First London Marathon!!!!!

Hi - just found out I have a place in the London Marathon next year and need all the help & advice I can get!!!!!! Any tips out there for a novice like me?!!

How did you find out so early ? thought it wasnt until October ?

Charity?

3.30 or bust - you're right that it's not until October that we hear the results.

GFA Entries are confirmed already too.

I'm in and it'll be my first London. The best possible advice is to spend the next few months, up to the 16th December getting used to running lots of miles.

When you start an 18 week plan you need to find the training levels comfortable already, which means having done long runs of up to 16 miles and weekly volumes of 50 plus wherever possible.

Not knowing what your current level is I'd say start now if you are a complete novice, don't leave it till December when most plans start.

If you are a novice I wouldn't try running 50 miles a week!

build up gradually from whatever level you are at now. Have you done any running at all?

Get yourself to HM fitness by Christmas and then find a 16 week marathon plan that fits your targets for the big day.  But all of the above will depend where you are at now

I applied via the Tadworth Children's Trust last week, they e-mailed me on Friday! So far, the most I have managed to run is 3 miles! I'm thinking of trying the jog / walk training that I've seen on line from the end of September, also theres a local 5k at the end of October but not sure if I should be aiming higher?

There's also the couch to 5k programme that's popular.  Get started now

Can never start too early.  Currently doing around 40 to 45 miles a week plus gym session.  Will ramp it up in January.  Besides I enjoy doing long runs.

Good for you Surrey Runner. Good luck with the training

Hilary: congratulations on your place, and on starting thinking about this now, not waiting until January.

Start running regularly now and gradually increasing what you do. I'd suggest starting with three runs a week, always with at least one rest day in between runs.  Find an online "couch to 5K" programme and see how far along that you are - if you can run 3 miles, you're there already (5k is 3.1 miles) so you could already go find a local parkrun and do that on Saturdays - they're great, fun, friendly and free! (Just remember to register online beforehand and take your parkrun ID with you). 

Once you've got to the end of a 5K programme, find say a 10-12 week half-marathon training program (they usually require you to be able to run 20-30 minutes in one go at the start) and follow that - try to find an actual half-marathon to do when you get to the end (a nice friendly local one, perhaps). Once you've completed that, start a marathon training programme appropriate for your speed. If you think it's too early to start the marathon programme, then start increasing the length of your long slow run, and work up to four or even five runs a week.

Note: once you get to a marathon training programme, I'd advise you to start it at least two weeks early - so, if it's a 16-week programme, try to start it 18 weeks before the marathon. That way, if you're out of running for a week or two at any point due to illness (e.g. bad cold) or injury, you're not panicking and worrying that you won't get enough long runs in (a theme that comes up repeatedly in the "Heath & Injury" forum).

you still have a lot of time

google 'coach to 5k' - this is a plan to get you running up to 3 miles, follow that then start working towards 10K

so long as you start now and take it steady you have lots of time