Saturday was the day my whole week revolves around- long run day.
I’m building my mileage back up since the marathon in January in preparation for April’s ultra marathon.
Overall the run was good: I enjoyed it, I completed the full mileage and my hip felt great. Still, the tiredness in my legs and my uneasy stomach showed that I have a lot of opportunities.
Last week I completed a 12 mile long run and today I jumped to 14 miles. Honestly, my legs felt so heavy after 10 miles. I reminded myself that I want to look back on the run and feel good about it so I committed to running to 14 (my original plan) and walking the last mile home.
Overall the run was good: I enjoyed it, I completed the full mileage and my hip felt great. Still, the tiredness in my legs and my uneasy stomach showed that I have a lot of opportunities.
- I left for my run an hour late. I had the day off so it was okay, but I think it set a tone that the run wasn’t priority- which let me take it less seriously when my legs started feeling heavy.
- An hour before my run I had a banana and PB (because I love that) but I know my body would have gotten more energy from toast and PB.
- I didn’t drink enough water the day before. Whoops! Rookie mistake.
- I didn’t take the time to map out an exact route ahead of time which caused me to stop and check Google maps = lost time.
- More mileage! I do best when I have two short runs, one medium run and then a long run. Lately it’s been more like three short runs and one long run.
Thank goodness there’s always next week 
What are your biggest opportunities with running?
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Do you mean “opportunity for improvement”? Because otherwise I’m not following the gist of this post.
For me, running is a constant learning process. That’s what makes it interesting!
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I do mean opportunity for improvement! Haha I could see that being totally misleading!
I too had a tough long run on Saturday. Really pushed myself. I learned that I overdid it some as my pace was faster than usual, and also that I don’t think I fueled well enough before and during the run. Going to work on that for my 10-miler this coming Saturday.
The opportunities for me are to get out there and learn from each run. Some runs are great and you know that you did everything right. While others are the opposite. Then, there are runs that you just can’t control things such as the weather. Sure, you can dress properly, but for me, I know I won’t do well in cold, windy weather so I try to avoid those runs and cycling then when possible. However, I know I need to also learn how to push through stuff like that.
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I’m a little confused by this post. But I was hoping to offer a suggestion, if you run with a GPS watch. As I live in Canada, my running route is pretty much along whatever path or sidewalk is most clear or least icy. So I’ve marked my end point (my house) on my watch, and then I just go whichever way I feel like. If I get lost, I can always look at my watch to point me in the right direction, and then I don’t need a map, as my mileage is also tracked by the watch.
I know I used to mark out routes and then forget them during my run. Ha, using a watch is a lot less hassle and a lot more freeing
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I think people are confused by the lulu meaning of “opportunities”
Andrea @ Run, Eat, Date, Sleep recently posted..Week 4 of Weight Watchers
14 miles is a huge accomplishment Ashley, wow! I know that I’ve been trying to reach that point for a couple years without success yet.
So impressed with the journey you’ve made in your recovery Ashley. Your blog is always such an inspiration and reminds me that I can stay the course when things in life get hard.
What a beautiful image, I love it so much! It’s so refreshing…
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