For the past three months, I've been training for my first marathon. All of my training has been done on a treadmill. I average about 40 miles a week and my longest run has been 18 miles. What can I expect when I start to train in the outdoors? Any suggestions to make this transition easier and without losing mileage gains?

I have found that shoes and stretching are even more important for outdoor runs compared to the treadmill. Good shoes are very valuable when running on the street. The concrete has quite an impact on your joints.

One thing you can do on the treadmill to ease the transition is run more at an incline. That way, you will be forced to propel your body and also get ready for hills.

Yesterday, I ran 12 outside. I am training to train for a marathon scheduled for end of July. I didn't drink anything on the run. I am not sure if that had anything to do with my difficulties. By the time I got home, my hips, knees, shins were really, really stiff and sore. I thought I had enough to eat - bowl of cereal, power bar.

I have some questions for you. What do you know about hydrating on runs? Do you think that what I experienced has something to do with that? I have been running a lot - 20-25 a week.

Dude! Dehydration definitely has something to do with your pain. You need to drink when you run. I've found the best way to determine your individual fluid needs is to weigh yourself (naked) then go on a 30 minute hard effort (not all out, but running at a good pace). When you get back from your run strip down and dry yourself off and weigh yourself again. Each pound of weight you lost equals about 16 ounces of fluid that you need to replace. Take your total ounces and double it, and that is the number of ounces that you need to drink each hour to stay well hydrated.

If you're running longer than an hour you'll probably want to consider sports drinks rather than water, becausee of the electrolytes. Have fun, and good luck!

I had been doing all of my running indoors on a treadmill as well. Usually only 3 miles a day. I've recently began running outdoors. I started by doing a light run for the first week and am now beginning to get back to the intensity I had on the treadmill. The thing I found most difficult about switching to outdoors is learning how to pace myself without a machine's help. Also, I recently did a long run, 8.5 miles, and believe that I got dehydrated. I hadn't drank any water on my run, when I got back I wasn't sore like you described but I felt sick to my stomach.

Ian