For the last few months I've been running with my local
Fleet Feet Runners on Sunday morning.
It's been great - I've met a great bunch of runners and really enjoy our conversations. The only problem is my hamstring. The group goes a bit faster than my hamstring wants me to run. Plus, except for a few others, I'm always running 2-4 miles more, since I'm constantly training for another half marathon. So after doing 8:10-20 minute mile pace for my long slow runs for the last three months of Sundays, I decided to run by myself today and take it really slow.
I was like the Commodores back in 1978!
(Really dating myself here, LOL)
Gotta love Lionel Richie's fro'!
My legs felt so free!
And I felt like I was burning fat - not muscle!
In fact, purposefully, I only had a banana with 1 Tbsp of peanut butter, 1 cup of coffee with a splash of 2% milk, 2 shots of beet juice, and 16 oz of water before I left. I didn't bring any nutrition with me and only stopped at mile 5 and 10 to rehydrate at a water fountain in the local park. I thought if I kept it slow and moving, I'd spare muscle and burn fat. I must have some fat to spare because I didn't feel dizzy, or like I had brain fog, or like I was glucose deprived. It was really just a great, easy, slow run.
Even now, I don't feel wiped out.
I'm not tired, I don't feel dehydrated, and best of all, I don't feel like I need 800 calories of protein to build back muscles. And my hamstring, yeah its a little tight, a little sore, but I'm getting up and down from this desk chair just fine - not like I'm crippled.
This is good because I signed up for
the Chicago Half Marathon on July 19th,
and I want to kick some butt!
How are your long runs going?
Are you making them slow enough?
Ever tried a fat burning training run?
Train Smart Today!
