number of off-road duathlons, and the tricky conditions only add spice to these events.Taking part in the occasional grimy, frosty duathlon will leave you primed for next season. But you have to know what you're doing.A Shoe InAppropriate footwear

number of off-road duathlons, and the tricky conditions only add spice to these events.Taking part in the occasional grimy, frosty duathlon will leave you primed for next season. But you have to know what you're doing.A Shoe InAppropriate footwear

and using your arms. Finding a breathing rhythm in time with your feet will take your mind off the pain you're enduring."Sam Gardner"Check out the terrain and road conditions prior to the race start to ensure you make the correct running shoe choice. Try

of the hill.Don’t just hammer out the miles on roads or pavements. By training off-road on trails or sand, your legs will work harder to keep you moving, and you’ll put less stress on joints. You can even include races on different surfaces in your training

Warm up, then 3 x 1 mile at 10K pace, with 5-minute restsDay 3 6 miles easyDay 4 As Day 1, on a different routeDay 5 RestDay 6 6 x 800m OR 6 x 3 minutes, with 2-minute recoveriesDay 7 1 hour easy, off-roadIf your goals are shorter, track-based distances

fairly fast, then 1M jog 10M slowWEEK 5 5M easy, off-road 6M, starting slow, finishing faster 3 x 5 mins fast, with 5-min jog recoveries 5M easy, inc 6 x 150m fast strides Rest or 3M jog 2M slow, then 1M fast, then 2M slow Warm up, then 10K race or 5M

very light racing month, with very few road options. But join a club and, whatever your standard, the wonderful world of cross-country opens up to you. Visit the UK Athletics site to find your nearest club. Of course, you could kick off the New

feet, ankles, knees and hips have to get used to it gradually. Holding yourself back at first is frustrating, but it pays dividends by keeping you injury-free. A good rule for any runner is to aim to do half of your training off-road, to minimise

own protection and for that of those around you. You need to be able to hear instructions from the marshals as well as be aware of your fellow competitors at all times. Runners may already know of the ban on MP3 players during races and road cyclists

.Swim: 200m at race effort, 100m steady, 100m at race effort. 5-min bike at race pace: "The first 60 seconds can be with feet on the shoes rather than in them," says Lumley.Repeat 2-4 times.Session 2  5-min bike at race pace: Repeat 3-4 times, with a short