The last 4 weekends have been full of races and parkruns so I've rather neglected my long-run, but tomorrow I'm heading out for what I expect to be a 10 miler and you can definitely tell it's firmly on the agenda as I have a raft of bits and pieces lined up and charging. So here's a breakdown of my essential long-run gear.
1. Garmin Forerunner 10 - Because how else will I know quite how lost I got in the woods.
2. Fitbit One - To capture every single step to calculate quite how much pizza I can justify afterwards.
3. iPod Shuffle - For 2 hours of tunes!
4. Aftershokz Sports 3 headphones - these are a new acquisition - they've been with me on one run so far, lets see how I get on with them on a longer trot out.
5. Sports sunglasses - mine are cheapo generic ones from Sports Direct as I'm not convinced I can be trusted not to lose/drive over them!
6. Calf Sleeves - unless it's stupidly hot tomorrow morning I like to pop these on for a long-run. I find they really support my calves and of course they claim to increase blood flow which can't hurt for longer distances!
7. Socks - I'm easy going about my choice of socks on shorter runs (as long as they are running socks that won't chafe) but for a long run I like to wear my favourites - in the winter I like Hilly cushioned socks, but they are a bit warm for the summer - my favourite warm weather socks are Sugoi tech socks.
7. I've not tended to take water on runs of this length, but with the hotter weather, I think I'm taking my Camelbak tomorrow. Within it will be...
8. High5 Zero sports drink - this seems to agree with me and as I'm quite a salty sweater (TMI!) it's nice to replenish those salts.
9. Nakd Bars - I like the Cocoa Orange bars and will take two with me, but likely only get through one - these are flippin delicious and are good as a bit of a top up of fuel mid-run.
10. iPhone - I do feel like I should take my phone on longer runs just in case, but it's also good for a few pictures - if only because it forces me to slow down and take it easy!
Hope you've got a nice run planned for the weekend - leave me a comment and let me know.
Junathan update day 26 - An easy 5km for me today after work. Pushed it a little bit on the last km for a fun finish.