Not for me but for Mrsjova.

She’s getting worried about keeping fit now she’s just passed a significant birthday and wants to take up running.

She has a bike but has never really taken seriously to riding as she has an inner ear/balance problem.

Any ideas on where I can get good advice/training plans which start at novice level. She is physically fairly fit and enjoys walking but is asthmatic.

Thanks

get a proper pair of running shoes! made the world of difference to my running. By that i mean go to a runners shop with a pair of trainners, they’ll examine the wear on the sole, then they’ll watch you run and then start offereing running shoes. don’t just go to sportwsorld and pick up a pair of running shoes.

get an ipod or music player, cos running is boring and dull. You’ll never see a smiling runner!

If you live somewhere where this is easy to do, run off road, not on.

It is lower impact (until you start crazy mad fell running that is) and way more fun.

Joe

There is a book called Running for Women, builds up the training plan quite slowly or alternatively maybe a local running club would be a good starting place.

Go to a proper running shop, they will watch her run and recommend some shoes. It will save you/her a lot of pain and injury in the long run.

Whereabouts do you live as there are 2 very good shops in Bristol.

running is boring and dull. You’ll never see a smiling runner!

Not sure if thats true, I run (slowly) quite a bit and its rare not to get a smile from people you see out. Unless you live in London I suppose as most people seem to be grumpy there 😉

I wouldn’t worry to much about the ‘proper shoes’ thing. People were designed to run without the input of the Nike marketing department 🙂
If she’s got an mp3 player, these are pretty good –
http://www.djsteveboy.com/intervals.html
They’re at a nice sensibly easy level.

“get an ipod or music player,”

Not sure I would recommend that on safety grounds and also…

“she has an inner ear/balance problem.”

proper shoes prevent injury, and its usually the Nike one’s etc that **** your feet/knee’s up as they are fashion shoes rather then running shoes.

But if your knee’s and ankles aren’t worth £50 thats your call, but its worth considering that your feet hit the ground at around 3 times your body weight when you are running fast. So if you feet aren’t hitting the ground square then thats a lot of pressure its putting on your joints as they hit the ground twisting to compensate for shit shoes.

I took up running 18 months or so and have gone from not being able to run more than a mile without stopping (despite being relatively fit from football and cycling) to being able to run 10km in just over 50 minutes relatively comfortably.

What I found was I needed a route that wasn’t too long and to take it steady (force myself not to start too fast) and be able to finish it without stoppping. Then I kept doing that regularly and only very gradually upping the distance (fortunately I can run out along a river through a park and woods and there are opportunities to cross the river and come back the other way at fairly regular points).

At first I found it was a psychological barrier that I had to break (knowing that I can run a certain distance without stopping). Later, having broken that, I found that I had a problem with shin splints and pain in the ankles and feet after I upped the distance, but after perservering (and not overdoing it) that went away too.

I’m now at a point where I have a speed that I can feel like I can run all day at (not that I’m going to) and another that I can push on at and do a reasonable pace for my current regular run – or do a slightly shorter one a bit faster every now and then.

Also I did find that buying some proper shoes helped – partly they definitely felt better, but also spending money on new gear is a good excuse / motivation to get out and do it when you might not otherwise.

Oh and the other thing is I made it part of my routine – I get up and run every saturday morning before doing anything else, so I’m out doing it before I get chance to think about whether I should or not and find a reason not to.

hth

http://www.running4women.com/starting_out.php

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/news/article.asp?UAN=285

but top one is: http://www.womensrunningnetwork.co.uk/

started by my physio

Oh also, I can recommend “The Art of Running”, which is a book about pose / Alexander Technique style running. This is a kind of running that is designed to be efficient and stop you injuring yourself. Less pounding the ground, more constantly falling forwards. Makes running a much easier thing to do.

Joe

proper shoes prevent injury, and its usually the Nike one’s etc that **** your feet/knee’s up as they are fashion shoes rather then running shoes.

Although as I understand it, there isn’t actually much evidence that trainers prevent injury, and in fact there is some evidence that injury levels have increased due to the built up running trainers we use nowadays, and that people would be best off running in shoes with minimal soles (like cheap plimsolls or whatever) or even barefoot.

There is a surprisingly good article about this on the Daily Mail website (it’s an extract from a book)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1170253/The-painful-truth-trainers-Are-expensive-running-shoes-waste-money.html

Joe

Hmmm, Daily Mail thing cery interesting. I have got back into running after several years off and I have no problems running reasonable distance off-road with my old fell shoes – minimal padding. But, now having to run on road (training for half marathon) I’m using modern “posh” trainers and had no end of probs. Finally changed shoes for a lighter pair similar to my off-roaders and now all ok. I find heel striking builds up probs.

I think Richie McCoy is a bit of an expert on this isn’t he. See if you can get his advice, although he’s a bit busy at the moment

Just Do It

And advertising has no effect on me neither!

Remember to budget for shoe replacement at about 500 miles if you go down the decent shoe route.

Just start slowly and build up gradually.

Even if she is reasonably fit from biking, her joints and tendons will not be used to the abuse of running. So even is she can run further she may just end up with overuse injuries.

I’m using modern “posh” trainers and had no end of probs. Finally changed shoes for a lighter pair similar to my off-roaders and now all ok. I find heel striking builds up probs.

similar! My fell shoes are like slippers, even on roads. My fancy road shoes can cause problems although I found forefoot running cause tendon problems for me and I have needed to move to more heel strike. I was doing a lot of distance though but everyone naturally runs differently

runnersworld.co.uk is a very friendly and supportive forum, not like this place! 😉