You've trained wisely and eaten well - but you just can't shake those pre-race nerves. So how can you work on mental preparation? To find out, I teamed up with researchers from Sheffield, Oxford, Manchester, Reading and Wolverhampton universities

to keep you afloat. One study found that runners who did deep-water running for six weeks experienced no drop in performance when they came to race again.Step right upUse the Stairmaster for a no-impact workout. Stair-climbing mimics uphill running, which

© Getty Images The two Olympic marathons held last August in Beijing were literally races for the ages. Kenya's Samuel Wanjiru, then 21, broke more than an Olympic record with his 2:06:32 win; he crushed long-held conventional

destruction. The force of the foot striking the ground during fast training or racing is to blame. ‘Blood destruction occurs more in high-mileage runners who have slapping or stomping gaits,’ says Dr Eichner. Other studies showed gastrointestinal bleeding

If you’ve been training for weeks, you’ll want to make the last workout before your race count. Studies indicate the best way to prepare for a race is to reduce the volume of your running (mileage) while maintaining the intensity. These four

Every good marathon-training plan should ‘taper’ during the final two or three weeks. That means you run less and rest more. For some people, the idea of backing off on their training just before the big race seems counter-intuitive. "So many

the digestive process they found the capers helped prevent the formation of DNA-harming compounds.4. TofuUse tofu to make mousse. Studies in Japan found its plant hormones can protect men against prostate cancer. "Purée the silken variety until it's smooth

do really well could take in the neighbourhood of two to four years." Exercise physiologist Dugas and his team have studied runners at the Two Oceans ultramarathon in Cape Town, South Africa, and found that people who run the 35-mile race multiple

slowly as the race is less than 15 minutes long." So how do you get it right? Surprisingly, it might be best to err on the side of aggression. A recent study by the University of New Hampshire, USA found that runners who cover the first mile six per cent

When I was at school, my cross-country team  began every day with a four-mile run and ended it with another. So the secret of our success is really no secret: instead of doing five runs a week, we did 10.Studies have shown that runners who clock a