It's important to start preparations straight away!

The sooner you start the more chance you've got of getting yourself ready come race day, ideally you will already be part way through an eight week training programme.

The average run time for a 10k is between 50-70 minutes so this is the time you want to be able to run for without stopping. First advice I should give is invest in some good comfy running trainers, wearing the wrong type of footwear can lead to all sorts of discomfort and also injury.

So now you’ve got your new trainers let’s get going... be it in the gym on a treadmill or outside on the road or your local park here’s how you should start.

First thing to do is a light warm up to get the blood flowing to the muscles and mobilise the joints.

If you’re new to running this can be a brisk walk if you’re a novice a very light jog. Five mins will be fine.

Follow this with a few mobility moves like knee raises, heel kicks, up and down on tip toes, this is just to mobilise all the joints and get the muscles moving ready for your main run and hopefully prevent you from pulling anything! So then the aim is to increase stamina and increase the time you can run for.

If you’re on a treadmill get to a comfortable jogging pace and run for as long as you can. Once you're struggling reduce speed and walk to recover once you get your breath back increase speed and run, keep repeating this for initially 15mins 3 times a week increasing each week by 5-10 minutes.

Every session aim to increase run time and reduce recovery walks until you can run for 10-15-20mins.

Keep increasing until you reach the 50 then push onto the 70 minute target.

If yourtraining outside you can either wear a stopwatch to time run/walks or alternatively use lamp posts ie run a lamp post walk one build up to running 2 walk 1 etc.

After each session spend five minutes stretching to increase range of motion at each joint and help prevent stiffness.

Although training on the treadmill in the gym is fine it is important you do some outside runs as well as a treadmill will not fully replicate what it’s going to be like come race day!

10k race nutrition It’s important you have a good balanced diet complex slow releasing carbohydrates like: porridge oats, brown rice, sweet potatoes. Combined with good protein source for muscle recovery like: fish, chicken, eggs and high antioxidant fruit and veg such as: blueberries, red grapes, dark green veg, oranges, tomatoes. Ensuring you have a good variety of these will provide you with both the energy to exercise and the nutrients to recover and repair.

Also drink lots of water around 2-3 litres a day, no need for energy drinks or gels your body will have enough stored energy to get you through the 10k. And if you’re a beginner/novice you’ve probably got a few pounds you’d like to lose, staying away from the energy drinks/gels will help you do this.

Question from readers

Q: I’m training by doing a couple 5 -7k runs a week and some resistance training on other days. I have had contrasting advice on diet, particularly the start to the day, what breakfast would you recommend and is eating lightly mid morning and mid afternoon a good thing?

Mark: In my opinionthe best start to the day is porridge. This will give you a slow release of energy throughout the day. Ideally I'd make it with coconut milk this will add good fats also add some ground almonds more good fats and protein, blueberries high antioxidant can even add protein powder and sprinkle cinnamon on. If you’re looking to reduce weight you can reduce the amount of porridge and increase the ground almonds even add flax seed to fill out and reduce carb intake. Eating light mid morning/ mid afternoon is something I’d reccomend little often of the right foods will keep your metabolism ticking over and also not leave you bloated when you exercise!

Q: I have been advised to take energy gels before going for a run do you recommend these?

Mark:This depends on your goal, if you are running to improve fitness and lose weight I wouldn't recommend them as you want your body to use stored fat as fuel.

If you’re using energy gels they will provide the energy for the run so will reduce the need for your body to break down fat for fuel.

I'd only advise using them if doing real endurance events such as marathons triathlons etc and even thenyour body needs to be well adapted at using fat prior to using them.

Q: Does the time of day that you train matter?

Mark: No it’s about what works for you and your work/lifestyle commitments. Key to success is getting into a routine make training part of your diary plan ahead and stick to it!

Q: I've recently joined a gym to lose weight, what type of exercises would you recommend in the first 8 weeks?

Mark: I'd recommend full body circuit routine: warm up 10min on cv (x trainer, rower or treadmill) then 2 resistance machines 15reps 30sec rest repeat 2x build upto 3x. Select machines working through whole body. So chest (chest press) then back (seated row).

Then back on CV for another 10 mins then another 2 resistance legs, shoulders this time ie leg press and shoulder press same reps rest! Then last 10min CV followed by last 2 resistance lower back and core ie back extension and abdominal crunch. Finish with 5mins low intensity I like the stepper to finish on low intensity it's a great fat burner. Then finally full body stretch! Don't forget if weight loss is goal diet is essential 'you can't out exercise a bad diet'

Q: I was a regular gym goer but I’ve not exercised for 12 months. I would consider myself quite a fit person. What routuines would you recommend not gym based?

Mark: You can improve fitness away from the gym by starting running and using body weight exercises. Use the run advice from the article above, and add the following bodyweight exercises either part way through your run or at the end before you cool down: Perform initially 10-12 reps of each exercise build upto 2 then 3 sets then increase reps 12-15 then 15-20,20-25etc Burpees Squats Press ups Pull-ups (use bars on park) Sit ups Back extensions Alternate leg lunges Dips (use chair or park bench) Got a question you’d like to ask Mark?

Email your question to: mark.b.hunt@btinternet.com