Music or Not...

People are always curious about listening to music while they are racing or training. My thought is this... if you train with it on a normal basis and it does not hinder your running, then wear it... However, I do not recommend running with music on every run because it is important to listen to your feet as you run. Racing and listening to music is your call... for shorter races which require more speed, no way..., but for the distance of a marathon, I am thinking about making it part of my routine because at that distance your body has ups and downs and the music helps me take my mind off of things. A down to that is you must be aware of your body... getting caught in the moment of the song may cause you to suffer from too much speed... too early and force you to slow. Have a race plan and music plan... Plus, new batteries wouldn't hurt.

The Long Run

When should I incorporate my long run during the weekly run? Basically, I look at two key components to incorporating the long run...
1) How long is the race?
The distance of your race will usually dictate the distance of your long runs.
2) What day is the race on?
If it is a longer race, have the day of the week in which the race is run be your long run day.

Getting Serious

The Inaugural IMS Arizona Marathon is just over 3 months away. At this point, you should have committed yourself to a training routine for the marathon or half-marathon. If you would like to meet and discuss your progress and get some additional coaching, please checkout the webpage, http://vulture75.tripod.com , for adult practice times and days. For those who have been unsure in their training, it is still not too late to have a program designed to meet your needs.

Proper Eating

Yes, what do you eat to get your best performance? Personally, I tend to be safe with what I eat and not experiment. I usually recommend to not eat anything of a substantial quantity within 2 hours of a race (a small fruit snack or piece of a plain bagel or your food of choice should be sufficient about 30 minutes prior to a warm-up to keep fuel in the tank). If it's a shorter and faster race, eat even further out from race time. A shorter and faster race will usually get the stomach more easily irritated. Typically, eat what you do normally before your training runs.