BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAA.........nice one

Physical improvement and a healthier lifestyle, all to gain spiritual enlightenment and inner peace.

The first thing to note about exercise is that everybody has a different opinion and it is more important what works or doesn't work for you in terms of keeping you motivated.

I do a lot of long distance running, and I find the most important thing to keep motivated is to have specific goals like it seems you do (e.g. run a marathon, run a sub 1:30 half marathon). I also like plotting the runs I have done and keeping a record of my times over courses which I tend to repeat, it keeps it interesting to see improvement over a training period leading up to a race. www.mapmyrun.com is good for plotting and logging runs.

Doing a lot of running I also seem to pick up quite a lot of injuries, make sure you have well fitted trainers from a specialist running shop. Also make sure to cross train (also like it sounds like you do) by cycling and swimming to avoid building up large muscle imbalances and more importantly to take some strain off your legs and joints caused by repetitive impact, also run on grass or soft ground as opposed to tarmac or hard paving where possible. Stretch off properly after exercise and make sure to factor rest into your training schedule - Just recently I had to take 6 weeks off and missed out on running my first marathon due to a stress fracture in my foot caused by overtraining, it's incredibly frustrating.

Good luck!

hey philly!

In case you are wondering what qualifies me to say anything in here I would just mention that I am in the Marine Corps (US) and we put a lot of focus on physical fitness.

What Sitting Duck says is largely true. But the ultimate question is what are you "getting in shape" for? Is it to run faster (gain cardio), to burn fat, or both?

If it is cardio then doing exactly what sitting duck said will def work. Try to keep from wearing your legs down by doing a lot of hard running (pavement etc.) and do swimming and other things that will not wear out your knees and feet as much. Trust me, you may not feel it right away but it has detrimental effects later on down the road. Also if you live next to a mountain the higher the altitude the better it is to train cardio.

If it is fat burning then dont just rely on running long distance. In fact doing a lot of other exercises (to include sprints) that keep your heart rate at a certain level will help you to burn fat. Look up circuit training and add that into what you do. If you were to run 3x a week and do circuit training 3-4x a week as well (still getting your days off that you need) you would see a lot more excess come off of you and it would still help out your cardio in the process.

Sorry Noir. Apparently we are all just (serious) amateurs.

> Noir wrote:

> What id love to hear is if someone had more detailed knowledge of running, as thats where my goals are.

go ask him -> http://www.fotosguapas.net/data/media/13/JLM-cartoons_06.jpg

*mic! mic!*

Ye thats my motto atm really SD, getting miles. Basicly what im wondering is if anyone has some nice hints and pointers that could help me on my way. I know the basics, but i havent really trained for such a specific event before

noir, come to chat you lazy []

rather do my sport on the bed and get really hot and sweaty

Build CardiO's (Cardio Offices).  A tick before they finish building, raize your hfs.  Guarenteed to double your cardio will keeping you nw (netweight) in check.