If there is one thing we’ve learned, it’s that overall preparation and the miles you put in stick with you for a long while. Having success in this sport is a matter of staying healthy and stringing together consistent periods of training.

Training provides a stimulus for your body to adapt so it can handle a greater workload. It also creates short-term fatigue and muscle breakdown, requiring several days’ recovery. The correct balance of training elements, interspersed with sufficient recovery, takes you to a higher level of fitness.

The maximum amount you should drink during a race is the amount that can empty from your stomach or the amount that you have lost as sweat, whichever is less. Research has shown that most runners’ stomachs can empty only about 6 to 7 ounces (177-207 ml) of fluid every 15 minutes during running, or 24 to 28 ounces (710-828 ml) per hour (Rehrer et

Being stiff and being flexible are not opposites. Flexibility refers to your ability to move a joint through a full range of motion. Stiffness, on the other hand, looks at how much your tendons and muscles oscillate (or move up and down) in relation to ground reaction forces. Less movement indicates stiffer muscles and tendons.

As mentioned earlier, there is an optimal intensity range for your long runs. You want to run hard enough to stimulate the desired adaptations but not so hard that you require a long recovery that interferes with other key training sessions.

All runners have their own current mileage limit, which is dictated by biomechanics, past training, injury history, running shoes, running surface, diet, and various life stressors. Fortunately, your individual mileage limit can increase over time as your bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments gradually adapt to higher training loads and you learn

Change-of-Pace Tempo Runs This relatively new approach to tempo runs involves interspersing harder efforts with training at or slightly slower than LT pace. The rationale for this approach is that the faster running leads to increased lactate production and the slightly slower pace improves the body’s ability to use that lactate as fuel.

Making meals at home ensures you know what's going into your food," she says. "I'm not an exceptional cook and I would be hopeless on complicated dishes, but that's not the point. I am good at basic meals and have learned how to branch out and alter favorites to make them even healthier."

Eating and drinking carbohydrate as soon as is practical after running enhance replenishment of your glycogen stores. Glycogen reloading is greatly increased for the first 30 to 60 minutes after exercise and remains moderately higher for up to 6 hours.