How to Run a Marathon by Vassos Alexander

Author:Vassos Alexander [Alexander, Vassos]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2020-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

WHAT TO REMEMBER

Stretch after – not before – a run;

Each stretch should be 30 seconds-plus;

Calf, hip flexors and glutes are equally important, probably even more so, than hamstrings and quads.

INJURY

Tip: Beach running strengthens your feet and ankles.

It’s a day I’ll never forget. Six months or so after I first got into running and I’ve gone from being unable to make it to the end of my street to entering my first half-marathon. My confidence is growing. Spiralling, you might say.

I go out for a run, heading straight for the river as usual. After half a mile, just as I reach the water and join the Thames towpath opposite Fulham’s famous football ground, Craven Cottage, the outside of my left knee starts grating. It’s painful, but this has happened before so I don’t fret unduly. I know that within five minutes or so the pain will recede and I’ll continue merrily along my way down the river.

Only this time, the pain doesn’t go away. I wait patiently, running slower, giving it every chance. But instead of receding like it always has done, it swells somewhat alarmingly. I stop and rub the offending knee. Start running again. But the outside of the knee keeps grinding away, more than annoying now. This is proper pain. I stop, unsure what to do.

Is this what an injury feels like?

I limp home disconsolately. A local physio diagnoses runner’s knee, or iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS). It’s an overuse injury of the tissues on the outer part of thigh that connect the knee with the hip. He advises strengthening exercises and a lengthy rest from running.

I don’t like the physio’s diagnosis and go to see a top sports doctor. Simon Kemp puts the world’s best rugby players back together … Surely he’ll have a magic bullet for an amateur runner’s hurty left knee? He doesn’t. Instead he sets me on the road to rest and rehab with some wise words about running too much, too quickly. Many people could easily manage a half-marathon within six months of starting to run but not, it seems, me.

The rule of thumb is to increase training time and volume by no more than 10 per cent every week. So, if you ran 10 miles last week, with your longest run being five, then this week, you shouldn’t do more than 11 miles in total, with your long run being a maximum of five and a half miles.

It’s helpful to categorise runners into red, amber or green risk categories. Both their initial running loads and first running goal need to be proportionate to where they are starting from. And really, the approach for each of these three groups needs to be different.

Green is: I’ve always been a regular runner. I may have lapsed for a little while, but I ran at school and/or university and I haven’t had long periods of not running.

Amber is: I’ve run on and off, I’ve done other sports, I’ve remained fit and active. Maybe I’ve not been running

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