To be a good athlete you must have good training practices. Traing is not just what you do out on the running track but how you mentally prepare yourself and how you live your life everyday.

Coaching - Seeking out someone with more experience then you is always a good idea. You should follow a tried and trusted training method, this will immediately get you into the correct training schedule.

Be Open - A huge part to becoming an experienced athlete is to keep your mind open, both to new ideas and to feedback. Get feedback from others. As a beginner (or even as an expert) you can not know everything recognise this and learn from your peers otr those that are more experienced.

Take it slow - Set reasonable goals. If you are a 2 times a week recreational runner do not expect to do a 4 minute mile. Setting yourself regular and achievable goals will keep yourself motivated and mentally fit in order that you will continue your training. You need to take your training schedule at the correct pace or you risk both mental and pysical burn out.

Injury Prevention - I don’t know of any great athlete that hasn’t suffered a injury at one point in their career, and knows how devastating it can be. We need to be careful to avoid injury, even one can wreck a season or even a career. Be careful in your training to prevent injury.

Use the right equipment - Why take the risk of training in year old running shoes when it’s recommended to buy new ones every 6 months? Also consider a HRM or a running watch, such as the garmin forerunner 405cx . The garmin 405cx not only records your training session but with its inbuilt GPS can map your exact route.

Proper warm up and cool downs - can greatly decrease your risk of injury. Not warming up is like driving a car really hard without giving it a tune up. It is like playing with fireworks. This can involve jogging to warm your muscles up, stretching and other mobility drills to make sure you are ready to begin your training session.

If you take these things into consideration I have no doubt that you will have success in for what ever it is you are training and if you invest in the 405cx you can record your progress and save and analyse it all on your PC to map your progress.

One final tip, remember to enjoy your exercise and good luck in your next event or marathon!