ONCE YOU START running, you’ll discover many comrades to share your triumphs and disasters with. It’s a veritable hypochondriac’s paradise of tendonitis, shin splints, stiffness and muscle pulling. There is also a huge amount of information online on every possible running-related topic, from training, coaching and clubs to nutrition and injury prevention. The following are a sort of top 10 novice nuggets.
Injury prevention
When “The Flash” gets sick of me complaining about my poor knees and my self-diagnosed fallen arches, he sends me to Jos Lalor, the physiotherapist. “The big thing in terms of injuries is that people often start off harder than they should. People make the mistake of aiming for a notional time that they want to run a certain distance in,” he says. “But you need to bear in mind that you will be a long time on your feet and, as a novice, the aim is just to finish. So make sure that you get the time under your legs, don’t focus on the mileage. You should aim for between 30 per cent and 50 per cent of your VO2 maximum; this is perfect fat-burning intensity.”
What’s that Jos? You’ve lost me.
“A gauge of the maximum you are able to work at before you would be completely fatigued. You should be able to barely maintain a conversation, or, if running alone, be able to talk to yourself – normally the first sign of madness – but in this case it’s only really bad if you hear voices talking back! This pace is not too taxing on the body, so you can keep going for longer.”
Lalor also advises that we maintain a shorter running stride so we won’t hit the ground as hard. The best surface to run on is grass or some manner of forest trail. “Tarmac is hard on the knees and hips. Treadmills are not so good either because they create a constant stride length, whereas if we are running naturally, we tend to vary our stride length.”
Take it easy
If you don’t exercise regularly, a “Par-Q Test” (Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire) is recommended. This is available on the internet and if you answer yes to any of the questions, you should talk to a doctor before hitting the roads. If you are already a novice runner, you’ll know it’s compulsive. Resist the temptation to run every day of the week. Use an alternative activity such as swimming or cycling to cross train. Above all, listen to your body, because if you overdo it you may injure yourself and there’ll be no more heroic capers for quite a time.
Eat porridge
A lot has been said about porridge. It’s one of those foods that is capable of turning your life around. With summer coming, you might feel less inclined to eat it in the mornings. But if you get a good bowl of porridge into you a couple of hours before a run, you’ll literally feel it sustaining you when you would otherwise be on your last legs. On nutrition generally, it is advised that we should eat five different coloured fruit and vegetables a day. I like this. We have a desperate tendency to eat too much white food in this country. I know porridge is off-white, but it’s not refined and that is the key. The same goes for spuds (with skins on).
Living seamlessly
Chafing has the same unspeakable misery rating as blisters and toe-nails falling off. The smallest amount of friction, from a seam or a lumpy bit of sock, will over the course of a run be effective in producing a red-raw patch in your armour, or a big juicy sore. I bought a new top recently, wore it out one sunny Saturday and had two itchy cuts across my ribs when I got home. Wear snug-fitting material, check for rough edges and bulky stitching. If you can, invest in good running socks. Apparently, synthetic blends are better than cotton at keeping your feet dry and therefore fungus-free. They cost around €10-€15. Marks Spencer sells blister-resist socks with a double lining around the toes and ankles. If all my “good socks” are in the wash, I’ll wear two thin pairs of trainer liners to avoid blisters. For the rest of your body, this is where the compression clothing comes in. It is relatively expensive, but can prevent chafing on the inner thighs and other bits of you that rub together.
Tune-in
Music can make a huge difference to the pace of a run. For me, it’s the angry songs I moshed (delicately) along to when I was 16, interested only in fitting in at The Grove and making eyes at my Dr Martin-wearing sweetheart, that transform me from 30-year-old plodder into supergirl. These include Metallica (Nothing Else Matters); The Prodigy, Firestarter; and for really steep hills, Rage Against the Machine (Killing in the Name Of).
Get a cagoule with pocket
With the amount you’ll be sweating, you don’t want to have to tuck your taxi money into your sports bra or socks. Having a light, wind-proof jacket will give your outfit a professional edge and you’ll be able to carry your mobile phone, your door key, and an emergency tenner in the pocket.
Bring liquids
Sports drinks contain salts and glucose (my favourite is Lucozade Hydro Active, I’m not saying it is any better than other brands, but I like the taste) and have apparently been shown to improve performance on long runs. Jos Lalor explains that isotonic drinks tend to have about a third less sugar than normal soft drinks which, when you drink them, trigger an insulin response. With normal soft drinks, you take in so much sugar, your body puts it straight into your liver for storage and you can’t access the glucose for your run. Isotonic drinks have lower sugar to avoid triggering this insulin response.
While most runners won’t drink enough to replace the fluid they lose through sweat, bear in mind that it is possible to drink too much, something which can result in the occurrence of hyponatraemia (low blood-sodium levels), which can be dangerous. Your body fluid is a mix of salt and water, so you have to keep the balance right. Lalor suggests that if you are doing a long run, but you don’t want to spend money on isotonic drinks, a home-made alternative you might try is to add a tiny little bit of salt or bicarbonate of soda to your drink (not so much that you would taste it).
Hydration is important, not just directly before and after your run, but every day. Have a beaker of water beside you at work and keep sipping away at it. You’ll feel more alert.
Mapping
If gadgets are your gig, how about a Garmin wristwatch with GPS for €300? It also has a laser that can speed up the healing of deep muscle injuries. (I’m kidding about the magic healing laser bit.) As an alternative, you can drag your sweaty rear, still panting, to the computer and measure your route and calories burned on www.mapmyrun.com. Like running, it’s addictive. Distance round the inside of St Stephen’s Green: 1.3 km. Distance between me and perfect fitness? That one doesn’t seem to compute.
Jelly babies
You can buy fancy sports gels (for example, Enervitene, available from Runways or Power Gel, from Amphibian King) for long runs. The next best thing, apparently, is jelly babies. Approaching a water station around mile 10 of my last race, I considered picking a jelly baby off the ground and eating it. Raisins are also good.
The runs on a run
Last year, during the Calcutta Run, one participant took herself off the path to do some business. But she didn’t bother about finding a discreet, sheltered spot behind a bush, probably because, in more ways than one, she was in a race against the clock. I’ve heard from another girl her very personal story which involved crouching between parked cars during the New York Marathon, while her brother kept guard. This is bad dream territory; I hope you never have this experience first hand.
Jos Lalor is a chartered physiotherapist with expertise in sports injury and he works at DBC Ashleaf Physiotherapy and Sports Medicine Clinic. See www.dbc.ie or tel: 01-4652454