for you because of the extra vitamins and fibre. That said, I took Jelly Babies and sour strawberries on my last long run, and they seemed to do the trick. Marathon training is a great excuse to stuff your face. – sal19Any questions?Got a new poser

Are fast marathoners a breed apart, or can the rest of us be as fast if we work hard enough?"Are fast runners naturally fast, or can you teach yourself to be fast, through pure dedication and training? I'm a long way off a 3:15 marathon, but with a

to your running programme.Olympic Marathon gold medalist Frank Shorter once referred to hills as speedwork in disguise. Treat hills as such; you’ll probably be ready to run a hilly course at about the same time you might be ready to attempt an introductory

-50 per cent of your maximum pace." Andy Symonds, mountain marathon runnerin the Saab Salomon Outdoor Team Own your goals "You need to 'buy in' to your goal rather than letting your personal trainer or coach impose it. Don't place all of the emphasis

popping 50,000 runners, the date has moved from summer to autumn and it’s the biggest half-marathon in the world. One aspect that hasn’t changed though is local runner Alistair Dickson’s commitment to competing in the race. He’s raced every single GNR

is it just a macho 'hey look at me' thing?"– Paul JohnsonYour answersRunning wearing a backpack trains you to run wearing a backpack. It's useful if you're doing military exercises or mountain marathons, but it doesn't confer any advantages otherwise. You

-mile fun run, a tough multi-terrain event or a marathon – you do it because it's there.That's a minimum requirement, of course, but it does mean that you ask more of yourself than you should, and perhaps get less out of yourself than you could. You'll only

where you’ve been, where you are, and where you want to be. John Bingham, aka the Penguin, writes our monthly column, ‘The Penguin Chronicles’. He has broken five hours for the marathon and since 1998 has taken our Get-You-Round Team in Training pace

plant the seeds for a possible marathon some day. But you feel too tired after just 30-40 minutes. What do you do? Take a one-minute walking break after every nine minutes of running. If that's still too hard, take a one-minute walking break after every

considerably more lactate. When you train at LT pace, your body conditions itself to move lactate around, and this should improve your performances at distances from the mile to the marathon.So what’s your LT training pace? It’s more or less your 5K race pace