Considered to be one of Australia's best athletes in the water, Ky Hurst knows what it takes to prepare for a marathon event.
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The seven-time Ironman champion and former Olympic swimmer is this year's face of the 50th Canberra Times' Fun Run, which takes place on Sunday, September 6.
Ky is also the ambassador for the Westpac Lifesaver Rescue and a member of the Surf Life Saving Australia Hall of Fame.
In the lead up to the big day, Ky shared some of his best fitness tips for those running in the event.
"If you can get a few good runs in, they don't have to be as far as 14 kilometres – just do a couple of light runs," he said.
"I like to challenge myself during the week [of the race] but you've got two weeks to go, so the biggest thing is to keep your stretching up and on top of that recover after each run."
Ky said proper nutrition and hydration played a "massive" part in preparing yourself before the event.
"Usually before those big runs I have something really light, just a good bowl of cereal, some toast, nothing too fancy," he said.
"But I think you need to be hydrating and getting your water [intake] up days out and just slowly increasing it. Make sure you're having lots of water and electrolytes prior to the race."
The 34-year-old also noted the importance of keeping up fluid intakes during and after the race.
"I think what's really good about these events is that there's a lot of water stations along the way which is fantastic," he said.
"You run for a little bit and you know you're gonna be okay because there's another water station coming up."
Ky has been lucky enough to run in all the Run Out Loud events this year, including Sydney's City2Surf two weeks ago.
But he said he was already excited about coming to Canberra for the race.
"It's just a great event and I'll run the 14 kilometres. I enjoy getting through it," he said.
"I usually run with the kids there and represent different schools from the local area. I also run with the Westpac lifesaver guys, people from their crew and people that support the charity."
Registrations for the 2015 Canberra Times Fun Run are open for the 14-kilometre, 10-kilometre and five-kilometre courses. Register at canberratimesfunrun.com.au.
