My Forum

PP - insane training times.  Are you aiming for a sub 2:40 marathon?

PRF - how do you find the rate of improvement for an individual course?  Do you get much of an improvement from being familiar with the course.

Due to illness I have not run in 2 weeks I think.  I've been very ill and on the verge of being admited to hospital.  I also gave my Mum the fright of her life when I collapsed from exhaustion. 

I have decided to stop running with the intention of competing for the time-being. At the moment I am either contaminated with a very nasty strain of bacteria or have an immune weakness but need more tests with a dermatologist to confirm.

I will re-evaluate whether or not to start training in late April or early May.  Partly because I want to give my body an extended break, partly because any hardwork I do to prepare for an event is very likely going to be ruined by another bout of ill health, and partly because I don't care about chasing numbers for the time-being when I am struggling to even life a normal lifestyle these days

CB - why go all the way down to barefoot shoes?  Have you tried super-light racing flats like the Saucony Grid Types?

Curly - nice consistency

Duck - how suitable do you find your shorter sprint training for the mile?  Would a long distance runner stuggle to compete in the mile if the competition is strong?

Phil - I have been doing my early morning weekday runs before eating breakfast, but I couldn't imagine doing so much running without eating before hand.  Are you trying to encourage efficient fat-burning?

Very tough muddy 12 miler @ 8:10 pace today and 40 miles for the week.  Like Simon I am knackered.  The mud just made my run a lot harder than what it should of been and my shoes felt heavy after just 2 miles.  I am so happy it has got a bit warmer now - running is just infintely better when it isn't sub-zero.

PP - any particular reason to do the two tempo efforts at different paces?  How long of a recovery did you have in between?

Duck - nice race. I really struggle if I don't have any grip - my pace falls off really quickly.

Steady 6 today at 7min/mile and 169bpm.

I have been for a long time trying to incorporate team sky's principals of marginal gains into my training.  This has generally consisted of: core work, flexibility work, foam rolling, sports massage, ice baths sometimes, ice/heat rotation of sore muscles, protein recovery drinks when not trying to lose weight, slowly increasing the percentage of training done in racing flats.

I was wondering if there are any other tips/principals from any other sports than cycling that could be worth incorporating into running.  Would it be crazy to try and read up about how pros in other endurance sports train and see if there is anything that could work for running?

Dr. Dan - was this an A race?  And how much did you taper?

Duck - awesome stuff!  Really sounds like a good win.  What sort of tactics can you do if you get boxed-in?


Curly - I have no idea how you can have the patience to run 20 miles at 9:25 pace.  What is the reason for the 'conservative' pace?  I have read that it is bad for your form to run any slower than 9:00, although I don't think that is necessarily true.

12 miler takes me up to 40mpw.