Music helps enormously. It makes a world of difference in terms of helping you ease into a good rhythm, and helps you ignore the fact that your breathing is becoming more labored, etc...basically, it helps you get into the "zone". I have asthma, but I swear that listening to music is almost as important to my being able to run a longer distance (as in more than a mile, heh) as using my inhaler.
Also, hydration is super important. It sounds obvious, but I can't stress this enough...if I run 5k having only drank at "normal" times throughout the day (say, a glass of juice/water in the morning, with lunch, and then another glass or so at some other point in the day), I will probably feel a lot more tired than if I consistently made myself drink a little extra throughout the day. Typically, on days where I know the forecast is nice, I start drinking "extra" water around lunch time, and then jog after work/class in the evening - an extra bottle or two of water makes me feel completely different at the end of 5k. Instead of feeling like I NEED to stop at the end, I usually feel almost invigorated at the end. It sounds cheesy, but I've found it to be true.
My buddy was in the Marines and he said they stress hydration to a high degree (it gets hot over in the sandbox...), but he agreed with me that it truly makes a world of difference.
Physiologically, hydrating not only provides water that your body needs, but it also increases overall blood volume (remember, your body is mostly water), which means there is essentially more blood available to flow through your body, which translates to more oxygen being available for your muscles to utilize. This helps delay the onset of muscle fatigue, and thus keeps you from tiring so fast.
Last edited by -CARNIFEX-[LOC] (2009-04-03 14:50:43)