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
't mean no running at all, but avoid any major exertion) for each mile of racing. You wouldn't find a pro racing a half marathon two weeks after a marathon – and if they can't recover, nor can the rest of us. – Johnny JThe marathon will take it out of you
race? Can I continue running 40-50 miles per week without risk of serious injury? Or this a stupid idea?!"– Michael FirmstoneYour best answers...Keep up the training, and enter a race evry couple of months to give you targets to aim at. Start trying
-twitch muscle fibres will not in themselves make someone a fast runner. The one thing that is consistently proven to improve fitness (and speed) is training. Generally the more you train the better you get. Less is NOT more! Don't get worked up about what your
likely to suffer if you fall out of a window while you're drunk or if you're still trussed up and tied to a tree in the middle of nowhere when the race is due to start. – VelociraptorWear St George kneepadsYou might be risking a twisted ankle, or some
less than a month to go until the official ballot closes on October 20 – and then it's a very quick six months until race day on April 22. But don't forget the scores of charities who may find you a place later on, as long as you guarantee to raise a
black coffee before training in the morning. Training on empty helps promote fat-burning metabolism to kick in – and minimises the need for a mid-session loo! – Slow-coachI can't leave the house before a long run/race (10 miles plus) without having my
, 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
speedwork session, or come to a standstill at the end of a race, without a cool-down many times, and not been sore afterwards. However, I can't see that there is any positive physiological reason for actively avoiding a cool-down. I'll be interested to see
cushion unless your backside is sufficiently padded to start with. – SnapstingetI learned the hard way that it's essential to do cross training to maintain running capability. I ran a lot from 1985-2000, 40+ miles per week and races once a month. All I did
