to challenge your physical and mental limits and have fun as you work towards your running goals, whether that's to get in shape, finish a your first 5K or run a marathon.With chapters on training, health, nutrition, weight loss, running and pregnancy

and have been shown to reduce running performance over 10K by as much as 2 minutes. It is also worth noting that cases of exertional heat illness, such as heatstroke, are not isolated to the summer months. The best way to assess your fluid loss

. 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

!Smoking - just stopped, lungs feel terrible..Smoking - want to stop…Stitch - how to beat them pt1Stitch - how to beat them pt2Stomach cramp - yukSweat - do I sweat too much?SEE OUR FULL 'BEST OF THE HEALTH & INJURY FORUM' INDEX MOTIVATION FOR BEGINNERSA success

."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

, every time I started down a path towards better health and weight loss, I’d choose a destination. In terms of losing weight, I’d tell myself that when I’d lost 10 or 20lbs, I’d be thin. And every day I’d stand on the scales and ask myself if I

'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

the equivalent of eight large glasses of water every day, and probably twice that in warm weather. It also means taking in about half a pint of fluid every 15-20 minutes of running. For runs of an hour or more, you also need to replenish spent energy stores

it became obsessive. OK, I'm never going to win anything, but I have got satisfactory results from such training. My PBs are 1:37 for a half-marathon (four runs per week), and 3:52 for the marathon. – Mr BumpUse your past experience to inform the present

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