This week: Do you really benefit from warming up before a run – and if so, how hard and how far should you go?"How far, or for how long, are you supposed to warm up before a race? The more I warm up the better I seem to perform. I ran a 5.4-mile
and health not all about PBs and following the rules. If you want to do it, you will. A couple of easy recovery runs in between and you'll be fine. Because there's pressure you may find you fly round. I have a 43-mile race coming up three weeks after a
. So crowded was that 50,000-strong field that you gave it just 51 per cent for PB potential.That's the paradox of any big, famous race. The sheer weight of numbers makes it nigh-on impossible to sprint round the course unless you start at the very
medallist Brendan Foster, who got the idea after running in New Zealand's Round the Bays race in 1979.When the GNR made its debut in 1981, it took place in June and boasted a line-up of 12,000 runners – many of whom will be back this year, no doubt relieved
successful race day, says Velociraptor. "Don't worry about the training schedules at the moment. The most important thing is to build up your weekly mileage gradually over the next few months, so that when you do pick up the sub-4 schedule at the end
player.The crowded start was my main beef about the race. I adore my running but I'm under no illusions about my pace; like Jimmy Savile, "I run marathons, I don't race them". So I lined up dutifully (and, it turned out, pessimistically) in the 2:30 area
If it suits you, fine – but no rest days in years?Your body is the best judge. If you're treating your gym days as rest days and feeling fine on it, then it probably isn't doing you any harm. But do you not even take rest days in the lead up to a race day? Do
or the New Forest. And, unlike the Great North Run, it’s not on telly.But this marathon, in a sleepy market town just outside Oxford, is hugely popular. Race day isn't until October 22, but the event's 1,000 places have long been snapped up – 107 of them
or drink, and had notched up a hearty 49 years. But when doctors ran tests, a biopsy revealed throat cancer."Right after the biopsy he went for a run," Dave’s wife Liz, aka forum member School Runner, told RW. "It reminded him that there are loads of people
, and partly for general health reasons. But I feel sluggish and my work is suffering. Is there really a point to this caffeine-free lark?" – Jane Hoskyn aka e17 pixieYour best answersResensitising really works, so brave it outI abstain from caffeine now
