difference in our comfortable paces, so they would have to rely on their own discipline to run their miles. Their different school schedules did not permit them torun together. They were really on their own. Michele was 15 and involved in cross-country during the months prior to the marathon. I told her she needed to do additional running to prepare, but I don’t think she ever did. Mike was 12; I think he did about half the running I told him to do. No pressure from me.

Nevertheless, on December 12, 1976, Mike and Michele and Dad raced the Honolulu Marathon. The only downside was that our different paces didn’t allow us to run together. I finished in 3:15:08, so I could watch Mike and Michele finish. I caught sight of Mike when he had about 150 meters to go. Mike was striding toward the finish as if he had just taken aturn around the block. [had an emotional rush unequaled in my life before or since. He crossed the line in 3:41:16 and said he was “alittle tired.” He said a 5-minute pit stop cost him achance to beat another kid about his age. So then he and I and the rest of the family started looking for Michele. When we saw her, she was carrying a shoe in each hand; they had been bothering her so sheran the final four miles of the marathon barefoot. She was running like she was on a social run. She reached the finish in 4:00:21.

The bottom line: If your kids want to road race, including racing a marathon, recommend that you give them proper instruction, gently supervise

their preparation, don’t nag or hassle

them, and let ’em go! The key words

here are “kids want” and “gently.” Gordon Hartshorn The Colony, Texas

As long as children are training on their own, and not because their parents make them or want them to, and they are doing it for themselves, all the more power to them. I thinkif you write a story about this topic, you should include Lane Cooper, a youngster who has run several ultramarathons.

I would like to learn more about the boy on the cover of your November/December issue. How old is he? Didhe finish the marathon and in what time and what kind of training he did do? If he did finish, I’d like his address or e-mail address so I can write to congratulate him.

Larry Phillips Highland, N.Y.

THE “ZONE” DIET

Thank you very much for your magazine—I devour each issue. I am a medical doctor who is a specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation. I practice natural medicine and utilize herbs, vitamins, and diet to help my patients heal and prevent diseases. Iam also a marathoner.

Thave to disagree with the answers given in the November/December issue about the appropriateness of the “Zone” Diet for long-distance runners. Common sense says that there is

no one “best” diet for everyone. Obviously a long-distance runner in Canada, where it is often cold, is going to have to eat differently than someone running all the time in the southern Californian sun. The Canadian runner is going to have to eat more protein than his fellow runner in southern California.

You can take a simple test called metabolic typing to find out what kind of diet is best for you. Should you be eating a high-carbohydrate diet or a high-protein diet? Metabolic typing involves taking a glucose tolerance test and having pH readings taken of your urine, blood, and saliva while in the fasting state.

If youneed a high-protein “Zone” diet, you will be somewhat hypoglycemic on the glucose tolerance test, during which you will be given ahighcarbohydrate drink after having fasted for 15 hours. Every 30 minutes your blood glucose is checked. If your blood sugar goes below normal at any time during the test, you are considered hypoglycemic or a fast oxidizer of carbohydrates. Sucha person needs to be on a high-protein diet; otherwise you will have a decrease in energy 1 to 2 hours after a high-carbohydrate meal because your blood sugar will drop. This is why some people feel like snoozing at 2:00 in the afternoon. Inevitably that person’s last meal was a high-carbohydrate meal.

If you fit this category, you’d do better during a race if you didn’t have

an electrolyte drink containing fructose, dextrose, or sucrose init, as such a drink would drop your blood sugar below normal. You should drink a complex carbohydrate, such as Maltodextrin.

During metabolic typing a fast oxidizer of carbohydrates will also have a fasting urine that is alkaline and blood pH that is acid. These are both indications that a higher protein diet is needed. [call sucha persona “lion,” and that person needs to eat like alion. Such a person needs to eat pumpkin seeds, fish, chicken, steak, and other high-protein sources.

Colder weather tends to acidify the blood, and this is probably why a higher-protein diet is needed, as it balances out the pH.

All enzyme systems of the body work most efficiently at a very narrow blood pH range. If the blood pH gets out of this narrow range, then the first thing that happens is that the person gets tired because the body can’t efficiently produce energy. To get the blood pH up, some people need a high-protein diet. If such a person is a runner, the “Zone” diet will help improve running times.

Ross A. Hauser, MD Chicago, Ill.

Send your letters to Marathon & Beyond

—. wu

GOING EXTRA LONG. After a 10-year layoff, I’ve returned to running and want to do marathons again. I’m 45, with a 3:27 PR. My job makes it difficult for me to train more than two weekdays each week. Can I make up for this shortcoming by running extra long on Saturdays and Sundays?

Will Cummins Seattle, Wash.

THE MOST important training session in preparing for a marathon is your long training run. However, this session imposes a stress on your muscles and joints, and, as a result, places you at risk for injury. Therefore, long runs should only be attempted after you have a sufficient background of base training. It is not clear from your letter how much background training you have completed.

However, assuming that you can run 10 miles continuously, I would suggest that you gradually increase this distance by one mile per week until you are able to run 15 miles. At this stage you can start experimenting with your back-to-back training sessions. Start by running 10 miles followed by 8 miles the next day. If you are able to build this session up to 18 miles followed by 12 miles the next

day, you will be adequately prepared for the marathon. Preferably youneed to peak your training about four weeks before the race and then start your taper.

There are physiological reasons supporting long back-to-back runs. By starting the second run with low muscle glycogen concentrations, the muscles “learn” to produce energy from other sources, such as fat. This is a favorable adaptation and one that helps you resist fatigue in the marathon.

One word of caution: Don’t get stuck in the mindset of trying to achieve what you did 10 years ago. Instead, start afresh and set new goals that are compatible with your age and

your training status.

—Michael Lambert, PhD,

is with the Department of Physiology at the Sports Science Institute of South Africa and a member of the M&B Science Advisory Board.

DEPENDING ON your time goal, youcan successfully complete a marathon on three days a week. I would focus on gradually increasing the pace and tempo of your two weekday runs, eventually getting them to your lactate threshold pace (10-mile race pace).

Do this by building up with fartlek runs (e.g., 3 minutes at 10-mile race pace, followed by 3 minutes easy, building up to eight repetitions). Then