This week: Do you really benefit from warming up before a run – and if so, how hard and how far should you go?"How far, or for how long, are you supposed to warm up before a race? The more I warm up the better I seem to perform. I ran a 5.4-mile

at a time, thus opening up the trail for yet more enthusiastic, gullible chumps.The horses had more sense. Only seven of them were sufficiently misinformed or stupid enough to show up, and one of those had the good sense to pack it in halfway round

commitments, our team used our Garmin-ready schedules as they aimed for a wide range of target-times, from sub-3:00 to Getting Round. Click on the links below to read their race-day accounts, catch up with their fortnightly training updates, hop on their forum

bank your cheque and send off your number without a stamp. It will then turn up two days after the race, plastered with official threats and insults.I also learned that two-lap races are at least twice as hard as one-lap races. In a one-lap race, you

are between eight and 12 years old. Vice-president Nigel Rigg says that this is a deliberate strategy, and one that they plan to continue. "The club has a group initiative known as the Schools Partnership, where all the club coaches go round all the schools

, the route winds past Moorish Spain's most beautiful sights. A record 7,345 runners lined up last year, because Palma isn't just about race times – it's about getting everyone involved. Whether you opt for the marathon, half-marathon or 10K, there's a race

-mile race pace and the second 800m all-out. Build to a peak Conventional Thinking: You should gradually build up to a training peak, starting with slow base work and adding speedwork, before you race. Uncommon Wisdom: Train the same year-round

Whether you're new to the marathon or merely reintroducing yourself to an old friend, we're here to help you plan your race build-up down to the last detail.Here's everything you need to know to prepare for - and complete - your best 26.2 miler

and health not all about PBs and following the rules. If you want to do it, you will. A couple of easy recovery runs in between and you'll be fine. Because there's pressure you may find you fly round. I have a 43-mile race coming up three weeks after a

In the last 20 years, running has become inextricably entangled with fund-raising.Correct me if I’m wrong, but until the first London Marathon we ran only for ourselves. When we turned up in the rain to plod round the Cabbage Patch 10, the last