Smarter = Faster..........day 15

Recently I read an article in Runner's World titles "It's About Time". This article is part of the RW Challenge, which is a subscription you can sign up for to get personalized training plans, coaching advice, diet plans, and motivation from RW editors and contributors. There are also a number of national marathons in which some of the RW staff will be present and you can rub shoulders with them or wrestle them for a cup at the water stops.

Anyways this article showcases several, everyday runners like myself and what their personal goals are along with what they are doing to train for their PR (personal record) date. Along with their info, they are receiving recommendations from professional coaches and athletes. So I decided I would check it out and oddly enough the first showcase was a gentleman named Kevin, Kevin has been a marathoner since 2006, about the same time as me. He has ran 14 marathons since then with his PR being 3:02:37, and his goal being to break 3:00

I was really anxious to read about Kevin's training and his work as he prepares for the Richmond Marathon. As I was reading I saw that he was averaging 85 miles per week and on four occasions had over 100mile weeks. I thought that was a little extreme, for my first marathon I over trained and did not get the results I probably could have, although I broke my goal, I still had a very weak goal for the shape that I was in. Kevin favors progressive runs where he picks up the pace for the remaining 10 miles of some of his runs. After a race in Phoenix he actually ended up in the hospital, only to find out he had not been consuming enough calories and his body was not being refueled properly.

Preparing for a race, regardless of what the scale maybe you need to make sure you are getting the right kind of calories. That is different for everyone, but make sure you are getting plenty of protein. Staying hydrated is key as well, not having enough liquid can cause your muscles to over work themselves and cause fatigue early on.

The advice that was given to Kevin was to lower his weekly miles, also not to over exert himself. Also do some research on what kind of workout you can do to change up your pattern. Also stay hydrated, eat good calories and be smart about your running, you know your body better than anyone else.

Before you know it you will be setting your PR and blowing your times out of the water.

Today I ran 3.11 miles.