113 days to go until the ING New York City Marathon on November 1st and training has to start.
I am really excited by the challenge of running New York. The race is one of the World Marathon Majors and goes through all five boroughs of the city, finishing in Central Park. It has more than 35,000 runners, two million spectators and 315 million television viewers.
Starting to train for a marathon is very daunting. I remember back to early 2008 when I started to build up to the Edinburgh marathon - the task ahead is so big and incomprehensible you can start to think you'll never be able to do it.
One thing is for sure, Marathon training requires a lot of preparation and a lot of determination. Mental strength is key: both to pushing yourself out of the door to run 12 miles on a rainy Sunday afternoon when you'd rather be watching telly, and also to carrying yourself around the course, especially those final five or six miles.
Most marathon experts advise 12-18 weeks of preparation - with 12 as an absolute minimum. There are roughly 16 weeks to go now and it's time to step up to the plate!
The NYC Marathon website has training plans here
I am going to use one of those - meaning I will have run over 400 miles by November - and combine it with other activities - tennis, yoga, aerobics and weights in the gym.
My goal is to be able to show a marked improvement in my fitness and in my body shape and also to get comfortably around the marathon course without injury. WISH ME LUCK!
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