I didn’t really do much running before Runnroo, so the only thing I could compare to the kind of physical stress that these LSDs have presented my body was when I used to play soccer back in college. But the exhaustion is probably the only common ground between the two.
With soccer, you use great bursts of energy in a short amount of time, particularly when you’re on the offensive side and you’re just a kick away from that larger-than-life goal. The result: difficulty in breathing after an hour of mad frolicking on the field.
With long-distance running, you try to spend as little energy as possible to get you through to the finish line. Even flailing your arms just a bit will cost you your much needed energy. The result: it isn’t so much a question of how much breath you have left, but how much resolve you can still expend to finish the damned thing.
That said, I’d like to offer this little tip I’ve learned from running these LSDs. I really do hope I can get the point across clearly, because I think it’s a quite valuable lesson to understand. It helped me a lot, at the very least. Hopefully, it may help you out too.
When you’re keeping pace (like in our 4-1 and 3-2 regimen), you absolutely need to respect the difference between the running and walking time allotment.
You see, in competitive sports like soccer, we’re put into this mindset that we need to get as much done in as little time possible and we tend to judge that those moments when we exert the most effort usually garner better results. With this kind of thinking, I burn out halfway through the game.
You shouldn’t have that kind of thinking when you’re running long distances. I mean, it’s a good thing overall, that you have that fire in you, but not all the time.
If it’s time to run, you should concentrate on how you’re spending your energy, place yourself in that competitive mindset, bring out your fierce side. But that’s just a suggestion on my part, you don’t really need to concentrate on how you spend your energy, it becomes second nature the longer you do it.
Give it your all, if you want. This is when the time calls for it, and I’m more partial to talk about the rest periods in this post anyhow.
When it’s time to rest, you should learn to tune down. And I don’t mean little by little here. I mean, tune down completely until you’re no longer thinking about how to survive the journey.
Don’t think about anything stressful, don’t think about how to catch up with your friends who are ahead of you, don’t fuss over how much longer you have to go, listen to music or look at the scenery if these things help you calm down.
Focus on calming your mind. This gives you ample time to bind your strength and willpower for the next running stretch.
Trust me, it will help you loads if you know how to respect the periods where you’re allowed to rest. You don’t burn out as easily than if you kept the competitive mindset the entire way.
– The MP3 Runner
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