Where to start

If you can walk without pain you will be able to complete the Coventry Half Marathon. The key to achieving any goal is planning and support. This blog will provide advice and a plan for you to follow to make completing the Coventry (or any for that matter) Half Marathon a realistic goal. I have placed a section on my community website for the half marathon; in this area you can ask for advice, chat with others who have the same goal, swap running routes and offer support and advice to each other. I must point out that it is important to consult with your GP or medical professional before embarking upon any new exercise programme.

What qualifies me to give this advice?
I have been a full-time personal trainer and lifestyle coach in Coventry for over 12 years. I have helped literally hundreds of people achieve their lifestyle and fitness goals during this time, including; the London marathon, the great north run, the Coventry half marathon, triathlons, mountain climbs, long distance cycle rides and many charity events. I have helped people who had never run before complete half marathons and enjoy them; you get an amazing sense of achievement crossing the finish line. Running outdoors is a great calorie burner, so you could lose a little weight over the next ten weeks. It is not important to focus on a specific time to finish in if this is your first half marathon, but to get around without injury and with enjoyment.

Equipment.
Before we get into the details of the exercise, I will give some advice to those of you who have never ventured out on to the streets to run before. Running is quite a cheap form of exercise to take up, although like with all sports, it is possible to spend hundreds on accessories. Most of us have a pair of shorts and a t-shirt that will be sufficient to get you started. What may be necessary to buy is a good pair of running shoes; they can be expensive but will make your training much more comfortable and can prevent injury. Looking around many ‘sports’ shops recently I have noticed that many fashion trainers have been labelled as suitable for running, this is not the case and they do not provide the support or cushioning necessary. For more advice on choosing the correct trainer look at: http://www.sportsshoes.com/advice/choosing-running-shoes. Locally you can go to Coventry Runner in Radford, Coventry.

Accessories.
I’m a gadget lover and it is easy to spend hundreds of pounds on accessories for running. You can buy heart rate monitors(can be useful for monitoring intensity, but are not necessary), running gps systems (are good for measuring distance, but again are not essential), apple and nike have joined forces to create the Nike+ running tool for the ipod (my wife has this and it is brilliant for motivation and distance monitoring). Running can be boring if you have to venture out on your own, so an mp3 player of some sort is useful and you can pick music to help focus your pace. A training journal can be useful, but a notebook does exactly the same job when you know what to record. One of the best running accessories you can have is someone to run with; a training partner provides motivation and when you set a time to run you will not want to let each other down, so if you’re interested in starting running try to get a friend or relative to join you.

On Sunday I will post all the information you will need to complete your first week of training. Believe in yourself and you will achieve all of your goals. You can do it, as Confucious said “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”.

Darren Checkley
Helping you Achieve!

This is me and my client Martyn Smith at about 24 miles into the 2005 London Marathon, a lot of money was raised for Breast Cancer Care. This year he's running the 2008 New York Marathon for Cancer Research UK; to sponsor him click here.