Taper Madness

When running a marathon, you get to experience something called the taper. A taper is what you do two to three weeks before your marathon. Essentially, you chill out on your mileage in order to give your body time to heal and to store up glycogen.

For this training cycle, I chose a two week taper. Much of the literature out there says that if you're running less than 60 or 70 miles a week, which I am, then you only need a two week taper. Last week, I ran 53 miles. This week, I have cut my mileage back to 29 miles. Next week I'll only run about 17 miles before the marathon on Saturday.

Now tapering is a difficult thing to do. My body is ready for a race. It's been training for almost 19 weeks and is in the best shape of my life. Seriously, the best shape of my life including high school. Cutting back on miles is difficult. I feel lazy and feel like I'm losing speed. At the same time, I have aches and pains that are telling me that I don't have what it takes to go under 3. My shin splint in my lower left leg is telling me that it's a possible stress fracture, when I know full well that it's just a shin splint.

Finally, I am having to think about what I eat. When you're running 50+ miles a week, you can eat whatever you want and I do. When you're running less than 30 miles a week, you can't eat that much. In addition, cutting out the grease and fat becomes essential in cleaning out your system. Going to bed hungry because you're used to 1000+ calorie dinners and you just ate 500 calories with no ice cream is somewhat dissatisfying.

As you can tell, I am slowly going crazy and I need to race already.

24 Miler

My last big training run was this past Saturday. 24 miles. A friend from San Mateo came up to run it with me. It was about 65 degrees and raining. In other words, almost perfect. I like running in the rain, as it cools me down. I felt great the entire time and we finished just under 3 hours. I wasn't trying to push it and felt that I definitely have what it takes to go under 3. Two weeks to go time.

JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge (3.5M)

I wasn't planning on running this race, as I haven't raced anything under a 1/2 marathon in about 7 years and haven't done anything under a 10k in about 16 years, but my firm, more specifically, my office, appealed to my ego and asked that I represent my firm/office, as they knew that I could easily beat the fastest time from all of the other offices (24:50). So I decided to do it.

6:30pm last night at Crissy Field right next to the Golden Gate bridge. Very flat, simple 3.5 mile loop. I arrived and as soon as I got out of my car, I knew that I'd made a mistake in not bringing warmups. It was about 20 degrees colder than where I live and there was 20mph wind coming in from the ocean. Nice. Fortunately, we started and finished with a tailwind. However, the middle 1.75 miles were a little onerous.

Before I get to those miles, let me back up. This was not a chipped race. The only clock was the race clock, which meant that I was fighting 5000 other people to start up front. Lots of elbows. I was about 3 rows back, which was fine because there were some serious runners out. Like sub-5 minute mile runners. The last thing I wanted to do was get in their way.

The gun went off and off we went. First mile was at 5:58. I wanted it to be faster, but congestion and some tight turns slowed me down a little. Then we turned into the wind. I tried drafting, but the wind was whipping too much and each person I tried drafting off of was either too fast or too slow, so I ended up running the next 1.75 miles straight into the wind. Not too fun. I don't have my exact splits, but looking at my finish time, I'd say they were in the 6:25 - 6:33 range.

As I was approacing the turnaround, I saw the leaders headed back and they were seriously flying. I heard afterwards about the tactics employed and was pretty impressed. Apparently about a 1/4 mile before the turnaround, a breakaway into the wind occured. Then once at the turnaround, the 3 leaders really took off since they now had the wind at their back while everyone else was still headed into it. Smart tactics.

At the turnaround, I finally got the wind out of my face and picked it back up. At mile 3, I really picked it up because I wanted to beat 22 minutes. With about a 1/4 mile to go, I wanted to vomit and remembered why I don't really enjoy these shorter races. I finished in 21:48 for a 6:14 average.

I didn't push as hard as I could have, particularly during the headwind portion of the course and raced it more like a 10k, but was still ok with the time. I probably finished in the top 150, but won't know for sure for a couple of days.

EDIT: I finished 101st out of 5200

Clueless

I seriously have no idea where my fitness is. If I had to predict a time for St. George, it would be anywhere between 2:58 and 3:15. This might just be because I've been training for 17 1/2 weeks and my body is completely broken down. It might also be because I'm just getting older, but I only have one fast day a week in me and my right glut is pretty sore all the time. I'm going to push it tomorrow, omitting the hill, and see where I'm at. Two more long runs (an 18 and a 24) and then it's off to the races.

Nocturnal Rack

As I began my 22 mile run at 8:30pm last night (again, I have problems), little did I know that I would end up witnessing one of the most glorious racks that I'd ever seen on the Iron Horse Trail. Truly, it was magnificent.

Usually on the trail, I don't see many racks at all. In fact, I don't recall ever seeing one. I didn't expect to see one last night either. It was after all perfectly dark (there are no lights on this trail), but when my headlight spotted two eyes up ahead (and at eye level), I was stunned to see an 8 point buck standing in the middle of the trail just watching me go by.

I'm very glad that he didn't decide to lower his head and charge, as it was at about mile 18 and I was pretty beat.

Getting home a little after 11, icing for an hour, then finally eating dinner around midnight while I watched the History Channel is all something I'd rather not repeat next week, particularly because next week's run is 24 miles.

Sharpening

It's finally happening. This sharpening thing. This past Saturday on a 20 mile, very hilly trail run, I had a reserve of energy and speed that I didn't know existed. At one point, I was actually sprinting up a hill, at mile 15 feeling great. Today, during my speed workout (6 x 1600s), I ran my last 1600 in 5:44. The only reason I didn't do a 7th was due to time. It just might all be coming together.

1:27:44

That was my 1/2 marathon time on Saturday. 6:42 average. I'm moderately happy with this time. In order to run a sub-3 hour marathon, all of the calculators say that you need to run a 1/2 marathon in 1:25, which I really wasn't close to. However, I didn't taper for this race and actually ran hard on both Thursday and Friday. So, moderately happy. I have hope.

I also now have a blister on my left big toe that pretty much encompasses the entire right half of the toe. That's what happens when you wear your racing flats. Shoes that you haven't worn in about 3 months. I needed every advantage I could get for "race" day on Saturday. "Race" because it was only four of us and we weren't racing each other, only the clock. Everyone seemed pretty happy with their times.

I'm thinking of wearing my racing flats for the marathon. I'll run in them during my interval workouts and maybe my medium long days (10 - 13 miles usually on Thursday) and see how it goes. After the "race", I took my flats off, put my trainers on, and ran another 5 miles. My trainers felt like bricks. Bricks do not enable one to run fast. I might try thicker socks to stem off the globe-sized blisters.

Three of the next four weeks have me running in the high 50s, low 60s for mileage. Let's tear down this body even more.

The Dead Zone

I'm entering a phase in my training where I'm simply tired of training. Mentally, not physically. It's been 12.5 weeks, with 7.5 weeks to go and mentally I'm barely hanging on.

Last Saturday's 20 miler that began well, was a disaster in the middle (stomach issues), and exhausting (dehydration) at the end didn't help. The subsequent 24 hours of blood and mucous didn't thrill me either.

I need a vacation.

Dead Legs

Last week, I was completely shredded. Dead Leg City. Every step was like I was running in mud. Therefore, I took this week as a serious recovery/step-back week. I'm only running three times. However, two of those three runs are serious. On Tuesday, I ran 5 1600 repeats. On the treadmill of course at an elevation of 1. First mile after my 1 mile warmup was at 7:03 (speed warmup). Mile 2 was at 6:38. Mile 3 at 6:18 and miles 4 and 5 were at 6:00. The crazy thing was that I felt great. I haven't had a speed workout like that in years. I'm hoping that it wasn't an illusion. I'm running a casual 6 tomorrow and an 18 miler on Saturday, with 9 miles of it being at 6:48 pace. So while the mileage is down, I have two intense workouts.

Cutting back this week has been great. No falling asleep while driving and I've been strong for once. Next week, back to the 50 mile weeks.

One more note. I ran a 22 miler last Saturday. I don't know if other runners experience this, but when I stop running any time after 18 miles, the pain is so intense that I usually audibly moan in pain. It's only when I stop though. Very odd.

Warming Up

Today I learned the value of a good warmup. It's Tuesday. My speed workout day. Typically, I run a 1 mile warmup, then do a speed warmup 800 or 1600, running at right about marathon pace. Then, I go into my actual workout. Today, I was scheduled to run 5 1600s. However, I was running a little late and decided to forego my speed warmup. Big mistake. I was done after my 2nd 1600. Tried #3 and was almost thrown off the treadmill because I was already dead tired.

Now this might have been because I was dead tired. Five to six hours of sleep ten days in a row will do that, but I also think it was because the shock of not being properly warmed up completely threw my body for a loop.

The really funny thing is that I can run faster eight miles into a run than I can one mile into a run.

Last Week

51 miles last week. Pretty good week. Only 16 on Saturday, but that was planned. No real soreness. This week is a doozy. 57 miles, with a 22er on Saturday.

Artistic Purity

I was reading a post on Drew Carey as the new Price Is Right host on Metafilter earlier today and a comment on how Drew just lost all of his artistic purity credentials by selling out as a gameshow host caused me to laugh out loud. Just the phrase "artistic purity" cracks me up. I'll leave it to your imaginations as to why.

So this morning's run. Definitely lacking artistic purity. First, it was on a treadmill when it was about 63 degrees outside. Second, my treadmill was right in front of a television that had an infomercial on about double action colon cleansing. Now I'm not one to begrudge one's colon cleansing because I definitely don't want to be the guy that has 42 pounds of fecal matter in his intestines, but I would rather have watched SportsCenter or at the very least CNN (and the commentary on the Democratic-YouTube debate last night (BTW, Hillary won)), but no, I was forced to watch double action colon cleansing. How exactly is it double action? I'm glad you asked and if you find out, please let me know. All I know is that I'd like a shiny pink colon instead of the disgustingness that it is today. However, no ass punch please. I've been through two colonoscopies and the ass punch is truly terrible. Never have my co-workers been as horrified and empathetic as those two days that I had to take the ass punch at work.

I'm off track. Back to artistic purity. Let's recap. Treadmill despite beautiful weather and double action infomercial. Let's move on.

As I stated last week, I renewed my membership at the gym solely to use the treadmill for my interval/speed workouts. Today was day 1. Incline at 1.0. 1 mile warmup at 8:30 and then 7 (although I was supposed to do 9) half mile repeats. The first one was a warmup at 7:03 pace. Two and three were at 6:38 pace. Four, five, and six were at 6:18 pace. Seven was at 5:58 pace. At the end of the seventh, I was done. The legs were shot. However, it was a much better workout than any of my previous track sessions. Oh yea, I have only 7 more weeks of speed workouts. The outcome is still in doubt, but at least there is hope. My legs haven't felt this good in years. Defiling myself on the treadmill will definitely have been worth it if a sub-3 happens.

BTW, I am at my target racing weight. I've been struggling for weeks to lose that last three pounds and like magic, it just simply vanished this past week. I think it was the 50 mile week. My body simply finally surrendered. And no, I'm not looking emaciated. I've been focusing on my core and upper body as well (i.e., crunches, pushups, The Plank, curls, and back work before bed). No swinging the arms side to side on this runner.

Boring

The unfortunate thing about living in a nicer suburb is that my running experiences, unless I drive somewhere to run, are pretty boring. In NY, I'd be dodging and flipping off insane drivers and cyclists. I might even see a police chase. In CA, not so much. I just go and run.

Last week, I ran 47 miles. I missed one day because I decided that sleeping in on a recovery day would be a much nicer recovery than running a slow 6 miles. It was. However, I didn't cross the 50 mile mark for the week.

I did run a 20 miler on Saturday. I wasn't feeling it and I didn't get out until 8am, at which point, it was a sweltering 75 degrees (you think I'm joking, I'm not. It was hot.), so I didn't push it.

Not pushing it meant I ran 20 in 2:29 (7:28 miles). By the way, that tied my personal best for a 20 mile training run. Encouraging. However, well off the pace I was at for my 16 miler two weeks ago (7:10 miles). Tomorrow the treadmill calleth. Hopefully there aren't any insane retired Eastern Europeans with gold chains at the gym. Although at least I'd have an interesting entry.

Gin

Not the drink, the card game. I've been playing gin since I was six or seven and my grandfather taught me. He would pretty much smoke me every time as he is the ultimate card counter. However, as I grew older, I began to hold my own. As a result of my experience playing this game, I have never lost a match, except to my grandfather. A hand, yes. A game, yes, but never a match (5 games of 100 pts each). The closest I ever came to losing a match was to my friend Lee many years ago.

I taught Liz how go play several years ago and she has consistently gotten better, even winning games from time to time. We usually play a 100 point game during the evening.

Last night, I won 110 - 0.

Back to the Treadmill

Only on Tuesdays. My speed workouts just aren't happening on the track. Well, they are happening, but they just aren't fast enough. So next Tuesday I will be heading back to Ballys. Don't worry. Just Tuesdays.

Training

I should have begun posting about my weekly training weeks ago or at the minimum last week (as you'll soon find out), but here it is anyway. I'm eight weeks into a twenty week program. Last week, I ran a measley 36 miles. I was scheduled for 52, but I missed two days. The week before I ran 50, which is why I should have started this last week.

My schedule pretty much looks like this every week:

- M,W,F - 6 recovery miles (usually in the 7:40 - 7:50 range)
- Tu - track workout (alternating 800s and 1600s at 6:00 - 6:10 pace) - I'll talk more about these later
- Thurs - medium long run (10 - 13 miles) with hills with 4 to 5 miles being at tempo pace (6:30 and below)
- Sat - long run (16 - 24 miles at 7:30 pace for 50% to 75% and 6:48 pace for 25% to 50%)

It's a pretty demanding schedule. I hit my pace on all of my runs except for my track workouts, where I'm a little slow. Apparently running that fast early in the morning is extremely difficult. Also, the track bores me to tears. It's a little discouraging, but the long runs at marathon pace pick me back up to end the week.

I'm thinking of alternating hill repeats with my medium long run. Same total distance, but doing four big hills in the middle. That Veyo volcano scares me. I could easily lose 2 minutes on that thing.

No real injuries, although today my right hamstring is a little sore. Ok, more than a little.

I have had some interesting experiences on my long runs. My brother is a die hard triathlete and when we were talking a month or so ago, he mentioned that he was trying something new with his cycling. Instead of going for a high cadence, he was putting his bike into a big gear and keeping the same speed. He said something about this being recommended because it became more anaerobic and saved your heart for the run.

I decided to try this out while running. I typically have a shorter stride and focus on my leg turnover. I measured my heart rate with my usual stride/turnover/speed. I then ran with a longer stride/slower turnover/same speed and what do you know, my heart rate was about 3% lower. I've done this several times with the same results.

As a result of my results, I have now begun alternating normal stride/quicker turnover with longer stride/slower turnover during my long runs, particularly with the MP portion of my long runs and have found that I am able to keep up MP for a much longer time. I can't run for long periods of time with my longer stride/slower turnover, but I can run this way long enough that it acts as a recovery due to the slower heart rate even though my speed is constant.

So that's the report. This Saturday is my first 20 miler in about 3 months.

"Sorry Guys,

but my mom is making me get off the computer." Those were the words I read last night as a group of Alliance questers were trying to kill the last boss in a lower level dungeon in World of Warcraft. It had taken us 1.5 hours to get to the boss and this kid's mom was ruining our fun.

I have problems.

A Break From Running

I normally don't dive into politics or economics too seriously on this blog, primarily because my blog entries normally take five minutes and five minutes is not enough time to form a logical, coherent, defensible political or economic statement. The recent debate on the immigration issue caused me to think back to a paper I wrote while I was in business school. Remember that this was written in 2004 and that some of the numbers have changed and Greenspan is no longer at the Fed. Although not my best work, I thought that the topic was fairly interesting. My paper, probably not so much, but here it is. My position has changed a little, but not by much. The original paper had citations in it, but because this is a personal blog, I'm excluding them.

‘You know, Paul, Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.’ Whether or not Dick Cheney said this to Paul O’Neill is a matter for debate, but the underlying question remains. Do deficits matter? Is a large public debt a threat to a nation’s economy? Because the question is rather nebulous, I’m going to interpret the questions thusly, should the U.S. be concerned with the size and projected growth of its current debt? Our simple answer is no and our more sophisticated answer is also no, as long as certain criteria are met. Within this paper, we will address the risks and potential benefits of large deficits, why the current size of the debt does not matter, and why it will not matter going forward as long as certain conditions are met.

The opponents of a large public debt argue that the long-term economic health and social stability of a country are put at risk by this debt. Crowding out, a regressive distributional impact, a burden on future generations, and the diversion of revenues from social programs to interest payments are all familiar arguments against running large deficits.

Those in favor of a large public debt argue that the debt stimulates the markets, creating new ones in some cases, acts as a tax smoothing instrument, injects capital into the economy and provides a stimulus for growth, improves the infrastructure, and acts as an automatic demand stabilizer.

The question is who is right. Let me share a little story. One day at the Chateau Fuller, high up in the Sierra Nevadas overlooking Lake Tahoe, an enterprising young snowboarder surveyed the valley below and the mountain above. He reflected on his previous day’s ride through the valley and how nothing, not moguls, not rocks, not skiers, not newbie boarders got in his way. He was one with the mountain. Then he began to wonder what it would take to go up the mountain, aside from a ski lift, helicopter, or Snow Cat. He wondered about a magic snowboard that would defy the law of gravity and allow him to blaze up the mountain unabated; a magic snowboard so strong that he would be able to tow his friends along as well.

Obviously, or maybe not so obviously, this is an economic metaphor. The snowboarder is the U.S. economy. The velocity of our young friend is the well being of the economy or growth. The obstacles are, well, obstacles to growth. What about the magic snowboard? It represents policies that stimulate growth. Policies that promote and actually result in growth are the key in ensuring that deficits do not matter. As long as growth continues, deficits will not matter. And, as we discussed previously, one of the key benefits to a large public debt is its ability to stimulate growth. The question then is how does the U.S. ensure that when it is running a large deficit that growth continues? The answer is that it avoids the obstacles and provides stimuli.

Generally speaking, obstacles to growth include higher interest rates and higher taxes. The argument that many take as a wizard’s, or in this case, economist’s first rule is that deficits lead to a rise in interest rates and a rise in interest rates lead to the crowding out of the private sector and slower growth. Let’s take a look at some work that Robert J. Barro did in looking at the effects of deficits on interest rates in non-wartime periods. In 1833, the United Kingdom freed its West Indian slaves. As compensation to the slaveholders, the government provided the former slaveholders with a one-time payment. This compensation was funded primarily through debt. In addition, in 1909, legislative deadlock prevented the United Kingdom from levying any taxes. Again, the government was funded through the issuance of debt. In both of these cases, the large deficit that was created did not result in increases in the interest rate. A more recent example is the past twenty years. During the Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II years, large deficit spending occurred and interest rates were not affected. Currently rates are near all-time lows and the deficit as a percentage of GDP is lower today than it was during the Reagan and Bush I years. The argument here is that deficits do not lead automatically to rises in interest rates, which are analogous with slower growth.

During wartime, Barro’s evidence points to deficits in fact leading to a rise in interest rates. However, the debt that is issued during wartime is principally long-term debt. Today, the U.S. is primarily issuing short-term debt. 72% of all current debt issued by the U.S. is short-term, defined as being under five years. Regardless of whether the U.S. is considered to be in a current wartime state or not, Barro’s long-term debt and corresponding rise in interest rate evidence does not apply.

We come back to a possible rise in interest rates on the U.S.’s short-term debt. If a rise did occur, the U.S. could be under pressure to use inflation as a tool to lighten the burden on itself. The question hinges on whether or not this will happen. The simple answer is no. It is a political economy question. Alan Greenspan says inflation is under control. Inflation has been under control the past 25 years, times of large deficits included. Greenspan’s word is as good as God’s. Governments and people believe him as he pronounces his edicts from on high. If governments and people believe him, then they will not ask for higher interest rates on the U.S.’s short-term debt. As long as the economy continues to grow, demand for higher rates will not happen. In addition, Asian governments such as Japan’s have a vested interest in keeping the U.S. economy going. Their insatiable demand for U.S. debt, as a result of their desire to keep their currencies from rising against the dollar, is crowding out any type of crowding out.

We’ve discussed the obstacles to our magic snowboard. Now, let’s discuss the stimuli. Deficits and tax cuts are the stimuli that will keep our snowboard out of harm’s way. When the government injects capital into the economy and cuts taxes on corporations and people, it spurs growth. Companies have more cash to invest and rely less on debt. This growth leads to higher tax revenues, which in turn enable the U.S. to pay back its debt and lower the deficit.

As we can see, deficit spending and lower tax cuts go hand in hand with growth. They create a positive growth feedback loop. So what is the big deal? Why have the CBO and every other economist worth his or her salt projected huge deficits at current tax levels beginning in 2014? It’s the boomers. The boomers will begin to retire. They will generally begin to leave the tax-paying workforce, move to Florida, and begin to collect social security. This is potentially a huge problem. Without the tax receipts from these boomers and with entitlements going to more people, the U.S. could be in big trouble. To pay these entitlements, taxes would need to be raised, which again, will slow down growth. The deficit will widen. However, taxes won’t be raised and the deficit will not widen.

The CBO projections account for stable population growth. Immigration growth is not included as a major contributing factor. Maybe the CBO should have spoken to the Center for Immigration Studies. The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) and the Census Bureau estimate that by 2050, the U.S. population will increase to 550 million. That’s almost double the current population. Why will people from other countries be coming here? Supply and demand. The growth of the U.S. economy leads to job creation. Job creation leads to the need for more workers. People immigrate to the U.S. to take these jobs. In addition, the boomers will be retiring and replacements will be needed. These are additional taxpayers that will fund the additional entitlements the retirees are due.

There are 76 million baby boomers. Let’s divide them into two main groups. 39 million will be eligible under current social security rules for benefits in 2021. 37 million will be eligible for benefits in 2039. Based on the CIS and Census Bureau data, let’s assume 100 million additional tax paying Americans by 2021 and roughly 200 million by 2039. Granted not all are tax payers, but the numbers are there to support the boomers. It will not be a crisis. Immigration solves the problem of possibly having to increase taxes to pay off the debt and to pay the boomers what is due to them.

The population increase leads to the normal deficit cycle of deficits going up and down as the business cycle goes up and down, funding recessions with deficits and paying them back when we have surplus.

Deficits and low taxes go hand in hand with our friend growth. Do deficits matter? They can, but under the right conditions, which are being fostered now, they will not.

Catching the Rabbit

I wanted to have some reggae music playing in the background and then make up some very clever running lyrics that went to Bob Marley's "I Shot The Sherriff" and when I got about half-way through it I realized that it was probably the dumbest, corniest, embarrassing thing I had ever written. And that's saying something. It's not often that I blush at my own writing. I realize that I am not as clever as I think I am and that I say and write things that at the time I think are amazingly witty, but upon reflection are just plain dumb. I'm not sure how Liz puts up with it. Another reason to keep my mouth shut. You keep your mouth shut and people thing you are introspective, thoughtful, and intelligent. The reality is that I'm just barely smart enough to realize that my best chance in life is to keep silent and keep tricking others. It's worked so far. Here's hoping to another 40 years of successful silence.

Anyways (not a good transition, I know, but it's the best I could come up with), I caught the rabbit last week. It was a minor miracle, not because I only ran 7:00s, but because I ran into a skunk about a mile into the run and he didn't want to leave the path. I almost was doused, but fortunately about 6 feet before I came upon the kitty and was about to say, "Hi kitty, looks like the Grizzley Bear didn't find you", I saw a huge tail go up and sprinted backwards. I didn't realize I was so quick. I could play tennis, although that really wouldn't fit into the endurance athlete macho persona that I'm trying to foster. All 150 lbs of macho. Yea baby. You better watch out. Yes, I've dropped 4 lbs. I'm about 3 lbs shy of my target weight. (Maybe that's why Liz made me 2 dozen delicious gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. I ate 10 for breakfast. Hey, I was hungry. Now I just need a chocolate milk dispenser and we'll be good to go.)

So the rabbit run is on again tomorrow. Need to drop my tempo run speed by another 20 seconds per mile over the next couple of weeks if I am to have any chance of making my goal. Here's to the slow down of old age (for any of my friends that have access to the pharmaceutical "Fountain of Youth", please give me a call. I'm in serious need. Just don't tell Liz.)

Smooth

I'm a smooth runner. My form is smooth, my breathing is smooth, my stride is smooth. No wasted motion. Efficient. It's what enables me to be a decent runner. Smoothness translates into comfort. When I run, I'm comfortable. There is no haggard breathing, no wild swinging of the arms across the body, no anything that would cause me to be uncomfortable. I'm grown comfortable with my comfortable style of running and look what I've done. I've run 5 marathons. I've BQ'd. I've run Boston. It's all been very smooth, very easy. That's not to say that I haven't worked for it, but just that working for it has been easy. That's not the case right now.

Right now, comfortable running leaves at around 6:50 pace. That's a problem. My training calls for running at least once a week and sometimes twice a week distances between 8 and 12 miles at 6:20 pace. Right now, it's not happening. Whether it is the increased mileage, which has given me a mild case of dead legs, overall exhaustion of only getting 6 hours of sleep a night, or my legs just not wanting to turn over quickly enough (the secret to running fast is leg turnover, not increased stride. Your stride is your stride.), I am unable to ratchet up to a higher gear for longer periods of time. Again, this is a problem for someone who needs to run 6:50 miles for 26.2 miles. Training at 6:50 just won't cut it on race day.

I've now completed my first two out of twenty weeks of training. My legs feel like iron. I'm strengthening my core. I've stopped drinking soda completely. I'm weighing myself about six times a day (my ideal race weight is 147. Theoretically, you gain a second a mile for every ounce you lose. I have about 6 pounds to lose). I'm eating right (I'm only getting a bacon cheeseburger with fries and ranch instead of a double bacon cheeseburger with fries and ranch). I'm in the mode. The legs just won't go where they need to go comfortably.

To rectify this problem, I incorporated strides into my easy workouts starting today. Strides are 100m sprints that you do at the end of an easy 4 to 6 mile run. I'm also going to start doing light track workouts at the end of my other easy days. Gotta get those legs going. It won't be comfortable, but I'm hoping that by changing my training strategy at this point, that I will be able to slowly increase my comfortable pace speed.