Ronan Keating on the London Marathon

Irish pop star Ronan Keating is entering the 2009 London Marathon in April. In the second part in our exclusive interview we talk about how his preparations are going for this year’s race.

Now it is fair to say last year’s London Marathon was a bittersweet experience for Ronan Keating. On the face of it a finish of 3:59 should be applauded for the Irish singer. A more than respectable time, a great personal achievement and bags of money raised for charity.

Yet Keating is a former champion schoolboy sprinter, used to short, explosive bursts of speed rather than the gruelling slog of the long distance challenge.

And he also had a little confession to make to a slightly stunned spikesmag.com.

“I hate it in one way and in another way I love it,” Keating admits of long-distance running. “Last year, I didn’t training for the marathon, specifically. I was training for the Boyzone tour, which was eight months of gym work with a personal trainer.

"The problem was as you run you create estrogen and it reduces muscle definition but I was about to go on tour so I didn’t do any running. I ran 10km in the Great Ireland Run and I ran the marathon in 3:59. I know it's not a good advertisement but I did no mileage... zero,” he adds looking mildly shamefaced at the admission.

This year Keating plans his second assault on the 26.2-mile challenge in the British capital, but is he better prepared this time around?

Any day now he plans to do a charity walk up Mt Kilimanjaro alongside, amongst others, Take That frontman Gary Barlow. Hill walking on the treadmill has become a regular part of his fitness regime but he has promised to step up the running in the coming weeks.

“I’m going to do some miles, although the longest run is going to be a ten miler,” he adds. “I’d be happy with that. I’m saying I’d like to run under four hours but I’d really like 3:45.”

The level of training he plans to do still appears on the light side, after all most marathoners are advised to put in at least one 20-mile plus run as part of their pre-event preparations.

Yet after posting a not-too-shabby 3:59 marathon with no training, who are we to argue. Keating is naturally a very fit man.

To meet the physical demands of touring he trains in the gym for at least one-hour most days. Here he combines heavy legwork with intense muscle and core work as part of his demanding schedule.

“It is absolutely essential to do the fitness-work. If you are going to do two hours of full-on dancing you need to be fit,” he explained. “And to sing alongside that, your lungs need to be in good shape.”

Yet running remains a great release for the Irish pop icon. He enjoys running around a park near his Irish home and an occasional coastal run. With his headphones on hat down he is rarely spotted, but he explains, “When I come off a run I feel more uplifted and positive. If I’m ever hungover or feeling rough I go for a run.”

But what music does he listen to when running? Is he ever tempted to listen to his own?

“Nay, I never listen to my own music,” he insists. “I listen to stuff like Gavin DeGraw and Train – American-type guitar music. It’s the right tempo.”

For this year’s London Marathon though, Keating has an added incentive – an enemy within. Well, okay at least within Boyzone, as he takes on fellow band member Keith Duffy over the 26.2-mile distance.

The match-up seems an intriguing one, particularly as the frontman believes little separates the pair in the gym. “Keith and I have the same trainer and we'll probably be on the same fitness level,” he adds. “Keith does a lot of gym work, but interestingly he’s bigger than me so I think he’ll find it harder carrying all that muscle on the knees and joints.”

Keating’s passion for running and fitness has also taken him to some strange running destinations. He has performed in dozens of countries and laughs at the memory of one errant run on the streets of Nottingham.

“I remember I got lost and I couldn’t find my way back to the hotel... that was quite interesting,” he adds. “I reached the motorway and thought 'how do I get back?' I asked for directions a few times.”

Was he recognized? “By the time they figured out who I was and had pointed in that direction, I was gone.”

Ronan Keating is running the Flora London Marathon in aid of Cancer Research UK