for this race to be here. Yesterday we ran our longest run yet-14 miles. I wish we could tell you all that we enjoyed running, but we honestly can't say that we do...especially runs that are so freaking long. We are not runners. I mean, come on, I am 4 foot 11 inches! My legs do not love to run. There are, however, a few things we do to make the runs a little more enjoyable....
1. Drink a lot of water the night before. Since we wake up and are out of the door by 7:00 am, we really don't want to drink prior to the run. So we don't cramp up on the run, we always drink a few full glasses of water the night before (and unfortunately end up waking to to pee in the middle of the night!).
2. Get a good night's sleep. The last thing you want is to be tired on a long run.
3. Have a pit stop half way through the run. The family I nanny for lives about 7 mi
les from us, so we left a bottle of water and 4 small packs of gummy bears there to drink/eat half way. Although it is always hard to get our legs moving again for the last 7 miles, it is so helpful to get some calories and sugar into our bodies! We also stopped again around mile 11 for a bathroom break and some water at Panera. It is helpful to find places along your run to stop and re-hydrate.
4. Run with a partner. Jeff and I encourage each other the entire run. It is usually me (Cait) that wants to stop and complain, but Jeff always convinces me to keep running! Randomly throughout the run you will always hear us saying to one another, "Great job" or "We got this." The little encouragement helps so much.
5. Don't plan anything for the rest of the day. After our run yesterday we had a portrait shoot for our photography business-bad idea. We were completely exhausted and both ended our day with headaches :/ Take the day to relax! And remember to re-fuel with a meal after the run. Yesterday we stopped at a bagel shop and had some sandwiches on bagels-so good!
So, there you have it. Some things we do to help us through our runs. I'm pretty sure every run I turn to Jeff and say "I can't go anymore. There is no way I can run a full marathon." But we are so close! We have 3 more long runs left in our training program-16 miles, 18 miles, 20 miles.
I felt encouraged after yesterday's run, though. We ran our quickest average pace yet (about 9:45/10 minute miles) and I felt good the entire run. Some days runs go well and other days they don't.
We have already run more than a half marathon, so I know we can do it! Is anyone else training for a half or full marathon? If so, how is it going?
