Training for beginner runners

I have no street lights around when it's dark, how can I run safely in the evening?
Charlie, Humberside

Answer: There are several alternatives. Go to the local fitness centre near work and use the treadmill; drive to a locality nearby where there are street lights; use your local multi-storey car park for hill work up the winding levels with a jog back recovery.

Include a cycling session in your training to keep up the aerobic fitness level and muscle tone or go to the local track or grass areas which are floodlit. All of these can be incorporated into your training programme with the minimum of effort as well as ensuring that you utilise the two weekend days when it is light to keep your mileage up.

Will I improve my running by just going out and doing some steady running with the odd fast hard run?
John, London

Answer: People have been known to run very well and competitively off a very high mileage. This is assuming that they can physically manage this training load week in week out as it is very stressful. However, the more successful endurance athletes tend to have a variety of training methods in their training week. These will include long steady runs as well as medium distance steady runs. Other sessions will include your fast paced run sometimes called a tempo run, fartlek sessions (A Swedish word meaning speed play), alternate-paced running (steady running punctuated with fast running) and repetition running. These will not be used every week but quite often during the monthly cycle. All these sessions, unlike steady running, prepare the athlete for the demands of the race.

How should I start running?
Lee Croft, Cheshire

Answer: There are three things that you should consider if you want to start running seriously: kit required; time available to train; and your fitness level now and where you want to get to. If running from home, the basic kit you require is a vest, shorts, socks, running shoes and a luminous top for the dark nights. You can add track suit, tights, hat, gloves and water bottle if you are training at a club. The key area is your running shoes; they should be a good fit. Not too narrow, heavy, tight or too roomy because this will lead to blisters and injuries, such as achilles problems, if the heel tab is too tight.

The time you have available to train will be crucial to you. You need to put time aside each day so that you can get into a routine and build up a good endurance base upon which you can build for future success. Depending on your age, when you commence running you need to have a medical to see how fit you are and if it is wise to train.

Then, start off slowly with alternate days of approximately ten to 15 minutes. When you can manage this quite easily, slowly increase the number of days to six with one rest day.

You can then begin to increase the distance on alternate sessions while keeping the speed consistent. If you progress the training in this way, then you can start exchanging some of these steady runs for tempo runs, hill sessions, fartleks or repetition runs.

I have recently started running and wondered if I needed to join a local running club to improve?
Kay Robinson

Answer: Joining a running club has its advantages. You will probably have a group to train with instead of training alone. Most clubs have distance sections and certain clubs are just for endurance runners only. You could get some good coaching advice or pick up ideas from the other club members on training tips. As a member of the club, you will have the opportunity of league competition as well as open races. In the long run, this could prove much cheaper for you from a point of view of entries and transport. Clubs may also have good contacts with local physiotherapists, etc, if you require them.

I am finding it difficult to go running because of my work. To help I have bought a treadmill. How should I use it?
Helen, Cumbria

Answer: Assuming your treadmill has the normal attachments, you can save a great deal of time using one. You can have it fixed up at your work place and use it at lunch times or in the garage at home and use it in the evenings. You can use the treadmill for normal aerobic running, either running on it for a set time or distance at a set speed. Or you can make the session more difficult by using the gradient settings to make the run that much harder. Or you can set the speed of the treadmill much higher than you would for a normal aerobic run so that you can simulate your tempo run. In this way you can do all your normal training and cut out any travelling that was involved before. In an ideal world, you would mix the treadmill sessions in with your normal running sessions.

How do I improve my performances on four running sessions a week?
Judith, Colwyn Bay

Answer: Firstly you look at your strengths and weaknesses, specifically looking for areas that you can improve, such as power. You can improve your power and leg strength by including hill sessions in your training (ten sets of 60 metres with a jog back recovery). If it is a lack of endurance, increase the number of miles or kilometres you run on your long run and the number of miles or kilometres you total in a week. If it is lack of strength, include longer hill repetitions into your training (six sets of 200 metres complete recovery). If it is lack of speed, this can be improved by including fartlek sessions into your training or running your tempo runs and steady state runs quicker than normal. Therefore, through analysing your training and your own weaknesses, you can improve your performances on four sessions a week.

I attend the following sessions each week at my local fitness centre: pilates, body-blitz and aqua aerobics. Will these help my running?
Susan, Wolverhampton

Answer: They can only hinder your running if they are taking up three possible running sessions. All of them will have benefits in some way to help your overall conditioning, particularly if they are in addition to your normal running sessions. However, there is no real substitute for running other than running. They are welcome breaks to your normal running programme and could improve your overall conditioning and strength. However, they are unlikely to improve your basic aerobic fitness which you require for running and is best improved by running and working the cardiovascular system.

I have read various literature on running training and am confused between Interval Training and Repetition Training. Please explain?
Brian, Manchester

Answer: It is easy to understand your confusion as the terms have tended to become blurred over the years. With interval running, the distances were usually over distances of 200, 300 or 400m with a set number of repetitions, a set recovery and a set time for the speed of the repetition. These sessions are usually run on a track and are designed to raise the heart rate as high as a 180 beats per minute. These sessions are usually used most effectively by endurance runners who are predominantly track athletes.

Repetition running is very similar to Interval running but the distance run is a lot further, the number of repetitions would be reasonably high and the recovery would be longer. Therefore a 10k road runner may run five sets of 2,000 metres on the road with 4m recovery at faster than race pace. The heart rate would be in the 160 to 170 range.

My Daughter has started running and I have joined her for a few runs and want to improve. What should I do?
Joan, Harlow

Answer: Firstly you need to decide, why you are running? To get fit, to help your daughter, to compete, or just to lose weight? Secondly, once you have answered the first question, you need to decide how much time and how many sessions you can commit to running each week. Thirdly, you then need to ensure that you run consistently and improve progressively. This means that if you are running four times a week, ensure you do, and fulfill the targets you have set yourself. Once this has been achieved consistently you must then progress to the next level.

I have a bad cough and sore throat, so should I continue run training? James, Brighton

Answer: Common sense is the key to training when you have either an injury or illness. In either case, if it is either severe or has persisted for a few days, you should get expert help and advice. Similarly it is important that you check any medicine that you are prescribed for the illness to ensure that you are allowed to take it. Once you have a diagnosis for the illness, in this case the cough and sore throat, you can act accordingly. If it is not too severe you can take a few low key, easy-to-steady running days until the problem has cleared. If more severe, a few days off training are far more beneficial than trying to train through it. Then when you do start coming back, do so slowly with a few easy steady running sessions.

As you can see, I live in the Lakes. Is fell running beneficial or detrimental to my road running?
Howard, Kendal

Answer: There is a separate branch of the sport purely for fell running and a large number of cross-country and road runners do take part, although some are purely fell runners or as they are some times called, hill runners. If used in moderation to your normal training it is excellent conditioning and strengthening work that will help in your race preparation. If used too much, however, while making you very strong, it will make you a little one paced for you will be missing out key ingredients of your training such as repetition work, fartlek and tempo running.

Is it better to go running in a group?
Brian, Bournemouth

Answer: It obviously depends on your inner mental strength whether or not you need other people to train with. It is always a good idea to run with a group for steady runs and the traditional long Sunday run as this helps breaks up the monotony, particularly on the latter.

However you must ensure that these runs do not become too competitive especially on repetition sessions and it brings us back to my initial point about mental strength. It is far too easy to become too competitive in these sessions when you can either be destroyed mentally or physically and the whole aim of the session is lost. Therefore these, if done with a group, should be conducted sensibly and sparingly, preferably under supervision.

I am training hard but always feel lethargic when running. Why is this?
Vivien, Wakefield

Answer: It can be for a variety of reasons, the first being that you could be training too hard, particularly if you couple this with work stresses, social stresses, emotional stresses etc. The first two things you should do are look at your training in relation to the other stresses in your life and introduce more rests and/or easier sessions. Secondly, get a blood test from your doctor to see if you have are anaemic or have a viral infection. Once you address these two areas you should have the solution and start to enjoy your running again.

Is hill training useful to my running?
Pete, Dundee

Answer: Of all the training that you do hill training is probably one of the most beneficial and definitely the most versatile. It helps get you fit very quickly, is very good for reinforcing your technique, can make you stronger and more powerful. Depending on the length of the hill, its gradient, the number of repetitions and type of recovery the hill sessions can either be a speed, strength, power, speed-endurance or just a plain endurance session.