The Briton, whose record of two hours and 15.25 seconds has stood since 2003, is getting back to full training after having son Raphael in September.
"I want to ensure I have the down time and this time coming back from pregnancy, I'm deliberately taking it a lot slower than I did after (daughter) Isla," Radcliffe said at her home in Monaco.
"I think my body needs more time to get into it more gradually and for me the top priority is to ensure that I'm in shape and perform well in 2012 (at the Olympics).
"The thing is, I know what it takes to achieve at the top level. You can't take short cuts, your body has to be able to do it - or it doesn't," added the 36-year-old.
"You can't fool yourself believing: 'Yeah I can stand on the start line and beat everyone,' if you haven't done the training.
"It's that fine line but I do also understand and know that as I'm getting older you have to be smart about it. So I have to be a bit more careful in the amount of races I do per year and pick them."
The former marathon world champion is now recovered from a long-term foot injury which required an operation in March 2009 and prevented her defending the title in Berlin last year.
"Looking back with hindsight, I tried to come back too quickly - it was never going to happen for Berlin," Radcliffe said of her withdrawal a few days before the race last August.
"Next year can be a gradual stepping stone back and the other thing is, since my foot surgery I really feel that I've kind of corrected so many things.
"I can see how much I've been compensating for the last couple of years and that kind of explains a lot about the injury, which was more related to a bio-mechanical issue than that I was running too many miles."
Radcliffe is contemplating running at next year's World Championships in Daegu, South Korea but the former European 10,000 metres gold medallist said it would not be over the marathon.
"I can get back into spikes now with my foot and I'd love to go to the world champs on the track. The marathon is just going to be too much next year given the conditions there."
Radcliffe plans to start what will be an intensive build-up to the 2012 Olympics when returning to the high altitude venue of Albuquerque, New Mexico. In the past, the venue has been a New Year launch pad for a spring marathon, although this time she has not scheduled a race.
"I'm not ruling anything out at this stage but the way I see myself racing more five kilometres, 10 kilometres and half marathons and then doing one marathon so I'm qualified and ready to go into London," she said.
Radcliffe had disappointing results over the marathon at the previous two Olympics in Athens and Beijing, dropping out of the race and finishing 23rd respectively.
She has already discussed with coach and husband Gary Lough how she will react to the expectations of producing a host nation victory.
"We were talking about this the other day. I don't see it as pressure but with the home support and being on the streets of London as a huge advantage," she said.
Radcliffe was not worried about another nightmare Olympic scenario.
"It does play on my mind but I think I'm also quite lucky that I'm kind of one of those people where everything just comes out tears-wise and emotions-wise at the end of a race," she said.
"That's good for me because it means they're not locked away - they're not demons that haunt me forever. I kind of deal with it. I cry and move on to the next thing."
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