Each month we will be featuring some advice from one of our clients who has run the London Marathon.
This month we have advice from a former Client of the Month, Beverley Hilton.
Bev only started running in 2015, and ran the London Marathon last year at age 50! She did us all very proud!
I was asked what advice I'd give to someone planning on running the London Marathon for the first time.
I'm being specific about the London Marathon, as it is pretty unique.
Someone described it to me as "a festival of running" and that's exactly right.
It's such a well supported and inclusive event, it really is a celebration. And that's also the other key for me... it's a celebration of all the training you put in, a victory lap, if you like.
So my key advice really is about the training.
Have a realistic plan - seriously, don't schedule five sessions a week if you know you can only do three.
Focus on quality of training, rather than amount - and remember to mix it up.
Acknowledge that not every session will go well, but that's okay. If you can, try and build some contingencies into the plan so if you have to miss a week, or more, due to illness or injury, you can still stay on track.
On the subject of injury (and I've not been asked to say this, honestly) if you get a "niggle" or worse, get it dealt with straight away. If you continue to train with anything troubling you it will get worse.
Practice your fuelling strategy well in advance of the day. I found my body reacted very differently to fuel intake once I went past 14 miles in one session.
Find what works for you: gels, sweets, flapjacks, biscuits.
And finally - I'm sure lots of people will say this - but enjoy the day. You've trained hard for it and you may only ever do it once, so just run the best you can, soak up the atmosphere and remember to congratulate yourself for an amazing achievement.