How To Plan A Successful Long Run: The Time I Ran 20 Miles
By admin
Hello there! How’s life?
So let’s just get straight to the point today…
If you follow me on Instagram (if you’re not, why?) you may have seen that I ran 20 miles this past weekend.
This was by far a new distance record for me. In fact, it beat my previous record by 5 miles.
Was it smart?
No! Increasing milage should be done slowly and steadily… by just 1-2 miles. But do as I say, not as I do.
Why did I do this crazy run?
Because I am crazy.
Just kidding, because my friend is training for Savannah Rock-N-Roll Marathon and I’ve been helping her with her training over the past few months.
From the get go, I told her I would complete her 20-miler by her side to help map a route, pace, motivate and properly fuel.
So that’s what I did. Saturday morning, we met up before the sun was up and headed out for our longest run ever.
Exactly 4 hours later we finished our run with celebratory high fives and smiles on our faces. How did we do it?
Since we’re in the thick of race season, I thought I would share my tips for planning a successful long run… whether you’re running 20 miles or 5 miles (“long run” is different for everyone), these can hopefully help!
How To Plan A Successful {20 Mile} Long Run
Running 1-2 miles is easy, it’s fast and the views really aren’t that important.
But running a long run is different.
The worst thing you can do is just go and wing it. It will drive you crazy, I know because I’ve made this mistake. Knowing your route and when you’re going to turn around helps so much! You can literally picture the turn around spot which helps tremendously!
Not to mention, you want a route that isn’t boring. Running for hours isn’t all that exciting and if you’re in a not so scenic part of town, you might find yourself wanting to turn around early.
And finally, you want to route that is safe. Safety is the #1 rule of running! Yes?
I plan all my routes using MapMyRun. For this 20 miler, we did an out and back (10 miles out, turn around and run 10 back) that started on Sullivans Island and down Isle of Palms before turning back.
For this distance, I knew we would run out of water.
Ashton and I shared 1 water bottle (which I carried in my Camelback) which was only 500 ml.
I planned the run to go by buildings that offered water: a gym, a tennis court, and a church.
As we came upon a water station, we would take a water break, drink up the water we had, and refill.
It was perfect and also helped remind us to stop to take in water since we’re both big sweaters.
Choose your best running attire all together, but sports bra for sure. Wear the bra that keeps you snug and comfortable. If you need a new one, get it.
That’s what I did on Friday. This is the UA Eclipse Bra, I love it!
No one wants blisters or chaffing on their nipples. And no woman wants sore boobs from bouncing around. One of us may have ended up with nipple blisters (it wasn’t me).
And yes, there is a difference between a cheap sports bra and a not so cheap sports bra. I’m having some boob issues currently, so we will be talking more about this next week!
Oh and Vaseline can help with chaffing!
If you’re a runner already, then you know this: Don’t try anything new.
Wake up and eat the same boring breakfast you eat before every run. The last thing you want to happen is to find yourself in a very uncomfortable position 10 miles from your car.
Also make sure to give your body enough time to digest a little. I eat my breakfast while sipping a cup of coffee to try and get things moving before I hit the road. But… if things don’t happen, I make sure to have a bathroom spot planned out 1 mile into my run (goes back to route planning).
People forget until that last minute to grab fuel for long runs. Don’t.
Load up on your favorite GUs, Blocks, Gummy Bears, or whatever else you like.
I knew we wouldn’t need it all, but better safe than sorry since neither of us had run this distance and I wanted to make sure neither of us bonked out from low sugar.
Once we got started, I set a timer for 50 minutes on my phone. I knew that in this time we would cover 5-6 miles which was the perfect duration for fueling. The phone would buzz and we would suck down our Gu before carrying on.
Sometimes I can get into the zone and forget to fuel, or think that I’m fine so I skip it. Knowing that this was a REAL long run, I wanted to play it safe. It also helped to break the run up! After 2 breaks we were at our turn around spot. After our 3rd, we knew we were on the home stretch!
If you’re running with a friend, decide before if you’re going to wear earphones. It can be uncomfortable if one of you has them in and the other is going earbud-less.
Ashton and I always wear earphones when we run together, and we really don’t chat that much during runs. But I have another friend, Jeanette… we have it worked out so we both wear earbuds but only in 1 ear. So we can chat as we run.
If you go with earbuds, plan out the day before what you’re going to listen to. I started off with music, until I realized it wasn’t helping at all, so I switched over to a new episode of Girl On Guy (I love Aisha Tyler). I was so happy I had it downloaded!
If you’re running with a partner, make sure that you are around the same pace. It is very hard to run with someone that is much slower (holy leg burn) and of course it’s hard to run with someone that is much faster. Save your fast friend for tempo days!
Ashton is just slightly slower than me, but I told her from the get go that this run was all about her, and I would pace her at whatever she wanted. So we set out at a 9-10 minute/mile pace.
Worked out perfectly! I think this contributed to feeling great! Nice and steady.
Rest, stretch and recover!
Since we ran at the beach, we took about 15 minutes to walk down to the water and wade in up to our knees. It was as close to an ice bath as we could get and it was awesome! The views didn’t hurt either.
Then it was time to head home, where I immediately drank more water, stretched with the SuperNova and emptied our fridge.
Don’t rush through those steps as they can help with recovery.
Am I planning on a marathon?
All of my friends have now asked if I am going to do a marathon. Some have suggested I jump in with Ashton for Savannah. And I won’t lie, after feeling really strong on this run, the thought crossed my mind.
But no, I am not doing a marathon. I’ve said it several times that I am going to do a marathon one day, and probably only one. I want it to be a dream race. That’s not Savannah. I have my eyes on one in California, one day.
For now, next week’s half is on my mind!