of pasta. The point is, you can eat a lot of food if you’re exercising and eating sensibly.All these principles apply to women, too, but on a smaller scale. Because women weigh less and generally have slower metabolisms, they burn fewer calories than men

it feels like not to win, but I would never call it a ‘loss’.As for my competition, the great thing is that the women’s field is getting deeper and deeper, especially as the shorter course athletes make the step up to Ironman-distance racing. This is great

-of-packers – after watching the fast runners whizz by, children and women spontaneously jogged with me twice more along the route. The inevitable trade-off: us slowcoaches also caught more of that sun. The race started at 6:15am, so the day’s temperatures were just

, and 209-(0.9 x age) for women. If you’re a regular runner, you can test yourself for your MHR by warming up and then doing a combination of short, fast runs as follows, ideally on a treadmill: run as fast as you can, evenly, for three minutes, then rest

incentive to achieve both my goals. I don’t think it’ll be easy, but I think having to report to RW readers will prove a big motivation. I did do a bit of running in my 20s. I worked on Woman’s Own magazine and organised a series of 30 10K runs for women

, say, briefs? Many runners, men and women alike, simply rely on the inner-lining found in most modern shorts, but if you want more support, security, or just want your shorts to last longer, then sport specific underwear is well worth investing in

, it follows that many of the best marathon times should have been run there.Nope. There has been only one men's world-best time at Boston, and that was back in 1947, when Yun Bok Suh of Korea ran 2:25:39. Two women have set world bests at Boston. Liane Winter

, Aberdeenshire (1/2/06)91100%9 ratings77R4W Windsor 8K for women, Berkshire (9/23/06)91100%9 ratings78Dulwich Runners Charity 10K, London (10/8/06)91100%13 ratings79Stebbing 10, Essex (11/12/06)91100%13 ratings80Great Langdale Christmas Pudding 10K, Cumbria (12

limitless rain and sweat, but washes off easily with baby oil or an alcohol wipe.Good for: marathon men (and women!)Goody Stayput Hairbands, from £3.10 www.goody.comSometimes the simplest ideas are the best, and once you've tried these natural

GETTY IMAGES Better sleep. That's all that could be standing between you and a new PB. Too good to be true? Not according to Mara Yamauchi, who set a new marathon PB (2:25:03) at the International Women's Marathon in Tokyo in November. "Sleep is one