THAT marathon you are training for is another week closer.

Perhaps I am still living on the adrenaline of signing up for my first race at that distance, or perhaps I feel a need to justify the excessive amounts of running clobber I have obtained recently.

But, despite this week’s strong winds trying their best to blow away my spirit, training has been so far, so good.

Fearing shouts of ‘all the gear, no idea’, 10-mile runs on back-to-back Sundays complemented by a number of shorter midweek runs have been comfortably met.

I’m under no illusion the worst is yet to come, but have enjoyed the benefits so far of training with friends of a similar speed who are also training for marathons this spring; Rome in March and London the following month.

Grateful for one another’s company, we will be looking to pile on the weekend miles now and it is here, I am told, the mental side of my training will kick in.

Warrington-based coach and athlete Brian New, of enduranceuk.com, explains the importance of building confidence throughout your training.

He encourages a positive mindset among his athletes.

“The first question is why are you doing it?” he said. “What is your objective? Are you looking to just get round and finish or are you looking at setting a certain time?

“If people say they are just looking to finish then it’s a different mindset. You have the ‘A’ people who get stressed or anxious when they hit the start line, or the ‘B’ people who are relaxed.

“I try and encourage more of a ‘B’ type, but you don’t become a ‘B’ overnight. What you can do in training is build up your confidence.

“If you can get yourself into a mindset of thinking 10, 20 miles is easy, it is. The confidence comes from doing those miles.

“You’ll think ‘I can do this, I’ve done it in training’.”

There will be variables come race day we cannot control, but New tells me that now is the time to start getting a grip of those you can.

“I look at things holistically,” he added. “The things that I can control are the things that matter; sleep, diet, shoes and injuries for example.

“It’s about getting all these things right.”

n If you are running a marathon this year, or an expert with advice for new runners, then share your training progress and pictures with us by sending them to alex.bysouth@nqnw.co.uk