Transcription
In this video, I'm going to teach you how to run a long run the right way using all the experience I have as an XD1 athlete, now elite marathoner. I'm going to break it down step by step so you know exactly what you need to do to run your long runs correctly and get the most benefit out of them.
>> Wait, I wasn't filming. >> It's red. I can see you're filming. You, you, you and Jacob are always trying to get me with that, but it doesn't, it's not going to work. Let's get right into it.
>> Okay, so they've got like a nylon plate in here. Depends highly on what you are training. Step one is your run selection. Where are you going to meet to do your run and how far are you going to go? Now, this question depends highly on what you are training for. Long runs are typically done by people training from as short as 800m all the way up to marathon and ultra runs. If you are training for the shorter distances, the long run is frankly not as important as it is if you are training for the longer distances such as 10k, half marathon or marathon. But I would still say it is important to include a long run of some kind in your training. You get that extra long stimulus, elevated heart rate for a long time and a little bit of practice of getting fatigued legs. I like to think of the long run as an additional training session on top of whatever hard workout sessions you're doing during the week. And it's important that you treat the long run seriously like you would the other ones. Not necessarily that you're going to run all out, but that you take it seriously and you treat it accordingly.
One general rule of thumb that I heard a lot was basing your long run distance to be about 20 to 25% of your weekly mileage. I think that's an okay place to start, especially if you are training for track races and things like that. But in general, I would recommend that you actually just base your long run based on how long you think you need to get the stimulus that you need, which a common target to look for if you're training for the track is 75 to 90 minutes, however far that gets you. And in my opinion, you should structure the long runs such that some are more intense and heavier than others. You can't go week in and week out running every long run at max distance and max intensity. It just doesn't make a lot of sense. I do think that you should run a long run every single week or every 10-day cycle. They are important, but I would structure it such that you have a peak long run week and you don't do that again for at least 2 weeks, maybe 3 weeks as you kind of alternate between medium long runs and long runs.
Step two is to decide your running location. Ideally, you're going to pick a place that is as uninterrupted as possible. Someplace where you don't have to stop at a lot of stop lights or lots of um. No, that's pretty much it. Stop lights. Yeah. Or like road crossings. I don't know where I was going with that. You might consider a place where you can just run loops so that you can get your fueling correctly. I'll talk about more of that later, but just find a place where you can very comfortably get as uninterrupted as possible. One other thing to consider is maybe finding a place that has terrain that is going to be applicable to whatever you're training for. So, if you're training on a hilly course, find a hilly loop. That can be useful. Um, if you're feeling really fatigued one week, you might want to find a flat area. Just be smart about where you choose to do your long run.
Step three to running a long run the right way is fueling. Now, if you are training for shorter distances on the track, don't skip past this part of this video. Okay, fueling is still very important here for the long run. Disclaimer, if your long run is at 60 minutes or less, you can probably ignore this. You probably don't need to worry about fueling all that much, but I would say especially if your long run is pushing 90 minutes or longer, you should be fueling during your long run. Yes, you heard that right. I, I don't know if you've been, if you're on the track, you're running short distances. This is a mistake that I made my entire high school and college career that I wish I had learned at an earlier age, which is you need to fuel your body if you're going to be running for at least 90 minutes. What does that mean? Let me just give you a quick breakdown. Okay, your body can hold up to 1,700 to 2,000 calories of uh glycogen, which is your carbohydrates, which is your main energy source when you are running.
Now, during a long run, you'll be running slower than you will be running in a race, which means that you're using less carbs per mile. However, you still run the risk of depleting your energy stores to be really low, which can delay your recovery. It can make you feel lethargic and just terrible the rest of the day, and you may not get the benefits out of the long run that you actually intend to have. So, here's my recommendations for fueling. You want to eat something before you go running for sure. I like to eat like a bagel and hydrate with some water before the run starts, but then you also should try to fuel something during the run. Best options are gels and carbohydrate drink mixes, something to get yourself some extra carbs and energy during the long run. For gels, you can tinker with all sorts of gels. There's lots to play with. Currently, right now, I use a brand called Ucan. It is a starch-based gel that is really easy on the stomach. That tastes pretty good to me. This. I'm not sponsored by them or anything. It's just my actual choice of gel currently, but you can tinker with all sorts of um different gel options. Drop in the comments down below if you have your own favorite gels to help other people out. You know, what gels do you use to help fuel your running?
For drink mixes, for the longest time, I have used Maurten. That is the drink mix choice of most of the professional runners out there. I had been using that for a long time, though it is pretty expensive, so I actually have veered away from using them to a more affordable option. Currently, I'm using a brand called Formula 369. It's actually local here in Utah. They're based in Springville. And it has just all the basics that you need. Just uh, you know, the standard carbs, some sodium, some caffeine. Again, I'm not sponsored by them at all. That is just simply my current choice of drink mix. If you can find a way to fuel yourself during your run with this, that is the best option to make sure that you can keep running continuously, but also fuel yourself to feel good and to recover well um after the long run. Pretty much only drink caffeine if I'm going to be like going on long runs or racing a marathon. So, you don't want to catch me on caffeine. What's a good amount of caffeine? >> That's a good question. I think for a long run like somewhere between like 100 and 200 milligrams throughout, you know, the whole thing total.
I mentioned that you might want to select a looped course for your long run. I do this actually fairly frequently so that you can set up a table or maybe there's a barrier or even just on top of your car, you can set up bottles so you can come back around and run the loop multiple times to get your fueling in. I promise it makes a world of difference if you're not fueling your long runs. Start doing it now. You will learn to love the long runs cuz of how much better you feel than you probably have in the past.
>> You know what's really funny? >> We started over there. >> Oh, I'm like walking this. >> You were literally walking to the left the whole time. >> I'm going to walk it back. >> You're going to see it in the video.
>> All right. Step four. Shoe choice. Shoe choice is always important for whatever run you are going to do. For the long run, I like to select something that is extra tall in stack. Mostly because you're pounding the legs for a lot longer. So, having a little extra cushion I think is smart. Um, I also like to pick something that is relatively fast because I like to run long runs at a more moderate pace, a little bit quicker than maybe an easy run. Really, there's not a lot of direction on exactly what a long run shoe can look like. You can wear your normal trainers if you would like. You can also wear super shoes if you would like. I do think it's important to train in the shoe that you're going to race in. So, especially if you're training for those longer distances, it can be good to throw on super shoes every once in a while just so that your legs are getting used to, you know, running fatigued on those shoes. But again, my personal choice is tall stack, something that's maybe plated. So, I usually pick kind of an in-between shoe that is a bit hybrid between race shoe and trainer. But that's my decision. The only thing is my feet are on fire. That took forever. Sorry.
Um, in addition to picking the right shoes, um, something other people don't think of is picking a good pair of socks because you're pounding for so much longer, you want to make sure that your feet are comfortable, you're not going to get extra blisters, that you're just not noticing any discomfort with your feet during the long run. If you're looking for a good pair of socks to get that'll be great for your long runs, I would like to suggest Bombas, who happen to also be the sponsor of this video. I can honestly say regardless of them sponsoring this video, I would genuinely recommend them as my absolute favorite socks I have ever worn. If you're unfamiliar with Bombas, they create some of the most premium socks on the market. They even just released a new line, an athletic line of socks, which is great for runners. Whenever you're trying to pick a pair of socks that you're wearing, you're just looking for something that you're not going to notice while you're running. It's not going to have any weird hot spots, something is thermal regulating. And again, Bombas has mastered this perfectly. I also love Bombas because Bombas supports a good cause. For every single piece of clothing that you purchase, Bombas will donate a different piece of clothing to someone else who is in need. And up to this date, they've already donated over 150 million pieces of clothing to those in need. So, what are you waiting for? If you want to get in on this, you can get 20% off your first order with Bombas using this QR code right here on the screen or by clicking down in the link in the description to get your next pair of Bombas socks. Thank you so much to Bombas for sponsoring this video.
Step five is to execute the long run. Okay, we've done all the prep work. We've already mapped out where we're going to go. We have our shoes picked out. We know how we're going to fuel ourselves. Now, how are we going to execute the long run? I like to think of the long run's purpose as one, giving yourself a lot of extra time to have an elevated heart rate while running. And two, it's practice fatiguing the legs and learning how to run well when you're fatigued, which is why I believe in running long run at a moderate pace. What is moderate pace? Well, it's somewhere between your race threshold zone where you're running fast and faster than your recovery pace. So, for me, you know, my threshold is around 5 flat. That's kind of close to where I'm going to be racing marathon effort. And my easy runs are really close to 7 minutes to 7:30. So, my long runs tend to be in the 5:40 to 6:20 per mile range, a moderate effort. Now, I know there's lots of debate on this. Some people believe you should just run recovery pace. I think the most benefits you're going to get are running at moderate pace, especially if you're training for those longer distances. Perhaps if you're training for shorter distances, the pace doesn't really matter so much. It just matters how much time you spend on your feet. But that's how I would approach this.
>> You, you don't have to get a half hour footage, by the way.
Now, if you are training for half marathon or marathon, occasionally your coach may like to throw in a workout session within your long run. And I think this is a great way to mix in extra threshold effort and to get really good practice running fast on tired legs. So this is absolutely a good idea to throw in your training sometimes. Talk with your coach about it to see if it's right for you. A common thing to add in if you are curious about what this looks like is to just throw in a 3 or 4 mile threshold tempo towards the end of your long run or maybe a long marathon effort, six to eight miles at marathon pace towards the end of the long run. Or even maybe a fartlek where you're alternating miles, threshold miles and moderate miles or, you know, 2k fast one. You know, there's lots of ways you can do this, but just make sure you're also practicing your fueling while you're practicing um these faster running strategies. Wow, that was a really weird way of saying that. I'm going to move on to the next step. And step number six, that's five. Six, now that we've executed the long run, is recovery. It is so vital that you recover from a long run correctly. Okay? You have just pounded your body into the ground for an extended period of time. It takes a while to recover. You're not going to get the benefits that you want unless you make the necessary efforts to recover. That means make sure you are getting plenty of food in your body as soon as you can. Speaking for myself, my appetite is shot after a long run. I don't know how to explain it. You'd think you'd be hungry and I'm just not. You need to force food into your body. Your body needs that nutrition. Get some protein, get some more carbs. You need to load up so that your body is ready to recover and do your best to get a really good night's rest that night to absorb all that training.
Okay, so I actually did not get audio on this final clip where I was recapping the long run that I demonstrated in this video. So, I'll just tell you about it. But after the first mile is when I recorded all of those instructions. So after that, I had a fully continuous 20-miler at a really solid, steady, kind of fast or moderate effort. But overall, this is a pretty solid long run. And now, assuming you have done all this, congratulations. You know how to run long runs the right way. Thank you so much for watching. Subscribe to the channel if you haven't already, and I will see you in the next video.