Building miles and endurance

One of the most interesting albeit difficult parts of running long distances is building miles towards a goal longer race. I am currently training for a 45km race in April held almost entirely on the beach. A challenge in itself I the added bonus of the run being on sand and training on the sand in preparation for this event. But thats not the purpose of this post.

Building miles towards your long goal race is interesting as the physiology that the body goes through to develop endurance changes over time as you push the body longer. This morning I went out on my long run managing 27km in total, this was my goal for the session. I did this run over a flat course with a 1km on at 4:15 min/km followed by 1km off at 5 min/km averaging 4:40 min/km for the run. What i find interesting is that the body had had enough by the end of this run and wanted me to stop. If I am going to run a 45km race in April I better be able to run more than 27km, today I couldn’t have done 45km. Over the next two months i will build my weekly long run by a couple of kilometres each week and by April 17th my body will peak for the 45km effort (thats the plan anyway).

I am not someone that pushes my long runs past about 20km when I am not training for an event, I normally don’t have the time and don’t want to get an unnecessary injury. So when i set myself a long goal race I see my body change to be able to cope with the extra miles I push it and I am amazed that every time as I push the extra miles my body responds and is able to cope. The human body is a adaptive animal and can be trained to do whatever you want it to do.

Next week i will push my long run to 30km and make sure keep it preparing for the races i have ahead. I am running a half marathon on March 13th, I’ve given myself this race as a lead up to my longer race in April but also to throw out a marker and treat where my running is at the moment. looking forward to pushing myself over the next few months and really trying to get everything I can out of myself.

Hope you are running well and on track for your goals for the year.