than five miles. Twelve to 16 weeks later, the cheers of the crowd and the unbelievable exhilaration of reaching a marathon finish line are theirs. Stick with the programme, and prepare to be amazed.Take a breakTo every thing, there is a season. You don

Case study - Tim Piggott, 26 Reason for layoff: Car crash I have always run just for the enjoyment of it. I grew up around Marlborough in Wiltshire and ran on the Downs all the time. I didn’t race, though I was running about 50 miles per week when

Keith Fitzpatrick was very active when I first started seeing him at my sports nutrition clinic. He ran 25 miles a week, played rugby and lifted weights regularly. In the previous three years, Keith had lost almost three-and-a-half stone on his

much warning.Q: How long would you expect it to take you to replace an inner tube/mend a puncture?  And do you practice to get the time down?DustboyI have cycled more than 160,000 miles so I've had a few flat tyres. You should mentally rehearse this so

that would have most helped my initiation into running would be to have understood my body and the messages it sent to my brain. All too often I ignored little niggles in order to complete an extra mile in training. If I had spent a little less time running

maximal oxygen uptake, increasing the body’s ability to transport oxygen to the working muscles.2. Tempo running(15 per cent; 45 minutes)If your current training schedule includes too much of the same old thing – same course, same pace, same distance – it

by including resistance exercises in your training schedule, your protein intake should be higher still. Aim to eat 1.6g of protein per kilo of body weight. Protein powderA balanced diet should provide all the protein you need, but if you think you

the work you've done. It is rare for anyone to have consistently good seasons. Even if a key goal has been missed, the miles already clocked up will stand you in good stead for future improvements."Athletes tend to be very focused on themselves

will be shunted into fat cells. A busy and stressful work schedule often deadens your natural appetite (because of high cortisol levels) but once you relax at the end of your day, cortisol levels drop and your appetite soars, causing you to eat a bigger dinner

your chosen charity) will get out of it. So pull a fundraising schedule together and get into it – you might even find it is more fun than you expected. Here are 10 can't-fail tips to help you maximise your fundraising potential. 1. Choose a charity you