If I Knew Then What I Know Now...: A Runners Handbook

By Gavin Spickett

From park run to ultras, this book gives you the support and encouragement you need to start – and keep you – running injury-free
This thorough handbook gives detailed practical advice to all adult runners. It covers everything you need to embark on a running career, but goes further and explains training needs and regimes to established runners. Written in an accessible easy style, it answers all your questions – before you've thought of them – and encourages everyone to get fit and enjoy your running safely.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Crowood Press
• Release date: Oct 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9780719842924

Gavin Spickett

Dr Gavin Spickett is a retired hospital consultant, specialising in Immunology, Allergy and Internal Medicine. His professional work included caring for people with chronic fatigue, among whom were people with the over-training syndrome.  He is a qualified fitness trainer, keen club runner and regularly competes in the full range of distances up to ultra. 

Book preview

There is plenty of evidence about the benefits of exercise and running. Despite this, there are plenty of naysayers who will try to discourage you. I shall discuss some of the problems that can arise from running but compared to the benefits, these are relatively small.

The main benefit of running will be general improvement in cardiovascular respiratory fitness. The blood flow to the heart and into the muscles will improve, which will also reduce the risks of arterial blockage. Impact exercise like running has a profoundly beneficial effect on preventing the development of osteoporosis or if osteopenia (thinning of bones before osteoporosis occurs) is present, then running will reverse it. Getting outdoors improves levels of vitamin D, and this contributes to protection of the bones, but also improves immunity and helps with depression. This will reduce the risk of premature fractures in old age.

Running has benefits for cognitive function and reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, particularly true for off-road running where a mental focus on balance and neuromuscular co-ordination is important. Running will help in a strategy to reduce weight and lower blood sugar, but only when combined with attention to diet. Runners overall live longer and have reduced risks of strokes, heart attacks and most types of cancer. There is no convincing scientific evidence that running is the primary cause of arthritis, although if the arthritis is present for other reasons it may make it worse. Running has demonstrable mental health benefits, especially for depression.

The message is clear: you can achieve significant and personally satisfying goals through running and you will reap long-term health benefits.

THE ‘WHY’

Everyone has a reason for starting running. Whatever drives you to think about running will be personal to you. The most common reasons for wanting to take up running tend to be related to concerns about weight; new health issues such as type two diabetes; heart and lung problems; as a response to life stress or as part of a general re-evaluation of life goals. To run successfully, there needs to be considerable motivation maintained over a long period of time. It is useful to have clear goals – targeted weight loss, improvement of physical health, or perhaps most powerfully to raise money for charities, perhaps in memory of a lost one or for a personally meaningful cause. It can be helpful to set a target to aim for, but this needs to be a realistic target, for example completing a 5k parkrun or something more ambitious. You need to ensure that you have plenty of time to do the necessary training to get you to a level where you will be able to achieve your goal in an enjoyable fashion.

Age is no bar to taking up running (with appropriate medical cautions), and certainly continuing running past retirement age is both possible and excellent for health. You may not be as fast as the youngsters, but you may well be better over longer distances. Care with warm-up and cool-down regimes is more important as you age, to prevent injury.

What tends to work poorly are New Year resolutions with general goals such as to ‘get fit’. In much the same way as gyms make most of their money in the first three months of the year, because of people making New Year’s resolutions which they then don’t keep, runners who start in the depths of winter without clear targets and goals are unlikely to stick at running in the long term. No one can hide the fact that for someone who has no history of running, getting out and starting running is going to be hard and requires meaningful motivation to keep going in the early stages, when it is most difficult.

There is a mass of scientific evidence which confirms the benefits of running. Other benefits are that as a hobby it is relatively cheap and easy to do and you can get outside and enjoy nature. It can be done virtually anywhere. It allows you to set challenges for yourself and gives you the satisfaction of achieving things that perhaps you never thought you could do (run a marathon?). You can start at any age.

This book is the accumulated wisdom, usually through making mistakes, of 30 years of running. My own start in running was much the same as many other people, so I know how hard it is trying to make the transition from an overweight sedentary adult to a fit and active runner.

My own journey began around the time of my 40th birthday, when I realised I had to take serious action then if I wanted to avoid being significantly obese in ten years’ time. I was predominantly sedentary, apart from a little walking. At that stage in my career, workload was manageable. I started running round my village – a fairly flat circuit of about one third of a mile. To begin with I could barely do more than one or two laps. I persevered and gradually the number of laps increased.

Our village is built on the side of the Tyne Valley. Once I was able to manage four circuits, I started gradually trying to run up one of the main hills out of the village. This was a very slow process and the hill itself is nearly a mile. It took me three months of daily running trying to push up the hill a little bit further each day before I reached the top. For me, this was a massive achievement.

‘The message is clear: you can achieve significant and personally satisfying goals through running, and you will reap long-term health benefits’

The next stage came when a work colleague suggested I should try the Great North Run, our iconic half marathon. In those days, there was nothing like ballots for places so getting in was quite straightforward. I joined the local running club to train, of which I’ve been a member ever since. I completed the Great North Run in a not very special time and have worked up to marathons and ultras. As age started catching up with me, I made the switch to trail running as it is easier on the joints. My story is not in any way remarkable. It never fails to move me when I read about the people who have gone from being clinically obese to being regular competitive runners, or those who have been able to turn getting fit into raising staggering sums of money for charity.

BENEFITS OF RUNNING

•Living longer

•Reduced risks of heart disease, stroke, diabetes

•Reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s or dementia

•Reduced risk of some types of cancer

•Improved bone density (assuming dietary calcium and vitamin D intake are adequate)

•Boosts vitamin D levels in the summer

•Improved mental health (reduced stress, improved happiness)

TIPS FOR STARTING RUNNING

•Identify a strong motivation

•Choose an appropriate time/place

•Get support from friends and family

•Be prepared to take your time

•Run/walk is a great way to start

•Get simple inexpensive clothing and shoes

•Stick at it!

WEIGHT LOSS AND RUNNING

A word of caution here. Many people start running as part of a weight-loss strategy. However, it is important to recognise that starting any form of consistent exercise programme will increase muscle size: muscle is heavier than fat and while in the early stages there will be loss of fat if food intake is appropriate, there will come a point when muscle bulk increases and the rate of weight loss will slow down. People get very disillusioned at this stage and will sometimes give up. What changes most is body shape. Bad fat (visceral fat within the abdomen) decreases and pot bellies recede. It is important to keep this in mind and not to give up.

There are any number of diets which claim to cause rapid weight loss and undoubtedly some of these do, often by reducing calorific intake to extremely low levels and by restricting fluid intake, clearly undesirable for running. If you are starting to run to help with dietary control for weight, it is important to ensure that your diet is properly balanced. If you have any concerns you should consult a trained state-registered dietician. It is important that the dietician fully understands your goals and your exercise plan. Weight loss of 1–2lb per week is likely to lead to a sustainable long-term change in weight (see ‘Nutrition’, Chapter 4).

Overall, the science is swinging towards focusing on getting fit rather than weight loss, as this tends to lead to greater long-term health benefits.

RUNNING AND WEIGHT LOSS

•Running by itself will not necessarily lead to weight loss

•Reduce calorie intake and choose healthy foods

•Avoid extreme diets when starting to run

•Avoid ‘rewarding’ runs with high-calorie snacks

•Focus on getting fit – weight loss will follow

THE ‘HOW’

If starting with no previous experience of running, turning motivation into action can be extremely hard. It is good to have support and encouragement from friends and family, as this will help through the difficult early stages. Make sure that people know what you’re doing and why. If you are planning to get fit for participation in a charity fundraising event, get people involved early because this will give you additional motivation as you see the list of those who are prepared to donate money for your endeavours. Knowing that people support you will help you get out of the front door when the weather is foul.

If you have never run before and have any health issues or know that you are significantly overweight, then it is prudent to arrange a check with your GP before starting exercising. Get them to check your blood pressure. There are no absolute contraindications to exercise but there may be precautions required.

To begin with, only very basic equipment is required. Wear comfortable and loose-fitting clothes. For women, getting a supportive sports bra is advisable. There is no point in buying expensive trainers at the beginning, but they should be comfortable and supportive and it is essential they fit properly. Painful feet or blisters early on is likely to be highly demotivating. I cannot recommend strongly enough going to a proper running shop for advice about footwear. Use the trainers only for running, as the cushioning becomes degraded over time. The best shoes should be comfortable from the very outset. If they are not comfortable in the shop, they will never be comfortable.

Assuming that nothing untoward has been flagged up by your GP, then you can start making plans about how to get started. It is important to set a regular scheme on a daily basis so that exercise simply becomes part of your normal everyday routine. Do not allow anything else to interfere with the time set aside – this is ‘me-time’ and is sacrosanct. If you do not, you will fail to establish a regular pattern. To begin with, you need no more than ten to fifteen minutes. Choose a time of day which suits your lifestyle: are you a lark or an owl? One of the best things about running is that it is entirely flexible: just put your shoes on, open the door and go!

Basic running kit: T-shirt/shorts or tights/socks/shoes and fresh air.

If you have never run before it makes sense to do some basic exercises before you start. This will help you avoid injury. Basic exercises can include squats, lunges, hip extensions (also known as bridges) and calf raises. None of these exercises require any special equipment (see ‘Warm up and cool down’, Chapter 5). However, good technique is essential. Runner’s World website has videos of how to do each of these exercises.

Warm-up exercises: It is essential to do good warm-up exercises before running to get the heart rate up, blood circulating and the muscles warm. 1: Upper body twists; 2: Squats; 3: Arm swings; 4: Heel flicks. Other useful exercises include toe touches and running on the spot with knee lifts.

Before each run, you should do a warm-up. The aim of this is to get the muscles moving and raise the heart rate to increase blood flow to the muscles. Each run should start slowly and then be at an even pace. You can slow down or walk on hills. The distance and time are initially not important. Try to get into a routine of exercising but don’t beat yourself up if you miss days. At the end of each run, do a cool-down – this can just be a short period of brisk walking.

One of the biggest deterrents to exercise tends to be embarrassment about body shape and size. You need to be proud of the fact that you are getting out and exercising. If possible, persuade a friend to join you on your running endeavours. If you do feel body conscious, use loose-fitting clothing to begin with. Your first efforts will be very short, and do not be afraid to mix walking and running. Even for famous and experienced runners doing ultramarathons, walking plays an essential part. Walking up steep hills is far more energy efficient than trying to run up them. Walking in this setting needs to be active walking, brisk enough to impact on your pulse rate.

‘Do not allow anything else to interfere with the time set aside for exercise – this is me-time and is sacrosanct’

You will need to be patient, as the increase in fitness will develop slowly and only with regular exercise. Do not expect a miraculous reduction in your weight: this will follow in due course. Weight loss also requires attention to diet. Exercise without a change in the diet is not likely to be successful in reducing weight.

If you are worried about motivation, another way of getting into running is through an outdoor fitness class. Again, new starters tend to be anxious that they will be joining a class where there are lots of superfit people. All the classes that I have attended have had good instructors who will set tasks for beginners, intermediates and advanced participants so that everybody gets to join in. In my experience, long-standing members of the classes have always been extremely welcoming. Everybody remembers how it was when they first started, and everybody will applaud that you have made the effort to join the class.

While attention to diet is important, do not try to start running at the same time as beginning an extreme diet. Just try to cut down a little. Smaller helpings will gradually train your stomach to feel full with less (see ‘Nutrition’, Chapter 4). Looking at the composition of the diet is also important. Everyone will require a balance of protein, fat and carbohydrate.

If your motivation to start running is not weight or health, the same basic principles apply in terms of starting off with simple equipment and using a walk/run technique. At the beginning you will not need to increase your food and calorie intake. Rather disappointingly there are enough calories in two digestive biscuits to fuel you for a considerable run.

Some people find listening to music helpful to maintain motivation during runs. Wearing headphones however reduces your situational awareness of hazards. Headphones (except bone conduction headphones) are banned in all England Athletics road races. Why not enjoy nature and focus on being in the moment?

Motivation can also be improved by choosing different places to run. Forestry England have waymarked run routes of varying distances in some of their forests and the National Trust do the same. Both organise their own runs, which is a good way to find out about new routes safely. Parkruns are also a way of finding new routes: all abilities take part.

When you start exercising, you can expect that your muscles will be sore. This will usually be the next day or the one after. Unless the pain or discomfort is severe, you can continue to exercise at the same level. Gradually this discomfort will improve and this is the point at which you can start increasing the distance. If there is severe pain, you should stop and rest until it has subsided. It is important to build up the level of exercise quite slowly to allow your muscles, heart and lungs to adjust. Trying to do too much too quickly will inevitably lead to problems and is likely to reduce motivation. You may well have set a particular goal, such as a particular event, so make sure you have left yourself a reasonable amount of time to reach the required level. Running magazines and online sites have a range of ‘Couch to…’ programmes for most event distances. The longer the event, the longer you need to allow for the training. Do not think you can do a couple of runs and then turn up for the Great North Run half-marathon.

‘Do not think you can do a couple of runs and then turn up for the Great North Run half-marathon’

Do not get hung up on running particular distances on a particular day, or running so many miles per week. We all have good days and bad days and if it is a bad day, cutting the run short is best. However, it is important to try to establish a regular routine and stick to it, even if it is only a short run. This helps maintain motivation. Running everyday isn’t essential. Do not feel guilty or beat yourself up if your session is short or you miss a session. Even if you can’t do a run, try to get outside and do a walk instead. Allow yourself a (small) treat for recovery. Running does get easier the more you do, but then you can up the challenges.

If you are starting out and are an older person, then you need to make allowances for this and have longer warm-ups and cool-downs. Doing strength and conditioning is more important. Getting older does not automatically mean getting slower: with the correct training and, if necessary, gait analysis, it is perfectly possible to increase your speed and endurance. As we live longer there are more and more examples of very elderly athletes (even into their 90s or centenarians) running remarkably fast or running long distances (such as marathons) or doing the ultimate endurance event: Ironman Triathlons.

This book is not about providing specific day-by-day guidance on training programmes: running magazines such as Runners’ World, the internet and various books address this far better than I can. The published programmes have usually been produced by experienced run fitness trainers. I shall however cover a range of aspects to consider about training and fitness programmes in later chapters.

DO NOT START RUNNING IF YOU HAVE

•High blood pressure

•Irregular heart beat

•Unexplained chest pains, especially on exertion

•Other significant medical problems

Wait until you have discussed your plans with your doctor.

DYNAMIC WARM-UP EXERCISES

•Arm swings

•Upper body twists

•Hip bends to touch toes

•Squats

•Lunges

•Calf raises

•Jogging on the spot with heel flicks or high knees

HOW TO MAINTAIN MOTIVATION

•Set aside ‘me’ time

•Get into a regular routine

•Find a friend to come with you or go to a parkrun

•Listen to music (but retain situational awareness)

•Be prepared to go out whatever the weather

•Warm up before running to avoid injury

•Accept the aches as normal

•Timetable rest days

HOW TO PROGRESS

Progression in running is going to be dependent upon personal goals and motivation. There is no doubt that the fundamental issue is not going to be about