I'd like to patent what I've come to refer to as the 'chicken and egg approach to PBs'. It's worked pretty well for me so far in that every race I've done has been an improvement on the last. Allow me to explain this almost meaningless and very tenuous metaphor. In my first ever 10k [...]
Always one to be up-to-date with the latest trends, I find myself on the bandwagon that's being occupied largely by Liberal Democrats in that I've just performed a huge U-turn. (That's a little bit of British political humour for my confused overseas readers.) As you can probably guess from the post title, my six-lane, traffic-stopping U-turn has seen [...]
Forget your bleep tests, VO2 max tests and the like, the biggest indicator of your current fitness has to be the 60m sprint for the bus. You might think that you'd recovered well from last night's hill session or your last long run - that is until you go flat out to make it to [...]
Last week I read an interesting article about how regular exercise can help prevent you getting a cold and reduce the amount you do get by about half. A lot of born-again runners (those like me who have come to the sport later in life after reforming their once sedentary lives) know this from first-hand [...]
2,500 years ago Pheidippides ran from Marathon to Athens where he proclaimed 'We have won', then collapsed and died - and so a worldwide distance running event was born. Most accounts of this story - usually told by those that want to reason that marathon running is dangerous leave out the fact that earlier in the week [...]
Trying to plan a meeting yesterday made me realise that on Sunday, there will only be nine weeks left of 2010. That's not long, but it is just enough time to tick off those goals you might have set yourself for the year. This year my goals were:Run a marathon10K PBHalf-marathon PBRun 800 miles in 2010Set a decent 5k [...]
It's often said that we only ever use around 10% of our brain at any one time, and that reassures me about my Garmin. The Forerunner 405 can do a lot of things that will make me faster: there's the 'virtual training partner', the structured workouts, the heart rate monitor - all of which I [...]
The 'wall' as referred to by marathon runners, while metaphorical, is actually a real thing that happens to the body when all of the glycogen in the body has been used up and fat has to be burned as an alternative form of fuel. Fat isn't as efficient as a fuel for running - a bit like [...]
Autumn and winter running kit: what to wear There are several calendar-related rules in the fashion world such as 'you can't wear white trousers after the start of September' or 'you have to wear that dodgy jumper your Gran knitted you until after Boxing Day'. The clocks going back officially marks the start of the [...]
After a disasterous long run a few weeks ago where I headed out the door without any breakfast and no energy drink with me then wondered why I nearly fainted when I got to the end of my 11-mile route, I've decided to take my pre- and post-run nutrition a little more seriously. Now, I'm [...]
