Lessons from my first negative split marathon This is written as a follow on to my last guest blog post, how not to run a marathon (which I wrote after my ill-prepared but ultimately fun attempt at Brighton). I went into London this year, 3 weeks after Brighton, without huge expectations – I’ve been […]
Reality check here – this isn’t really how not to run a marathon. Yes, there are a lot of things I could have done better in the run up to Brighton Marathon 2023, but on the other hand, I ran it, I loved it and I got a sub 4. So I’m not going to […]
Just a short training focus today… a brief reminder to all runners about to race…. Do not trust your thoughts during the taper! The taper is vital, and you need to follow your taper plan completely, but for a lot of tapering runners, as they get nearer their target race, the mileage drops and nerves […]
What to do to prepare for your marathon (and avoid taper madness….) Getting close to your target race? Started to taper and getting slightly paranoid? Here’s a few ways you can spend your time constructively preparing for the race. Resting, recovering, and carb loading (if appropriate) have to take priority, but you can also […]
If you have ever targeted a specific time in a marathon, you have probably had the thought “how on earth am I going to maintain this pace for 26.2 miles?”. If so, you are definitely not alone. It may be that your marathon pace is too fast, and you need to pull back, but more […]
If you want to run faster, you have to practice running faster. There’s no doubt that running interval sessions on a regular basis is a great way to do this. There are workouts to suit almost every type of runner, and all sorts of race, distance or time goals. But the purpose of this is […]
It’s the time of year when many runners are reviewing their annual goals and setting new ones. However, setting meaningful goals for the year isn’t as easy as it sounds. Some runners know exactly what they want to achieve – maybe to complete a specific distance, run a certain time in a race, or complete […]
Some runners find Christmas and the ensuing changes in routine, means finding time to get out, or sticking to a schedule gets much harder. Here are my top tips to keeping going over the festive season – remember, you can still enjoy your running, but you don’t have stick to your normal schedule if it […]
The word may make non-runners giggle, but the best distance runners in the world do fartlek workouts regularly, and so should you. Here’s why… The word fartlek is Swedish for speedplay, and that’s what it is – literally playing around with speed. It is an unstructured (or semi-structured) continuous run where periods of different speeds […]
Over the last week you may have seen a lot of Facebook posts about the London Marathon as emails have gone out offering “Good for Age” places. So what does this really mean, and why is it a goal for so many British runners? There are three ways to get a place in […]
