1 Watch your footing

‘Make sure your heel strikes the ground first, rather than the ball of your foot,’ advises Sajjad Afzal, a podiatrist to UK athletes. ‘Run smoothly and rhythmically.’ If you hit the ground with the side or the ball of your foot, it will roll. This has a domino effect on the rest of the body and can cause common running injuries such as shin splints, ‘runner’s knee’ and back pain.

2 Be style conscious

See a specialist to improve your running style. It could be a coach or a podiatrist, but even a member of staff in a good running shop will be able to analyse the way you run and offer tips.

3 Get pumping

Move your arms more. ‘If your arms go forward, your knees will go forward – that’s how our bodies are made,’ says personal trainer John Munroe. ‘If you have a bigger range of movement with your arms, your legs will have a greater movement too. And if you move your arms really quickly, your legs will move really quickly!’

4 Judge your pace

It may sound obvious but if you want to run a fast marathon or 10k race, you first have to learn how to judge your speed and maintain consistency. ‘Paula Radcliffe knows by the way her foot strikes the ground how fast she is running and will hit that mile marker at five mins 15 secs, or three to four seconds either side of that, every time,’ says Munroe. ‘Start by running three eight-minute miles in a week. The next week try to beat that. If you do this you’ll get quicker.’ Over a period of time you will learn to work out your speed.

5 Be progressive

Don’t train too hard too soon. If you do you will increase your risk of injury or plain, simple fatigue. Many newcomers give up because they’ve tried to go too far, too fast and have failed.

6 Work it!

That’s no excuse to slack. Work hard and remember that you get out of running what you put in.

7 Test yourself

Compete in races as part of a plan to gauge fitness, progression and race pace. Putting races in your calendar will also force you to train harder.

8 See the bigger picture

Don’t ignore the rest of your body. Running doesn’t just require strong legs and a good pair of lungs. To hold your body in the right running posture over the distance requires strong core stability. Do a weekly session of circuit training to make sure the whole body is getting a workout. A session should include press-ups, crunches, jump squats, burpees, reverse curls, split jumps and running on the spot with high knees.

9 Lift weights

Do resistance training, too. Machine exercises that will help your running include leg extensions, leg presses, hamstring curls, shoulder press and abduction work. Do three sets of between ten and 12 reps.

10 Shake up your training

Try Fartlek training. Developed in the 1930s, this is a less structured form of interval training, and something you can easily do while out on your runs. The idea is to run flat out, jog for a while, then sprint again. If you want something a little more structured try this programme, devised by personal coach and ex-international long jumper John Munroe. Pick two trees about 30 metres apart. Run 60 per cent of your top speed or maximum heart rate and jog back. On the second go, run at 70 per cent and jog back and then at 80 per cent and then back to 60. Do this for ten minutes.

11 Go hill running

The only way to improve your running fitness is to stress the lungs and your muscles – and there’s no better way to achieve this than on an energy-sapping hill. Run up at three-quarter pace, jog down, run up at three-quarter pace, jog down… you get the idea.

12 Be careful out there

Do everything within your power to avoid injury. Start your sessions with a light jog or a few minutes on the treadmill. Then warm up gently. Run hard during your workout and cool down fully afterwards.

13 Raise those knees

Avoid injury too by practising ‘functional mobility exercises’. Examples are high knee walking, high knee cantering and lunging. These will help your ‘running muscles’.

14Know your heart

Work out your true maximum heart rate (MHR). The standard way to work out the rate is to subtract your age from 220 but if you’re serious about training, there’s a much better way. After a warm-up, run for three minutes as hard and as consistently as you can, then rest for two minutes, and then run again for three minutes at your max. Count your heart rate. This is your true MHR. Unless you’re a beginner and you’re still building up your fitness levels, run at between 75 and 87 per cent. ‘This will give you the greatest fitness benefits,’ says Munroe.

15 Keep a record

Be anal – start a training log, whether it’s on a notepad or a computer. It’s a good way to boost confidence because it shows a series of quantifiable gains – or it will if you’re doing everything right.

16 Join a club

There’s nothing like peer pressure or the presence of a proper coach to bring out the best in you. There are running clubs all around the country from serious athletics clubs to those designed to help people get fit for the first time such as the Cannons and Reebok Running Club (08707 582333, www.cannons.co.uk). For a list of athletics clubs and tracks visit www.runtrackdir.com.

17 Partner up

Running becomes much easier when you have a friend to spur/nag you on.

18 Stay hydrated

Drink even if you’re not thirsty. ‘The body has a poor thirst mechanism,’ says Adam Mead, senior dietician at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London. ‘When you’re thirsty it’s already too late. If there’s even a five per cent drop in hydration levels your performance will tail off.’

19 Know your fluids

Hydrate with water if your run is less than 15 miles. Use a sports drink if it’s longer. Take on fluid every 15 minutes of exercise.

20 Get snacking

Don’t run on an empty stomach. ‘About 60 to 90 minutes before a run, have a sandwich, a sports drink or a glass of milk and a muffin,’ says Mead.

21 Eat right

Base your meals around carbs such as pasta, rice and potatoes. You should aim to eat about 70 per cent carbs, 15 per cent protein and 15 per cent fat. ‘During any physical activity you use a crucial fuel called glycogen, which comes from carbohydrates. You need to make sure you’re eating sufficient amounts. You need protein to build new cells and muscle,’ adds Mead.

22 Do your sums

Be scientific about it. You should aim to eat five grammes of carbohydrate and one gramme of protein per kilo of bodyweight per day.

23 Eat as soon as you’ve run

This will aid recovery. Something like a banana is ideal because it has a high glycaemic index (GI) and will give an immediate boost of energy. For your main meal, eat carbohydrates with a low GI – those that release energy slowly – such as sweet potatoes and brown or Basmati rice.

24 Chill out in the bath

Forget having a hot soak after a run. It’s the worst thing you can do because it encourages the micro-tears in your muscles to bleed out, which increases soreness. Have an ice bath instead. It’s what most top athletes do because it helps flush lactic acid out of the muscles and boosts the immune system. Unless you have half a tonne of ice to hand, run the tub with cold water and jump in for about five minutes.

25 Take a multivitamin…

Athletes require more minerals and vitamins than the average person thanks to the stresses of running. Each stride can cause tiny amounts of damage to the red blood cells in the feet, and running also produces damaging free radicals. Vitamins and minerals can help mop them up.

26 …and vitamin E

This is a good idea if you’re doing ultra-long distances or if you tend to be sedentary during the week and blast at the weekend. Natural sources include almonds, hazelnuts, avocado, spinach, sweet potato and good old Hellman’s mayo.

27 Have some iron

Runners can also experience iron deficiency, which makes you feel fatigued, so eat dark meats, liver, fish, apricots, eggs and kidney beans.

28 Run in the right shoes

It’s no good wearing the hottest-looking pumps if they’re going to give you shin splints, sore knees or an aching back.

29 Ask an expert

See a podiatrist and have a foot MOT. They will be able to tell whether you are running efficiently by looking at your trainers. Uneven wear indicates that your feet roll as they land, which causes problems. Pronating feet (flat feet) is when the foot rolls inwards. Supination (high arches) is the opposite. Only a third of us are neutral. Solve the problem by getting a custom-made orthotic inner-sole. It’s made from a plaster cast of your foot and will ensure you run with a balanced gait.

30 Get to know your feet

For some people, a good anti-pronating shoe will correct running imbalance without the need for an orthotic insert.

31 Take your time

Patience is important when buying the right trainers. Ben Noad, manager of Runner’s Need in Holborn, London, says you should try on at least three to four pairs and run in them before purchasing.

32 Don’t get squeezed

‘Buy trainers half a size bigger [than your normal shoe size] because when your feet heat up they swell,’ Noad says.

33 Run on soft ground

Your feet hit the ground about 2,000 times per mile and in that distance your body has to dissipate 100 tonnes of force. So think about those poor knees and stick to softer terrain whenever you can.

34 Know your brands

Look out for the respected running shoe brands. Asics, Brooks, New Balance and Saucony have the best reputations among serious runners.

35 Burst the bubble

Avoid trainers with air bubbles in the heel because they will encourage your ankles to roll.

36 Get wicking

Leave the cotton T-shirt at home and start wearing polypropylene clothing that ‘wicks’ sweat away from your skin. Cotton becomes heavy when wet and, unlike ‘polypro’ fabrics, stays wet.

37 Go for variety

If you always run the same route, try doing it in the opposite direction. That way any cambers and lateral stresses are transferred to the other foot. ‘Otherwise you are potentially going to shorten your inside leg,’ warns podiatrist Sajjad Afzal.

38 Be realistic

Have achievable goals. Write them down and reassess them on a regular basis. Make them positive, so instead of saying, ‘I will not get overtaken in the last mile,’ say, ‘I will hold my position.’

39 See the big picture

‘Make every run feel significant by looking at it as a small goal that forms part of the bigger goal,’ says sports psychologist Andy Barton.

40 Train vertically

This does not mean attempting to run up cliff faces, cartoon style. It means you should never simply train with one specific race or set distance in mind – you should always train for the next level of training. ‘When most people do a marathon, they train for the marathon,’ says Munroe. ‘With athletes, they all train for the next level.’ A subtle but vital difference.

41 Visualise success

Use visualisation techniques to improve results and combat nerves. ‘People can put on muscle by using their imagination. When you mentally rehearse something micro muscles actually move. Make sure you’re relaxed. Visualise doing well so you can tap into your feelings,’ says Barton.

42 Disassociate yourself

Use disassociation as a post-mortem tool. Want to see where you may have gone wrong? Look at yourself from outside your body and see what you were doing as if you were a coach.

43 Start pumping

Imagine oil is going through your body to make your limbs feel loose, or that your legs are pistons. It might sound crazy but it works.

44 Get in tune

Use music to get in the right mental state – but don’t always go for the Rocky theme tune. Classical music may be more effective at relaxing you, and you run better when you’re in a relaxed state.

45 Stay in the moment

‘For a marathon, think in terms of the first mile, then the second mile. The more you stay in the moment the more effective you are,’ says Barton.

46 Eat breakfast

But on race day, make sure it’s your normal breakfast. Don’t be tempted to try a nutritionally perfect meal in case your stomach reacts badly to the change in diet. If toast and coffee is your normal fare, stick to it.

47 Know where you’re going

Make sure you know your route and pay attention to it. You don’t want to either get lost or start bumping into people because you’re running in a totally different direction.

48 Cut corners

Imagine you’re a Grand Prix car – bear with us here – and stay straight as you take corners. ‘It sounds silly but try to run that bend as straight as you can,’ says coach Munroe. Just try not to crash into any walls like that unfortunate Mr Button.

49 Put yourself about

Take part in as many races as possible so that you can discover your strengths and weaknesses.

50 Slipstream opponents

Run off a rival’s shoulder, about four yards behind them, because the ‘hole’ they make in the air will suck you along. You can save ten per cent more energy by doing this, especially in windy conditions.