Nine days. Count’em. That’s one day less than ten days. Drumming my fingers on my desk…..

Okay – so honestly – it’s time to start filling in the blanks for race day. There are two things that are missing right now – my race plan and my evening before and morning of plans. today I’ll make an attempt to tackle the first half of my race plan – the Start Line and my Pace Plan.

First things first. I’m old enough now to realize that once you get out of school, plagiarism is acceptable. Interestingly enough, have you tried to Google “Marathon Race Plan”? Nada.

I can’t believe that I’m writing this this late in the game. Ten days until the Big Day and my body is trying to fight off a cold. I feel like a truck has hit me. Apparently I’m not the only one – check out this blog post from KNBC News Anchor Chris Schauble: http://www.nbclosangeles.com/station/as-seen-on/Iron-News-Man—March-10-2010-87228927.html. He writes today he’s feeling better. I can only hope the same….

So this got me thinking. I’ve been running for 18 weeks through cold, wind, rain (well okay – rain a couple of times) and I’ve been pretty healthy. So what gives? I slow down one week and whamo!

Often referred to as “after-burn”, EPOC stands for excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. It is the actual amount of energy (calories) that the body continues to burn post-exercise.

I speak often about high intensity interval training (HIIT) on Catapult Fitness Blog. HIIT is done by alternating brief periods or high intensity work (85% or more) with a brief recovery period. HIIT is an example of an anaerobic exercise, which means that an inadequate amount of oxygen is being delivered to working muscles during the course of the exercise.

When inadequate oxygen is available lactic acid is produced.

So, I was watching the hockey game last night (L.A. Kings (yea!) 6-0 plastering of the Columbus Blue Jackets), when all of a sudden, Marathon (my new pet) jumped up and made a beeline for the underbrush. Something had spooked the crap out of him. Poor fellow.

Here’s the deal. The Los Angeles Marathon sent their official “Final Race Instructions” email. Anyone who has not grown up or lived in L.A. for a while might be a little intimidated. Some of the gems:

• “You must wear your Bib on the front of your shirt and leave the B-Tag attached to your bib.

Okay – I made it to week 2. Some of the things that I will be thinking about and doing this week:

• Taking it eas(ier): I’ll be maintaining intensity but cutting back on volume.  Last night I pulled off 6 miles at an average pace of 9:28. My longest run will be this weekend at 8 miles. Nothing else over 6 for the week. Sunday’s run will be in the two mile range. I could get used to this.
• Eating: I’ll be putting a little greater emphasis on carbs this week. But – I’m not going overboard!

I’ve been watching a repeat of the 2009 Alpine Skiing World Cup on Universal Sports this evening and found it absolutely amazing how Lindsey Vonn is able to obliterate the competition.

Mind you, while she won the overall 2009 World Cup, she actually only placed first in 2 downhills last year — Lake Louise, Canada and the race I just watched in Are, Sweden (the last downhill event of 2009). The race in Are, Sweden was the start of good things for Lindsey who to date has won 6 downhill events in 2010, not including her Olympic Gold.

I’ve been more than curious in regards to what Lindsey’s workout entails and after a bit of digging came across this video:

A note of caution: Unstable surface training is risky business if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Life sometimes has a way of conspiring with our wishes and desires to make things happen. Such was my day yesterday. I needed to (well maybe not *needed*, but definitely *should have*) hit the trails for a 6 mile run. But, one thing led to another led to another, and before I knew it, it was late in the day. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned here before, but one of the things I do to keep the peace in the Jones household is cook dinner on the weekends. (It’s not really that bad.

I adopted a pet today. His name is Marathon:

He will be my constant companion for the next three weeks. Some of his endearing qualities:

• Tapirs near a water source will swim, sink to the bottom to allow small fish to pick parasites off their bulky bodies.
• Along with fresh water lounging, tapirs often wallow in mud pits.
• The thick skin on the backs of their necks helps to protect them from threats.
• When threatened, the creatures are able to run fairly quickly, considering their size and cumbersome appearance, and find shelter in the thick undergrowth of the forest or in water.

I think Marathon and I will get along quite well….

Twelve nice and easy miles in the books. My last double digit training run before the Big Day. I took the opportunity to check out a couple things from my list:

• Clothing: Apparently my body is still changing. My favorite marathon shorts (Adidas with built in compression shorts) fits a lot looser that I remember. I had a problem with the shorts riding down on my hips and the compression shorts riding up into my nether regions. I fixed it by cinching the drawstrings a little tighter. Ouch! I need to remember that on race day….
• Fueling on the run: I was able to rip the little top off the Hammer Gels and get them down while moving.

I’ve been spending a considerable amount of time answering questions on the Jillian Michael’s message forum recently and one issue that keeps popping up is not being able to afford to eat healthy.

As one poster wrote: I don’t make very much money right now and I don’t have the funds to buy healthy groceries. I don’t want to fail this time, what should I do?

Fact is, you can eat healthy and cost effectively by being a savvy shopper and spending a little time in the kitchen.

Yes, it takes some work and is certainly not as simple as take-out or ‘convenience food’, but it will be well worth the effort not only from a weight loss perspective, but for your general health as well.

Guidelines include:

1.