Training on hillier terrain is good too, because it spreads the load to a broader range of muscle fibers, compared to running on flat ground. If possible, do some of your running on soft surfaces like grass or trails, to reduce the impact on your body. Any other runs you do in addition to your three key sessions should be steady jogs of 35 to 60 minutes. Aim to build up from 30 to 90 minutes, at your target marathon race pace. Your third key weekly run should be a marathon race pace session. These sessions will train you to run at any given pace for less effort. The second key run should be a speed session, with a warm up, a warm down and some harder efforts sandwiched in between вЂ“ such as 4 x 4 minutes hard with 2-minute recoveries. The first key weekly run should be a longer one, where you build up over the weeks and months to 2 hours 30 minutes of low intensity running. Once you have built up to running 30 minutes, you can then base your training around three key runs per week. If not, slow down or include some walking sections. Your runs should not feel too intense at this stage either вЂ“ ideally, you should be able to talk while youвЂ™re running, as a way of knowing that youвЂ™re not going too hard. If you ignore this, you increase your risk of getting injured.

If running non-stop feels too hard for you initially, include periods of walking until youвЂ™re eventually fit enough to jog without stopping.ДЄim to increase the duration of your workouts by no more than 10% per week. As a general guide, beginners should start by aiming to run two or three times per week, starting with 15 or 20-minute runs.

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