You are likely familiar with the phrase “hitting the wall” if you have ever completed a half marathon or are in the process of training for one right now. However, I hope you have never been in that situation.
At that point in the competition, your body will have used up all of its glycogen reserves and stored carbohydrates, forcing it to rely on fat reserves as its primary source of energy rather than the glycogen and carbohydrates it had previously stored.
When you burn fat instead of carbohydrates, your body will start to feel fatigued, and you will notice that your pace will slow down significantly. Burning fat is less efficient than burning carbohydrates. People who have experienced it have compared it to the feeling they get when trudging through mud or walking around with bags of sand on their feet.
The question that needs to be answered now is, what are the most efficient ways to stop oneself from going through that horrible experience? By getting in shape and running long distances multiple times per week?
One of the many benefits of running long distances is that it allows you to make more efficient use of the energy that your body has stored. Learn about a few benefits that will become available to you as a consequence of increasing the miles you run.
The Health Benefits Of Long Running
Before we get into the benefits of going on long runs, we would like to tell you about the Pankh MP Half Marathon, an initiative by Bansal News to give young athletes under the age of 19 a chance to full their dream. Visit the website at www.mpmarathon.run to submit your entry for the competition.
Moving on to the benefits of long runs for health, the endurance runner's lungs and quadriceps are two of the most distinguishing physical characteristics they possess. Yet, even though you might not be aware of it right now, running long distances can improve your body and mind in ways you could never have guessed.
1. Builds Inner Confidence
Running causes your heart to pump greater volumes of blood and oxygen to the working muscles in your body, which increases the rate at which your heart beats.
According to a study in 2020, first-time runners of a half marathon experienced beneficial reductions in blood pressure and aortic stiffness, which is approximately equivalent to a reduction in vascular age of approximately four years.
2. Develop Fatigue-Resistant Muscles
Your muscles adapt very specifically to the type of exercise you are doing, says Lonnie Lowery, PhD, senior research scientist, adult nutrition, in the Abbott Scientific and Medical Affairs division.
Lowery explains that those who engage in endurance running should make an effort to increase the number of type 1 muscle fibres in their bodies. Because of this, the muscles become less susceptible to fatigue.
3. Raise Both Levels Of Self-Assurance And Mental Toughness
Long runs not only help you build the necessary endurance and physically prepare you for running 13 miles, but they also get you ready for the challenge of staying focused and mentally strong so that you do not reach a point where your mind, rather than your legs, is telling you to stop.
This is because long runs help you prepare for the challenge of staying focused and mentally strong so that you do not reach a point where running 13 miles physically and mentally exhausts you. Doing so reduces the likelihood of reaching a point during your run where you feel like you cannot continue.
4. Accelerate The Rate Of Metabolism In Your Body
When you take in nutrients from food and drink, your body will first store those nutrients and convert them into energy. This process is referred to as metabolism. A sports dietitian at Abbott named Pam Nisevich Bede, who is training for her 27th marathon and works for the company, compared it to an internal fire that keeps our energy going.
When we increase the activity and our fitness level, a change occurs in our metabolic state. In the best-case scenario, excess fatty tissue is replaced with metabolically active lean tissue. This, in turn, leads to improvements in health, performance, and the amount of calories burned by the metabolism, “Nisevich Bede said.
5. Ensure That Your Joints Stay Strong And Healthy
According to Lowery, physical activity is a factor that can significantly influence and improve the health of one's joints.
By participating in regular physical activity, runners have a lower risk of cartilage disorders. A study examining runners who had finished a half marathon found that running may be a “therapeutic tool” to limit chronic inflammation and positively affect cartilage cells. The participants in the study had all completed a half marathon.
The Bottom Line
The takeaway is that you should be creative when thinking of new challenges for your balance and practise these challenges regularly. When you run, for instance, you spend a significant portion of your time in a stance where you only support yourself with one leg at a time. As a consequence, instruction of this kind is an absolute requirement.
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