Marathon Tips

Here are some important tips to help your preparation go smoothly.

1. Get good shoes and replace them before the race. To prevent injuries wearing the best shoes is essential. Be prepared to spend £60-80 to get the quality you need and make the effort to go to a sports shop that can help you choose an appropriate running shoe. In London, Run and Become (Victoria) and Sweatshop (many locations) are the best places. Brands such as Asics, Adidas, Brooks and Saucony make very good running shoes. Shoes only last about 300-500 miles which means you will need to replace them every 3-4 months on average.
2. Build up slowly Most running injuries are a result of increasing training too quickly before the body has a chance to gain strength. If you are a beginner runner or have not run seriously before it is very important you plan gradual increases in training.
3. Regular long runs The marathon for most normal runners takes from 3 to 5 hours to complete. It is important to train at a steady pace over long periods of time. Between now and March, we recommend every fortnight completing a long run. Start with 7 miles and build up to a maximum of 17 or 18 miles over the coming months.
4. Regular intervals To help increase your fitness as effectively as possible, you cannot beat interval training. For the marathon, sessions such as 5 reps of 3 minutes of very hard running, with 3 minutes very easy jogging in between, are very good value.

If you require any help, please get into contact and one of our trainers would be happy to help you with your programme.

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