We don't need no education...

Scientists at Harvard have stumbled upon a formula to prevent runners from "hitting the wall"... BRILLIANT!!! Apparently, Benjamin Rapoport adopts a similar strategy to me while trying to distract himself from the fact that he is running 26.2 miles... MATH. While I stick to figuring out what percentage of the race I have completed, what my current pace is, how much that will change if I start crawling... Rapoport has dedicated his efforts to coming up with The Marathon Formula:

Mc = d*m*fc(i)

where Mc represents the amount of carbohydrates needed, d is the distance of the race (km), m is the mass of the runner, and fc(i) is an intensity factor (related to how fit you are). There is an online calculator available for figuring out what you should be able to do. Ok, here is where things get interesting. When I plug in my metrics, it tells me a "conservative marathon" for me is what I just killed myself to do at Steamtown. And, if I "really push myself", I can run at a pace well over a minute faster than I can for a 5K... and qualify for the US Olympic time trials. AWESOME, that is totally realistic... I'll get right to eating those 15 bowls of pasta!

I'm guessing the formula might need some tweaking, but it is a good first start. The article definitely got me thinking more about the importance of carbo loading, just maybe not quite to the extent discussed (I'm pretty sure I would throw up at around mile 3 if I ate that much 12hrs before)! #20