1. The sense of accomplishment I have after I finish. This week’s long run was 9 miles, and this coming weekend will be 10. Although I am not in double digits just yet, I still believe that 9 miles is 9 freaking miles. And I feel proud of myself when I finish because I did something good for my body, and for my mind!
Plus, climbing beastly hills don’t hurt that sense of accomplishment feeling either 🙂
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| Elevation chart from this past weekend’s LR |
2. Mental Clarity. I imagine this is true for most runners, but there is nothing quite like zoning out for an hour or two (or four or five in later months!) and focusing on absolutely nothing and everything all at the same time. I usually spend the first 20-30 minutes of my long run solving every single problem in my universe. Often, this include school and work but I usually roll into personal relationships and future plans. By the time I decide to turn on my iPod, I have literally worked out every kink in my world. And it feels fantastic!
3. Catching up on books and podcasts. First of all, let me clarify: no matter how busy I am, how swamped I am with school and work, I am never willing to give up my leisure reading. I always read at least one chapter before bed because otherwise, I literally cannot fall asleep. Having said that, my best friend Angel recently turned me on to the notion of listening to audiobooks while running, and I haven’t looked back!
Holy time passer! I had always been a music runner, but I realized pretty quickly that audiobooks completely engross me and the miles just fly by — and for me, that is saying a lot! Once I started with audiobooks, I easily transitioned into podcasts and have found a few that I seriously love. In fact, I find myself looking forward to my long run every week because I know it’s time to catch up on “my stories.” Does that make me lame? Maybe, but I’m not ashamed!
PS In case you’re curious, my fave podcasts are This American Life by NPR, the Jillian Michaels podcast, and most importantly, a show called Cocktails and Creampuffs. The last one is done by a few gay men and it is seriously hysterical. You know it’s funny when you’re 6 miles into a run, literally laughing OUT LOUD because the podcast is so funny!
PPS The Anne of Green Gables audiobook is only $3.95 on iTunes. I love this book and for dozens of hours of listening, I think that is a great deal!
4. I am finally seeing improvement! Like real, tangible improvement that I can track with numbers! For example, a few weeks back, I ran 5.7 miles in 64 minutes. Seriously, that is even slow for me at an 11:13 pace! However, this last 9 miler on Sunday felt fantastic and my pace was much better!
This run was a couple of miles longer with a massive hill in the middle and I still ran at a much faster pace. I like progress; I’ll take it!
33 Comments
I feel like I could have written this. I love the long runs too and look forward to them. I started listening to audiobooks this past December. You might want to check your local library to see if they have audiobook lending. Mine does and it’s awesome – so easy to transfer onto your iPod and you don’t even have to go to the library – all online. Have fun with your 10 miler this weekend!
That would be awesome! The one downside with audiobooks is that they are usually pricey so borrowing them would be so much better. Thanks!
Eating is my favorite part about training =)
Whether or not you enjoy your long runs, regardless of how “long” they are, all depends on your attitude about them. I think people that truly enjoy running don’t mind a 20 miler, where as the people that are training for a marathon because it’s on their bucket list or who aren’t *really* into running (or something similar) might not enjoy it. You seem to be a thrill seeker, so I don’t think you’ll mind it so much 😉
I just saw this comment and have to agree…running is great, eating is better 🙂
Woo! Look at you go! I am getting back into my running now… I love it and can’t believe I ever slacked off on it (okay, so I never bought proper winter running clothes and it was crazy cold and snowy this year, so I do know why I slacked lol).
I really need to put some audio books on my ipod… I get so bored with music and can never decide what to listen to. Plus, I feel like audio books would be “safer” (i.e. no massive beats going on to totally block out traffic sounds and such). Hmm… I think I’ll go check out some audio books right now! lol
Good mystery audiobooks are my favorite when I’m running…but I am going to try podcasts now…especially that Creampuff one!!
If you have any suggestions on a mystery audiobook, I’d love to hear it!
I love the long runs too! And you’ll LOVE the longer runs. I love run 16-18-20 miles, especially on a gorgeous day when you can just soak up the sunshine and beautiful weather.
Great job on your long run! Right now I just love that I can run without pain!
Nice run Heather! Can’t wait to hear about your double digit runs. I love the long run too because I really feel like I can settle into a good pace and enjoy the run.
Totally with you on the love/hate relationship with long runs – love them after, (sometimes) hate them while in the midst! Getting out the door is the toughest part by far
Yup, long runs 18 and over are love/hate for me. Sometimes I am on top of the world and love it and other times my body is just more burnt out than I realized. Mentally the longer runs are a struggle for me, especially because I run so many of them alone.
I ALWAYS run alone, and I think I prefer it. Because I’m so slow, I stress when running with others because I fear that I am holding them back. Having said that, I think Angel and I will be doing our long runs together once we get into full scale marathon training bc she assures me that I won’t want to do 20 milers solo 🙂 We’ll see how I feel about it then!
That is awesome! I love seeing improvement too. Gives the added motivation to keep getting out the door. I will have to try listening to podcasts/audiobooks. What a great idea. I look forward to following your marathon training. Providing inspiration for me when I decided to give it a go!:) You are gonna kill RnR Denver!
Btw, awesome job at Horsetooth!!
Love a good, solid long run!! Its MY time 🙂 Im going to have to try the American Life podcast…Im needing some new ones to push me through Lincoln in 10 days!! Ahhhh!!!!
This American Life is a good one! It’s not funny but some of their topics are pretty interesting and make you think. They did a recent episode about a journalist who completely faked a story about Apple workers in China, solely for the publicity. They had him come on the show to confess and offer reasoning… kinda intriguing when you’re an hour into your workout 🙂
I’ve never ran that many miles by myself, always have my girls with me, but it sounds nice with the audiobook……Problem is, I always feel guilty for running outside and not taking the dogs with me, and it’s always a struggle to get into a zone when I am fighting them the whole time!
The dog thing used to KILL me! Tally always used to be my running buddy, but I’ve had to transition away from it over the past year because A) She tires me out because she is so bad and I don’t need that added barrier! and B) I think she is getting too old to be running over 4-5 miles. I do try to bike her first though so she gives me less of a guilty look when I walk out the door 🙂
I love long runs! They are a challenge, but a good challenge! I don’t listen to anything while I run, but I do have a lot of thoughts going on in my head.
I love love love long runs! right now I hate even running 1 mile (if I’m honest( mainly b/c it’s hard getting back and I wish my body would just remember it likes running 11miles at a sub 10min pace! but alas…..it doesn’t 🙁 I’m running 1.5miles at a 10min pace….oi!
Anyway I love your 9 miler and those elevations look killer GREAT pace for that run Heather!
I also dig the long runs… I run with friends and catch up on what’s going on in our daily lives. It’s like facebook, but in REAL LIFE. LOL. I have yet to do the podcast or audio book runs… might have to give that a try. Thanks for the share…
You never really lose that long run love. The only negative part is losing such a big chunk of your day. Everything else is gravy 🙂
I used to really love the long run in marathon training….now I sort of dread it. I’ll get there eventually again.
I had no idea you could buy books on iTunes – what a great idea!!! I’m such a dork; I just recently figured out how to find podcasts. Hahah. I’ll have to look into some of those you listed, always looking for something funny. Thanks!
Right now long runs terrifying me. Seriously, scare me. This weekend I have 20 miles in store. Sure, I’m pretty certain my legs/body/lungs/stomach/whatever can handle 20 miles but 3+ hours is a heck of a lot of time for things to go wrong. It scares me. And right now I’m being stupid and putting a ton of pressure on this long run because its apparently going to determine whether or not I’ll survive my marathon…gah, the stress!
But really, I do enjoy long runs…anything under 15 is bearable. And lately with my running group I’ve learned to enjoy speed work. Weird.
Nice job on the long run! Those can be a tough cookie to tail down! Ha, well, when I trained for Portland, long runs were my favorite && i dreaded speed work. Training for Colorado, LOVE LOVE LOVE SPEEDWORK, entirely loathe long runs.
I LOVE the Jillian Michaels podcast and I am buying the Anne of Green Gables book as soon as I get home! I love the long run too, maybe not every single second of each one, but overall, I love the time to zone out and the sense of accomplishment at the end as well.
I agree completely – I love long run!!! And I am a huge fan of audiobooks!! Congrats on your run – that elevation is crazy!
love my long runs, especially if i can get them off the roads
I needed to read this. Lately I’ve been dreading my long runs this week, because of the time commitment, so thank you for reminding me about all of the GOOD things about long runs. 🙂
Great job on your long run! I agree audiobooks and podcasts are a key ingredient for getting through a long run, especially when you run them alone like I do. Makes the time and the miles fly by!
I love running because it’s ‘me’ time! I love that I have time to think about things and problems etc because I’m alone 🙂
I also love listening to audiobooks— although sometimes I get a little too into them and don’t watch where I’m running! whooops!
i’m really thinking about doing a half marathon and am curious about speed work. Which website do you use for training plans and speed work info?