All your personal fitness, exercise and diet questions answered by an experienced fitness instructor. This week, advice on running a half marathon.

Mel Poulson is a tutor at Lifetime Training, and has over ten years experience in personal training and GP referral instructing. Below she answers your fitness questions to help you get and stay in shape. If you have a fitness question you would like answered by Mel, all you have to do is submit your question using the Comment on this Article box below. And remember - sign-up to our monthly health and fitness newsletter to receive your expert answer direct in your in-box.

Question

John Parks from Oxford writes: .I have signed up to do a half marathon in March, how much running should I be looking to do as preparation? I go to the gym twice a week currently and would describe myself as moderately fit. Any tips on how much I should do - I only have 10 weeks to train - would be greatly appreciated.

Mel's Answer:

The first thing you need to decide is what your goal is for the half marathon. I.e. What time would you like to complete it in? With only 10 weeks to go the most appropriate goal would be to simply finish the race and not be too concerned with the time in which you complete it. As a bench mark you could go out for a run and see how long you can go without stopping or set a course of a particular distance, e.g. 2 miles, and see how long it takes you to complete it. Once you know where you are starting from it’s much easier to begin planning.

With only 10 weeks to go the most important goal is to simply plug away at the distance gradually and progressively to help avoid injury. If you do too much too soon the risk of injury is much higher.

If you are moderately fit you may find that the 2 mile course mentioned earlier takes about 20 minutes (10 minutes each mile) which puts you on track to complete the half marathon in 2 hrs 10 mins. A very respectable time!

If this is where you begin you need to build up a further 10 miles in weeks 1-9 of the training with the final couple of miles being added on race day.
Traditionally endurance exercisers will complete one longer duration session each week. This often happens on a Sunday but, you simply carry this out on whichever day suits you.

Your longer runs may progress as follows:

Week 1 - 3 miles (30 mins)
Week 2 - 4 miles (40 mins)
Week 3 - 5 miles (50 mins)
Week 4 - 6 miles (60 mins)

And so on until in week 9 you reach 11 miles. This progression is a little more than is generally recommended. A general rule is that no more than 10 percent of your weekly distance should be added to your longest run.

Throughout the rest of the week aim for 2-3 sessions on alternate days to allow for rest. These sessions can be shorter however, the intensity can be a little higher to increase your speed. You could try alternating between a walk/jog for 1 minute and a faster run for 1 minute. Ensure you do get plenty of rest between sessions. On the shorter runs you could also use your gym to carry out a general resistance training programme to maintain muscular strength and reduce your injury risk.

In the final week of the training avoid the temptation to go for one more long run. In the seven days leading up to the race go for two shorter, more intense sessions with a couple of days rest before the big day to ensure you have fresh legs for the race.

Vary the surfaces on which you run. I.e. roads, treadmill or grass as this can help reduce some of the impact on the joints. Machines such as the cross trainer and cycle can also be useful in between sessions to maintain your fitness but, again, reduce stress on the joints and help avoid injury.

This is a very brief outline of how you might train. It would be a very good idea to speak to one of the instructors at your gym as they will know more of your exercise history and health history and be able to tailor the programme more specifically to your individual needs.

Mel Poulson, pictured. When taking up any new activities or exercise always consult with your GP first and ensure that you get advice from an appropriately qualified instructor

For more information on fitness courses & more contact Lifetime Training on 0870 702 7273 or visit www.lifetimehf.co.uk