My First Long Distance Attempt – Not a Complete Success

Well I’ve completed another week of marathon training. It was a rough week since I’ve been fighting a head cold the majority of the week, but I tried my best to keep up on my training regiment.

Today, I attempted to go for my first “long distance” run. It didn’t work out exactly like I would have liked, but I did learn some import lessons:

  • Be very cognizant of the weather conditions. In this instance, it was particularly hot, and it really impacted my performance.
  • Along those lines, make sure to bring water. I’ve been going on relatively short runs, so water really hasn’t been an issue. But with as hot as it was on today, I really could have used some water to hold me over.
  • Similarly, make sure to have something to remove sweat. Due to the heat, I was perspiring pretty heavily. It eventually got into my eyes and burned pretty badly. A sweatband or small towel would have been very helpful.
  • Prior to going on a long distance run, make sure to eat. The majority of my training has been done first thing in the morning prior to breakfast. I definitely need to take in some fuel before embarking on a long run next time.

While I didn’t accomplish my goal of five miles, I did learn a lot, which is just as important as completing the run. It helped give me a baseline on my conditioning so I know how where I’m at endurance-wise. I also learned a lot more on how to prepare for similar runs in the future. In light of what I learned, I made some adjustments to my training plan to help improve my overall endurance.

Hopefully, next weekend will be better…