My long-distance running secrets
04/06/24 09:19 Filed in: Fitness
What do you need for long-distance running? What keeps you going for mile after mile? I'm not talking lifestyle factors: healthy diet (yes), enough sleep (no), reducing your alcohol intake (maybe). I'm talking what happens on the run itself. And here I'm not talking speed, I'm talking endurance and efficiency. I have isolated two success factors in particular.
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Factor 1: Pace yourself. Don't go off too fast or you will suffer later. I learned this lesson when I ran a 10K event in Woking back in March. The route took us from the town centre north round the perimeter of Horsell Common. It was two laps of the circuit. I maintained a brisk pace over the first lap and in fact I was in first place at the halfway point. But I couldn't keep this up on the second lap and faded to finish fifth overall.
I can no longer think of the words 'Pace yourself' without calling to mind the recent memoir by the former Prime Minister Liz Truss, entitled Ten Years To Save The West. Truss recounts her first audience as Prime Minister with Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The monarch advised: Pace yourself. Truss reflects that maybe she should have heeded the advice. Then, when the news of the death of the Queen came through, Truss found this a profound shock, and her first thought was: Why me? Why now? And so the death of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was really all about The Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP.
Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth, here is factor 2: Be consistent. Try to run at a similar pace each mile. Obviously this is easier on a flat course than a hilly course. Although even a hilly course, if it consists of a number of laps, allows you to aim for similar lap times. I have a mostly flat 5K course from my home and sometimes the mile times are all within a few seconds of each other.
Running in this way has a metronomic quality. This is clear from one of the best books ever written about running, by the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. His memoir covers his life as a writer and runner, leading up to the 2005 New York Marathon. Each time I read this book I am reminded that running (and now also cycling) is my life. Running is not what I do, it's who I am.