Hill sprints. Along with strides, these are probably one of the best secret weapons in your speed work arsenal. Short, intense but with a good pay off over time. If you haven’t done them before, have a go this week… What are hill sprints: Maximal effort runs up an incline. Each run is short […]
Back in 2020 I wrote a blog post on tapering for your marathon. For this week’s coaching tip, I bring back the key points of this article and remind you of the importance of recovering completely before you embark on 26.2 miles. What is tapering? -Tapering is reducing your training before your target race, […]
Deciding how to pace your goal marathon race is always a tricky one. You may be a first timer with or without a goal time, or an experienced marathoner with a specific target time, but at some point, you’re going to have to take stock of your training and racing to date and decide what […]
Control your mind to race better In the words of Amby Burfoot, runner, author and ex-editor in chief of Runners World “if you train your mind for running, everything else will be easy”. I’m not sure I totally agree with that but he has a point. As runners, most of us are diligent about our […]
One of the cornerstones of becoming a strong runner is building your core strength to run more efficiently and faster for longer periods of time. A strong core can improve form (in particular stop you slumping towards the end of a long run or race), cut injury risk and help you generate more power, therefore […]
We’ve all heard the stories of runners that have run 18+ milers on nothing but air, no breakfast, no in-run nutrition and no water; and it can definitely be a bit of an ego thing in the running community (I used to be one of those!). The question is, what purpose does it serve and […]
It’s that time in marathon training – the mileage of the long run is increasing, and runners seem to be divided like marmite. Some love and embrace the increasing distance, others see it as a chore to be ticked off each week. Which camp do you fall into? And do you really need to run […]
Do you stretch at the end of a run or workout? Our “what’s the first thing you do post run” theme on the Facebook daily thread recently was most revealing…only two of you mentioned stretching after you run! You’re not alone, stretching is often seen as optional, or done separately as a discrete workout rather […]
Following on from a recent Q&A, this week’s coaching focus is breathing. Firstly, to be clear, it *is* a good idea to breath whilst running… Not doing so can cause significant harm! But seriously, improving your breathing is seen as a possible way of increasing oxygen uptake and decreasing the risk of side stitches and […]
This week’s coaching tip is about post-run or race fuelling. This is a really important process and something a lot of runners get wrong. All runs need some sort of post race fuel. For shorter, easier runs, this may just be your next meal e.g breakfast containing carbs, protein and fat if you’ve done a morning run. […]
