Ready, steady… goStart slow. You will feel lousy before the marathon because of tapering, then when you start you’ll suddenly feel wonderful. Your body hasn't really changed so don’t revise your target pace because you feel good at mile five, or 10 or 15. You

breaking down. It'll do it anyway. – SlowboyUse a scoring system to keep things in perspectiveMy advice is to rate pain on a scale of one to 10. Anything up to three or four and I'd train as normal providing it starts to go away within a week. Five to six

before my first marathon (Amsterdam 2006), I averaged three runs per week and a total weekly mileage of about 25 miles. I did the marathon in 2:57. A typical running week for me at that time involved one track session, one hilly run and one long run

-changed after record temperatures rendered the course one of the driest reported in the event’s 13-year history.More off-road highlights...Jog Shop Jog 20 (Sussex, October 14)Tough Challenge Marathon (Essex, October 14)SIS Sandhurst Poppy Trail 10K (Surrey

, November 10) Canal locks and bridges comprise the only inclines in this otherwise flat, point-to-point race along the towpaths of the river Lee.--Filling Up Fast…Luton Marathon, December 2Luton Marathon (Bedfordshire, December 2) This three-lap course

, as the locals turn out in force to cheer some 1,100 runners round the undulating, two-lap traffic-free course. Well established on the north-east racing agenda, this year marks the event’s 20th anniversary, and a concurrent 3K race for 11-16s and a beginners

's biggest half-marathon), a further 1,000 runners will be tackling the same distance in a distinctly different location: the market town of Macclesfield. Unlike the urban landscapes of its Tyne and Wear counterpart, Macclesfield's location on the western

yourself."A 10.5-mile swim covering the length of Lake Windermere and a 12-hour split-session (six hours on Saturday and another six on Sunday) in training definitely helped her prepare both physically and psychologically, though Dr Nic is quick to downplay

will see you flying home for lashings of hot grub back at race HQ.More hardy half-marathons... Steyner Stinger Half-Marathon (Sussex, March 2) Midsummer Munro Half-Marathon (Surrey, June 21)Yorkshire Off-Road Half-Marathon (West Yorkshire, September 14)1000

with simple mind-tricksI gave up on January 23 this year. In this time I have gone from 10-minute miling to 9-minute miles so you should be able to see huge improvements almost immediately. I used to chew two pieces of Airwave gum at the same time because