Article on why you should eat before your workout

Nate, this one is for you :)

http://lifehacker.com/5817306/eat-before-you-work-out-to-bur n-fat-without-losing-muscle

I always do a 45g protein shake , makes me wonder if I should add alittle carbs as well. The crazy thing is you can find articles that say the opposite as well. Very confusing! All I know is if I do the marathon I don't want to let go of much of the muscle I have spent the last year killing myself to build.

Do you think 1-2 mid range runs a week (6-9 miles) and 1 long run is enough cardio to train for a marathon so I can still get 3 days of lifting in? I seem to feel better when I split them. One other question, I know you continue lifting while training for events. Do you go all out in leg training or to you go lighter so you can run without soreness?

i know, it is confusing, you can definitely find "studies" and articles for just about any point of view.

when i trained for the goofy, i only ran 3 days a week to avoid injury.  i did a speed day, a tempo/medium day, and a long day during the weekend.  i tried to not do back-to-back days until the end to avoid injuries and that was only to get my body ready specifically for the goofy.

i laid off strength training my legs for the first marathon and i think that was a mistake, i kept it in for the goofy last year and that coupled with less running (luckily) kept me injury free for the most part.  i would be careful to schedule your leg strength training so you have plenty of time for recovery both before and after your long runs.  recovery is key for marathon training.  in fact, during the last 5 or 6 weeks i only put in 4 days a week total for all workouts.

McArthur just posted what I was going to post.

I used the FIRST training plan for my first half marathon and they have one for a marathon too. Now I do it on my own because, with the injury, I have to throw the plan out of the window constantly and also I can't do speed work. But I still try to follow the basic outline of the FIRST plan.

Their plan is designed to avoid injuries and to have time to cross-train.

http://marathon.harvard.edu/images/first_first.pdf

wow.  i just made my plan up based on my needs, it is really darn close to that FIRST plan.  thanks for posting.

Really? I figured you were being all scientific and had read it somewhere. :-D

With my injury, I can't do speed work. But I still try to use the principles. So I do a short run on Tues. I try to keep it to around half my "long" run. Then I do 1-1.5 miles off the bike on Thurs. for brick training. On Sunday I do my "long" run which is just over 5 miles at this point. LOL

At some point, the Tues. run will turn into a tempo run but right now I can't run faster than about 12 min. miles without killing my knee and hip. My goal right now is to increase the distance I can run without having to stop and walk.