This week's question was emailed to me by forum member Little Lizard, who has taken barely a single rest day in years. She reckons gym work is enough of a rest for her legs, but could she be overdoing it and storing up trouble for the future

'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

), and take a rest when I need one. I've had two chest infections which knocked me out for more than two weeks, both after races, and I feel more tired than normal. I'm concerned I may be overtrained. Should I take this complete break or just cut back? What

Are fast marathoners a breed apart, or can the rest of us be as fast if we work hard enough?"Are fast runners naturally fast, or can you teach yourself to be fast, through pure dedication and training? I'm a long way off a 3:15 marathon, but with a

knew me at school can hardly believe it, because that 100-metre dash with no warm up was enough to label me forever as an embarrassment to running. I might easily have gone the rest of my life engaged in no exercise at all, because I'd been led

, find that base pace and keep working it until you start to feel the improvement (note how your resting hear rate drops over the weeks as you do this). Then you can start introducing some quicker runs and/or intervals. – Chocolate MooseDistract your

've had a few little niggles, but now I take note of every niggle and try to determine what's caused it, taking appropriate action immediately. Usually this either involves running slowly or taking a few days' rest. Invariably the niggles are caused by too

you both. I took up running as way of getting fit when Stoat 3 was six months old. Now I just juggle my runs around rest of family. It's harder now that they're older, as we have to fit round their social and sporting activities. – StoatMy monsters

decent one with all the straps and support. – Jamie LeakeRun long at the weekendKeep shorter runs for weekday evenings and longer runs at the weekend, maybe a Saturday morning run and a Sunday evening run to give your body the greatest possible rest time

! – Expat ScotI don't believe you will lose any significant training effect by resting completely until your cold is over. Training is a stress like a cold, and the combination means your body has to cope with two major stressors. A few days off training