16 miles: Long run rituals

Today, Whitney and I tacked 16 miles. 16!! Go me.

There is alot that goes into prepping for a long run and recovering from one. This post is about my prep for our long Saturday morning runs and what I do on Saturday afternoon to be able to continue to use my legs for the rest of the weekend. :)

It all starts on Friday night. Phil and I usually have pretty chill Friday evenings since we both wake up and either run or ride on Saturday morning. Its nice having a boyfriend who understands going to bed at 10pm on Friday evenings!

On Friday night I lay out all the crap supplies I need for a long run. Obviously I don't lay it out like the picture below but I made it pretty for picture purposes.

In the picture above I have:

• base layer long sleeve shirt
• Nike running jacket
• winter running tights
• Nike sports bra
• ear band
• Mizuno sneakers (which I can no longer do long runs in because the arches are too aggressive and I have a hell of a blister right now as I am typing this)
• running socks
• gloves
• Garmin 305 watch with heart rate monitor
• an IT band strap for each leg
• fuel belt with 4 water bottles
• 2 packages of Chocolate Outrage Gu

That's alot of crap  needed supplies!

By the time I lay everything out, Brizzy is ready for bed. As am I.

On Saturday morning, I wake up about an hour before the run to give myself time to eat, walk the little fur monster, stretch my IT bands, and put on alllll the stuff pictured above.

Breakfast consists of a small sweet potato that I microwave until soft with a little bit of salt, a big glass of water and Ibuprofen. This morning I also had some air borne because I woke up with a sore throat. Grrr.

After breakfast I walk the pooch. This is also when I note the weather outside and adjust my clothes for the run if I need to.

Before I put on all my gear, I spend some time using the foam roller to stretch my IT bands. I also do other stretches for them as well. If I do both the roller and stretches before my long runs, my IT bands don't flair up as much.

Briz thinks when I lay on the floor it means play time. So here is a funny video of me trying to stretch and her wanting to play/ hitting me in the face with her toy.

Then, I put on all the gear. I was curious to see how much it weighed me down, so I weighed myself before getting dressed and after. Before I put on all the gear I weighed in at 120lbs flat. Once the I put on the gear, I weighed in at 125 lbs. 5 pounds of gear and water!!!!



After all that, I am finally ready to run. Whit and I ran from my apartment, to the zoo and back for a total of 16 miles in 2 hours and 33 minutes. So an average pace of 9:33. Not too shabby for 16 miles!

10 fingers + 6 fingers = 16 miles!

yay 16 miles!!!

Once home, the first thing I do is change out of my sweaty clothes. Then I stretch and roll out my IT bands again. Then I grab the ice bags from the freezer and sit my ass on the couch and ice my knees and feet.

While I am icing, Phil and our fur baby are spending quality time together.

I can never decide who I think is cuter!

Just out of curiosity, I weighed in after the run to see how much water weight I lost during the run. I took in 4 full fuel belt bottles of water, 2 Gus and half a pack of Gu chomps and I STILL weighed in a pound lighter than this morning. Its pretty cool to see how much water goes in and comes out as sweat!

Now, I am still icing while Phil went out to get us bagels! Yummm! Ill take a few more Ibuprofen with lunch, followed by a shower and a nap. And then a party!!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!!