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Fitness

Going for a run this morning? Here's one experts tips for hitting the road

Jog on, you crazy diamond.

JOHN O’REGAN IS an ultra marathon runner. With the Life Style Sports Run In The Dark weeks away, here’s his top tips for getting fit in the right way.

  • Don’t do too much too soon.  As a beginner your first priority should be to get used to the movement and allow your body get used to running.
  • Don’t run faster than your fitness allows as this is one sure way to get disheartened because you’ll feel like the training is too hard and you can’t manage it.  As a rule, you should be able to talk when running easy and to help find this easy pace you could try running with a partner.
  • Don’t get caught up in distance but instead measure your running by time.  Try running away from your starting point for x number of minutes and then turn to retrace your steps.  As you get fitter / stronger you’ll start to cover more distance in the same time and if you’re feeling tired you won’t be putting yourself under extra pressure.
  • Don’t sacrifice health for fitness.  If feeling fatigued or a bit under the weather you shouldn’t feel like you ‘must’ go out for a run.  Sometimes taking a step back can help with going forward.
  • Don’t try to continuously keep doing more as it takes time for your body to adapt to a new stress.  Every third or fourth session you can reduce the length of time spent exercising.
  • Don’t run every day as rest is an important part of the training cycle.  It’s during rest that the body repairs and gets stronger while adapting to the stress of training.
  • Don’t ignore pain as this is your body’s way of telling you something is wrong.  Pain can be a sign that you’re doing too much and stopping in time can prevent an injury.  To improve your training needs to be continuous and you can’t train if injured.

There are 5 official locations for the Life Style Sports Run in the Dark – Dublin, Cork, Belfast, London and Manchester. Early bird entry closes on Sunday night. For more information and to sign up visit the website.

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