I just got off of the line from the second marathon questions call. There were not very many people on the call, so I think that I might go back to having the calls on the weekends as there were 3 times more people on the line. I did not get any questions from anyone listening; once I started recording nobody wanted to speak any more, so I went through the questions that I received and answered them.

My plan is to edit the recording tomorrow evening, so I should have a replay hopefully available tomorrow night. For members of Marathoning.org, the transcript will be available next week some time.

This evening, I answered 8 questions. Here they are, in the order that I answered them:

• “I’ve run 4 marathons when I just finished college. I was a pretty decent runner, my best time was 3:37:27. But, I had to stop because I was getting WAY TOO SKINNY, I am 6 foot tall, and I was weighing in the 130lbs range. now I’m 26 years old and a healthy/muscular 180-190lbs and like the size I am. But I miss Running, and a friend just challenged me to a marathon 10 months from now (the marine corps marathon). How do get back that training/running shape and time with out dropping 50lbs like before? I’ve been running about 4 to 10 mile per week, so do still run regularly, I just had to turn it down because of how light I became. Thanks, Jeff McKnight” (Jeff McKnight)
• “What do you recommend eating in the hours before a marathon (carbs only? protein?) and when do you recommend taking a gel right before the race starts?” (Bill)
• “Is there anything wrong with running races on weekends that are of the same length as a scheduled training run? For instance do a 1/2 marathon in place of a weekend long run of 12-15 miles and skip the tempo run that week?” (Bill)
• “Hi, I am an old runner…have been running for 30 years. Recently, I have developed soreness in both knees after a longer run (8-13 miles). The soreness is gone the next day. I run about 25 miles per week or less. What do you think might be my problem? No pain, just real soreness.” (Patti Cardwell)
• “How long should your longest training run be?” (Norm)
• “I have been training since Feb 07 for a marathon in Feb 08. I am up to 20 miles at a 16:30 pace. The race is 4 weeks away and I am getting nervous. What is the one thing I can do to make sure my mind is ready.” (Paula)
• “I run six days a week and have one day off on which I do some light strength training. My goal for the next marathon is to finish in about 2:45h. My current best time is 2:51h. I’m currently asking myself if it is better to slightly reduce my weekly mileage and instead do some more strength training. Can you comment on that? What is your opinion?” (Daniel)
• “When I run my heel hits the ground first and then the rest of my foot, how can i become a front foot runner which I was told that I can improve on my speed when my front foot hits the ground first and then the heel.” (John)

If you have a website and would like to be linked up, then just leave a comment or shoot me an email and I will update this post as well as the future posts about the call that include your question.