check out our training-pace calculator for a better indication of how these intensities translate in practice (calculated from a recent race time) or read our ultimate guide to heart-rate training for the most objective way of monitoring your progress

to your race paces, but heart rate is an equally good guide (especially if you're new and you don't know what your race paces are). The glossary suggests target heart rates, and so even the most basic heart rate monitor (from about £40) will be a valuable

be helpful for you to do much of your training with a heart rate monitor in order to familiarise yourself with the pace and heart-rate zones for the five different levels of effort we’ve used in our London Marathon training schedules (easy, slow, steady

. The heart-rate monitor will also be useful on race day. With the crowd cheering and adrenaline pumping there's a big temptation to go off too fast at the start of the race – but keeping an eye on your heart rate should keep you in check. Get some group

react to the gels, bars and electrolytes you use when you are racing at a higher heart rate (race pace) than is usual when you're training. "Practise eating during training. Try to eat what and when you would during a race," recommends Taylor. It is also

as it takes you to run the repetition – and walk the last 50 metres of the recovery before starting the next effort.” If you're using a heart-rate monitor, don't start the next rep until your heart rate drops to 120 (men) or 130 (women).Check your progress

, consider the pace you ran for your last 10-mile race or half-marathon. This pace is likely to be just below your lactate threshold, or roughly 80 to 85 per cent of your maximum heart rate, says Nick Anderson, the British cross-country coach. An even simpler

to the run will give you a physical and mental boost on race day but shouldn't be the only brick session you do. It's vital to include a wider variety of combinations to keep you motivated and help you to reach your goals.Training toolsUsing a heart-rate

athletes. If you’ve made a pace chart of your mile splits, make sure that you follow it. A heart rate monitor can be a useful check, but only by trial and error over a number of races. (First observe your heart rate in a conservatively paced race, then try

weeks have passed by. If you strength-trained before the marathon, you can resume resistance work during the second week after the race, beginning with about half your normal number of sets and reps.Heart-rate monitoringMeasuring your heart rate