Womens mini-marathon training. Help!

mmmbop

Hi I have signed up to do the womens mini-marathon in June and was wondering would anyone have tips on training. I have never done anything like this before, I smoke, am slightly overweight and not at all fit! I go for a walk a couple of times a week but that's about it. I'd love to be able to jog the marathon so any tips would be much appreciated!

rainbow kirby

Couch to 5k would be a good place to start. All it assumes is that you can walk for half an hour. This lasts 9 weeks, and gets you to a stage where you can run for half an hour or run 5k (3.1 miles). This would take you up to the start of May, at which point you could probably hop into the 3rd or 4th week of Hal Higdon's novice program to stretch the distance out to 10k.

I did my first 10k (Aware 10k in the Phoenix Park) back in December, following the Hal Higdon novice program. I was able to get around fine, only threatened by large amounts of ice on the course! Don't be worried too if you only get up to about 5 miles in training, the atmosphere and the adrenaline on the day will carry you to the end just fine!

Oh, seriously try and give up smoking too. It'll be a big help.

maxxie

how about trying to jog for a minute or two followed by walking for a min and repeat! Do this with a view to cutting out the walking!