Fitness & Advice

Think about your posture – try and stay upright with your hips ‘level’. Imagine you are trying to balance a beanbag on your head when you are running and, for your hips, that you have a bucket of water around your waist and you don’t want to spill any! Keeping this balanced posture will improve your coordination and help prevent injury.

  Cool down after your run with some gentle stretches. This will prevent stiffness in muscles and aid recovery. Here are some examples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxYWfazjwoo

  If you experience soreness, pain or a niggle, don’t run. If it gets better within a day or two then resume training slowly from where you were in your plan – never be tempted skip ahead a week. If pain lasts for longer then see a physio for advice.

Gade Valley Harriers runs a Learn to Run course every May-July which incorporates all the above with additional running skill drills and coaching advice and support. For more details email learntorun@gadevalleyharriers.co.uk.

3.  V02 Max – This is your maximal aerobic capacity i.e. the maximal amount of oxygen your heart can pump to your muscles and that your muscles can use to produce energy. Again, this will determine how fast a pace you can maintain. V02 Max is important for general fitness but, in racing, particularly key in races of 5k or shorter.

4.  Speed and Running Form – Speed is determined by stride frequency multiplied by stride length. Working at your basic speed will improve your running form and your running economy (how fast you can run with a given amount of oxygen).

Acute injury is associated with local bleeding and that the object of first aid is to minimise this bleeding and reduce its consequences.

‘RICE’ is commonly used as an acronym to illustrate this. 

Injury Prevention and Self treatments

As we all know from time to time we may pick up injuries as a result of our running activities-here are a few basic rules which should help you prevent picking up injuries and also some self help strategies to treat yourself should you be unlucky enough to become injured.

General Training Advice

1)   Do start gradually-when you first start running,be careful to stay within your comfort zone,and not push yourself too hard-that can come later!!.

2)   Don’t build the mileage up too quickly-Most running injuries occur because we’ve stressed our bodies too hard or too quickly-The general rule of thumb is to limit any increase in mileage to no more than 10% a week-something to bear in mind if you’re training for a long mileage event such as a marathon.

3)   Don’t run too many hard training sessions too closely together-After a hard training session the body does need time to recover and repair any damaged muscle tissue.So if you’ve run a hard speed or hill session one day it’s better to have a low mileage,easy run or a rest day the following day,the same is true if you have run a long distance run/race too.

4)   Do warm up before running-it’s much better to get the muscles up to a warmer temperature before stressing them too hard-you can incorporate this into your run,simply by starting your running session off initially at a very slow,easy pace before speeding up.Current research indicates that it isn’t necessary to do lots of stretching prior to running to avoid injury,but a decent warm up drastically reduces the amount of injuries sustained.

5)   Do warm down after running,rather than just stopping totally,it is better to try a few gentle stretches after running or a very gentle jog or walk afterwards does the trick too!.

6)   After a run,try and avoid soaking in a very hot bath afterwards-I know it feels nice!,but the heat dilates the blood vessels which if you have picked up an injury,could make it bleed more,actually making it worse-You are better to have either a short not too hot shower,a cool bath or for the really masochistic of us an ice bath!-The effect of cold is to constrict the blood vessels which will have the effect of reducing any bleeding to an injury,therefore minimizing any muscle damage.

7)   Don’t run if you are feeling ill or are unwell-you will generally become more ill afterwards,and end up missing more time running as a result-It is also potentially dangerous,running with particularly a chest infection can be a cause of cardiac problems,where the heart muscle is attacked by a virus causing irrepairable damage,and in some cases can be fatal.

8)   Do listen to your body-if you have significant pain from a muscle or joint that doesn’t feel “right”,then you are better to miss that training session and have a rest day.

9)   Do take rest days,part of the training process,is actually caused by micro-trauma to the muscle fibres,and then by the body repairing them,so taking rest days is important to allow this recovery to take place,rather than training 7 days a week-alternatively,you could try another activity such as cycling or swimming which works slightly different muscle groups.

10)  Do change your running shoes regularly,the average running shoe lasts for approximately 400-500 miles.After this time the mid-sole of the running shoe becomes significantly compressed,and you then start getting more impact passed up into the body,which can be a significant factor in causing injury.Certainly worth looking at as it is easy to average 40 miles per week during a marathon training schedule,so in 10 weeks or so your shoes could easily be on their last legs!.

11)  Do use good quality footwear,it is better to go to a specialist running shop and get advice on appropriate footwear,rather than going to a High Street chain store,where the sales assistants are not very knowledgeable about running shoes.

12)  Do try and run off road where possible,as running on softer surfaces dramatically reduces the amount of impact that the body receives.

13)  Don’t slavishly follow running schedules if you are feeling ill or are injured-Most running schedules,such as those in “Runners World” are generally very good,but everyone is individual,so I would use these more as a guideline.So if you are feeling ill or are injured,don’t feel guilty about missing a day in the schedule,as it’s better to do that than have to have a longer lay off as a result of pushing yourself to the point of breaking down.

14)  Do seek advice if you have an ongoing injury,which hasn’t responded to rest,modified activity and home treatments,then do seek help.I would recommend seeing a Chartered Physiotherapist with an interest in sports injuries,as it is possible that you may have underlying bio-mechanical issues which require accurate assessment and treatment.

The main points to remember are-

1)  Don’t stretch cold muscles. It’s far better to stretch after a run than before.

2)  Do stretch lightly before speedwork, after a 10-minute warm-up jog.

3)  Ease into each stretch: don’t bounce or force it.

4)  Before speedwork, hold each stretch for 10-15 seconds.

5)  After a run, hold each stretch for 30 seconds; repeat once or twice on each leg.