Long runs

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ydyms
ydyms Posts: 266 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I tried to do a long run today but I got bored and tired. Any tips for motivation and ease?

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  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Are you training for something or just running? What are your goals? How long is 'long'?
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    What do you define as long in your training?

    Personally I'm a trail runner, so plenty to see, but equally the time gives me head space to think through work challenges, or prcess ongoing work.

    Sometimes I'll listen to audio-books or podcasts, but that's generally when I'm stuck with urban training.
  • ydyms
    ydyms Posts: 266 Member
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    My goal is endurance and calorie burn. I'm not training for anything specific just my own personal goals.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    ydyms wrote: »
    My goal is endurance and calorie burn. I'm not training for anything specific just my own personal goals.

    Sign up for a race, gives your long runs some purpose?
  • owieprone
    owieprone Posts: 217 Member
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    If you're unfortunate and don't have much off-road trails around you, do what i do - pretend you're being chased by wolves, dinosaurs, zombies or schemies (poor people; yes yes i know how un-pc of me).

    Get your music sorted so that you have an eclectic assortment to chose from to change your pace to, slow to full-on 'arg zombies'.

    Change your route, even if you do it back to front it's enough of a difference to need to re-engage your brain for at least the first couple of times you do it until it becomes familiar.

    If it's really bad and you don't have the mental strength to conjure up fire-breathing hamster-sized dragons tanning your rear, you can always play bad driving bingo, road-kill bingo, furry-beast bingo or crawling-insect bingo (you don't win the last one by stepping on them btw, it's a spot-and-avoid game). You can play more than one at time when you become more proficient at them.

    furry-beast bingo is my favourite, especially if i'm running with someone that doesn't know just how mental i am, shouting 'SQUIRREL' or 'KITTY' and pointing at said offending article is great for scaring the poop out of your running buddy at irregular intervals. I'm basically in-run entertainment.

    Basically to stop being bored on your runs become nuts instead.

    Also, i'm assuming you're running outside, treadmill runs should be kept to 20 mins or less for hiit work, gait training etc, unless the snow is up to your waist or you're in danger of being transported to OZ or the sea. Treadmills are just dull!
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    ydyms wrote: »
    My goal is endurance and calorie burn. I'm not training for anything specific just my own personal goals.

    The material question related to how long you run for. Are you talking about an hour, two hours, four?
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
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    Music and audiobooks are both good options if you find long runs a bit monotonous. I also have great success with the Zombies, Run! app (it's available for iPhone or Android, I think) when I need a little help pushing through longer sessions. It's a lot of fun and because I can preset the time or distance I run, I find it helpful to know "okay, two more segments and you're done" or whatever. I know some people like podcasts, too.

    On the treadmill (which I do in inclement weather or at hours I don't feel safe out alone), I read actual books on my tablet, because I need a little extra distraction without having the outdoors around me. But it took me a while to get comfortable doing that, although it makes the time absolutely fly by and I get to combine two of my most frequent pastimes, reading and running.
  • ydyms
    ydyms Posts: 266 Member
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    MeanderingMammal wrote: »
    ydyms wrote: »
    My goal is endurance and calorie burn. I'm not training for anything specific just my own personal goals.

    The material question related to how long you run for. Are you talking about an hour, two hours, four?

    Sorry. I usually run 7 miles and I'd like my long runs to be 11 or 12 for starters. I'd love to do it once a week if I could build it up! I used to run a half marathon once a week but that was 2 years ago before I gave birth to twins :)
  • ydyms
    ydyms Posts: 266 Member
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    peleroja wrote: »
    On the treadmill (which I do in inclement weather or at hours I don't feel safe out alone), I read actual books on my tablet, because I need a little extra distraction without having the outdoors around me. But it took me a while to get comfortable doing that, although it makes the time absolutely fly by and I get to combine two of my most frequent pastimes, reading and running.
    Good idea! I do run often in the treadmill due to my responsibilities at home (kids lol!)
  • owieprone
    owieprone Posts: 217 Member
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    Sorry. I usually run 7 miles and I'd like my long runs to be 11 or 12 for starters. I'd love to do it once a week if I could build it up! I used to run a half marathon once a week but that was 2 years ago before I gave birth to twins :)[/quote]

    take the kids with you, then it won't seem quite so weird when you shout SQUIRREL! Pushchair or them on bikes depending on how old they are, they will need to build up to 7 miles though! ;) maybe just on the shorter speed runs?

    There are podcast tutorials, what about learning something while running? a language maybe?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    Sign up for a race and give your training some purpose...training just to burn calories is boring.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    ydyms wrote: »
    MeanderingMammal wrote: »
    ydyms wrote: »
    My goal is endurance and calorie burn. I'm not training for anything specific just my own personal goals.

    The material question related to how long you run for. Are you talking about an hour, two hours, four?

    Sorry. I usually run 7 miles and I'd like my long runs to be 11 or 12 for starters. I'd love to do it once a week if I could build it up! I used to run a half marathon once a week but that was 2 years ago before I gave birth to twins :)

    OK, thanks. That helps

    I'd agree with the suggestion that a race would help give some structure to your running, and help to motivate by giving you realistic objectives.

    The HM is a nice distance to train for as it doesn't consume your entire weekend with long runs, and it's the kind of distance that you can make some real advances on fairly quickly.
  • lbenavdes915
    lbenavdes915 Posts: 1 Member
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    I downloaded some motivational speeches from yourworldwithin.com under "running" and put them on my iPod. They really help get me through the tough parts of runs. They are mixed in with my running music that are 140-160 beats per minute.

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