!"Gareth Davis, on the Snowdonia Marathon. Obviously, any event that involves thick mud, tunnels, ice cold water, barbed wire and fire is going to come top of our tough races category. Others in our top five, though, offer a different kind of challenge.1 Tough

-4 hour recovery period, with a cold, sodium-containing beverage (10-25mmol/litre). 

training, that protection dwindles, making pre-race colds common among marathon runners.In a survey of 2,311 participants in the Los Angeles Marathon, Dr David C. Nieman, a professor of health and exercise science, found that 40 per cent of them caught

These guides are for people in an enormous hurry. There's some very useful further reading at the bottom of the page...Congratulations – you're going to run a great marathon! So now what?Marathon training through the winter can be a cold and lonely

'll struggle to find many goggle straps on view.The Function: Wearing two swim hats won't just help keep in the heat when you're in cold water, it will also keep your goggles firmly on your face in the rough-and-tumble of an open-water swim.Wet lookLook shiny

Cramping, gastrointestinal (GI) distress, nausea, vomiting: sometimes a hard workout or a tough race is memorable for all the wrong reasons. You may think these reactions are part of the endless joy of being a triathlete but there are steps you can

at breakfastIt’s cold and wet outsideIt’s hot outsideDuring the raceYou don’t get a clear start It still takes longer than you planned to get over the start or to cover the first few milesYou start to get a blister at mile threeYou feel great at mile six

a taper. The muscle damage that occurs during sustained training is also repaired. And if that isn’t enough, immune function and muscle strength improve as well, which reduces the odds that you’ll catch a cold or get injured just before the race

, cumin, crushed garlic, salt and pepper, and rubbing it into the chicken breasts. 2. For the salad, cook the wild rice according to the packet instructions. Rinse under cold running water. Drain well and tip into a large bowl.3. Stir the beetroot, spring

severe enough to affect your running in the last week, bite the bullet and hold your marathon entry over to next year.You get ill If you have flu or any illness other than a light head cold, you should defer your entry until next year. The same goes