Stretching well before and after every run will minimise the risk of injury and help your body cope with the physical stress placed upon it, thus enabling you to get the best from every session.

Here are ten essential stretches for all runners:

Neck
Tilt your head to the right and apply very light pressure with your hand down towards the floor. Do not allow your head to drop forward. Repeat with the left side.

Shoulders
Take your right arm across your body in line with your shoulder. Use your left hand, placed just beyond the elbow joint to pull the arm across your body. Repeat with the left side.

Hamstrings
Lie on your back with your left leg straight on the ground, and your right leg raised. Without locking out the joint, grasp your right leg below the knee and slowly straighten it tensing in your hamstring. Repeat with the left leg.

Quadriceps
Balance yourself with your right arm on a fixed object at waist height. Then with your right leg slightly bent, grasp your left hand. Without dropping your hips, or leaning forward, and keeping your left knee pointing down towards the ground, gently raise your heel to your bottom. Repeat with the right leg.

Ilio-Tibial Band
Balance yourself with your right arm on a fixed object at waist height, and keep your elbow straight. Place your left hand on your hip. Cross your left leg over in front of the right, keeping the knee bent. Then, keeping the right leg straight, push your right hip to the floor - you will feel the stretch along the outside of this thigh. Repeat for the left leg.

Groin
Sit on the floor with your back straight and your knees bent. Place the soles of your feet together and your elbows either on your thighs, or against your knees. Then push your thighs towards the ground.

Gluteals
Lie on your back with your left leg straight. Then raising your left leg and rotating it at the hip, grasp it above the ankle with your left hand and beyond your right knee with your left hand. Pull both hands equally back and down towards your shoulders and head, which are flat on the ground. Repeat with the left leg.

Shin
Kneel on a mat or soft surface on the ground. Gently lower yourself back to sit on your heel. Keep your ankles together and push your ankles towards the floor.

Calf & Achilles Tendon
Stand two or three feet away from a fixed object and lean forward against it with your palms. Bend your left knee, lifting your left heel off the floor. Then, with your right leg straight out behind you, push your right heel towards the ground, so that you can feel it become taut in the middle of the calf.

Calf & Achilles Tendon
Start off in a similar position to the previous stretch, but slightly closer to the support and more upright. With both knees bent, lift your left heel off the ground and lower your body so that you can feel your right Achilles and heel area become taut. Repeat for the left leg.

To gain the maximum benefit from your stretches, remember these points:

• Always jog to warm-up before your stretch - a warm muscle is more pliable.
• Ease into the stretch - never jerk, bounce or force a muscle.
• Take a deep breath and exhale as you stretch, holding it in for ten seconds.
• Muscles are at thier most receptive to stretching after a long run, so take the time to cool down fully.

Post Training Warm Down

When doing the track sessions always do a good warm up and warm down, stretching is as important to training as the actual running, when warming down always do a little light stretching afterwards. This maintains the length of the muscle. The jogging should eliminate or should I say help to eliminate any lactic acid that may have built up during the interval session.

Post Race Tips

• Hot baths help with general aches and pains, followed by a gentle stretch in each muscle group.
• Never end a stretch routine with a sharp movement - count to 10 as you hold the stretch before easing gently back into postion. This will help you to regain flexibility.
• Small blisters should be protected with a sticking plaster. Large ones are best drained with a sterile needle and then covered with a dressing.
• Swelling or other injuries are best dealt with by following these guidlines: