Focus, concentration, internal conversation, planning and visualization are all key elements to a successful mind game in pushing your body past the limits of your own belief.

In this episode I talk about the basics of most training programs, and discuss items such as the maximum weekly distance you should run each week, the number of weeks you should train, and the length of your longest “long run‿. You need to determine the best training schedule for yourself that will help you meet and surpass your own goals. For some of you, just finishing a race of any distance will be a satisfying achievement.

Those New Year resolutions we make for ourselves should be balanced with a promise of altruism. Use the occasion of this new year to help change the world for the better, both for yourself and for others.

Runners are both patient and understanding. We’ve found something to improve the quality of our lives and should make some effort to save the non-runners from themselves. We should not be afraid to be laughed at or ridiculed, if we can save another human being from the fate of inert uniformity.

It’s important to dress warm and in layers. The fabric available on the market today is on par with the most advanced space suits constructed by NASA.

Since it’s the season to be jolly and all that, I list four gadgets that a geekoid runner like myself would love to receive during the Holidays, or any time of the year that you’re in the mood to give.

I discuss eating for runners, and go through the basics that your Mom probably gave you as you were growing up. I mention some “fad‿ diets, and talk about an interesting study in the Britich Medical Journal that justifies a daily consumption of wine and chocolate! (How cool is that?!)

Bill Rogers is one of the most respected, influential distance runners in the United States, having won the Boston Marathon and New York Marathons four times each. He’s run a total of 57 marathons in all, 28 of them in under 2:15.

Diatribe – a noun meaning a bitter, abusive denunciation. From the Latin “diatribe‿ meaning learned discourse and the Greek “Diatribee‿ which itself is derived from the word “diatribeen‿ made up of the prefix “dia‿ meaning completely and Tribeen‿ meaning to run. This PodCast includes what I can only consider to be “rambling diatribes‿ when I’m out here running along the back roads of Central Massachusetts. My use of the term is intended to explain the gloppy streams of consciousness that dribbles out of my head while I’m out here running in an oxygen deprived state.

Each of us needs to find a way to fill the void, to recapture that incredible feeling we had when we were climbing that Mt. Everest of running events. The experience of the Marathon Blues is common, and the cure is as easy as lacing up your running shoes.