Tips for a good LONG RUN

Last Saturday I was supposed to run 8 miles. Yeah, you heard me right - EIGHT. But I didn't. I only did 7 and had to walk a bit of that last mile. 

As I reflected on it, I realize I didn't really set myself up for a good run last week. 

Mistakes I made:
~I didn't eat a good meal the night before. 
~I ran 3 miles the day before. The day before is supposed to be a "no exercise day."
~I didn't get out there early enough and it was 77 degrees last Saturday. It was a hot one. Running in the middle of the day during an unseasonably warm feels like July or August kinda day... dee-you-em-bee dumb
~I didn't have enough to eat before going out to run AND I only had a small amount of water. 
~I ran at my faster, short run pace. The.whole.time.

I pretty much did everything wrong last Saturday. :-( Shame on me!

So this week I was determined to do everything right. 

And I did.

THE DAY BEFORE - First off, I did not exercise - not at all. Second, I had the right kind of dinner Friday night thanks to my sweet hubby... Anthony grilled us some chicken and I also had spaghetti. And a bit of rice too actually. Carbs the night before with some protein is a good prep for the following day's long run.

FUEL UP & GET OUT EARLY - I got my lazy tail up around 6:30 and was out the door by 7ish. I had a nice bowl of oatmeal and about 8 oz of water. (Not too much or you may hafta find a bush & some privacy. Lol)

WATER OR SPORTS DRINK - I stowed a ziploc bag of ice with my Gatorade in it along my route so I could grab it around mile 6 or 7. It totally helped!

PACING - While I was running, I slowed my pace down from my usual 10-10.5 minute mile pace to around 12-12.5. So the first 6 miles I was following the LSD rule (long slow distance). They say on long runs you're not supposed to be concerned with speed AT ALL. You just wanna f-i-n-i-s-h. Doing that allowed me to speed up my last three miles. So I did my 9 miles in 1 hour 50 minutes. 

GOOOOO ME ! 

As the joyful runner blog girl says...
go here for her blog ~

But I'll soon be in the club... I'll be able to say Why yes, I have run a half marathon... 
A 13.1 sticker or magnet will be attached to my car, oh yes.
 
Be jealous, very jealous. Or you can think I'm crazy, whatev...