or you will injure yourself. I gradually increased the miles on my toes and gradually decreased the "heel" miles; whole process took about 10 weeks. The morning walk down the stairs took longer than normal, but it felt great running at my new race pace
will be micro damaged, and need a fortnight to repair.Carefully assess your shoes: they may be tired out, too. Be careful about racing too soon. You'll know if you've pulled a muscle if the muscle on one side hurts more than the other. If you escaped that, you
It's not a marathon and it's not got Paula Radcliffe, but the Great North Run is one humdinger of an event.This road race in Tyne and Wear attracts the kind of attention and numbers that many full marathons can only dream about. On October 1, when
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
things you could think of getting are tribars (£40+), number belt (£3+), bike computer (£10+), clipless pedals (£30+) and bike shoes (£40+). Clipless pedals and bike shoes and/or tribars are probably the most cost-efficiant upgrades; I'd recommend
of supportive underwear and pads! I raced about three months after giving birth, and with my second baby I did the London marathon six months after he was born and achieved a personal best. Having a baby certainly makes you more motivated. Good luck and don
. (Stickless)I chose to join the running club with the most good-looking women in the team pictures on their website. Fickle? Yes. Shallow? Yes. But great for motivation! (Coops10)Enter a race that's in six to eight weeks' time, and a teensy bit further than
might expect. Heart rate monitors are really good for base training and will give you instant visual feedback on whether you're training at the most useful level or not... which is often amazingly slow. – Dave CochraneSet a targetEnter a race. You know
of exercises you can do at home without any special equipment, and a lot more that you can do if you invest in a gym ball and some dumb-bells. But the best form of running-specific core training is probably to put on a pair of fell-shoes and gallop up and down
would work at increasing mileage or intensity. 2. Branch out. Learn to swim, ride a bike, join the pilates class, take out/make better use of a gym membership. Avoiding discouragement is part of the job. Practice at this also means that when the race
