The 26 Golden Rules of Running

Here are my 26 Golden Rules of Running — timeless principles that apply to every runner, no matter your background or experience.

The idea is simple: follow these rules, and you’ll set yourself up for a long, happy, and successful relationship with running.

These golden rules cover every part of the journey — not just the miles you log, but everything that supports them, from mindset and recovery to motivation and balance.

I talk about how to keep that spark of motivation burning for the long haul, the best ways to cross-train so you can run stronger, and how to shape your lifestyle to complement your running goals.

You’ll also find mindset tips and race-day mantras that keep you grounded when the miles get tough, plus smart strategies for approaching and bouncing back from injuries.

This post is a short and sweet version of the set of rules. If you want to dive deeper into each one and really make them part of your running life, you can download the complete guide, The 26 Golden Rules of Running, as a free PDF eBook.

Rule #1: Start Slow and Short

Whether you’re a beginner runner or looking to ramp up your mileage for the next big challenge, don’t be afraid to take your time getting there.

The majority of running injuries occur when runners get overly ambitious and try to run faster or longer than their bodies have adapted to.

First comes form, then distance, then speed.

This rule isn’t just for newbies: if you’re returning to running after a break, try not to compare your efforts to your previous performance, and remember that your cardiovascular system is better adapted than your legs, which can encourage you to keep going and lead to injury.

Related: Running Rules: The 13 Unspoken Rules + Proper Running Etiquette

Rule #2: It Begins (And Ends) With The Running Shoes

Getting the right shoes is perhaps the single most important thing in your running journey.

Once you’re an established runner, you’ll probably have a couple of brands and models that you know work for you and that you can stick to. But when you’re just starting, finding a pair of shoes that’s right for you can be overwhelming.

The sheer amount of models, types, and foot categories is all a bit mind-boggling.

Get down to a reputable running store, ask for some guidance, share your running background and goals, and try out some shoes.

Test out the shoes before committing, and remember that comfort is the most important variable. If a pair of shoes isn’t immediately comfortable in the store, they’re just going to get less comfortable once you hit the road with them.

It’s important to remember that all running shoes gradually lose their spring and their support after 300-500 miles, so keep an eye on your mileage. Likewise, if you’re coming back to running after a break, do yourself a favor and buy a new pair of shoes—your feet will thank you.

Learn more: How To Choose Running Shoes

Rule #3: Attack Injuries Head On

Injuries are inevitable.

Unbelievably, more than 60% of recreational runners report suffering from an injury each year – it’s a sorry state of affairs.

(Many running injuries can be prevented through regular strength training – see rule #6.) However, I’ve got some good news: injuries don’t have to derail your training.

Big injuries don’t usually spring up out of nowhere. Instead, our bodies give us warning signs through minor aches and pains we might start to feel during or after running. This is the time to address them rather than ignore them or wait to see if they get worse.

Minor complaints and knee pain can usually be addressed with rest, foam rolling, massage, and strengthening. If it’s an injury you can figure out yourself, it doesn’t take much to find a few strengthening exercises that address the issue.

If it’s a new running injury or one you’re worried about, get to a sports physio. The sooner a qualified person can assess your injury, the sooner you’ll be back on the road to running.

Either way, if in doubt, seek professional help, and always attack injuries head-on.

Rule #4: Your Competition Is Not Other People: It’s You

For some reason, running events are referred to as races, suggesting that everyone who is participating is aiming to win.

Unless you’re in the top 1%, it’s unlikely you’re toeing the line at your next 10k hoping for a podium position. Instead, you’re like 99% of runners – out to run for themselves.

Running isn’t about competing against the other runners – it’s about competing against yourself. Run against your previous PR, or a target you’ve set yourself, or the best you think you could be. Run to beat the sedentary lifestyle or to maximize your health as you get older.

Run for the changes and the positive effects they have on your life. Let that be your motivation, rather than measuring yourself against others.

Rule #5: Variety Is The Fuel Of A Long and Happy Running Career

Runners are often guilty of getting stuck repeating one type of running workout.

5k runners know their regular training route, and marathon runners get used to that weekly long, slow plodding training run. Over time, they get stuck in a loop, only doing one type of training.

Gradually, they lose their edge. They get injured. They slow down. They lose interest and hang up their running shoes.

As runners, the best thing we can do for our long-term performance and fitness, as well as our own level of engagement, is to introduce variety into our training.

When it comes to running workouts, almost every distance runner I talk to neglects speed work. Likewise, short-distance runners skip long runs, as they don’t want to lose their speed.

If you’re in marathon or ultrarunning territory, next time you have a break in your calendar, focus on your 5k PR, or introduce a hill sprints session into your calendar – you’ll be surprised how much it challenges you, and can get you out of a rut you never realized you were in.

Running doesn’t have to be the dominant activity in your life—try yoga, cycling, or kickboxing for a while.

Rule #6: Keep Coming Back To Running Form

Spending time focusing on your running form isn’t just for beginners. Just like sweeping a floor, you can’t just do it once and then assume you never need to think about it again.

Checking in on your running form is something you should do regularly (though not constantly). Your running form is essentially how you hold and move your body while you run—and every single person has a slightly different normal running form.

Some quick things to check on your next run:

• Ensure your chin is up and you’re looking ahead, no slouching!
• Relax your shoulders and allow your arms to swing gently.
• Hold yourself upright with a slight forward lean.
• Engage your core a little.
• Hold your hips level, don’t let your butt stick out.
• Take shorter, more frequent steps—let your foot land under your hips, not overstride.

• Further Reading: Proper Running Form Explained

Rule #7: Strength Train

Many runners have a natural aversion to anything that looks like a gym. They prefer to get their workouts done outdoors and tune out with a head-clearing run, rather than throw around heavy equipment.

However, all runners can benefit from cross-training, and strength training—specifically, weight lifting—is where you’ll get the most bang for your buck in improving your running game.

Strength training improves your running in three distinct ways:

• It prevents injuries by strengthening your muscles and connective tissues, which are often otherwise left weak or imbalanced by running.
• It makes you faster by boosting your leg strength and neuromuscular coordination.
• It improves your running economy (essentially your own personal miles per gallon) by improving coordination and stride efficiency.

Worried about bulking up?

Don’t be. If you’re running regularly, you’re unlikely to add bulky muscle mass unless you cram loads of additional calories down your throat – instead, you’ll develop lean muscle.

Further reading: Weightlifting Guide For Runners

Rule #8: Train Your Willpower

Little-known fact: Willpower acts like a muscle.

The more you exercise it—i.e., put it under stress—and then let it recover, the stronger it becomes.

This is an often-undervalued quality of ourselves that we can tap into in both our exercise and other parts of life.

Getting over that mental barrier and actually starting a workout can be the biggest roadblock to exercising for many people. It’s easier in the short term to choose the comfort of the sofa over the discomfort of a hard running session.

But in the long term, we all know that it’s the training sessions that are good for us.

It’s actually been shown that long-distance runners have a higher pain tolerance than non-runners. The compounding effect of months and years of voluntarily engaging in exercise that requires real effort means that their willpower has gradually strengthened.

The more you embrace exercise, discomfort, and physical challenges, the easier they become for you in the future.

That’s why I often find it helpful to re-frame hard workouts as willpower training sessions. I tell myself that my morning sprint session is actually helping to build mental strength that will make tomorrow easier and allow me to reach new heights.

• Related: 20 Running Motivation Quotes

Rule #9: Be Seasonal

There’s something fundamental about a seasonal cycle of growth, flourishing, tapering off, and rest. We see it around us all the time in nature, and it bears consideration when planning your running calendar.

All seasoned athletes follow a pattern of on-season, where they compete and race, and off-season, where they aren’t directly preparing for events. The ebb and flow of an on/off-season cycle allows us to approach training differently—our focus shifts depending on the season.

It’s common to start a new training phase around January/ February as you increase your training load in preparation for running events over the spring and summer.

Following a periodization-based training plan can mean spending a few weeks at a time focusing on one element of your training before combining it all on race day.

Races tend to tail off as Autumn turns to winter, and that’s a great time to schedule one last running event before winding back your training for the winter.

The off-season is an excellent opportunity to take the pressure off yourself, stop pushing, and try new training modalities or activities that you wouldn’t be able to during your on-season.

Rule #10: Go Far With Run/Walk

The benefits of adopting a run/walk method for any distance—whether it’s a couch-to-5k or a 100-miler—are massive. While it’s not a strategy that PR-seeking masochists will ever adopt, it can help you go much farther than you would have otherwise, and will leave your body feeling much better.

By mixing running and walking, you are capping your exertion levels—every time you feel it getting too intense, dial it back to walking. When you’re ready to go again, pick up the pace.

This method is also much more forgiving on your body—you’re much less likely to feel sore the next day or get injured.

Rule #11: Morning Time Is The Best Time To Run

Running for over 10 years and coaching hundreds of runners along the way has taught me one thing: the best runs happen in the morning.

Some people are early birds, others are night owls – and the idea of a morning run makes their skin curl. But consistently, I’ve seen that runners who train in the morning tend to stick to their plan and follow through on it much more.

Morning runs make you feel awesome for the rest of the day – you have the post-exercise afterglow of blood flowing through your system, and you can be satisfied that you’ve ticked off your exercise goals before starting the rest of your day.

Morning runs have a high follow-through rate, too. If you’re anything like me, a run scheduled for the evening can quickly get curtailed or canceled because of other commitments or because you’re tired after a long day at work.

Morning is a time of potential and opportunity, and rolling out of bed and going straight out for a run is a great way to spend time with your thoughts and get some fresh air, too.

Rule #12: Log Your Runs

Logging your runs through a digital GPS tracker is super simple to do these days, and means you have a library of every workout you’ve done at your fingertips.

Today’s GPS watches, smartwatches, and phones make the process painless: you just tell your device when you start and finish your workout, and it tracks every metric you could wish for.

I recommend Strava for anyone looking for an app to log their runs—it’s a freemium platform, and the free version gives you everything you need. It also works seamlessly with practically every sports-tracking device.

I enjoy looking back at old runs and comparing my performance over time.

If you’re also tracking heart rate (which most wrist-based GPS devices do these days), then you’re adding useful data that Strava can then analyze. Once you get years of data on there, it’s helpful to look back to see how things like HR and relative effort change with time.

Rule #13: Sprint. It Benefits All Other Areas of Fitness

Bad news for all plodders out there: if you’re skipping sprints, you’re missing out on so many gains to your health and fitness.

Sprinting is running’s own form of HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) – when you sprint, you run as hard as you possibly can for around 20 seconds to 2 minutes.

Running fast for short, sharp intervals has a myriad of benefits that regular, relaxed running can’t compete with. Spriting:

• Develops muscular strength in your legs and core, akin to leg day at the gym
• Improves your muscular endurance, so you can keep going for longer in races
• Improves your running economy – essentially, the miles per gallon you get as a runner
• Boosts fat burning and metabolism
• Improves heart health

Many runners neglect interval training because they feel they’re not fast, but that’s beside the point. Going out for a few intense sprint repeats – regardless of how fast you actually are – has the same benefits for all of us. It’s a challenging new form of running for many runners.

Rule #14: Listen To Your Body: Run Based On RPE

Why? Every run is different, and the conditions are never equal. Some days you are tired, or sore, or hungry, or have had a draining day at the office – each of these means you need to apply more effort for the same results.

The same goes for external conditions: weather, underfoot conditions, gradients, and even running with company all affect how hard you have to push.

Rule #15: In Order To Improve, You Need a Plan

If you just go running to get in a little exercise and clear your head, you don’t need to worry too much about structuring your training.

Many runners spend years running junk miles—and end up at the same ability level as when they started. But if you want to improve, you need to use a training plan.

A good training plan is your complete roadmap from where you are today to where you want to go. It should be designed around your current running ability, your own schedule, and an achievable rate of progression.

Having a plan also means outsourcing all of your run scheduling and decision-making. Instead of waking up each day and deciding on a whim whether or not to work out or not, you just have to stick to the plan.

Rule #16: You Know Best When To Rest

When in doubt, rest.

There can be many reasons to take a break, but here are the main four:

• overtraining (your body isn’t recovering between workouts),
• illness,
• injury
• burnout – you’re mentally drained,

Each of these is a legit reason for hanging up your running shoes for a few days.

When you’re burned out, it’s often better to take that break rather than trying to power through another workout—it can just make things worse.

A nice rule of thumb for taking breaks is to look after yourself as you’d look after a good friend: err on the side of caution and make sure you don’t push yourself too far. You know best when to rest.

Rule #17: Rest Isn’t Time Off, It’s Recharging

Rest days are a key component of any athlete’s training plan. Even professional athletes who are firing on all cylinders intentionally schedule days of inactivity to allow their bodies to recover.

During a rest day, your muscles get a chance to heal, your glycogen levels refill, and your body generally goes into ‘recovery mode. It also gives you a bit of mental breathing space and permission to switch off the part of your brain that is constantly telling you to train. The importance of a rest day should not be underestimated.

The nervous system has two main divisions, or states: sympathetic (also known as the fight-or-flight response) and parasympathetic (rest and recovery). Our mind and body constantly evaluate our environment for potential threats, and depending on how they perceive things, they can put us in one of these two states.

For many runners, recognizing that time off is actually productive can be hard to do. Many of us are wired to always be “on”, to be looking for the next challenge, and get restless at the idea of having time off.

Rule #18: Carbohydrates = Fuel

Whenever we go running, the majority of the energy that moves us forward comes from our glycogen stores, which are topped up whenever we eat carbohydrates.

We also use some stored fat for energy, but typically, your energy comes from around 75% carbs and 25% fat. The more intense the workout, the more energy you get from carbs.

A lot of people make running nutrition overly complex. To be well-fuelled before a run, you need to eat some carbs. It’s that simple.

Now, there are some reasons that runners might neglect carbs.

Going on a long, slow, carb-fasted run encourages your body to become more efficient at burning fat for fuel, which may be helpful for endurance athletes. But when you do this, be aware that your performance will be compromised due to the lack of carbs.

But diets aside, most runners want to perform their best when they go for a run – after all, if you’re not able to run your best due to a lack of fuel, you’re not going to be making any performance gains.

Rule #19: Consistency Is The Key To Long-Term Success

When it comes to achieving your running goals, there are no shortcuts or life hacks that really deliver. Anyone who has attempted a half-marathon or marathon without properly training for it will testify to that.

While inspiration and bursts of motivation are awesome for setting goals, actually training for and achieving them takes a lot of work and discipline.

The main principle I’ve found that overrides all others when it comes to running is consistency. By consistency, I don’t mean following the same workout routine ad nauseam. I mean, consistently showing up to train.

Consistently thinking about how to reach your new running goals.

Consistently striving to adapt your training and find new modalities to unlock your potential.

Consistently addressing issues such as injuries as soon as they begin to raise their heads.

Inconsistent runners are the ones who stop training when it’s bad weather, let an injury completely derail their year, or stop working out after they finish their target race.

The best runners are the ones who will show up every day, regardless of how they’re feeling. Not every run is going to be great, but you’re going to get great if you run consistently.

Rule #20: It’s Better To Be Slightly Undertrained Than Slightly Overtrained

A friend of mine uttered these words to me at the start line of a 100k ultramarathon when I’d remarked that I hadn’t trained as much as I should have. And it was true—although I was slightly unprepared, I went out cautiously and ran a great race.

I’ve repeated this mantra dozens of times to runners-in-training.

Being slightly undertrained means you’re perhaps just off your optimal condition, which—let’s face it—is hard to get right anyway. Between training to the perfect amount, tapering perfectly, and balancing “regular life” with running, it’s almost inevitable that we aren’t in our optimal condition when we run up to the start line of a big race.

But being slightly overtrained means you’re turning up to the start line carrying some fatigue or pesky minor injury that hasn’t gone away. It means you’ve not been resting well between training runs, or maybe you’ve not tapered as you could have because you felt obligated to squeeze in a last few runs.

Forgive yourself for missed training sessions or for prioritizing other things over your running. Being slightly undertrained can make you humble and hungry, and that’s a great place to be.

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