If you’re just starting out on your Vitality Westminster Mile journey, follow these simple tips from Runner’s World columnist Sam Murphy to help you stay happy and healthy as you begin to increase the amount you run…

1. Ease in gently

By far the most common mistake new runners make is trying to achieve too much, too soon – both in terms of the overall volume of running and the rate of progression. If you’re new to running (or a ‘rusty’ returner), aim to run on just three non-consecutive days of the week to begin with. Your runs should not feel like near-death experiences – run at a pace that feels comfortable and that gets you a little breathless and warm. If you need to mix bouts of walking and running, no problem.

2. Make haste slowly

Once this starts to feel more manageable, you can gradually make your training more challenging by adding what coaches call ‘progressive overload.’ The ‘overload’ is the training itself and ‘progressive’ means increasing it only in small doses. There are three options, and you can remember them with the acronym FIT:

• ‘F’ stands for frequency, and refers to how often you run
• ‘I’ stands for intensity and is related to how hard you run
• ‘T’ stands for time – how long you run for (or how many miles you cover)

Work on increasing the time and frequency before worrying about intensity. The general rule is to increase your weekly mileage by no more than 10 per cent at a time – but don’t feel you have to raise your mileage every week. Listen to your body.

3. Build in R

It’s during rest, not running, that your body adapts to training, becoming fitter and stronger. If you don’t take enough rest, then you are never allowing your body to adapt fully and you won’t reap the full benefits of your training. That’s why it is best to schedule in rest days – and recovery weeks – right from the outset.

Structure your training using the ‘hard-easy rule’, which means following your most challenging runs with either rest days or easy runs, so that they are spaced out through the week. By ‘challenging’, I mean anything faster than your target event pace (so tempo runs, intervals, hills, speedwork) as well as your long runs – where the challenge comes from the duration, not the intensity.

You also need to take regular recovery weeks (every three to five weeks), where you scale back your mileage. I often do this by omitting the long run or reducing the volume of higher-intensity sessions. These cutback weeks allow you to recuperate physically and mentally.

4. Run well

No one ever teaches us how to run – we just put one foot in front of the other and assume we’re doing it right. But there’s a growing interest in the issue of running technique or ‘form’ and a belief that good form can not only enhance performance but can also reduce the risk of injury. Visualise yourself running tall (don’t sink into your pelvis) with an upright posture – but stay relaxed and fluid. Keep your rhythm (cadence) fast and light and drive forward with the knees and back with the elbows.

I do a ‘body scan’ to mentally check my form every mile or so when I’m running. Are my shoulders hunched? Has my leg lift become a shuffle? Are my feet landing heavily? Even if you start off running with good technique, it’s likely to deteriorate as you become tired. A body scan will help you to maintain awareness and make any necessary adjustments.

5. Mix it up

Use some cross-training, such as cycling, rowing or gym work, especially if you are a running newbie or injury-prone. It enables you to train more without overdoing things. To make cross-training sessions count, have a purpose in mind before you start and structure the session in the same way that you would a run. For example, you could replace a long run with a long bike ride, a recovery run with a gentle swim or a hill session with a workout on the step machine.

6. Stay strong

Simple body-weight exercises help build strength and resilience in your muscles and joints and improve core stability. This adds balance to your programme and can help offset the potential damage of the repetitive, one-directional and high-impact nature of distance running. Class-based activities like Pilates, circuit training and Body Pump also fit the bill.

You can find out more about exercises for runners on our Vitality London 10,000 website Training Hub.

7. Warm up... and cool down

Numerous studies have shown that a warm-up reduces the risk of muscle tears and joint injuries – imagine what would happen if you put an elastic band in the freezer and then tried to stretch it. Well, muscles are the same – they move better when they’re warm and pliable.

To warm up effectively, precede each run with a very easy jog or brisk walk, incorporating some gentle moves to mobilise the joints – such as bringing your knees up to your chest, or your heels up to your bottom, rolling your shoulders, rising up on to your toes. Continue for a few minutes, gradually extending your range of motion and adding in some running-specific movements.

Do not stop to stretch before you run – save the stretching regime [link to stretches for runners feature] for afterwards. This helps muscles return to their ‘resting’ length, maintaining range of motion and flexibility. Hold each stretch for 20 to 30 seconds at the point where it feels mildly uncomfortable (rather than painful) and aim to breathe freely.

8. Go off-road

Variety is important in terms of where you run. On a flat, asphalt road, impact forces are channelled through exactly the same muscles, bones and joints with every step. Conversely, on a trail there are varying levels of unevenness, gradient and a mix of softer and firmer areas. Every footstrike is subtly different from the last.

That doesn’t have to mean a trip to the countryside – even running on a playing field or on a gravel path will offer variety. You can also add the treadmill and the athletics track to your terrain ‘menu.’

9. Find your sole mate

There are more shoe brands and models around than ever before, which can make it tricky to find the right pair for you. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ answer, so the key is to go to a specialist store with a wide range and try lots of different pairs – our guide to finding the perfect running shoes for you should help. 

10. Listen to your body

It’s so important to listen to your body. The key is distinguishing good pain, which shows you worked hard (and successfully overloaded the body), with bad pain, which shows you did something too hard, for too long, or did it badly. If you have pain that causes a change in your running technique, lingers more than a day or two, or goes away between runs but comes back every time you run, or immediately after, you need to take a couple of days off running (maintain pain-free cross-training). Keep the sore area gently mobile and use ice to help to reduce any inflammation.

If there’s no improvement, consult your doctor or, ideally, a sports injuries specialist, such as a physiotherapist or osteopath, for advice and a diagnosis. The sooner you know what you’re dealing with, the sooner you can take the necessary steps to heal your injury, prevent it coming back and speed up your return to training.

Sam Murphy has written several books on running and fitness, including Marathon and Half Marathon: From Start to Finish (£14.99, Kyle Books). Follow Sam on Twitter @SamMurphyRuns