In the first of a series of Virgin Money London Marathon blogs by AW writers, editor Jason Henderson offers tips to marathon newcomers

We practise what we preach at Athletics Weekly and every day this week our running reporters will be bringing you advice on how to conquer the world’s No.1 marathon on April 13.

Steve Smythe, the magazine s results editor, has the amazing experience of having finished every London Marathon bar one, with a PB of 2:29:42 and the astonishing consistency of knocking out sub-2:50 performances almost every time recently despite being in his 50s.

Paul Halford, AW s deputy editor, has a PB of 2:28:32 and will be explaining later this week what it takes to crack the 2:30 barrier.

Martin Duff, a long-time AW contributor, brings the perspective of someone who won the world veterans marathon title with 2:26:45 aged 43, while finally our coaching editor David Lowes tells us what s required to reach the lofty heights of 2:15:31 a world-class time he achieved during the golden period of the mid-1980s.

First, I ll kick off with some simple advice aimed at beginners. My marathon PB of 3:07 is nowhere near as quick as my much-quicker colleagues, but I’ve nevertheless been running seriously for more than 30 years and, as a former 800m specialist, I guess I’ve compiled a fair record in recent years of managing to survive marathons in places ranging from London (four times) to sunny Barcelona and the foothills of the Himalayas to the third and final stage of the Hawaii Ironman.

So here is some last-minute advice aimed primarily at rookie runners who are taking a jog into the unknown in London

There is no training advice in this blog. You should have done it all by now and certainly should not be trying to squeeze any last-minute long or hard sessions into the early part of the final week! All I would say is that taking a day off the Friday before the race and a light jog on Saturday usually leaves me feeling fresh and loose on race day.

Leave no stone unturned. Plan and visualise everything you have to do on race day, such as what you re going to wear, eat for breakfast and how you re going to travel to the start – and make sure you do it before the Saturday. The tiniest detail, such as wearing plasters on your nipples to prevent chafing, can prevent lots of pain during the race.

Wash your hands. It sounds simple and minor, but in the final couple of weeks you are going to bump into lots of people on Tubes and at the marathon exhibition and your race will be ruined if you catch a virus. The best way to prevent this is to wash your hands regularly through the day. Don t laugh, elite athletes are paranoid about this and you should be too.

Everyone has a random and bizarre tip and mine is to wear an old pair of cotton socks as you make your way to the start (the journey can take an hour or more depending where you are staying). When you have to strip off to put your clothes in the baggage bus, take these off and put some dry, fresh socks on your feet for the race itself. Then put the old socks on your hands as makeshift gloves (race morning is often chilly) and throw them away when the race starts.

A word about pacing do not go off too fast. If this is your first marathon, do not spend the first 10 miles looking at your watch agonising about splits, but instead enjoy the crowds and atmosphere.

Finally, if you start to struggle, find some fellow sufferers on the road and chat to them as you shuffle along. Whatever you do, don t light up a cigarette, as I saw one straggler doing a couple of years ago during one of the many bizarre sights I’ve seen in my time at AW.

Keep your eyes peeled on the AW blog this week as we will be publishing a post a day offering marathon advice and tips ahead of the race. Also look out for the April 10 issue of AW which is a bumper London Marathon special

Note: A version of this blog was first published on athleticsweekly.com on April 15, 2013

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