for me. Now I know why I am doing each run, and as an inquisitive type, this gives me more pleasure and motivation.See full thread... and build mileage effectively: slow down, tooHilly - When I first upped my mileage during marathon training I went from

and your current energy level, Is this run reasonable or is it asking too much? Experience will help here, because it will help you to discern the difference between exhaustion and a lack of motivation.Sound advice Be sure to always make your plans specific

an awareness of your body," she says. "You think about your breathing, the way that you're moving, and focus on your technique, how you're feeling and what feels good and what doesn't. Apply these principles in bed as well, and it'll improve your experience

at a local park, I was so proud of myself. I have been running ever since.”6. Sign up for a race “There is always something very special about taking part in and finishing a race, whatever the distance. You will be surprised how motivating it is to have

to be for that week (at least) and what each session is supposed to achieve. Write a list of your motives and goals and how it all works in the bigger picture, from fartleks to longer endurance runs. On a purely practical level, this means that you can get the right

Clubs regularly attend races as a teamThe days when running clubs were the sole preserve of ultra-competitive elite racers hell-bent on crushing the opposition at all costs and putting in more hours than Geb or Paula are thankfully long-gone. With hundreds of clubs catering fo...

and improve, but he also knows that accidents and injuries are out of his control and that sometimes goals have to be set aside to allow the body to recover. He did so and was back in action less than six weeks later, coming second in the Great Big Open Water

. This philosophy is transferable to the rest of us: training with company can be just as beneficial in helping you to achieve your particular goals. A partner could encourage you to adopt more variety in your running and thereby foster greater motivation

Go easy more oftenThe physiological adaptations that increase your speed happen during recovery, not training. Leg-searing rides and runs put your body under great physical stress. To cope with that kind of pressure your body strengthens itself by building more muscle fibres and ...

Unhappy with your last 10K? Convinced you could have finished a little faster? Unless you’re Haile Gebrselassie, you’re probably right. (If you are Haile Gebrselassie, you can skip this article.) Or perhaps faster race times don’t matter to you at all. Perhaps your training just ...