Ease into faster running with these introductory sessions:1. Easy fartlekFartlek, or speed play, is variable-paced running that emphasises creativity. During a 30-minute run, choose objects to run to – lamp-posts, trees, buildings, other runners

in numbers has come about partly due to a 40-year campaign for a new running track finally coming to fruition in 2007, and partly due to their ongoing commitment to investing in youth. Of the 485 members, 337 are under the age of 20, and 152 of those

Remember these 10 tips when you start adding the fast stuff to your running programme:1. Graduate from basic training If you’re a novice runner, you need at least three to four months of building up before starting speedwork. Meaning? You should

: GB cross-country team. Mike thinks: We'll maintain interval sessions while gradually increasing the mileage. Read more-->About MikeFormer London marathon winner Mike Gratton has been a serious runner from the age of 13. He won an English Schools track

’re all unnecessary fears. What’s more, whether you want to beat an ancient 800m PB set on the grass track at school, or outkick the runner who always sprints past you in local 10Ks, adding speed will be immensely rewarding.Speedwork doesn’t just make you

the contour of the foot won almost unanimous praise from our testers. This latest shoe continued the line's impressive track record – the previous model, the Gel Kayano 14, was voted the International Editors' Choice 2008 by the staff of Runner's World's 14

. 4. Choose your running surface carefullyMost runners clock their miles on the open roads. Roads aren’t the worst places to run, but try to run on the Tarmac no more than three times a week. Certainly steer clear of concrete pavements, which

think the UK's general change to racing on a Sunday from Saturdays makes it more difficult to race as frequently as we did in the 80s, and still get the long runs in. I raced most weekends, and often mid-week in the summer - relays and track races

You can find out in our brand-new reader profile survey!In the nine months since we last looked at your runner-profile pages, our membership has doubled to 125,000. Time for an update!As well as the few compulsory fields that new members fill in

- is to run the final fast stint as strongly as the first one. If you have a race in mind, try to build up to running each repetition at race pace (or faster for half-marathons, marathons and very fit runners).A simple session is to have equal-length efforts