Getting yourself race ready isn’t complicated. Hard, yes. But complicated, no. There’s really only three things you need to remember: eat, sleep, run. And so with just 32 days until Edinburgh Marathon I’ve written myself a post-it as a reminder to take these things seriously.

Eat
Remembering to eat isn’t hard, you try and stop me forgetting. But remembering to eat the good stuff is. I don’t count calories and I don’t diet, but I try to eat well. For me this means eating fresh food, lots of vegetables and a good mix of proteins and carbohydrates.

Since I had my running assessment a few weeks back I’ve been trying to eat more protein – something that, because I don’t eat meat, isn’t always top of my agenda. I’m also not always good at refuelling quickly after a long run. A mix of protein and carbs within 30 minutes is advised, but it’s not always easy. You’ve run 18 miles, the last thing you want to do is cook. So having something prepared to thinking creatively is the way forward. I finished up a 16-miler last summer on the doorstep of a Pizza Hut. Great for me, not so much for the other customers.

Sleep
Getting enough shut-eye is something I’m pretty good at. Which is handy because sleep is when your body recovers from running hard, makes itself stronger and generally gets more awesome. I’m not a purist who believes you shouldn’t drink if you’re training – the only problem with having a couple of glasses of wine is that it can affect your sleep. So from here on I’ll be limiting (but not cutting out) alcohol and making sure I get a good 8 hours.

Run
For the past six weeks between getting back from travelling and running Brighton Marathon, I’ve concentrated on building my mileage back up. But now it’s time to introduce some quality training sessions back into my routine. So I’ll be making friends with the track, using my Garmin more effectively, seeking out some hills to run up and finding a new running club to join.