A Beginner’s Guide to Trail Running
Trail running is freedom — freedom from the distractions of city roads and freedom to explore the beauty of nature and a different style of movement. Trails offer the promise of adventure with their variety and challenge. There is nothing like tucking into the woods and getting lost in the thicket. As John Muir said, […]
5 Ways For Beginners To Stay Motivated And Make Running A Habit
I had no idea that running was going to be a long-term hobby, I just thought that I’d run a few shorter races before taking on the London Marathon. I’d run that, celebrate and be done with it. But somehow, I got the bug and kept going. The love that I have for putting one […]
11 Proven Ways To Build Mental Strength For Better Running
The language and advice around training for endurance sports tends to be dominated by physical factors – increasing your strength, improving your lactate threshold or your VO2 max. But seeing the mind and the body as one system provides a better strategy for improving, and working on improving your mental strength alongside your physical fitness […]
New Study Shows A Three-week Marathon Taper Is Better Than Two
The taper is the part marathon training all runners look forward to, almost as much as crossing the finish line at the end of those 26.2 miles. It means most of the hard work is behind you – except for the race day itself – and you can begin resting your body in preparation for […]
The Dangers of Stress
Modern life is stressful. A 2021 study found that one in 5 UK workers feel stressed more than 50 per cent of the time, while seven percent feel stressed every day. Such levels of tension are particularly bad news if you’re also looking to improve as a runner. From a physiological perspective, stress can not […]
Why You Should Keep Running During Stressful Times
The past 18 months have been stressful enough to move a Zen Buddhist to distraction. Amid pandemics, global lockdowns, and the climate crisis, keeping calm and carrying one has been a Herculean task. Fortunately, running can help – as a number of studies demonstrate. Research on exercise and stress is firmly in favor of the […]
Getting Through A Hard Training Session
There are many times in your running training where you have to push the limits. These sessions can often be just as hard on the mind than on the body, so here are some mental tricks to help you get through to the end! Focus on each component, not the full session Don’t think about […]
Improve Your Race Pacing
Mastering our pacing is a skill which takes time and practice. It’s one of the fundamentals of running racing, and it’s normally easy to spot those that have not quite got it right! Of course, everybody has their own goals and their own approach to running in an event, however here’s a few pointers which […]
Are You Addicted to Running Technology?
When was the last time that you went for a run without a watch, or a phone? Let’s imagine trying that for a moment. Will you feel panicky because you don’t know your pace or distance, or will you feel liberated because you realise that all you have to do is run? Most of us […]
Why Your Watch Says You Ran More Than A Marathon!
Have you ever been running a race, and you are counting down the distances in your head, with one final push on the last 500m, only to find that the finish line is nowhere to be seen?! Or, have you ever been running in the city centre, and you want to check your pace, and […]
