?"For years I've not taken a complete day off, apart from two days' bad flu and after a couple of hard races. My days in the gym give my legs a rest as I focus on upper-body strength. My fitness-freak boss says I should have a day of complete rest once a week
?"It's time to face the cryptic 'cross-training' references on my marathon schedule. What should I do? There's so much choice! Whenever I run more than about 14 miles my upper body gets tired, so I know I need to develop my core strength, but what's the best
on the trot, some hard, some easy, then do a day at the gym. Sometimes when at the gym I blast my upper body and give my lower body a complete rest, which it doesn't half need. – Little LizardPlans some peaks and troughsYou can avoid this problem in future
happened: either the blood was shunted to help the running and ignored the need to keep the muscles warm, or your core temperature was threatened with a significant drop, so the circulation prioritised brain and upper body (when lungs, liver, heart need
challenges to your muscles that a treadmill can never do, and, let's face it, it's what our bodies were originally designed for. Oh and I still get out of breath running up some flights of steps; I just do it faster than I used to. – Timothy Hallaways
. Stretching my muscles cold is like trying to stretch wood, and I know which end is likely to snap first. I find half marathons and above a real struggle to get round, so I spend my time beforehand doing pilates or tai chi. A quick check on upper body
and upper-body muscles are loads better than if I relied on the odd time I could be bothered to pump iron. Make sure you go for the non-contact option, or you'll end up injured. In a class you'll meet some really nice people who'll help and advise you
is the answer, because you'd be changing your natural style rhythm. However it's important to run at different speeds so that you don't develop overuse injures by always running the same style with the same range of movements. Building upper body and core
