The Long Run

The Highline Canal Trail in Autumn

Seventeen Miles

We’ll be using the 66-mile-long Highline Canal Trail for the rest of our long weekend runs. It is simply the longest, most accessible running path in Denver City Limits so it offers the best opportunity to get in the long runs we’ll need as the marathon nears. The long run has always been an important part of training for these long races. Athletes train at paces far slower than their race pace. That approach would be damaging and the recovery to extensive to go through this close to the race. The long run allows your body to get used to the sensation of going and going, but just as importantly it prepares your mind too. Team in Training athletes will take between three hours and seven hours to complete the race next month and your mind needs to be equally as strong, if not more so than your body. By subjecting ourselves to long runs we’ll be better able to cope on mile 19 when we still have seven to go and wonder if we’ll make it. Today’s run was set for a specific time instead of a specific mileage and I ended up going 17 miles over two hours of running. My pattern on long runs is to run each successive half-hour faster than the previous run and I was successful in that today, but I started off more slowly than I would have liked. Next week’s long runs will get even longer and the mileage even greater. I’m feeling ready for it.