Land’s End to John O’Groats, answers your running questions.

I have just started running again after a six-month break and I’m doing well with my fitness, but finding that my lower back and leg muscles ache quite a bit after each run. Will this go away, or is there anything I can do about it? 

After a break from running, you will always feel a bit achy and tender for a couple of weeks until your body gets used to the new exercise regime, but it will go away and settle down once your body starts to adapt to the training. Get a foam roller and roll out your lower back. Adding strength and conditioning and focused mobility sessions into your training once a week will also help to ease those aches and pains, as well as making you stronger and helping to stretch everything out. 

I would like to run a virtual marathon later in the year. Do you have any tips on building up my distance?

 I’m currently up to 10K. Goals are good and 10K is a great starting point. In terms of training, only increase your volume by ten per cent a week (until you reach 35K for your long run). Build up your distances for three weeks and on the fourth week drop your distance by 25 per cent to give yourself a rest week. Keep doing this until race day and it will ensure that you progress steadily. Don’t forget to include strength and conditioning and mobility sessions in your programme once a week, to help with injury prevention.

My joints get sore when I run in the winter. Is there anything I can do about this? Do you take joint care supplements, and do you think they can help? 

This is very common, especially as it’s getting colder outside. Firstly, dress properly and layer up – that way you can take your layers off as you get warm. Before you start running, do 20 x squats and 20 x lunges on each leg. This will get your muscles and the synovial fluid (which surrounds all your joints) warmed up and ready for you to run, and hopefully ease any soreness you may have. A good supplement to take is vitamin D3 and omega-3. These are great to help keep our bones and joints nice and strong. 

 I have noticed since I’ve got a bit older that my running pace has got slower. Is there anything I can do about this, or do I just have to accept that I’m not going to be as fast as I used to be? 

Unfortunately, as we get older we do get a bit slower, but it doesn’t mean that you will stop being fast overall! If you want to keep as much speed as possible and want to get faster, you have to run fast. Including an interval session and a tempo session into your training plan once a week will help.

CARLA’S MONTH IN TRAINING 

I have a very big race at the end of January, so I have been training very hard for this. I have been doing lots of running at the pace I want to race at, which is slightly scary, but it’s a great confidence boost each time a session goes well. I have found a great place to train called Dorney Lake; this is where the rowing took place at the 2012 Olympics, which gives me so much motivation to run fast. The lake has a path surrounding it that is 5K long and is flat and fast to run around.

And a massive bonus, they do a great hot chocolate that I tuck into once I have finished my sessions, which gives me something to look forward to when it starts to get hard. For this race, I have been practicing my race nutrition and have been experimenting with different types of gels, drinks and caffeine supplements. Caffeine has been shown to have a great effect on performance, so it has been fun to practice seeing what works. I found an awesome website called xmiles.co.uk, which has loads of different brands. Testing nutrition is one of the biggest things that runners forget to do and it’s so crucial. Make sure that you practice anything you intend to use on race day before you hit that start line!

The post Golden Rules of Running – Running Tips appeared first on All Yoga Positions.

Walking used to be such a routine part of our daily living – a quick stroll to the shops, a walk at lunchtime, meandering around the office – but since the start of the pandemic, the British step count has fallen dismally low. Indeed, research from Fitbit, done during the height of the first lockdown in March 2020, shows that there was a nine per cent decline in step count among its users. What’s more, there was a marked downfall in activity among 29 per cent of the general population.

‘Lockdown life and working from home has resulted, largely, in plummeting step counts,’ agrees Nicki Petitt, online fitness coach (@nickipetitt). ‘Our daily commute to and from work has gone, no longer do we walk around the office talking to colleagues, totting up steps we didn’t even realise we were taking. Being confined to our homes has meant only a few steps here and there.’

While positive new exercise habits were formed in 2020, from biking to hiking to building muscle at home, the incidental steps we take every day still matter most. Physically, keeping mobile will help with weight loss and sleep quality, not to mention reduce the risk of hypertension, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. And mentally, daily activity could matter even more. ‘It’s a great form of exercise that anyone can do, anywhere!’ raves Rhiane Fatinikun, Vivobarefoot ambassador (vivobarefoot.com) and founder of Black Girls Hike (@bgh_uk). ‘From walking, the brain reduces the stress hormone cortisol and releases happy hormones, decreasing depression – studies have even shown that being in nature for just two hours a week is associated with good wellbeing.’

THE FIT FORMULA

Not fussed because you always fit in a gym session?

Unfortunately, a scheduled workout isn’t enough to counteract the hours spent sitting in your home office, car, or on the couch. Indeed, data from the British Heart Foundation shows that British office workers spend 75 percent of their waking hours sat down – proof that “incidental activities” such as walking to the shops need to be reintroduced as “intentional activities” to increase our daily movement. ‘Movement must now be scheduled on the “to do” list,’ agrees Petitt. ‘Whether it’s planned “walk and talks” or daily home workouts, we’ve all had to get used to a new way of living to keep our bodies and minds active.’

One such way is to do this by consciously increasing your NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis – the calories you burn simply living your life). Countless exercise experts testify to the positive impact that the frequency of NEAT has on fitness levels: ‘Standing, walking, taking the stairs, this all forms part of NEAT,’ explains Petitt. ‘The average person will take around 2000 steps per mile and cover three to four miles per hour, so with a bit of planning it’s simple to add more of these informal movements to your normal daily routine.’

THE RIGHT MEASURE

While strolling around the streets may not seem to offer the fitness benefits of heavy lifting or running, cumulatively, these daily activities add up: NEAT can boost fat-burning power by an extra 1500 to 2400 calories per day. As NEAT increases blood flow around the body, it may also have positive effects on your metabolism. But how can you increase your daily activity in the post-pandemic era? A good place to start is with your daily step count. Most forms of NEAT – walking the dog or playing with the kids – will contribute to the overall number of steps you take each day.

‘We’ve evolved over hundreds of thousands of years, walking around six miles a day,’ explains Fatinikun. ‘This roughly works out to 10,000 to 12,000 steps per day.’ In fact, 10,000 steps is the coveted number for good health, but the average Brit’s daily step count sits well below what’s recommended at a mere 5,836 steps per day – half the amount required for optimum fitness. ‘There are so many reasons for this,’ adds Fatinikun. ‘There are the things that affect us – workload, family life.’ But here’s a reason to step it up – clock 10,000 steps a day and you could burn an extra 3500 calories per week. Follow our two-week plan (over the page) to go from 5,000 to 10,000 daily steps in a fortnight.

Clock 10,000 daily steps in 2 weeks!

Founder of Black Girls Hike, Rhiane Fatinikun’s plan will increase your daily step count and fire up your fat burners.

The post How to burn 500 calories everyday : 14 Days Plan appeared first on All Yoga Positions.

The amount of sleep recommended for athletes is eight and a half to nine hours every night for a moderate level of training, or nine to 10 if you’re training at a high level. Basically, the logic is that the more you train, the more sleep you need.Nutrition is important too. Think about the nutrient density of foods (the nutrition it provides), and find out about its bioavailability (the degree and rate of absorption) and its anti-inflammatory or antioxidant properties. Load up on omega-3 fatty acids, alkalising foods, complex carbs (for energy), protein (to rebuild tissue), fruit and veg, minerals and trace elements and foods rich in coenzyme Q10.

And remember, the more varied your diet, the greater range of nutrients you absorb.Hydration plays a key role in recovery, too. The body needs to maintain a relatively constant percentage of water to ensure it can carry out its biochemical reactions properly. Aim for 1l per 40 kg of bodyweight per day as a baseline, adding 500ml per hour of activity, or 1l per hour for high-intensity training.And be aware there are mixed views about active recovery – it has been shown, for instance, that doing running training in the days following a marathon puts the brakes on an athlete’s post-race recovery. The harder you train, the more important complete rest becomes.

THE ONE TO RUN

RIFLE RUN SUNDAY 18 MARCH

Looking for a unique challenge?Based on a military exercise, this ‘march and shoot’ at West Wycombe Estate, Bucks, combines three shooting challenges (with air rifle and shotgun) with a 10K cross- country run. Novices welcome; soldierscharity.org/riflerun.

NEW KIT

RUNDERWEAR BASE LAYER

£45; runderwear.co.uk Made from a moisture- wicking fabric, this top is to be worn under your tee to keep you warm in the cold. It’s seamless, which means zero chafing. Handy.

DHB TRAINING PRINT TIGHTS

£35; wiggle.co.uk Dream of summer runs on the beach in these seascape-print tights. Made from a super-soft fabric, they’re pretty comfy. Perfect for steady runs in mild weather.

Adidas Ultra BOOST Laceless

£159.95; adidas.co.uk Taking inspiration from the indigo blues of winter skies, this running shoe has had a colour update but keeps its energy-boosting sole.

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