Running a marathon demands a lot of hard work and planning during training

In his column in the current issue of Gaelic Life, Paraic Grimes addresses the issues of setting goals in training.

He said that those who are training must realise that if they want to achieve a plan, then they must be realistic about what they can achieve, and the time it will take them.

“You’d be surprised by how many men and women come in to me, who are fairly clueless about what their actual fitness goals are, and claim that they’d like to run a marathon.

“In fairness they are not saying that they would like to match the heroic achievements of Laura Graham – who won the Belfast marathon last weekend – they just want to run it.

“But for many of them, actually completing the 26.2 mile course is as unrealistic as going on ahead and winning it.

“I say it is unrealistic because they’ve struggled through a 5K in March, yet they expect to be bale to complete a marathon in May.

“For many other people big goals like this seem daunting, next to impossible, but if you approach them with the right attitude, anything is possible.”

To read the full article, buy the current issue of Gaelic Life. Click here to by the online edition.