How to Run – a guide for non-runners

I only found out how to run at the relatively advanced age of 49, having just finished my academic career where I had ended up overweight and unfit. I no longer took part in sports I used to love, such as sailing, because I was worried that I wasn’t fit enough. Feeling breathless just from climbing the stairs is a bad place to be – so I decided to trade commuting time for getting fit time. 

Starting out with swimming and progressing to the gym, I then met someone, now a good friend, and he challenged me to run. I said I had never been able to run for any distance and certainly would not be able to now. Never one to resist a challenge, however, I lined up outside the gym and we set off. As predicted within a relatively short distance I had to stop, unable to get enough oxygen into my lungs. My friend, undaunted, proceeded to teach me how to run, a method I use to this day and would like to pass on.

The problem non-runners find the hardest is balancing output with oxygen requirement. My friend taught me to synchronise my running pace with my breathing. The idea is to split inhalations and exhalations into parts. For each step, start with exhaling a third, then another third and finally the last third of the breath in your lungs and then to do the same in reverse – I call it “three breathing”.

Once you have synchronised your breath you need to run slowly enough that you can keep this up. Run too fast and you will not get enough oxygen, which will be uncomfortable. Run too slowly and it will be too easy – you won’t need a full lungful of air. Once you have mastered the technique and want to see if you can go faster, the next step is “two breathing” – two puffs in and two puffs out.

When I had got to grips with my breathing I was off. Although I am not a natural runner, as some are, I went on to do the London Marathon in 2005 and have kept running ever since. I use my three-breathing pace for longer runs and training and my two-breathing pace when I want to mix up training with shorter, faster runs or when I am in a race. Simple.

Some years ago I was offshore in the Persian Gulf on a project and met a man who was also exercising on top of the vessel. He said he had to mix running and walking because he wasn’t able to keep running. We worked on getting his running to the right speed – and from then on he was able to run without walking.

I found this an easy scheme to master and still use it today. In the current lockdown running has been of huge value to keep fit and sane.