SNOW and icy conditions may have threatened your training this week, but remember 'winter miles save marathon minutes'.

OK, I'm pretty sure I stole that little pearl of wisdom off one marathon tweeter or another, but it rings true.

I ventured out with a group in Birchwood on Tuesday to try a ‘quality’ session, something experienced coach Tony McCarthy says is important in building speed and endurance into your training.

This session was aimed at developing speed and saw us running three sets of 600m at 5k pace with a short rest in between, followed by three lots of 300m and another 3x600m to finish.

Tony is a marathon and endurance coach with Warrington Athletics Club, but his Tuesday group combines Warrington athletes, Spectrum Striders and other unattached local runners.

It was great to participate in a structured session and get some advice on what my realistic targets should be for Prague.

Previously I was shooting in the dark a little, with only a handful of ParkRuns as a guide – that left it very difficult to predict how I’d fare over 26.2 miles.

I have signed up for the Great North West Half Marathon in Blackpool on Sunday, February 22, so if anyone is heading up for that one, let me know!

One thing I did take from Tuesday’s session, and from athletes and coaches I’ve spoken to previously, is how accommodating and happy to lend advice the likes of Tony, Louise Blizzard, Brian New and John Walsh have been.

That seems to be true of all the running types I’ve come across during my training so far.

If you are struggling to get the miles in at the moment then another Warrington AC coach, Jim Russell, has some advice.

“When I was running marathons for Bellahouston Harriers in Glasgow I used to run to and from work in order to get the mileage I wanted,” explained the sub 2hrs 30mins marathon runner.

“To do this I would take everything I required for the week in on Monday morning and then take it home on Friday.

"I would say not to run a specific distance in training but to run for time, eg 30/45/60 minutes, and also to do a longer run on Sundays.

"One thing you must do is to train regularly and to build up gradually on your mileage.”