to Olympic athletes," says Sam Murphy, author of Marathon From Start to Finish (£12.99, A&C Black). “Taking the pressure off helps you peak when it really matters."BREAK IT: Sit down with your yearly race calendar and prioritise your races into 'A's, 'B

competitive, " she explains, "The army always felt they were the best at everything and if they lost they were very disappointed."Army training has been credited by Holmes as helping her become the double gold Olympic athlete we all admire and respect. "It

Hard Training Q&AsTRAINING GENERAL• Do I need to take an "easy week" when my average mileage isn’t that high? • Should you try and break through ‘the wall’ in training? • Is it just the cold weather, or am I getting fitter? • How do I overcome

. I happen to live in the same community as the Sydney Olympic cycling sprint champion, Marty Nothstein, and I've seen him compete. His 6'2", 98kg body dwarfs his bike as he attacks the pedals in a piston-pounding frenzy. To win the Tour, a rider has

to do next? A 3:30 mile might look reasonable on paper, but it's difficult for me to comprehend."I save the New Zealander Peter Snell for last, because he bridges two worlds. An Olympic champion and record-setting miler with a best time of 3:54.1 (in

at themselves and each other in the process. That’s what the Pirates are all about."Unfinished BusinessIronMin first wore the Pirate kit in June 2007. It wasn’t for an Ironman event, it was for the Chester Olympic distance tri, but she said, "I was blown away

the pace of your runs is essential to improving, it's key to have the correct variation. "You need to make your recovery runs really easy and your hard runs really hard," explains Chris Frapwell, coach to GB Olympic marathon hopeful Dan Robinson. "Easy runs

have changed.In the first Olympic marathon at least one runner thought it was smart to drink wine during the race. We're not saying the challengers to conventional wisdom are right – or wrong. Only that their ideas are worth considering, because

hard with 200m of jogging. This sounds like something an Olympic champion might do, but you can easily adapt it to your own needs and pace.4. Cross-training(12 per cent; 36 minutes)Even a mere half-hour of cross-training – cycling, swimming, stair

-country runner to being a national champion at 200m and an Olympic medallist in the 4 x 400m.What to do“If you don’t want to lose it, use it.” Any good coach will say that you should develop as much speed as possible when you are young, but that doesn’t mean