Once upon a time I was a beginning runner. MFH (My Favorite Husband) had been running most of the time we had been married so I was a little familiar with runners “lingo.” You know, the terms that runners throw around when they’re talking shop.
I’ve only been running a little over 4 years but I am so terribly guilty of tossing out these words here and there that I forget that what once were foreign words to me are also practically Greek to others. I assume (I know, never assume) that everybody knows what I am talking about. The words. The abbreviations. All of it.
I have a sweet friend on a FB running group. I’m not going to use her name but she’ll know who she is when she sees this blog. I’m writing this for her and the others who get puzzled by running terminology. We’re going to try to sit down and cover the “basics” of words in the running vocabulary.
First things first. Let’s discuss distance. Most races are measured in Kilometers or Miles. Common distances are 5K, 10K, 13.1, 26.2, 50K, 50M and 100M. The “K” after the number is not referring to the Periodic Table of Elements and discussing Potassium (jk). It is referring to the distance being measured in Kilometers. A 5K race is the distance most people new to running (and runners who are super fast!) like to race. This distance is 3.1 miles. A relatively shorter distance to run.
10K is 10 Kilometers or 6.2 miles.
13.1 is the distance of a half marathon. For some reason, they do not use a “M” after the 13.1. I don’t know why, they just don’t. I guess maybe it’s like all those silly little rules in the English language…you know, i before except after c, blah, blah, blah.
26.2 is like 13.1~no M after it. This is the marathon distance, 26.2 miles. Please, please, please, if you are running a 5K or a 10K or whatever distance, do NOT say, ”I’m running a 5K marathon.” You are NOT running a 5K marathon. You are running a 5K. Period. There is only one distance that counts as running a marathon and that is 26.2 miles. If you say that to somebody who considers themselves a hot shot runner, that is like fingernails on a chalkboard. You may be endangering your life if you say this. Hahaha!!!
Any distance further than the marathon distance is considered an Ultra Marathon. Most people just refer to these distances as “Ultra’s.” The shortest Ultra distance is the 50K. See? The K is back. We’ve jumped from M’s to K’s. The 50K distance is 31.68 Miles.
The tricky thing about Ultra’s is they are usually on the trails, out in the woods somewhere. The course measurement rarely is accurate. Some races will be just a little shy of the distance whereas others may be a few miles long.
There is a marked difference in the atmosphere from the “road race” distances (5K-26.2). In these distances, people really, really, really live and die by their finishing time. When you move on to Ultra’s, yes, time is important! Don’t get me wrong on that! Most of the time, however, it is a matter of, do you have what it takes to gut it out on the trails for 12 hrs?
Oops! Went chasing rabbits there for a second. Other common Ultra distances are the 50M and the 100M. The 100M is the longest of the “Long” Ultra’s. There are races longer than 100M but not a lot. Most 100M have a time limit of 30(ish) hours. Depends on how challenging the course is.
So, this takes us to training. You with me so far?
Training runs: You have easy pace runs. Tempo runs. Intervals. Fartleks. Hill repeats. Race Pace. Long Slow Run, and Recovery runs. There’s a different type of run to meet your training needs! Some are nice and easy, some are brutal.
Easy pace run is just that. You go out and run and have a nice time.
Temp Runs: You have a nice little warm up then you keep increasing tempo (speed or pace) through the remainder of the run until, thank God! You finally get to slow down and go home. These are hard.
Intervals. Nice little warm up. Then fast! Then slower. Then Fast! Then slower…until you finally get to slow down and go home.
Fartleks. Once people get over making fun of the name, this is an excellent training run! A lot of people use the spacing of telephone poles for this run. Again, nice warm up, then you run as fast as you can for the distance between two telephone poles. Recovery run between the next two poles. Then as fast as you can between the next two poles and then recover….you get the idea. You’re really happy when you finally get to slow down and head home.
Hill Repeats. I love these! A nice warm up run (have you noticed you want to be warmed up before you begin these different training runs? I usually do a nice, easy 2M before I begin these different runs). At the end of your warm up, you want to find yourself at the bottom of a hill with a 7-9% grade. As soon as you reach the bottom you being to charge back up the hill as fast as you can for 30 seconds. After 30 seconds, turn around and gently run back down. At the bottom of the hill, turn around and charge right back up again. Whee! Usually you do 6(ish) repeats. They’re tough!
Race Pace: You’re assigned a set distance and you run it as close to as fast as you are planning to run your upcoming race.
Long Slow Run: Most people will call this their long run and if they are writing it out and are feeling especially lazy, they may just say, LSR. This is your endurance run. How long can you go? It depends on the race you have on your racing schedule as to how long your LSR should be. They’re not always going to be the same distance every time. You have to gradually increase the distance of this run. You should try to remember the 10% rule. Do not increase your total weekly mileage more the 10% a week to keep your risk of injury down.
Recovery Run: This the the run the day after your long run. Usually, you will find yourself feeling a little creaky the day after your long run and this run, even though you think you’re going to die, really helps work the kinks out.
There are many different variations of these basic training runs. The thing to bear in mind is that you want to vary your workout! Trying to go out every day and do everything the exact same way~same distance, same route, same intensity…you may be asking for trouble. Mix it up! It also makes training a lot more fun.
Food! Hahaha!!! We all LOVE food!
“I ran 3 miles today. I can eat whatever I want!” Uh, no. For the average person, you burn maybe 100 calories per mile. As you get more efficient and if you’re trying to drop a few pounds, the more you lose, the less calories a mile you will be burning. So, saying you’re the “average” person and ran 3 miles, that means you burned off 300 calories. A Snickers bar is almost 300 calories! You still need to dot your i’s and cross your t’s with your diet.
You DO need to eat to fuel your running though! Believe it or not, carbs are your friend. That is what the body really, really likes for fuel for running. A bagel! Mmmm!!! The body says, “Yes, please!” There are tons of resources online to help you figure out what kind of food will help you and your running. *A word of caution* I am not a fan of powders, shakes, pills and all of that other nonsense. I very firmly believe we should be fueling our bodys with FOOD. I encourage you to make the effort to learn how to cook and fuel properly without giving in to gimmicks.
Tapering. #Ugh. Tapering is, I think, almost every runners most welcome nightmare. Is that a contradiction? Yes and no.
You’ve trained like crazy getting ready for a race. You’ve put in the miles, the different types of training runs…all of that. For the most part you are so very ready to run this race EXCEPT, you’re so tired! It’s true! Training for an event will take if out of you! So, what do you do to finish getting ready for your race? You taper.
You’ve put in the miles. Now, it’s time to rest but to do it without losing the benefits of all your hard work. Tapering is a tricky thing! Depending on the distance of the race, your taper for a 13.1 would probably be one week. A marathon and 50K, 2 weeks. A 50M, 3 weeks. A 100M, a month.
Does this mean you sit back and do a big fat nothing for your taper time? Hardly! You’re still out there running but not as far. Not as intense. Not as often. Finally, a few days before the race, you might take two days off relaxing before your big day.
Because of what seems like the lack of training, a lot of runners have a very hard time dealing with the inactivity. *raises hand. I go nuts during a taper* You feel guilty for not being out there training. You get jealous when your friends are posting their runs online and YOU’RE HUNGRY!!! That’s the worst part! Your body is still thinking you’re training like crazy and wants to be fed but now’s the time you have to be very careful in what you eat. Choose wisely. Eat smart. Eat stuff you know will fuel your body for the race BUT don’t overeat! You’ve worked so hard through all your training, you don’t want to gain a bunch of weight during your taper! All the extra poundage? You’ll have to drag it around during the race and that’s hard work! Nope. Best to be a little hungry for a little while (easier said than done. especially when there’s ice cream in the freezer. HA!).
Finally, race day arrives! YAY!!!! You probably haven’t slept much the night before. No big deal. Hardly anybody does. You have adrenaline pumping through your veins. Your body say, “Let’s do this!” Eat a light breakfast a good 3 hrs before the race starts (gun time). Drink some water. DON’T PIG OUT! You don’t want tummy trouble during the race! Nothing worse than having nature call while racing. ‘Nuff said.
Well, I’m sure there will still be tons of questions, but I’ve blabbered on a lot. Time for me to wrap this up. Hope at least this clears up a few questions?
Happy Running!!!
#IRun4Aiden
#teamZensah
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