How to become a more efficient runner and avoid injury

Begin with a foam roller if you have one, she advises: "Foam roll your calves, hamstrings, quads and glutes for 30 second per muscle group, per leg.

"To prepare your body for movement, dynamic stretching is more beneficial than static stretches."

Warm up

Complete three rounds of the following:

Warm down

"After running, go into a 2-3 minute light jog to flush out the legs. You may not want to stretch out immediately after a run, but when you feel ready complete the following stretches, holding each for 30 seconds.

Ever find your runs getting worse by the day? It's probably a sign of fatigue. "Running on consecutive days isn’t something I do and it’s not something I’d recommend either, unless you’re under the supervision of a coach or training for a specific endurance event," says Skervin-Clarke. “If you find that your runs get worse as the days get on it may be  simply because your body is tired - you may feel 'awake', but you aren’t giving your muscles a chance to recover in between sessions. I personally prefer to run every other day."

Skervin-Clarke also recommends running at the same time each day in order to ensure you’re giving yourself enough rest in between sessions. "The more you listen to your body, the more you’ll understand how it will respond to your training. I try to run at the same time each day to ensure I’m getting as much rest as possible in between runs. Make sure you don’t do speed sessions back to back and take at least a day’s rest after a long run. Rest and recovery is all a part of the process so make sure you schedule it in, just like you do your runs," she adds.

Is it best to run faster with no stops or further with some stops? Both methods have their place, says Skervin-Clarke, who recommends beginners ignore  pace completely at first.

"When you are first starting out, I encourage you to focus on the amount of time you spend running, and not the distance or the pace. Before you start thinking about speed, you need to become comfortable with running. Once you’re comfortable with running your usual run, then you can start thinking about changing things up.

"Your faster runs with no stops should be shorter in distance than your slower runs with no stops that build endurance. And let's be clear, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having to stop during a run, it doesn't mean you’ve failed or your run wasn’t successful. It should be seen as a learning point. Did you start too fast? Did you fuel your body properly before the run started? Are you fully rested? Lots of different factors can help or hinder a run."

Try to avoid comparing your running journey to that of more experienced runners.  "Putting too much pressure on running a certain pace takes the fun out of it and because of this, I personally run with the pace turned off my watch display. Take each run as it comes. Some days you’re going to run well, other days you won't. That’s running! Enjoy the process and foam roll your legs!"

Which is safest to prevent injury? "Grass surfaces are a lot softer than concrete, but grass is also a more unstable running surface which requires greater control of your stabiliser muscles, such as your obliques, hamstrings and calves. If you’re new to running, you may not have yet developed the strength needed to  stabilise these muscles when you run which could potentially lead to injury so I recommend running on a flat and even surface like concrete to start," she says.