surface to run on – so it's generally a good idea to recreate outdoor conditions as much as possible on the treadmill by setting it to a 1% incline or increasing the speed slightly, to adapt slowly to outdoor running. When you do get going outside

© Getty Images If 26.2 miles just isn't enough, an ultra could be the race for you. Races longer than a marathon, ultras range from 30 miles to hundreds of miles and take place in hundreds of beautiful locations from Sussex to the Sahara

Keith's solution: Self-talkRunners need to learn to manage their internal dialogue. The average person has 10-15,000 thoughts every day, and you need to get as many of these thoughts working for you as you can.There a couple of techniques you can try

their experience of pre-competition stress. He says, "The world's best athletes set lots of different goals – if you go into a race with 15 goals, then you're sure to achieve at least some of them.' Set a variety of goals to make sure you come away happy. You could

in a specific event (such as winning your age category in a race).Performance goals relate to a certain level of achievement (for example, a sub-40:00 10K).Setting different targets means you're more likely to focus on the positive outcomes of your

heavy in my legs. If that wasn't the perfect finish to my Cyprus Challenge, a clanging sign of how much I can get back out of the training I put in - and motivation to keep running - I don't know what is.Time: 1:11:59Pace: 11:41/milePosition: 339/343

in the pool searching for the vaguest remnants of my swimming muscle memory. I've drawn up a plan with 3-4 sessions a week, regular swims of 1000-1500m interspersed with shorter sprints and drills.Deep breath - it's going to be a busy couple of months!

with total flexibility in terms of how and when to clock up those miles. Online running community fetcheveryone.com has monthly mileage groups, which are great for motivation. You could even run the year – 2010 miles works out as 38.5 per week! Start a

training camp, held in Portugal in association with 2:09 Events, packs in two shorter runs each day, yoga and core-stability classes, talks from experts, a handicap cross-country race and a long run at the weekend. This year our annual training camp

-MarathonBedford Harriers Half-Marathon (Bedfordshire, December 14) Last year's rain, sleet and hail won't deter people from coming back for more – join 2,000 other runners for the last half-marathon of 2008. The out-and-back route tours the Bedfordshire countryside