Wilkinson (nutricentre.com). Your recommended daily allowance (RDA) for iron is 18 to 20mg; good sources of the mineral include liver, iron-fortified cereal, dried fruit, beef and spinach. Crucial calciumYour RDA for calcium is 1,000 to 1,300mg; good sources

. Dedicate 35 minutes to carbs. Add 15 minutes of protein and healthy fats. The remaining 10 minutes? Have fruit for dessert.BAD GUY: SALTThe good news: It's always wise to keep your salt intake below 6g a day. Yet during long runs "prolonged sweating can

steady runs and marathon pace runs for more experienced runners. Spend 10-25 per cent of your training time here. High Intensity 80-95% of maxThe lower end (80-85 per cent) of this zone encompasses tempo (or lactate threshold) runs - a 'comfortably hard

to exert yourself on non-running days, some form of exercise will energise your mind, improve your attitude and burn fat. Choose an activity that doesn't fatigue the calf muscles, such as swimming or walking.How to vary your weekYou can keep the same

Standfirst: 10 first-time running goals – and how to achieve themAuthor: Issue date: aug98Keywords: -- 1. How to... Buy your first running shoeWith more than 150 different specialist running shoes to choose from, finding the right model can

. I looked for vitamin spinach, supplement spinach, clothes spinach… you name it. I was that guy at the race expos looking for the latest, newest, most surefire way of becoming leaner, fitter and faster.The first time I ran a mile in under 10 minutes

're all quitters, in the sense that we have dropped out of some activity at some time. There's nothing wrong with starting again (and again). Author of Psychodynamic Running: The Complete, Definitive Madman's Guide to Distance Running and the Marathon (£10.99

At the last count, 132,000 runners had posted 1.6 million messages between them on the Runner's World forum. That's a ton of useful tips!Our readers already helped us pick out some of the best threads (or 'conversations'). Now we've gone a step

."NUTRITIONPass on the extra carbsBread, bagels, pasta, potatoes and pancakes - you just can't get enough, right? Wrong, says sports nutritionist Nancy Clark, author of Nancy Clark's Food Guide for New Runners (£12.95, Meyer & Meyer Sport). Running two or three miles

This section is adapted from No Need For Speed - A Beginner's Guide To The Joy Of Running, by John Bingham. Buy this book!You may be uncomfortable hearing that no one can tell you what your fitness goals should be. No one can tell you how much