You've trained for months, but race day arrives and something disastrous happens: a bad night's sleep has drained your energy, a freak hailstorm slows you down, a killer cramp forces you to walk. Was it still worth it? Of course it was, if you heed

In triathlon men and women race side by side. This wise policy engenders a sense of camaraderie that is one of the most appealing aspects of our sport. But there are certain physical attributes and psychological traits specific to each sex

the rights foods, I’ll never be the same again.”AlexNew PB: 2:53. Previous best: 3:06“I don’t think the race could have gone any better really. I paced it well, I ran my target and I was strong at the end. This is my seventh marathon and in every single

easy to maintain motivation at this time of the year, according to two-time Ironman 70.3 champion Emma-Kate Lidbury (eklidbury.co.uk). "People often overlook the mental aspect of training and racing. It can become very difficult to keep going

in speed over the final stages. “Our results show that competition provides the motivation to tell the brain to eat into a greater part of the fuel reserve that athletes have left at the end of a race,” says Dr Jo Corbett, senior lecturer in applied

so much support, friendship and awe-inspiring guts to the sport, motivating the thousands of runners they meet both at races and on the runnersworld.co.uk forums.The Fundraiser Eric Hardwick Eric Hardwick is not your average charity fundraiser

.Here at RW - in association with Nike - we've decided to stage our own investigation into the pros and cons of running with music. Over the next four weeks, we'll be following two hot-headed journalists as they swap their usual running habits for a taste

are staging-post targets along the way to your overall target goal. Your target goal is just that: your target. You may think you are asking a lot of yourself, but great results demand great effort.Daily goalA novice's daily goal could be a 750m swim on Monday

the physical battle – he remembers the 5:30-minute mile pace he used to do, so racing at 7-minute miles sticks in his throat. But believe in yourself and look forward, not back. Enjoy and celebrate every success, however small. – Ann Williams There could be a

to gain when using each tip in a 10K race.Rehearse The Race“Visualisation before your race will prime your body for action and make it more likely that you’ll perform like you did in your mental imagery,” says Udewitz. Picture yourself at different stages