Recipe for The Perfect Long Run

Wow…yesterday was just a fantastic run! I planned to just run a 10 miles ez since I hadn’t run all week and then leave my friend Michelle to do the other 4 by herself. But after running into our old MIA Elys, and being told that the “TNT beginning runners were doing 18” we decided to push it a little and do 15. And I was so surprised at myself. I didn’t have any aches and pains, was a little tired that last 5 mile loop but finished strong.

And E-man was back to his old charming self. I’m telling you he was looking so handsome yesterday in his new outfit. Brown denim shorts and a striped orange, brown and cream shirt…these are like his perfect colors I mean he just looked adorable. He was a charming little guy, cried when he wanted to nurse, laughed when he was full and kept on strolling, even fell asleep twice!

So I’ve been thinking what made it work so well today and I decided to make a note of all the things I believe contributed to this wonderful run, both on the day of the run and the day before. Ok so here goes, 1) two servings of lentil soup and a side of meatballs for dinner the night before, 2) stayed dehydrated the day before, drank a high electrolyte drink throughout the day, 3) afternoon sex the day before, 4) took it pretty easy the day before and had a good night sleep, 5) didn’t get up early in the morning, in fact slept in and didn’t even get out to the park ‘till after 11am, 6) ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast with another glass of high-electrolyte drink, 7) ate one of my special bars about 20 min before we started running (for more info, go to http://anna.iLoveSuccess.net), 8) snacked on lemon-lime gu (no caffeine!!! – that was very important for me and E-man) about every 30-45 minutes, 9) stayed hydrated!, 10) had another of my special bars 3 hours into the run, 10) ran/walked.

OK this is how I did the run/walk. I walked up all the hills. I ran the rest of the way. Saved me a lot of energy and was able to spurt the last two miles when E-man started showing signs of fussiness.

So that’s my 10 ingredients to a perfect run. Oh I forgot one thing. The weather. It was supposed to rain but it never did. Instead it was overcast and very humid all day but it wasn’t too hot and it was even a little breezy.

I don’t have any crazy train stories today. Would you believe the F train actually worked going there and back. I couldn’t believe it! It was running local. But it was running. And coming back when I was exhausted, these two young guys both got up and offered me their seat. I can’t complain…it was like I was in an alternate universe today where young New Yorkers are kind and thoughtful.

Oh and after the run, the eggs and pancakes just couldn’t get the job done. Had to go with something more substantial. Went to the same diner and had a big juicy burger called the Hunter (because the diner is by Hunter college, although it took me a minute to realize…I thought it was named the hunter like this is what hunters eat after they’ve been out kicking ass hunting all day). Anyway it has peppers, mushrooms, sautéed onions, mozzarella cheese and fries on the side. And they were some good fries too. And of course the tomato juice. I got home around 6, went to bed by 7 and slept until 9:00 the next morning.

This is my schedule for the rest of the season…I changed it up a little after running into our professional running buddy Elys: Mon and Wed: hill training and speed running mixed with a short EZ run, Thu run 4-5 miles EZ, Sun, Tue, Sat off. Maybe do some stretching or something like that. Sat, 9/20: 13 miles. Sat, 9/27: 18 miles. Sat, 10/4: 13 miles. Mon, 10/13 (Columbus Day?): 20 miles. Sun, 10/19: 12 miles. Sat or Sun, 10/25 or 10/26: 5 miles EZ. Sun, 11/2: ING NYC Marathon! ;-)