I am entering the 8th week of marathon training and it’s time to sit down and evaluate my performance. I was on target until the end of the 3th. week. I noticed harder speed workouts in the track. It was not because I didn’t do miles during the week, or because I was tired. It was because I have to carry more weight. I knew I was overweight or at least with more pounds than normal at the beginning of the program but I did not know that the extra weight will stay in the system even with the average of 30 miles a week.  Power walks, ez runs, recovery runs and long runs are ok because I am not putting speed, but track workouts are killing me.  I do the same eating than last year. Ceral w/ fruit, orange juice for breakfast, tea and cliff bar at mid morning, salad, tuna, or leftovers for lunch, cliff bar & tea in mid afternoon, homemade food, rice and a piece of meat for dinner. Occasionally, one or two sodas over the weekend and some chips. The diet is not different than when I was in my top performance 2 years ago. I am starting to think that at my age 47, 2 years is a whole lot difference. My system does not assimilate food as well as before.  I need to look more closely for the right type of ingredients so I don’t go hungry and feed my appetite and shape off some pounds at the same time.  I have to admit that my weight is not over the charts, 160 and I am 5’7”, it’s okay but if I want to be competitive enough to have a little chance to qualify to kona, I need to do it. I also have to admit that this is the beginning of a long training program. I hope the long runs coming up for the next 4 weeks help me to get rid off the extra pounds.