onset muscle soreness. It's caused by lactic acid, which builds up in the muscle fibres after strenuous exercise. And it sucks. The answer is to take a small sip of the bad medicine. "Whatever distance has caused the soreness, you should run a fraction

you can naturally practice the transition from uphill to downhill running. Running down after a hard climb, rather than taking a breather, is one of the key skills of hill running. Benefits Conditions your legs against delayed onset muscle soreness

. "Simultaneously stretching opposing muscles – like the biceps and triceps – to induce a deeper, better stretch, can reduce delayed onset of muscle soreness by up to a third," explains Gemma McCartney, running tutor at Lifetime Training (www

.”Translation: the most important reason for long runs is to condition the muscles to delay the onset of fatigue.2. What is the best long-run training distance for marathoners? In short, there is no perfect distance. We have seen marathon-training schedules which