You see them everywhere. Jogging from their front door to the end of the street and back in ancient trainers. Trotting in circles around the still-open park or puffing down roads cleared of their usual daytime traffic. Running with children on scooters or labradoodles on leads, or plodding along country paths heavy with blossom.
With the gyms shut, fitness classes cancelled and all team sports put off until summer at least, we are becoming a nation of runners. Running is perfect for a crisis like this. It doesn’t need fancy gear or expensive memberships, and you certainly don’t need a track.
During a pandemic, you make your own space — French runner Elisha Nochomovitz ran a marathon (26.2 miles) on his 23ft (7m) balcony, for example, while pipe-fitter James Page did the same distance over 873 laps of his garden in Sidcup, South-East London.
With a bit of respect and care, it’s easy to keep your distance while running alone.
Amy Lane (pictured) who is the digital editor of Women’s Health, shared advice for runners in an extract from her new book I Can Run
But it’s also a social sport, with a ready-made community. These days, the online club may have replaced the real-life one, but runners are nothing if not creative and social media has long been a source of inspiration and motivation.
Whether you’re doing your first run or training for a race this autumn, there is a virtual crew for you.
And running is an anxiety-buster like no other. As the digital editor of the magazine Women’s Health, I have always considered it a part of my job. I’m a serious runner, a veteran of the London and Paris marathons who writes books about running, but I came to it as a means of dealing with demons I’d had since my teens.
In my early 20s, I was a perfectionist and a workaholic with an eating disorder that threatened to wreck any last shreds of self-worth I had. Running helped me value my body for its strength, rather than its size.
By learning how to fuel my body for fitness, I stopped lurching from one extreme diet to another.
Whether it was a morning 5K or a ten-minute breeze around the block at lunchtime, running was like a vent on a pressure cooker, the perfect way to quieten my mind.
When the world around us feels chaotic — as now — running helps you take back some control. Mentally and physically, it puts distance between you and any worries you may be stewing over at home.
When it’s just you out there, pounding the streets, deciding whether to get back for another episode on Netflix or do that extra kilometre, you are giving yourself something else to think about.
Amy (pictured) cites a study in the Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience, which suggests regular running can boost your mood
It’s a return to a simpler way of exercising, away from the loud music and bright lights of the gym.
Running alone dials down the hyper-stimulation we have become so used to, and puts you back in touch with nature and your body.
It triggers your brain to release substances called endocannabinoids, which promote feelings of calm. Challenging but not all-out efforts (70 to 85 per cent of maximum heart rate) are the key to unlocking this benefit from your brain’s natural pharmacy.
In fact, regular running can help to keep a lid on anxiety and depression in the long term, too. A study published in the Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience identified increased levels of the mood-elevating neurotransmitter serotonin in the brains of runners.
The one outing a day we are currently allowed under lockdown is the perfect chance to start a running habit. What better time, when few of us have a normal routine?
For the committed runner like me, the newbies flocking to my sport are a joyful sight — proof that running is for everyone. My new book, I Can Run, delivers exactly that message.
Amy (pictured) suggests starting with interval training, as tiny moments of efforts can add up to something worthwhile
So welcome to my world. As we pass each other in the park or on the pavement, just return the runners’ greeting of slight nod and brief smile, always maintaining that crucial two-metre distance, of course.
Follow these tips from my book to make the most of your running . . .
LET’S GET STARTED!
GO ULTRA-LOW INTENSITY
In today’s world, it is often thought that if we do things by half, there is no point in doing them at all. But I disagree — even tiny moments of effort all add up to something truly worthwhile.
Anthony Fletcher, coach at the Onetrack virtual running club (one track.club) says: ‘For true beginners, you’ll be pleased to know your week should look relatively uneventful.
The focus is on increasing time on your feet relative to time spent on the sofa. So find a flat bit of park and start with interval training.
Here’s an example session:
- One minute of running
- One minute of walking
- Repeat ten times
That’s a 20-minute workout. Try to do this twice more in a week, but keep the intensity low.
Amy (pictured) revealed there’s no place for food restriction in a runner’s kitchen, your body will need more energy when you start running
ONLY DO 30 MINUTES
A trick I use with running newbies with a base level of fitness is to swap the emphasis from distance to time.
Say you’ll go out for half an hour and that’s it, no matter how far you travel in that time. If you’re a beginner, pace should be irrelevant.
Just being on your feet allows your body the time it needs to develop, and for those little stabiliser muscles in your joints to adapt to the strain.
‘Long runs’ for beginners, in fact, don’t need to be that long — they can just mean the longest run you’ve done so far.
YOU MUST EAT MORE!
The first thing you’ll need to appreciate when you start running is that your body will need more energy, more calories and more nutrients. It’ll need more of everything.
Thinking about food restriction or cutting out certain food categories has no place in a runner’s kitchen.
The time to eat pre-exercise is three or four hours beforehand, as it gives your body enough time to begin digesting the food and for some of the energy to go into your bloodstream and be delivered to your muscles. If you eat a big meal too close to your running time, you’ll feel uncomfortable and heavy. That is why I’d recommend saving your long runs for the evenings or weekends if possible.
Amy claims becoming strong in body and mind is the ideal foundation to enhance a runner’s body (file image)
GET STRONG TO RUN
What if I told you that you could get better at running by running less? Would you believe me? Thousands wouldn’t, I’m sure. In fact, it’s strength that can help you do precisely that.
Becoming strong in body and mind is the ideal foundation to enhance a runner’s body, and it’s something that I wish more women knew. It’s no secret that running training — especially for a marathon — is an exercise in endurance, which means far more than just how much puff you have.
Strength training — lifting weights — gives your body endurance and gives you the physical grit you need to keep going. And, if you’re lucky, stay injury-free.
Elite trainer Luke Worthington, who got me round two marathons, advises focusing on ‘low reps and lots of rest’.
‘You don’t need to be out of breath — at this stage your time [lifting weights] is about building strength, not making yourself pour with sweat,’ he says.
Clearly you can’t hang out in the weights room right now. So look around you instead.
A tin of paint from the shed? Hold it to your chest and squat. A two-litre bottle of water in each hand? Press them overhead. Get creative.
JOIN AN ONLINE CLUB
Use social media as a companion, not a comparison. Try:
- Strava. With more than 64 million members worldwide, Strava offers miles and miles of inspiration at your fingertips. In 2018 alone, women uploaded more than 90 million runs to the free platform and those who had set themselves a run goal using the app were 15 per cent more likely to achieve it. strava.com
- Nike Run Club. This free app offers in-run cheers from friends and ways to personalise and post running photos. nike.com
- Runkeeper. There are more than 45 million people on Runkeeper. You can set goals, see progress and follow plans — and it’s free. runkeeper.com
Amy said the golden rule for runners is only ever increase your mileage by 10 per cent from week to week (file image)
THE 10 PER CENT RULE
Do not be like one of my bridesmaids, who, eager to lose weight for my wedding, decided to increase her mileage from zero to 15 miles in a week. She ran the same the week after.
By week three she couldn’t jog, let alone run, as her knees had swollen so badly. An MRI scan revealed she’d torn her anterior cruciate ligaments, with a rehab time of six to nine months.
As with many running injuries, it’s the result of repetitive stress (that’s fancy talk for overuse). In fact, 80 per cent of injuries are down to over-eager runners trying to do too much too soon.
One of the golden rules for runners is: only ever increase your mileage by 10 per cent from week to week.
Record how much you did the week before in miles or minutes, then work out how far to push the next week. If you ran 20K over four runs, then the next week you could run 22K over five shorter runs or three longer runs. Don’t worry about pace — walk some of it if you can’t run it all.
WHY NOT TRY FARTLEK?
Loosely translated from Swedish, this means ‘speed play’ and encourages you to fill a running session with easy, medium and fast paces. Over the course of your 40-minute training run, gradually increase your time at race pace before dropping back, recovering, then going again. This isn’t traditional interval training with specific timed or measured segments, but a more unstructured way of running and a good way to make long-ish runs more interesting.
Extracted from I Can Run: An Empowering Guide To Running Well Far, by Amy Lane, published by Yellow Kite on April 16 at £14.99. © Amy Lane 2020
To order a copy, visit yellowkitebooks.co.uk
