How do you maintain motivation for exercise during winter months?

Dawn Nunes: Winter is definitely a harsh time, especially in the UK. It gets colder, it gets darker, so the motivation to go outside is harder to come by, especially if you’re training outside. That has happened to me.

I got a diary and wrote down dates and times when I went out. Even if it was just for a two or three mile run. The point was to do it on a daily basis and record it. Make sure those pages weren’t blank basically.

The key thing is to have a goal, maybe get other people involved, and not be too hard on yourself. Sometimes just getting out the door is the best thing.

Ian Griffiths: I treat training like something I have to do. I know my personality, and I’m sure other runners are the same. I’ll think ‘I’ll just miss one session.’ Missing one session never matters. But do we ever really miss one? It’s the reason I don’t eat many biscuits. It never stops at one does it? I ask myself, where might this go? If it undermines my consistency, that’s problematic.

Goals can be helpful for motivation, and many runners spend their winter building towards long distance races in the spring. These runners will be pounding the streets, but what other activity should they prioritise to improve their performance, and mitigate injury?

Dawn: The biggest thing is not to neglect your core and upper body. We use our whole body when running.

Yes, leg exercises are important. I like Bulgarian split squats and Romanian deadlifts. But other strength building exercises are side planks. We need to build those stabilising muscles.

What can you do from a recovery point of view? It’s not just exercise you need to think about. Sleep is so important. Nutrition, hydration and reducing stress too.

Ian: With those lower leg exercises Dawn mentioned, you can make them running specific. If you’re going to squat, do it one leg. Running is one legged endeavour. Make your strength work as transferable to your actual activity as much as possible.

The other thing I’d mention is stretching. The research here is equivocal. I’m not saying you should do it, or that you definitely shouldn’t. There are a lot of runners who find it helps them, and it’s an important part of their preparation.

Knee pain is a common problem for long distance runners. What are some of the causes and how might you work together to help a runner that is experiencing pain in that joint?

Ian: Knee pain, kneecap pain in all its flavours is definitely the most common complaint I see. When we take history from these runners, we can maybe tease out a training error that is contributing. Frequency, volume, intensity and the organisation of the training. It’s very individual, but there are some blanket approaches that can help.

Get your load management right. We know that increasing your cadence, i.e. increasing the number of steps you take per minute without speeding up, can improve the angle of your joint and where you foot lands in relation to your centre of mass.

Dawn: Often, we get runners that are doing strength training but they don’t reduce that as they increase distances in their running.

Ian: Gold standard care for someone running a marathon who experiences knee pain should involve working with both a podiatrist and a physio. When someone comes to the studio to see a physio with this issue, and we’re discussing a management plan, we always refer to each other. And vice versa if they see me first. That’s not just for knee pain, but most lower limb running related injuries.

Hyrox is based around the principles of cross training. Can this exercise method produce certain injuries? Or enhance risk of getting injured?

Ian: Historically, we’ve considered cross training to be a benefit or a positive thing. We encourage runners to cross train more because having a broader range of training reduces the risks of repetition and overuse.

The problem is Hyrox is competitive. There’s a timed component So it’s encouraging people to train at very high intensity.

I worry that people might train for those eight runs (each of 1km in distance) at very high intensity. I’ll often encourage my patients to train like they’re doing a half marathon. Train for that border aerobic base of fitness. You’re going to break down if you go too hard too quickly.

Dawn: What I’m seeing is the importance of form. You’re in these big classes based around Hyrox movements, and the teachers can’t individualise. When you’re sprinting through on race day you aren’t going to be thinking about form. You need to do that in training, so it becomes normal and routine and that when you’re in a race mindset and fatigues you still have good form.

You can’t squat or perform rowing movements with poor form. You need the right range of movement, the right angles as these are big tendons, big muscles which, when pushed at that upper limit, could lead to very damaging injuries.