Long Workouts

After the last reviewing my last benchmark results Coach Ben complained that my work concentrated too much on mid range effort at the expense of base line and the high end work. Since then, I have been increasing my distance for those low-intensity long workouts. Until now, my long runs were 10-12 km, at an intensity that Ben would characterize as mid-range. My first longer run was a 10-miler (16 km) when dropping off Colin at university in Iowa City (see here). I did 18 km lat week at the prescribed heart rate (i.e. around 130) and 20 km this morning where my HR was a little faster but only because a woman passed me while going around Como Lake and I just had to see what her pace was. At 130 bpm I feel like I could keep going and going from a cardiovascular perspective. My legs feel tired after 20 km but with 20 minutes of stretches even that goes away. How far should I run for a long workout? Do I need to get tired or is the idea to just get accustomed to make a run like this feel more like a walk in the park? I put these questions to Ben who suggested I gradually increase the time of the workout to three hours.

8/25 Long Run on opening day of Minnesota State Fair

9/1 Long Run

These long workouts do bring a new side effect: chafing. While it seems only light for me, mostly between my upper thighs and my nipples, but it is still uncomfortable. I invested in some new running shorts which work much better than my old ones. My form-fitting Sisu t-shirt works better than the lose ones I have. At this point I am simply going to watch it before taking more drastic measures.