benefits of the long run

since most people didn't show up for practice saturday, we're having a clinic about long runs next week.

i am SO glad i am not doing the hawaii marathon - it's dec 10th, and so these poor people only have a few weeks of training before they have to taper off - basically the last few weekends before your marathon you don't run very much so that your body can heal. it seems completely counter-intuitive, but they know what they're doing.

saturday runs are now going to be at least 14 miles each weekend, working our way up to 20. because our marathon is so late, i figure i'll get a few 20's in. ramon said you can do 20 once you've done 14, but it's better to work up to 20.

here's some ramon-speak about what the long-runs are doing for us. i'm still slightly in awe that running isn't just putting on some shoes and getting out there. :)

"Let's be smart on our longruns. Let's talk longrun, and let's go over what's left/ahead on training. Saturday's workouts are key days now, we need to get those longruns in, longruns are not meant to make you run faster, longruns are more for you mind than your legs.

Some of the benefits of longruns:
•spent time on your feet, your feet need to get used to hit the ground those many, many, many times, so your joins, muscles etc..
•spent time moving, your Brain, needs to get used to `stay active' thru the whole run, it's your brain the one that will dictate if you keep moving or not. You probably heard before that marathon running it's very mental. Right?
•Teaching the body to use fat as energy, your body it's a great machine and it'll do anything necessary to safe energy, our main source of energy are the carbs, but Your body will want to use fat as source of energy.
•Work on that mental confidence, running longer that you ever had, reach that goal mileage (for most of us 20 miles/12 for half marathoners) will put you on that set of mind :`if I can do 12/20, when 4 months ago couldn't even run 4 miles, I can do anything'
•find out what source of energy works better for you, we know nutrition it's important, we are all different runners with different taste and likings with different bodies, we need to find out what works, what our body likes, what works for somebody else, doesn't necessarily needs to work for us.
•Teach the body to stay hydrate as you run, same applies to hydrating, yes, there're the basic rules (6 oz every 20 minutes) but some people loose more fluids than others (thru sweat) those will need to replenish more.
•Our training schedule reaches it's peak at '20 miles' (for most) , everybody should try to complete that 20 mile run/12 for half, but no necessarily. Remember what I've been telling you, `at one point running it's more for you mind than body', the 20 it's a good number it's long enough because it meets all the above benefits."

it's a lot to think about, but i'm feeling pretty good.