Share your marathon tips and experiences!

And don't wear anything new on the day, whether it's under or outerwear make sure you have completed several long runs in it.

Oh and do the first 5k of the race as slowly as humanly possible. Practice this in training. It's so easy to set off too fast and run out of steam. Aim for negative splits in training runs.

Get used to running on tired legs, only once a week or so but normalise the feeling. You can do this by splitting a run in two and completing it later in the day than usual.

Most marathon training plans have higher than necessary weekly mileage, as long as you run at least 3 times a week and one of those runs steadily increases in distance you'll be fine.

Marathons are run in your head after a certain point, barring serious physical injury or illness it mostly comes down to mental toughness.

Every training run advances your running fitness somehow, there are no failed runs even if they don't go as planned. Look for the positives and celebrate them.

Get used to eating and drinking to replenish glycogen within half an hour of finishing a run.

Ice, foam roller, a bit of cross training here and there.

Don't set any time expectations for your first full.

Do a largeish half if you can, to familiarise yourself with racing in a huge group.

Try to do your long run at the same time of day as the marathon.

Taper!

Just completed my 5th and still learning but here's mine!

-Focus on base fitness/strength/speed NOW until the first week of your training plan. During the training plan you will find yourself spending a staggering amount of time running and sometimes speed/strength needs to get dropped to facilitate getting the long run in with a busy life. You will feel the benefit of the base.

• Chose a plan ahead of time. Look at the first 3/4 weeks and if they look too hard, choose an easier plan- if it's hard that soon, it will only get harder! I also usually start the plan a week early- if something goes tits up life wise, I can repeat a week. If it doesn't, I repeat one of the hard weeks around 12/13- win win!
• Practice fuelling on all the long runs. I found a surprising amount of stuff makes me want to vomit and have a really limited range of what I can eat before and during a ran. I eat the same breakfast and fuel for every long run and take it with me to the race so I don't need to switch brand. I did just fly to Chicago with a bag of Quaker oats 😂.
• YES to two pairs of shoes on rotation, properly fitted in a running shop. Found this out the hard way this year when my shoes broke 3 days before my flight to Chicago, BIG panic and some lovely blisters!
• You WILL cry! A lot... in training and probably in the race too. For me, training for and running my first marathon was a life changing event. It's hard but also absolutely incredible to realise you can do it.

And the one I wish someone had told me...

• You only get to run your first marathon once. You have absolutely no idea how your mind and body will react after 20 miles and it is an EXPERIENCE! For this reason, unless you're a super experienced runner and racer, your A goal for your first one should just be to finish and finish healthy and smiling! Absolutely make a pace plan nearer the race to guide you on what to do in the race but have back up plans and don't stress if it goes wrong!

Get yourself a pair of bone-conducting headphones!
Also one of my favourite parts about marathon prep is the amount food you need to eat to keep up with the training😁

Train with a pouch for running with. So you can have some stuff on you on the day.

Find out how you get the runner number. Some will send it to you other places you have to go get it yourself.

GOOD trainers not supermarket type. Go to a shop that knows about running shoes (ask on forums for your local specialist shops) I am convinced it qas my friend who had run lots of marathons who insisted on my getting good running shoes (most expensive shoes I'd ever bought) that ensured I didn't get injuries.

In my experience, mentally, the training is much harder than the race itself, particularly if you're doing a popular race where lots of people will be around you. If you're doing Manchester, Brighton or London, for example, you'll have enough company at all points on race day to be able to distract yourself. Whereas on less busy marathons you can find yourself on your own for stretches, which is tough when you're in the trenches of it at 21-25 miles.

In training, though, you need to find something to get you through the long runs. For me it's audiobooks - on short runs of an hour or less I'm better with music, but on those long Sunday runs my Audible subscription really has saved the day. That and finding a running club will really help, as you're bound to find people on a similar marathon timetable to you who could join you for some of the longest ones and keep you going.

I've done lots of marathons and have made a lot of mistakes over the years!

First of all - respect the distance. People will tell you the race starts at 20 miles and until you've done it, this doesn't make any sense. 26.2 miles can't be that different to the 20 or 22 you do in training, right? Wrong. A marathon is a 20 mile warm up and then a six mile race. The aim on the day is to get to 20 feeling relatively strong and running within yourself; and then dig in for the last six. As otherwise the wheels will fall off at 22/23 and it isn't pretty.

Fuelling is key - and practice in training with the gels you will be using on the day. Do not practice with SIS gels if on the day you plan to use the Hi5 gels they give out on the course. Horrendous explosions will ensue.

Training- follow a training plan and get your long runs in. The training won't go exactly according to plan, as life will get in the way, but you want to get to the start line uninjured, knowing you have those long runs in the bag. For a first time, follow a training plan based on time on feet rather than distance too, as if you doggedly try and eke out 20-22 mile runs and it's taking you 4+ hours, this is going to be setting you back rather than getting you fitter. Really, you don't want to be doing any long runs of more than 3h 30 in training as the risk of injury outweighs the training benefit.

Finally - and related to the last point - the main thing you need to do during training is avoid getting injured. Listen to your body. If you up the mileage too quickly and things start to hurt, ease off for a week. Many first time marathoners push through the pain, then get injured and turn up on the start line with a niggle that then ruins their race. In your first marathon, any time you run is a PB, so the most important thing is to be able to get there, and get round, in one piece.

Good luck and enjoy!

I'm.not an expert, but I'm a regular runner and have done 8 marathons, although the last was a while ago.

My tips would be,
Find a training plan - runnersworld and women's running do free ones I think.
Dont worry if you dont do every session (life happens) but try to do 3-4 x a week including a long run.
join a running club or find some training buddies, long runs on your own are so tough.
Have more than 1 pair of trainers on the go at one time (look for black Friday deals) they can get wet or muddy
buy decent running socks (balega are my go-to, they are about £13/pair)
Enter a half marathon or 2 in spring to get Used to pre race food/routine/nerves/race atmosphere
On runs of maybe 10-12 miles or longer test out fuel (there are lots of options - sports drinks, energy tabs, jelly type sweets, gels....and others) some are nicer/more palatable than others, some might be harder to digest. Torq gels are my favourite
Good luck 😊