The New Plan for Nailing My Long Runs

As I mentioned in the last post, there are a number of things that I hope will help me actually "run" my long runs instead of shuffling through them.

1. Technique: When I get tired, I tend to focus on pushing off the ground with my already fatigued quads instead of driving my knees forward using my hip muscles. Turns out that it's much easier to propel yourself by lifting your legs rather than doing the equivalent of single leg squats.

2. Hydration: In contrast to the well placed water fountains on the Lakeshore path in Chicago, there are only a few options for hydration along the Harbor here in Baltimore. Since I sweat like I'm on trial, I decided to invest in a Camelback this past week and it made a huge difference in my energy level at the end of my 14 miler on Sunday. Instead of trying to get by on 40-50oz of fluid, I had about 90 oz of water, plus gels and salt tabs to get me through.

3. Recovery: The most difficult part of Ironman training is following up a long 4+ hour ride on Saturday with a 2+ hour run on Sunday morning. Even if my legs aren't too sore, I often lose motivation about 6 mi into my long runs and this is exactly what happened at Eagleman. I did a little research into supplements that actually show promise as recovery agents and found that branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), and in particular, glutamine, have been shown to improve recovery in a number of studies. I picked up some chewable glutamine tablets at GNC last week and I now try to get at least 5g a day. Hopefully, I'll start to see my recovery strategy pay off in the next couple of weeks.

4. Focus: The last thing that I really need to work on to improve the quality of my long runs is my focus (or as my high school basketball coach would say, mental toughness). Often times when I feel fatigued, I don't feel the kind of burning sensation that I get at the end of a race. Instead, it's like my brain decides to slow down and/or walk even though my legs aren't dead. To combat my waning focus, I now try to accept the onset of mental (aka central) fatigue as a natural feeling and then tell myself that there's much more in the tank. My new running mantra is "if the legs don't hurt, then you can go faster."