by the organisers of ultradistance races. Can you imagine doing the Melbourne to Sydney (a mere 550 miles), a trans-America race, or a 24-hour race involving 600 laps of the same track? People really do these things.The crucial battleground shifts from your muscles

Standfirst: Four experts tell you everything you need to know about running a 10KAuthor: Bruce Tulloh, Owen Anderson, Charlie Spedding, Harry WilsonPics:Issue date: racing secrets bookletKeywords:uan85-->In the RUNNER’S WORLD editorial offices a

last gut-busting workout and wear themselves down,’ he says. To test the less-is-more theory, Dr Costill tapered the training programmes of a group of runners beginning three weeks before a track race. During this period they ran only 2 miles daily

legend Liz McColgan, who has set up a new elite training facility in her home town of Carnoustie, Scotland. "When you're tired, the first thing to go is your form – when I was gearing up for big races I'd almost focus more on this than my running

.Duathlons are raced over sprint distances, such as 2mile/10mile/2mile, short distances, such as 8mile/24mile/ 8mile or much longer distances, a prime example of which is the 10K/150K/30K Zofingen Powerman. The 2008 World Long Distance Duathlon Champion Catriona

-road terrain is that you are running on an uneven surface, so you need to prepare your body for that," says Barden. "If you were to do all of your training on the road, you might initially feel OK in a cross-country race, but your body will fatigue a lot

.Avoid the practice of preceding a carbo-loading period with a few days of carbohydrate starvation.AdminIf you haven’t done so already, prepare your race-day shopping list and buy everything you need, from blister patches to energy gels.TuesdayMindVisualise miles 6

© 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

split? icclesuezA. The best strategy for a steady pace through the second half is to run it right in the first half - evenly and at a pace that your training and shorter races indicate is feasible. It's not easy maintaining pace when you are tired