Running skills

Spring signals the start of a packed calendar of races. Marathons and half marathons are very popular in spring and autumn, so perhaps you’re gearing up for a long one, or maybe you’ve got your very first 5K or 10K race on the horizon. Whatever your distance, we’ve got you covered with all the tips and advice you need to run your best race in 2024

Words: Anna Harding

BEFORE

Training and goals

So, you’ve booked a place in the race of your dreams. Well done, but – spoiler alert – that’s not the hardest part! Now you need to get cracking on your training.

If you’ve never run a race of the distance you’re aiming for before, you might be wondering how on earth you’re going to choose a time goal to work towards. After all, you’ve got nothing to base it on from previous experience.

If you’re running a marathon and you’ve run a half marathon recently, then your finish time from that race is a good place to start. It’s not simply a case of doubling the time just because the distance is twice as long though. If you really want to set a time goal for your marathon training, there are lots of race time predictors online that let you put in a previous race time and then it will work out a prediction of what you should aim for over the marathon.

Once you have a goal in mind, don’t let it be set in stone. It may, and probably will, change as you go through your training. It may be faster or slower, so be open to adapting it depending on how training goes. Remember, just getting across the finish line of your race will be a huge achievement.

It’s worth setting yourself three goals; an A, B and Cgoal. For example, you might have aCgoal of finishing, a B goal of running the whole way and an Agoal of running it in a certain time. The purpose of having three goals on race day is that if you’re not able to hit the top Agoal, you still have something to aim for and a reason to keep pushing yourself to the finish line.

|| The purpose of having three goals on race day is that if you’re not able to hit the top A goal, you still have a reason to push for the finish line||

Dress code

“Nothing new on race day!” You may have heard runners yell this like a mantra in the past and we wholeheartedly agree. On the big day, only wear/eat/drink what you’ve been used to in training. Make sure that you give yourself plenty of time to train in the kit you want to run in on race day. If you’re running for a charity and they have a specific vest or t-shirt they want you to wear, ask them to send it out to you in plenty of time to train in it. You don’t want any nasty chafing surprises on race day.