The only thing that gets me on, and keeps me on a dreadmill for more than 5 miles is goals, and food. Yes, you read right, FOOD. Like Remy from Ratatouille says "If you are what you eat, then I only want to eat the good stuff." And I want to eat a lot of it. I love food. Good food. Homemade food. Buttery food. High calorie, un-button your pants, spicy, hot, filling, sweet, rich, food.
My long run that finished last week, was 5 miles. Only 5 miles, but those are the base building miles I crave. I crave them like a double handful of Nacho Cheese Doritos. Ok, I know, those are not homemade, but damn it, somebody made them!
Saturdays long run was planned for the dread. Which is hard, because when you run on the dread you feel like you have run so much farther than you really have. You feel like EVERY mind numbing step you take is like 10 outdoor steps. But, what keeps me going past 0.24 distance, (when I swear the last time I looked it said 3.24) is FOOD.
You see, when you run, long runs in particular, you run them nice and slow. 1 to 1.5 minutes slower than your marathon pace. And if you are not particularly a quick runner like myself, your marathon pace is (well hopefully) 10:00 minute per mile. Which puts your long run pace at 11 to 12 mpm. That is slow.....for everyone. Yes, I said it. EVERYONE. When I trained for my past races, I felt like I was above the long run pace. To good for it. I wanted to run a 10-10:30 all the time, I HATED looking slow, or for that matter being slow. Even if it meant that come race day, I am going to blow it because you need to have those long, slow, runs under your belt to know how to run on tired legs.
I have since my last race learned something FANTASTIC about long runs. When you are running your long run, in the slow, calculated time, you are running in heart rate zone 2.....which means for those who don't know....THE FAT BURNING ZONE! It is the zone your body uses fat as fuel. You got it baby, FAT. The longer and farther you run in zone 2, the more fat you burn. Since I have learned this amazing information, I have since fallen in LOVE with running S-L-O-O-O-O-W, only on my long run days of course. I am training my body to tap into fat reserves on those long run days, so that I can be in a calorie deficit.
For example, being in a calorie deficit means that if I burn 3,000 calories per long run (which IS doable in 15+ mile runs, give or take some), and I burn about 2,000 calories to be alive, that means for that long run day I have burned 5,000 calories. Which means if I eat 4,000 calories, I am still negative 1,000 calories. Do you know what this means people? It means that I can have my cake and EAT it too! This means I can eat like a closet glutton, and still lose weight, or not gain! This means that when it is raining not just cats and dogs, but horses and cattle, I cannot use that as an excuse to not run. Because I can hit the dread, and put myself into a calorie deficit and EAT!
If I could leave you with one last thought it would be, run my friends, so that you may eat and live happily, and guilt free. Run my friends that you may burn your cinnamon buns, and your holiday fudge. Run my friends that you may once again eat like your metabolism is that of a 16 year old boy.
Will it be hard? Yes.
Will it take time and dedication? Yes.
Will it be worth it? Yes.
Every finger lickin' moment.
I eat therefore I run.
I feel really bad breaking it to you but...a 15 mile run only burns 1500 calories. Figure about 100 calories per mile for a woman. The real irony is that the more conditioned you get the less you burn as your body gets more efficent. Just wanted to let you know as many of us overestimate how many calories we burn and underestimate how many calories we eat. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteThere is no need to feel bad...especially since you are afraid to display who you are, either 1- Because you really don't know too much about what your saying, you just take the basic cookie cutter model of formulating a number or B- I personally know you, and you know I just might prove you wrong, then all who read this would know (all being me, my mommy) you got shut DOWN! LOL. Since I don't know who you are, I don't give two poops in a yard what your opinion is. If you actually comprehended what I wrote, it says 15+, that means 15 miles PLUS more. So seeing as I put 2000 calories, that would obviously mean I was leaning more towards PLUS side of the "15+" statement. I don't over estimate my burn, I let my HR determine that. So, yeah the last 15+ I ran it was roughly 1897 calories burned....I guess I could say I feel really bad breaking it to you that science does have this really cool thing called formulas, but unless your utilizing the proper equipment to get the answers i.e. a HR monitor, your going to get a "round about" answer from some guesstimating calculation found by googling "whats my caloric burn", or Active.com
ReplyDeleteReally....thanks but I am well educated in this arena, and all I am really trying to do here is TAKE OVER THE WORLD!
Oh, and to add....I didn't say I was burning 5000 from the LR....5000 for the day....1800-2000 for the run...2000-3000 just being alive and active.....get it?
ReplyDelete