Run For The Hills

Run Like The Wind!

Running's a brilliantly transferrable exercise for outdoors fitness, by which I mean, in my doggy way, that being fit to run will also be a good way of maintaining and building fitness for the hills and mountains. It's weight bearing, so you use your legs and other core muscles, a hard cardio-vascular work out - and don't let anyone tell you that stomping uphill with a heavy pack is easy.

The one thing running won't prepare you for directly is carrying a rucksac - and running with a pack is a bad idea, so don't try it kids - but the body actually adapts to the extra weight within days and you'll have the basic fitness already.

But before you jump up and start pounding the pavements, here's a few quick tips to help you avoid injury.

Beware 'The Experts' Never listen to international athletes, they've long ago forgotten what it's like to be a beginner and instead blather endlessly about 'lactate threshholds', 'VO2 Max' etc. Running magazines similarly are obsessed with 10K personal bests and running the London Marathon.

Get Your Shoes Right Good running shoes, bought to suit your needs and fitted by a specialist shop will help to avoid impact and other injuries - there's a huge choice, but if you over- or under-pronate, you may need a specialist shoe.

And Change Them Regularly the EVA cushioning material that makes news shoes bouncy and springy wears out. Once the cushioning's reduced, more impact gets through and the risk of injury rises. The answer is to bite the bullet and replace once they start thudding. The mid-sole will actually start to wrinkle so you can see it too.

Run On Soft Surfaces If Possible Try to stick to grass and trails rather than pavements. The reduced impacts are easier on the legs, but the uneven surfaces are also closer to what you'll encounter in the hills and will help to build up connective tissue strength and keep your joints stable. It will also help develop balance on poor terrain. When you buy your shoes, make sure the sole grip is up to it.

Start Easy I'm not going to give you a programme, but start gently and build up. Begin with say 20 minutes of gentle jogging with a rest day between the sessions then gradually build up to longer runs. Reserve one day as a 'long run' day and gradually increase this, while still going at a gentle pace. One guide is that you should begin by running at a pace when you can talk - yes, even to yourself - without gasping and wheezing... After a month or so, if you're reasonably fit to start,yu could be doing a long run of, say, 60 minutes, at the weekend, plus a couple of 30-minute outings during the week.

Don't Try To Run Through Injury if your body hurts, it's because there's something wrong. Have a day or two off and see if things improve. Don't try to run through it, you'll only end up making the injury worse. Building up mileage gradually will help to avoid injuriesm sudden increases can cause stress fractures.

Stretch Before And After stretching will also help avoid injury and reduce stiffness and muscle soreness the day after a run. Don't bounce, just ease into the stretch and hold for around 20 seconds. You shouldn't stetch so far that you feel pain...

Run Hills Once you're reasonably fit, try to run hills regularly. You'll be using the same basic muscle groups and descents, in particular, will be brilliant for building strength in the quads for going downhill, something that's almost impossible in the gym.

There are plenty of decent running web sites that will fill in some of the gaps, but, as they say, don't try to run before you can walk. Eh? But you know what I mean.

Happy running

Woof!