1M jog, then 2 x 5 mins fast, with 5-min slow jog recovery between 4M easy on grass 9-10M slowWEEK 10 3M easy, off-road 1M jog, then 1M at race speed, then 1M jog 2M jog Race dayHalf-Marathon Race PreparationAlthough nothing like as taxing as a

© Getty Images The two Olympic marathons held last August in Beijing were literally races for the ages. Kenya's Samuel Wanjiru, then 21, broke more than an Olympic record with his 2:06:32 win; he crushed long-held conventional

to recovery. How to make your first race a day to remember.Forum: My first race - will I be last?Forum: First-race nervesPredict your pace Calculate your pace Use one race time to predict another - or see how fast you'd need to run to hit a target time

your all into a 10K, 10 miler or half marathon and get a realistic gauge of how you have progressed. I recommend tapering for a few days before your assessment race so you go into it fresh. Use online predictor tools to see what your result says about

mind to wander, but it’s good to have this touchstone to return to.Hold back, even if your body wants to speed off. The marathon is an exercise in restraint, as many people find out to their cost in the second half of the race. If you’ve been following

pace, then drop the pace by two to three seconds for each successive 400mRecovery: Jog for four minutes between repeats.Ed Eyestone is an exercise physiologist and two-time Olympic marathon runner.

. Marathon pace for a 3:45 marathon is an 8:35-minute mile so yes, 8:30 is too fast. Aim to run your long runs slower than your marathon race pace and then add in some sections at race pace ( for example, three x 15 minute bursts or a 60-minute stretch) when

flat out. Scott Simmons, who coaches American marathon runner Fernando Cabada, has his athlete do as many as 25x400m at 10K-race pace with three or four of them run at an all-out pace in the second half of the workout. These "hammers," as he calls them

performance and keep injury and boredom at bay, then variety and recovery should be the linchpin of your training and racing. It’s also valuable to decide what, for you, are going to be the three or four most important races of the year. This not only helps

continuous running as follows:• 5 minutes at 30 beats per minute below 5K race pace OR 5 minutes steady• 5 minutes at 20 beats per minute below 5K race pace OR 5 minutes at marathon pace  • 5 minutes at 10 beats per minute below 5K race pace OR 5 minutes