1. Mimic a race. It’s the most effective way to train for an event. If you want to run a 10K at a specific pace, you need to train and run at that pace. It’s impractical though to wholly mimic a race, especially longer distances, as it would require extended recovery.

2. The 2-hour rule. It’s important to wait for two hours after a meal before going out for a run. Two hours is enough time for food to empty from the stomach, especially if it’s high in carbohydrate. If you have had a light meal you can probably run 90 minutes after, while if you’ve had a heavy meal you may need to rest for up to 3 hours.

3.The 10-minute rule. Start your run with 10 minutes of walking and slow running, and do the same to cool down.

4.The recovery rule. For each mile that you race, allow one day of recovery before getting back to hard training or racing. If your race effort though wasn’t all-out, take fewer recovery days.

5. The 20-mile rule. Run at leaste one 20-miler before a marathon. Long runs simulate the marathon, which requires lots of time and pressure on your feet, so knowing you can run 20 miles helps you a lot.