With the London Marathon just nine days away the nerves have really kicked in. I did my last long run (30km) on Easter Saturday and am now tapering, cutting back my running to 8km jogs to keep my legs fresh and flexible.

I may do a slightly longer run – around 13km – this weekend, but I’m not going to get any fitter now. In fact, training too hard in these final days can be severely detrimental to your marathon effort as your muscles will not have sufficient time to recover.

A major part of recovery is nutrition. Most people know about carb-loading, but this shouldn’t start until three days before the race. This is the best bit of marathon training – apart from crossing the finish line, obviously – because you can stuff your face with pasta, sweets and biscuits to ‘load’ your muscles with as much as glycogen as possible.

Now I’m putting together a checklist of everything I’ll need on the day. If you’re running London next week, I suggest you take everything listed below. You can’t be too prepared!

A change of clothes – for the hours of hanging around at the start and for something warm to put once you’ve finished.

Energy drinks and bars – these will give you a final energy boost before the race and some much needed fuel at the finish.

Vaseline – slap it on wherever skin meets fabric (armpits, nipples and thighs are the prime locations for chafing).

Waterproof jacket – it tends to rain in London in April and the worst way to start a 42km run is to be cold and wet.

Sun cream – Of course London in April can also be hot: marathon Sunday in 2007 was a scorcher. If the sun is out or looks like it might come out, it is well worth a few squirts of sunblock.