The human body has roughly 2200 calories floating around as rapid energy stores - glycogen mostly. 2200 calories is approximately the amount of energy required to run about 18 miles. When you talk to distance runners, (or listen into their conversation in my case) there is often talk about hitting the "wall" - that time in the run where you feel like complete shit and just want to curl up where ever you happen to be and DIE. (They don't - I would!)
Once the 2200 calories are gone - your body has to convert to a secondary fuel supply - typically protein (muscle) or (ideally!) fat. When we train, there is a lot of focus on the "long run" once a week - I thought it was to get my legs used to feeling more and more distance. It's not - although I am sure that's a great additional benefit... the purpose of the long run is to train your body to transition to burning fat more efficiently than it burns protein. You know - get rid of the fat - keep the muscle.
The guy that was talking about this at the trail running clinic I attended in Carrboro last night might have been a doctor - I don't know... but it was really insightful to understand more of the physiology. He told us that you can actually tell when your body switches from glycogen to fat or protein energy sources - because your mouth will taste funny! The burn-effect of using fat as fuel results in a funny and quite noticeable taste in the mouth - proof that you're getting to the good stuff I guess!
A good session... followed by a great salad (pizza for Matthew!) at Tylers in downtown Carrboro. I think I could live in Carrboro... hmmm...
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