1983 London Marathon winner Mike Gratton has been voluntarily advising runners live on our forums since 2004. This marathon training programme forms the core of his advice for anyone seeking to run seven days a week. It's suitable for men and women

training, that protection dwindles, making pre-race colds common among marathon runners.In a survey of 2,311 participants in the Los Angeles Marathon, Dr David C. Nieman, a professor of health and exercise science, found that 40 per cent of them caught

. Take on your longest run three to four weeks before the event. Some people like to do a half-marathon race three weeks before the marathon, so their longest run is a month before. Your last three training weeks should be the taper, so I try to run

Discover the secrets of successful marathon training with Super Six coach Steve Smythe. We talked to marathon expert Steve for the lowdown on build-up races, mastering the 'Monster Month', taper tips and race day itself.Just press 'play

so I guess this will help decide. 3. Was thinking of doing 20m race 4 weeks before marathon. Should I race this or use it as training run? - SlowkoalaA4) Question 1 – if you are up to 20 now then you are well ahead of where you need to be. A 20 once

national marathon coach, he now works as a mentor for England Athletics.Bud joined us to mark the start of our Half-Marathon Newsletter, powered by ASICS. Our weekly half-marathon newsletter provides schedules and training advice to get you race ready

than just continual long slow runs and post-marathon, once recovered, you don't want the speed for the hopefully upcoming shorter races to come as a shock to the system.Add in rest daysIf you've been training hard through January, February can be a hard

should train to improve your time. How can I work out what a realistic target should be? achingcalvesA. If you have run a marathon before then that should give you a good starting point and by running races over shorter distances you should get an idea

ahead to the Virgin London Marathon on April 25.Read the whole forum debateQ. I'm currently training for my first marathon but my schedule doesn't include any speedwork. Would there be any benefit in including some speedwork six weeks before race day

and not the 26.2 miles.Q. I'm aiming for a 4:14-4:30 marathon. What training would you recommend I do the week before the race? seren nosA. The last week should be about saving energy. Run for 60-90 minutes, not too fast, one week before; have a short, brisk run