This weekend sees the London Marathon, one of the best known 26.2 mile races. If you think you'd like to run a marathon rather than the Wells Fun Run on 29 May 2005 then consider some common complaints of marathon runners:
- blackened toe-nails (wrong size or incorrectly adjusted running shoes)
- dehydration and diarrhoea (because you sweat a lot and don't drink enough - the average marathon runner should drink 2 litres of water during a 4 hour marathon)
- cramp (fatigue and dehydration)
- sore nipples (caused by clothing against your body)
- stitch (running too soon after eating)
- blisters (running in new running shoes)
and, more well known
- "the wall".
Remember from last week that energy from complex carbohydrates (such as pasta and bread) is stored as glycogen around the muscles? When all the glycogen is used up then your body will start to use other energy reserves, stored as fat. This conversion is when many runners can only just manage to keep going. The solution to this is proper training, adequate hydration and (dare we say this?) DON'T RUN A MARATHON! Try the Wells Fun Run instead - it's only 3 or 6 miles!

This week's training schedule follows, and don't forget to warm-up with a short walk and stretch before these drills, and to stretch afterwards:

Day 1: Jog 6 minutes, walk 2 minutes (4 times)
Day 2: Rest
Day 3: Jog 7 minutes, walk 2 minutes (3 times)
Day 4: Rest
Day 5: 20 minutes fartlek (try to jog before and after the faster runs, and walk between the jogs)
Day 6: Repeat day 3
Day 7: Rest