advice needed

[Sweder]

Welcome John.

First things first, get along to your GP and have a general medical. make sure you're basically of sound body (obviously your mind's a bit dodgy!). Also make sure you have the right shoes for you. With a green light from the doc and good shoes you're making a great start.

At about your age and weight I started training in late January (2003) for my first London marathon (April). I didn't train particularly hard or well but managed to get round. It wasn't pretty; you'll do much better.

Some tips you might find useful:

1. Don't try to lose loads of weight super-fast. If you run regularly (3 to four times a week) up to three miles a time and don't increase your food intake you will lose weight.

2. Start with easy mileage and add on slowly. If you can manage three miles at an easy pace do that three times a week. Pick a particular day for your 'long' run. As the weeks go by increase this, again gradually. If you go for too much too soon you'll get injured and miss training/ risk going back to start.

3. Find a training schedule. You've got around 17 weeks till FLM - most schedules are 16 weeks (some are less). Runners World is a good source as is the FLM website. There are some here who advocate Hal Higdon's schedules - google Hal Higdon Marathon Training and you should get some good leads.

4. Start a diary. It's great therapy and it helps to see that mileage building up. You can start one on here if you like. It's good fun, motivates you to keep going when the weather gets rough and you'll get encouragement/ interaction/ advise from some of the runners here. We're of 'mixed ability' here but what some of us lack in performance we offset by experience

5. Tag along with a local training or running group. Helps with motivation and you can pick up some good tips from other runners.

That's enough advice for one session!
There are others more experienced than I and I'm sure they'll cover any essentials I've missed out. Let us know how you get on.