The following build-up really worked well for me, as it involved walking on the field in the beginning, and not pounding your body on the tarmac:

Build-up

• 15 minute walk
• 2 minute walk
• 4 minute run
• 2 minute walk
• 4 minute run

Advertisement

Kathy McQuaide, sports scientist at the Sports Science Institute of South Africa (SSISA), gave us some advice on our running technique.

Interesting tips included:

• keep your head up with your eyes focused about 30m ahead of you
• Relax your shoulders and keep them square
• bend your elbows at about 90 degrees and swing your arms freely backwards and forwards as you run
• hold your hands in a relaxed fist position
• don’t lift your knees much
• your feet should point forwards and should land directly under your hips

Another important consideration in the “pounding the pavement” dilemma, is to get correct shoes for your feet. I used neutral shoes for the first 8 months of exercising, and now that I have shoes to correct my pronateness (it sounds so awful, but apparently not many people have great feet!)

I am putting a lot less strain on the rest of my body. I think your muscles and joints try and make up for the bad shoes and you can get into a mess.

I had a shoe assessment done at the Sports Science Institute where they checked my walking and flexibility and how my feet work. They gave me a list of 4 different shoes that would be good for my feet.

It was such a relief to try on 4 different shoes and choose, rather than spending time at the wall of shoes in the sports shops and not knowing where to start.

Follow our online programme to run 10 km within 11 weeks. Here is week 2.

Rate this article Poor 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent

JOBS

Civil Engineering Technician Gauteng - Johannesburg Accountant Gauteng - North/Sandton Financial Manager R550,000-600,000 Per Annum Central African Republic Financial Accountant R300,000-340,000 Per Annum Gauteng Treasury Specialist R500,000-630,000 Per Annum Gauteng - East Rand Credit Manager R300,000-400,000 Per Annum Mpumalanga Financial Manager R27,000-30,000 Per Month Gauteng - North/Sandton Delphi developers Gauteng - North/Sandton Find more jobs Register your CV Post a job