What's the big deal about abs!!!!!

So I'm four weeks into my training for UWI 1/2 and I must say that this training programme is testing my committment to consistent training. I have always liked sleeping in late. For me, getting up before 5:30 am, especially on weekends is unheard of. But in order to follow my training programme I need to get up early and this means dragging myself from the tv at night so that I could go to bed and get enough sleep so that I could have a good run the next morning. There have been times when I've left my house wishing that I could still be curled up under the sheets somewhere in dreamland and then there are the times when its ridiculously humid and you feel like all the energy is being drained out of your body. But all in all I cannot say that I regret making this committment. I am too excited about this race to not follow my programme through to the end.

So far the runs have been good. I've completed a total of 106 miles over the past four weeks. I bought new trainers in July and the soles are already beginning to wear down so that means I'll be shopping for new shoes at the end of the month.

But  one challenge that I must say I have faced is the quest the for stronger abs. I have been on a quest for this for a long time and I can't seem to apply the perfect formula that would give the abs that I want. Despite the fact that I have lost a considerable amount of inches on my waistline, I must admit that I am not yet quite satisfied, especially since I've learnt that strong core muscles result in more stabilty when you run and decreases your likelihood of sustaining injury. I read somewhere that even though we feel that while we are running most of the work is done below the waistline, it is the core musles that are hard at work trying to maintain stability; helping you to maintain good posture during long runs.

Its seems that everyone has a different solution to offer. One person told me you don't neccesarily need to change your diet you just need to do plenty abdominal exercises and that will be fine. And someone else said that you must complement your ab workout with cardio so that you can burn that fat and then do the ab exercises. This I think makes more sense than the first suggestion but what about the issue of food? I've heard eating too much carbs can deter fat loss. But I am faced with a dilemma as to how I can achieve a balance. As someone who is running almost everyday of the week I need carbs for energy so how do I know when I've crossed the threshold; that I have consumed enough carbs to refuel after a long run. I haven't been able to find the answer to that question as yet. I'm doing some online research and I hope that I could find a workable solution. If you have any suggestions, feel free to leave your comments.

I'm also searching the web for some ab exercises that I could use...Stay tuned to find out what I come up with.  If you have any websites that you can recommend feel free to post them and I'll be sure to check them out.