Here are 22 principles that have stuck with me as a result of decades of training, competing and coaching.

I have been thinking a lot about the Boston Marathon this week: The race is on Monday. Here are some thoughts that new Boston runners (and even those who have run it) may find helpful.

Focus your training where you get the biggest payoff. For most triathletes, that's biking, the longest race segment.

What's your race plan? Usually we run best with a plan going into the race. Sometimes it goes out the window because of conditions, whether they be weather, illness, injury, mindset or something that happens in the race. But, still, its best to have a plan.

Don't over-stride. It promotes heel strike, which stresses the leg and knee. Over-striding is inefficient.

Swimming is highly technical. Start with working on improving your technique before swimming distance.

Be early to your race to avoid unneeded stress. Save your adrenaline for the race!

Do these four workouts weekly to be a better runner.

Training camps in one form or another have been part of my athletic life since I was 12 years old, the youngest boy on my high school's cross country team.

Runner and triathlete friends, have you planned your 2018 races? Do you have your training plan ready? Are you now training for the big race? If the big race is near, are you following a periodized progression, peaking and recovery plan? If it's far, are you targeting other races and working on the base, lactate threshold, VO2 max, strength and nutrition that you need to excel?

For the wind on my face,. because I can, to challenge myself, for the thrill of the race.

I can taste it! I am so close to qualifying for the Boston Marathon.

Needless to say, I have learned many lessons from my marathoning, many of them what not to do. Here are several thoughts that I hope my fellow runners find helpful, even if they are just reminders.

The advent of fall racing calls on us to shift gears, and taper for our target (A) race. Here are questions I ask of myself and my athletes at this juncture:

Anxiety is a natural state leading into a big race, especially when the race is new to you and is an out-of-the-ordinary challenge. Race anxiety is self imposed, a form of approach-avoidance.

The lesson that I have to periodically relearn is that whatever recovery is built into the training schedule, be ready to adjust the schedule based on what your body is telling you. If the message you are getting is that you need more rest, active or passive, take it!

As a strong climber both in running and biking, I actually look forward to hills (except when I am already in extremis in a race).

Nine seconds. In swimming, track and auto racing, nine seconds are a lifetime. In a 5K, nine seconds often are the separation between the podium and not medaling. Even in marathoning and Ironman racing, nine seconds can be the difference between qualifying for the Boston Marathon or Ironman Hawaii and going home disappointed.

Two recent articles on runblogrun.com1,2 by Jeff Benjamin (brought to my attention by Coach Jim Spivey) offer fun retrospectives on racing by Olympic Marathon gold medalist Frank Shorter and multiple Boston Marathon winner Bill Rodgers. We (meaning Frank, Bill and I) are the same age, with Frank a few months older than me and Bill a day younger than me. And, we are all runners and Frank and I have both competed successfully in multisport events.

I have taken a deep drive into research on running stride, to see what the evidence suggests about what might be the ideal stride and how to attain it. Thank me now. I have read the research so you don't have to (unless you really enjoy being a geek runner like me!).