In it For the Long Run: Part I

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Wednesday! This past week has been exciting! I moved and then my boyfriend moved in with me. Yay! We have been dating for five years and have been in a long distance relationship for about four of those years. I went to law school in Oregon and then clerked for a judge while he stayed in the Seattle area. There has been a lot of shuffling around and getting settled, but our new place is starting to feel like home! 

Anyways, back to running. In the interest of keeping my posts short(ish), this post is the first of a two-part series about long training runs. This post will be about how I prepare and recover. The next post will be about how I tackle a long run (gear, hydration, fueling, etc.). I would like to preface both posts by noting that I am not a running coach, personal trainer, or nutritionist. Everything I discuss is what I have read in magazines, like Runner's World or Women's Running, and/or learned through trial and error. It is what works for me. 

Many of you may know this, but for those that are new to running and training for races, most training plans for a half or full marathon will have one day a week where you run a longer distance than your other weekly training runs. I think that these long runs are critical to training and preparing yourself for a race.  It is important to adequately prepare your body for the distance you plan to run on race day so that you can enjoy your race and not injure yourself! Most importantly, a long run acts as an audition for race day. Your long run provides an opportunity for you test out your gear, as well as your hydration and fueling plan before race day. A race is not the time to discover that a zipper on a new pair running tights chafes your ankle, or that a new sports bra, which is awesome and comfortable for a 3 mile run, is actually terrible and painful after 7 miles. I have learned both of these lessons during this training cycle, and I am so glad that I did not discover these things on race day! Also, a long training run, rather than race day, is a good time to learn that fried food and beer might not be the best choice for dinner the night before a race. I learned this lesson the hard way- not pretty.

Preparation 

My essentials the day before a long run.

The Day Before 

For me, preparation for a long run begins the day before. Really, I should preparing everyday, but the day before a long run, I focus on my hydration and nutrition even more than normal. I also try to take it as easy as I can. As for hydration, I try to drink between 60-100 ounces of water the day before a long run. I should be drinking about 60 ounces of water a day anyways, but this doesn't always happen. Click here to learn more about how much water you should be drinking per day, and why hydration is key! 

When I was training for my half marathons, I actually did not notice that my water consumption the day before a long run made a big difference. However, since I began training for a marathon, I have noticed that whether I hydrated properly the day before has made a huge difference in my performance. The day before my recent 20 mile long run, I carried a 20 ounce tumbler with me wherever I went. I refilled it at least 4 times throughout the day. I felt great during my run the next day. It was so much better than during my 18 mile run the week before (read more about it in my training update post). 

As for nutrition, I focus on eating adequate carbohydrates and protein. I do not have a specific target as far as grams of carbs or protein. Maybe I should, but right now I try to eat when I feel hungry, eat carbs and protein at each meal, eat plenty of fruits and veggies, and avoid processed foods. Pretty simple. I should follow these principles every single day! 

I always eat pasta and veggies for dinner the night before a long run or a race. I usually make whole wheat or spelt pasta with marina sauce and veggie meatballs. On the side, I will have steamed broccoli, green beans, or sautéed zucchini and bell peppers. To give my body adequate time to digest, I try to eat this meal by 6:30-7 p.m.

Morning Of 

I like to get my long run done right away. My typical routine after I wake up is to walk and feed Baker (my pup), make coffee and breakfast, get ready (wash face, put on spf, brush teeth, etc.), complete my pre-run stretches and warmup exercises, prepare my fuel belt (more on this in Part II), and then head out the door, only after giving Baker a hug. 

Some people prefer not to eat before a run, but I am always starving when I wakeup so I have to eat something. My go to breakfast before a long run is oatmeal with raisins, honey, and 1/2 tablespoon hemp seeds or peanut butter. I try to eat it about 1 hour before I leave the house. I also drink a cup of coffee and about 6-8 ounces of water. It took me a while to discover the perfect breakfast, as well as the best time to eat. So, stick with what works for your system. 

Recover 

Just like preparation, recovering from a long run also takes some trial and error. I like to give myself at least two hours to recover from my long run before moving on to anything else in my day.  Side note, when I say "recover" I am referring to what I do to feel like a functioning human again. Because I give myself so much time to recover it is best for me to complete my long run on a day when I do not have a lot of other obligations.

When I was training for my first half marathon, I did not feel hungry after my long runs. I would only eat a little something. Maybe a bowl of cereal or a piece of toast. By the afternoon, I would be so tired and slightly nauseas. When I told my running buddy at the time about this she said, "You need to force yourself to eat a bigger meal after your run. You are burning a lot of calories." I took her advice and after my next long run ate a whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and a bowl of hearty soup. She was right! I felt so much better for the rest of the day. 

Since this time, I have worked out a post long run refueling routine that seems to work pretty well. First, I make a Nuun. While the Nuun is doing its thing, I drink a glass of water, stretch, and eat a little snack. My little snack is whatever my stomach can handle. Sometimes it is a bar like a Picky Bar or a Kind Bar. After my 20 mile long run last week, I had two graham crackers and half of a Honey Stinger protein bar. But, after my 18 mile run, I had some apple sauce and some gold fish crackers. This little snack can get pretty random haha. After I have eaten my snack, I shower. Showers after long runs are THE BEST! I get the chills really quickly after a long run. To avoid a complete freeze, I like to take a warm shower within 10-15 minutes of getting home. This does not leave a lot of time to stretch. To avoid stiffness, I try to walk and stretch throughout the day. 

After I shower, I will make a more substantial meal. My meal includes a lot of carbohydrates as well as protein to ensure that my muscles have what they need to adequately recover. I have two favorite meals. The first is Kodiak Protein Pancakes. I usually top my pancakes with some berries, bananas, chocolate chips, peanut butter and/or organic maple syrup. I am usually not too hungry at this point, but these are delicious and easy on my stomach. The second, is two eggs scrambled and a whole wheat bagel with Nuttzo power fuel. I also like to make what I call the "long run cocktail." It is tart cherry juice with ginger ale or sparkling water. This really settles my stomach and the antioxidants in tart cherry juice are great for muscle recovery. Read more about the power of tart cherries here. 

After I eat, I usually sink into my couch for at least an hour and watch some mindless TV. This allows my mind to recover. I know that sounds weird, but long runs take a lot of mental energy and I always feel like my brain also needs a break from telling my body to keep going. Or, maybe this what I tell myself to justify binge watching Pretty Little Liars. Either way, after at least an hour of what the kids call "Netflix and chill" I am ready to tackle normal human activities. 

The next day I usually do Yoga Fix from the 21 Day Fix and foam roll for as long as I can tolerate (hurts so good). 

I am still tweaking my routine and learning what works best. I record my runs and how I felt before and after them in a journal. My favorite journal is the Believe Training Journal.

This week I have a 13 mile long run and next week it's 22 miles. EEK! Here goes nothing! 

Thanks for stopping by! 
--Alyssa 
@runninginteralia