decided to put them to the test. This final training day was a chance for Lee, Emma, Craig, Rosie and Colin to show off their pacing skills and hone their speed: they ran a mile out-and-back at race pace – without the comfort blanket of a GPS watch

, swimming, and weight lifting are great most of the year, as part of low-key training months when your main goals are general fitness and injury prevention, but the heavy training month before a big race needs to be a month of living a little dangerously

that the muscle rebuilds itself and becomes stronger," says Runner's World Medical Adviser Dr Patrick Milroy. "If recovery is insufficient, you'll break down more than you build up." Recovery is vital whether you want to run the race of your life or just make

mins easy 40 mins, with the middle 20 run quicker than half-marathon pace (6:30) 30 mins easy or rest 40 mins, including 25 mins of hills or fartlek 90 mins slow (8:00) or 10K race Week 2 (w/c July 28) 30 mins easy or rest 10 mins warm-up, then 6

you find your magic miling number.Rule #1 Longer race, higher mileage. Yes you can overcook the penguin, but a marathoner will always need to log more miles than a 5K runner. Rule #2 Tougher goals, higher mileage. If you're seeking to simply finish

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

race? Can I continue running 40-50 miles per week without risk of serious injury? Or this a stupid idea?!"– Michael FirmstoneYour best answers...Keep up the training, and enter a race evry couple of months to give you targets to aim at. Start trying

Goal - Improve your sprint finishMany runners think a strong sprint finish is all about the end of a race. In reality, it’s more about how you prepare for and run the beginning and middle of a race. That’s because you have to have something left

for example, that would be 10 miles steady, 10 miles tempo, five miles fast and five miles slow. This has the advantage that you can get some steady miles in for general conditioning, you get practice at running near to race pace, and you get to do some

the 10,000m and 5000m European track titles. "I usually take part in cross-country races during the winter to help my preparations for the major championships," says Farah. "Cross-country is a tough discipline as courses can be hilly, muddy or even snow