James Milner may only be a few months retired as a professional footballer, but he showcased he is still an elite athlete after partaking in his first-ever marathon at the weekend.

Milner swapped his football boots for his running shoes on Sunday as he competed in the New York Marathon.

And the 40-year-old clocked an impressive time running the 26.2-mile route on his debut at three hours, nine minutes and four seconds.

The former Leeds, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Manchester City, Liverpool and Brighton midfielder was running for the James Milner Foundation - which has raised over £1.3million previously for various charities such as the NSPCC and Help for Heroes.

And speaking ahead of the race, Milner revealed that he had been using AI as his main training-base tool.

Asked about his long run in preparation for the New York Marathon, the former England international told Let's Run: 'Longest I've done is just over 32 kilometers. I hit 30 another couple of times, and then just used AI really for a training program.

'That's how it started, yeah. I know a few other people and stuff, but yeah, just bounced things off that really and went from there.'

It is unclear if all-time Premier League appearance holder Milner (658 games), who turns 41 in January, will run another marathon again in the future - but when that prospect was proposed to him, he revealed the training for it has helped him adjust to the realities of no longer playing professionally.

'I think it's one of them, after I've finished - hopefully - on Sunday, I'll either love it and have the bug and want to tick off loads of marathons, or maybe I'll hate it, never want to do another and maybe go to some triathlons or something else,' he continued.

'But fitness has always been a big part of my life, and I feel I've always been goal-orientated. I think I'd find it hard to not have a goal to train for, and I think this has been really important for me in terms of retiring and having something to aim for and training and still having that importance.

'Even when I was on holiday, [it was like] look, I need to get up and train for this. I need to eat the right things because I've got this run in the morning. I've lived that for 25 years. It's important for me to keep that going, and I feel very fortunate to be part of the New York Marathon. It's such a special city every time you're here.'

During a storied career, Milner won the Premier League twice with Manchester City before lifting the title as well as the Champions League with Liverpool.

In total Milner, who also had a loan spell at Swindon, won 11 major honours during his career alongside 61 England caps.

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