Today was the start of the ramping up of the training miles for the Shamrock'n Half Marathon. I ran 9 miles today. I was a bit scared of this run. I have historically had stomach cramping issues after about 4 miles though none so far this year. Through trial and error I have for the most part figured it out, finally!!!
Here is what I have learned about long runs:
- If you are meeting at 8am, get up at 6am
- Don't drink too much alcohol the night before
- Don't eat fatty foods like lasagna and drink wine with it
- Don't eat ice cream or any other dairy products before the run
- Drink lots of water the day before, did I say drinks lots of water?
- Don't eat anything that is whole grain or has lots of fiber
- Put some calories in you before you run it gives you fuel
- Make those calories a meal replacement drink like Boost if you can't stomach solid food
- Take 2 Immodium an hour before you run (for me, this is the most important thing I can do)
- Go with a good attitude
- Make every run a good run
- Stay mentally tough
Long distance running really is about being mentally tough. You can get your body into shape to log those miles in but sometimes the mind is the harder thing to get into shape. When I first began running, my mind would tell me that I was running too fast or I was out of breath so walk or there is a pain in your shoulder so stop. You really have to learn to quiet your mind. You have to tell yourself you can do this. You can run 10 miles even though you have never ran that far before. You can run up that hill even though it will hurt and you will be sucking wind when you get to the top. Today I heard something on a running podcast that really spoke to me. I guess this is a well known running adage but one I had never heard before. "Pain is just the fear leaving your body." I was having some shoulder pain at the time so I kept repeating that over and over and pretty soon I forgot about the pain.
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