Our freedom to run and travel as we normally would is still restricted due to the coronavirus pandemic. My sense from social media and the articles we have received is that this has triggered a fair bit of reflective thinking amongst runners.

At FR we thought it would be nice to spend a bit of time reflecting on running itself. So we’d love for you to share a run, a route, a race that has a special meaning for you for our ‘More than a run’ feature. Most of us train for performance (whatever that means to us) but we also run because we love the process of running and the feelings, connections and emotions it brings.

The run

I found it a pretty interesting process trying to pick one run. So many races and runs stand out from a decade of travelling around the world as a runner and coach. Runs and races around Paris, Portugal, in the Alps and Pyrenees, the Lakes, Berlin and New York all jumped into my head but I kept coming back to something much less grand. I suspect because I am not and never have been ‘an athlete’ I can’t point really to a particularly impressive competitive moment, or standout performance. That isn’t really what drives me.

So the run itself is ‘just’ a club run. The first club run I ever went on as I look my first steps into a new sport at a time of life when everything seemed to be changing.

The route

Over the course of 9 miles or so of road and trails this run climbs up through Hampstead Heath and on into the ‘Heath Extension’ taking in Golders Hill Park before re-joining Hampstead Heath to climb up to the top of Parliament Hill.

The route starts at the Talacre Leisure Centre in Kentish Town West in North London. Working it’s way through back streets up to Hampstead Heath you run past the home of Night of the 10,000m PBs and the start to one of the greatest races in the world – the ‘National Cross’ at Parliament Hill.

Gradually you climb up north through the Heath covering some of the lesser used paths, springing over tree roots and up and down short sharp hills. If you look back at the right moment near Kenwood House you get a spectacular view of London, but just a little glimpse, like a one of those mini polaroid photos if you are old enough to remember.

Crossing over Hampstead Lane a long downhill on trail allows you to pick up a bit of speed as you loop around the Heath Extension and cross into Golders Hill Park. On a hot day water fountains here provide a bit of relief before pressing on to climb back through beautiful West Heath, short hills testing your legs.

A beautiful long sweeping mile or two back downhill through the Heath passing the ponds takes you to Parliament Hill. You are rewarded for a tackling the climb as that little polaroid glimpse earlier becomes a panoramic landscape from the top of ‘Kite Hill’. From here it’s back down past the lido to the start. Hills, flat, fast, slow, trail and road it is in itself a beautiful and testing run. For me though it’s more than that.

Why this run

I am pretty nostalgic person. As much as I try to live in the present I do find myself looking back a lot. For me feelings and places are intertwined. I associate physical spaces with important people in my life and the predominant emotions I was feeling at the time I visited them.

So whilst this is not perhaps the most memorable or beautiful route (though I heartily recommend it), as I look back it is one that absolutely captured a particularly special time in my life. A time where I felt carried along by change.

I moved to London in 2007. My dad was diagnosed with cancer at Christmas that same year so I entered a marathon to raise some money for charity. I’d run a couple of races but was by no means a ‘runner’. I was swept up by the emotions of it all, and with the intoxication of a new city as a 25 year old. A city which, particularly in Hackney where I lived, seemed to be constantly changing.

Joy of progression

Running completely encapsulated the other changes going on in my life. It was new. It seemed like every time I went out of the door I was able to run a bit faster. For the first time in my life I was beginning to feel a passing sense of being a little more athletic. I ran a half marathon in the spring of 2008 in 1:29 (I did say a passing sense).

That autumn, three weeks before the marathon (Berlin), I sent out a few emails to local running and athletics clubs. I only got one reply, from Gavin Pugh who was club captain at Mornington Chasers. Despite the fact that Highgate, Serpies and Heathside no doubt went on to mourn missing out on my huge athletic talents I think it’s fair to say they were probably better suited to the ‘Chasers’. On my first club night I was hooked.

Tearing around bits of London I was only just getting to know. Running hard with a small group of people who seemed genuinely encouraging (though incredibly sceptical about my arbitrary plan to try to break 3 hours for the marathon).

Back when Nike Lunaracer and Asics DS were the ‘super shoes’ of choice

Tacit connections

I remember experiencing a wonderful feeling, which I know will be familiar to most runners – particularly club runners. A feeling of being dragged along to a pace which I couldn’t run on my own and it not only feeling comfortable, but good, exhilarating. Ponds and trails, trees and streets passed by, I had no idea where I was but I just put myself in the middle of the group and ran.

Some of the people on that run became life long friends. Friendships forged out of that unspoken communication group running brings. A tacit connection or bond you build when you run with others that doesn’t require chat, just shared physical effort and the electricity in the air that stems from it. Three weeks later I ran 18 miles of my marathon with one of them, Simon Freeman, before I faded (limped) to 3:01.

Treasured time

The next four years are time in my life I absolutely treasure. With these good people. Going on to meet others who became incredibly dear to me. So this run for me takes me back to some of the most special years of my life.

It reminds me of making new friends. Of extremes of emotion, of visiting new cities with new people. Of new art, food, culture and nationalities. Of drinking Pomerol by the Siene, of the buzzing early evening in Soho and Shoreditch. Of summers running on the Heath or Regents Canal or to the top of Primrose Hill with Simon, John, Alex, Gaby, Tim and Marc (and many others). Of the purity and innocence of running before it became a job (which I love), before I got to know the small world of ‘big personalities’ in performance sport and coaching. Of running to the top of Parliament Hill with London sprawling out below me, feeling, as cliched as it now feels to write it, that the city was opening itself to my imagination.

If these mental connections to a particular run seem a bit sentimental, strange or tenuous that’s probably because this is my experience, and my thoughts looking back. I am sure if you think about it you might have the same. A run that triggers particular, albeit tangential or parallel, experiences or emotions. If you don’t at all we probably run for different reasons, which is fine, running is after all the most personal of sports.

We want to hear your stories. So tell us which runs have particular meaning to you. Feel free to send them in to us…

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Starting where I left off, I use a few broad principles to help make a bit of sense of the ‘chaos’ I talked about in last week’s article.

Feedback is critical to a plan working

Flexible planning and individualisation from emerging information are key. No matter what is written down on a ‘paper’ plan, coaching is about people – an individual’s body, motivation, lifestyle and response to training.

Without data and conversations, understanding how an athlete is feeling, understanding the broader context of their life, family, work, stress levels I’m not coaching then I am just setting a plan and the chances of that plan working reduce.

I have done this, particularly when I have tried to coach too many athletes, but just giving an athlete a plan and leaving them to it isn’t coaching and quickly loses it’s satisfaction for coach and athlete.

For me there is a maximum number of athletes I can effectively coach and for me to feel fully invested I have reduced the number significantly over recent years.

Plan ahead, but respect the details

Depending on the athlete and the context they are in I might set a maximum of two weeks of detail at a time. For some it’s day to day stemming out of those conversations principally but also the training data – GPS and HR, HRV, self scored fatigue measurements, RPE in sessions and on broader training, perception of sleep quality, blood tests and anything that might have come from a physio, sports doctor, nutritionist, physiologist (i.e. lab data) etc.

So the overview of the plan gives us the adaption we are looking for but not a formulaic day by day and week by week periodisation.

I find Training Peaks a useful tool to collate a lot of the data into one place and to monitor and track that the adaptation is what we expect or not and go through that iterative planning I mentioned last time.

Individualising the detail

Individualisation also feeds into the sessions themselves. If I am working with an athlete who struggles to stay disciplined with pacing I might be more likely to set plans to time or heart rate. It’s also important for me to see what an athlete chooses to do when they are given more freedom so sometimes ill set sessions with less explicit instructions.

Do they push too hard, not hard enough? Are they good at working to RPE?

A lot of feedback on an individual and their running personality can be gained simply by how you set a session.

What’s in a week?

It’s easy to get very caught up on a ‘training week’. It makes sense – our working lives revolve around a seven day cycle. From a physiological point of view there is nothing special about a week.

The danger of getting too focused on a training week is that you try to squeeze everything you feel you need to develop into that week. Maybe it’s a session focused towards Vo2 max, tempo work, race pace sessions, speed endurance, what about hills, S&C, drills?

The space between quality workouts is absolutely as critical as the hard sessions themselves.

It’s the space between these harder workouts that allow for adaptation.

Without that ‘adaptive space’ and a focus on decent volumes of easy, and at times steady running, the focus becomes just about the icing. Quality sessions are clearly critical to performance but they require time and space to adapt from and a solid foundation of aerobic volume and strength.

Particularly in longer events, like the marathon, where some of quality sessions include big volumes a training week split as hard / easy / hard / easy can often lead to, after initial rapid progression, plateauing or injury.

Whether it makes sense to work off 10 day training cycles, or 2-3 weeks with an easier week after or any other ‘micro cycle’, will depend on the individual athlete and their non-training stressors.

Just because your club do sessions Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday doesn’t mean you have to.

Specificity…

In terms of the broader training overview I see a plan as a meeting point between the individual athlete, and the demands of the key event they are focussing on. Training then becomes a process of moving from general training to more specific training as we get closer to the race.

A demands based approach mean’s really understanding what that individual needs to be good at in order to get the result they need or want.

At the marathon, for example, you need to understand the basic physiology of energetics, thermoregulation, mechanics and strength endurance required to run at your goal pace, as well as the psychological demands they will face. But you also need to understand other individual factors – the nature of the course and the environmental conditions expected for example.

Will the athlete be pushing for a place as well as a time? If so what are the tactical considerations? Will they need to be able to manage fatigue and energy whilst dealing with pace surges for example?

Will it be hot and humid or particularly cold? Are they looking to run a particular goal pace or achieve a finishing place and if so what pace do you feel (based on evidence) will be required to do that?

…matched with the individual

With a good idea of the demands in place I then go through a process of mapping where we are now.

How fast is the athlete running over a range of distances and are there glaring differences? What kind of training have they been doing to this point? What’s their chronological and ‘training’ age? How well does this individual cope in heat? Are they a salty sweater?

The list is extensive…running economy, pure speed, injury history, mechanics, recovery times, psychological considerations, personal values and a whole host of other factors come into it and the only constant is that the factors vary for every individual athlete you work with.

I map these and a whole load of other factors onto a spreadsheet (which I thank Dr Andrew Kirkland greatly for) and outline action points for the areas we feel most need attention, deciding how important / relevant each one us and whether we are able to impact on them.

Next logical step

With the broad overview of the demands and a detailed current picture of the athlete in place I’ll map out a very flexible direction of travel from one to the other. From where we are now, to meeting those race demands. This might include a wide range of training and actions – both training and non-training.

From the training perspective this overview of a plan will generally map out a movement from general speed and general endurance to event specific speed and specific endurance along with what supporting training we might need.

This process is neatly explained by Steve Magness and you’ll see is a pretty common approach amongst coaches from Canova to Brad Hudson and many in between.

Going longer

This becomes slightly more tricky with half marathon and marathon runners. I think there is a lot of evidence and truth behind Dr Stephen Seiler’s research on the benefits of polarised training. There is a good line in this podcast where Seiler says “if you want to over train an athlete or cause stagnation in the athlete just prescribe a lot of threshold training”. I have absolutely seen this reflected in practice.

Athletes who are set a lot of ‘threshold’ running (at or just below anaerobic threshold) progress well for a period before plateauing or picking up injuries and going backwards as a result.

Seiler’s research also shows that many of the very best marathon runners in the world often do very little marathon paced running. However there is a balance that needs to be struck and more most tempo and marathon paced work is still going to be important in the latter stages of training.

I’ll work out broad training phases on this journey from general to specific; an introductory phase, a pre-competition or building phase, a competition phase and a taper, but I wont lay out an exact number of weeks for each. This evolves along with the athlete.

The first step on the road starts with the priorities we determined on the spreadsheet and asks ‘what’s the next logical step?’

A pretty wise voice on social media recently suggested that if you’re running outside 10 minute miles for your marathon then a lactate and vo2 max test, or stocking up on beetroot supplements may not be an essential element in building your training. I quite agree. Determining the next logical step involves asking ‘what’s important now?’.

What’s important now?

Do you have a key limiter you need to get over first? Is there an injury that needs to be fixed before training can build? Is there something mechanical that is limiting you?

In which case we might bring in an expert to help. Are you strong, robust and healthy enough to even adapt to training at all? If not the priority might be nutrition, recovery strategies or conditioning. Do you have a firm enough foundation of easy running to expect faster sessions to have any impact?

Deciding what’s important now means we accept we can’t do everything at once and involves a logical ordering of training and non training priorities.

As we move closer to competition phase I may feel ready to stay to pencil in some key specific sessions working back from race day, for the marathon these can often be pretty big and included every 8-12 days but again it depends how things have progressed.

What’s in a session?

Personally I am not a fan of ‘default’ sessions. We all like to try to bench mark our progress of course and there are logical sessions for particular events but sessions are there to get an athlete physically and mentally fitter.

There is no magic session that an athlete MUST do in preparation for a race or even one that will necessarily predict that they will do in a race. If I want to see how ready an athlete is to race, they do need to race. No heart rate data, lactate measure or pace in a training session can replicate the demands of racing.

It’s coaching ego to think we set better sessions than someone else – the reality is sessions matter less than the sum of the training.

Just copying hard sessions (or even whole plans) you see another successful athlete complete likely won’t work.

Photo of the Dublin Track Club benefiting from training in a good group. Photo: Andrew Coscoran

In it together

Training company does make a big difference though. I’ve got athletes training with training groups all over the country for example the at the Cottage sessions in Battersea, and training with other people can often be more important than the session itself, to a point.

Running with others will adapt your perception of effort, from long reps to easy running, so it’s something to be aware of.

In Battersea, for example, the sessions are well structured and thought through. Good company helps beyond any tweak I might think to add to a session bur clearly it needs to be focused on your goals.

Targeting energy systems

In programming sessions I’m interested in more than just ‘energetics’. I think there is big over simplification of energy systems in endurance at times.

Popping maximum heart rate into a calculator or doing a lab test and working to rigid ‘zones’ doesn’t work for me, because that’s not what is happening in your body, energy systems work concurrently and the picture is more flexible that some would have you think.

It can also lead to a lot of non-evidence based sessions. Aside from that performance isn’t just governed by biophysical processes. We all know athletes that train like champions but don’t deliver on race day. Training also needs to be structured to build self efficacy and enjoyment and avoid monotony (which is another great way to over train an athlete).

Be brave enough to change

Success is very rarely completely predictable or linear. A plan which accepts that allows a circuitous route at times, and is flexible enough to accommodate different rates of progression, is the difference between coaching and just following a map.

If you’re a coach or an athlete you have the ability to adapt your own training on a day to day basis. I’m not suggesting you don’t have a plan, but if that plan is set in stone, then you’re not going to get the best out of yourself.

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“Those who have knowledge, don’t predict. Those who predict, don’t have knowledge” Lao Tzu. As coaches we tend to like to control things. Look for predictable patterns, repeatable results and a training ‘identity’ as a coach.

The reality is performance is not always predictable, there are many aspects that the coach or athlete cannot control, things you can adapt and mitigate around but not influence directly through an entry on Training Peaks or stood by a hill or track.

Managing the chaos

The idea that coaching is essentially ‘orchestrating chaos’ is one that makes sense to me. It reflects the practical realities of coaching (or coaching oneself) rather than the more comfortable idealised version on paper where you plug in a set of standard inputs and get predictable results. As most reading this know it’s not always that simple.

We have busy lives, most athletes are not full time. We work, we have families, we are squeezing high volumes of training into limited time. We are influenced by the environment where we live, our training partners, our psychological fitness, our ability to recover.

Of course a coach’s role is also to simplify and minimise some of the chaos too. So this doesn’t mean we have less responsibility as a coach, in fact even more so, but it recognizes there is a difference between coaching and setting someone a training plan.

Over this article and the next are a few of my thoughts on planning and some of the things I think about what I plan with an athlete. Many will disagree and that’s great, we learn most when we disagree and there are many more successful coaches than me who take a very different approach.

Periodisation?

Periodisation is a fully accepted concept in the minds of many athletes and coaches across a range of sports. 

Simplified it’s the idea that if an athlete does X, Y and then Z, in a particularly order, then they give themselves the best opportunity to progress.

It’s a systematic way of categorising training and progressive ‘set’ cycles of workouts so we can achieve the coaching golden goose of predictable performance results. It’s ingrained into the narrative of coaches and athletes, into the heart of coach education but is actually a disputed concept. 

I do not believe that performance can be broken up into neat blocks that simply need to be organised – if it were that simple there would be no role for coaches and athletes would perform far more consistently than they do. 

Performance is not just a biophysical process.

“I never think of the future, it comes soon enough.” said Einstein. OK – we can’t afford that approach but it is important to recognise that some of our most accepted principles of planning are often based upon tradition more than evidence and are often not used by some of the most successful coaches in endurance sport.

We like to simplify and categorise things as athletes and coaches. This block, follows this block, follows this block. This session or ‘zone’ works this energy system which means this. Nice, neat tidy ideas.

Unfortunately competition, biology and people’s lives are not nice, neat and tidy. Performance and progression isn’t just governed by controllable biophysics. It’s affected by psychology and motivation, training environment and by a huge range of non training factors (see how you perform at times of heavy work or family life stress).

Planning needs to recognise and allow for the impact of these broader considerations which do not fall into normal conceptions of periodisation.

Structure is still important

That doesn’t mean I don’t believe in structure and a logical flow to training. Structure and variety can help makes sense of the chaos I have already mentioned and can help athletes understand where a particular session or period of training fits in a bigger plan. 

So for a coach a plan is about striking a balance. Providing a logical sense of direction based upon sound physiological, sport specific and psychological principles without becoming formulaic or trying to predict the unpredictable. 

This is clearly the case even more so for club coaches trying to provide a useful and effective planning for bigger groups of people.

I try to take a more blended approach where there is an overview of what I am trying to achieve, based on where the individual athlete is now, and the demands of the event they are training for. 

Iterative process

It’s broad sense of direction if you like, but one where I don’t try to predict too much of the future by laying out months of detail in advance. Of course we need to make a sound judgement about where we think the training we are setting or completing is heading, but the further in advance we go, at least at a detailed level, the more sound judgement turns into guesswork.

The detail of training comes out of high quality feedback and self reflection between athletes and coaches, training partners and mentors, as well as evidence and information – adapting our approach as we go.

I will do this based upon certain broad principles and the next article goes into these. Importantly they are not rules though. If they were rules I would be breaking them all the time, but they are broad principles I use to guide myself and make a bit of sense of the ‘chaos’.

Are you a fan of Fast Running? Then please support us and become a patreon. For as little as the price of a monthly magazine you can support Fast Running – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.

The post Don’t predict the future appeared first on Fast Running.

Are you running London, Manchester, Brighton, Boston or any one of the fantastic spring marathons next year? We’re opening a limited amount of spots on the Fast Running Performance Project, a community coaching scheme that provides a bespoke training plan along with top class coaching from Tom Craggs and Robbie Britton.

We’ve described the process here, but we’ve refined and improved after working with a great bunch of athletes for 2019. Each month your training plan is built around your own commitments and needs, using the excellent Final Surge platform. Then there is a the FRP Community page where you share your journey to a shiny new PB with all the athletes and our team of coaches.

Our goal isn’t just to give you a one off training plan and leave you to it. We want to help athletes learn how to adapt their own training around busy lifestyles and obstacles that arise in any normal marathon build up. Building consistency is key and with our help you can give yourself the best possible chance of a new personal best on race day.

Get a head start on the 2020 marathon season. Photo credit: Tom Craggs

What to do now?

Click on the link here and fill in the form. Simple as that. We don’t want to wait until after New Year’s Eve to start, it’ll be before the first week of December that we get the ball rolling. We’ll provide training plans that are exiting, specific to your goals and achievable for you as an individual.

Tom and Robbie have Masters Degrees in Performance Coaching, as well as a host of other UKA coaching qualifications and a huge range of experience in getting people to the start and the finish of marathons, both key parts of marathon coaching.

Regular video Q&As as well as answers to any questions you have on a day to day basis come through the community group and there will even be other guest coaches and athletes who can help out and prepare you both physically and mentally for the adventure ahead.

So don’t delay. There will again be limited spaces on the Project, although a few more than last time.

The cost is a mere £30/month for a personalised training plan, community coaching and your greatest possible chance of getting a personal best at your Spring 2020 marathon.

APPLY NOW

Are you a fan of Fast Running? Then please support us and become a patron. For as little as the price of a monthly magazine you can support Fast Running – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.

The post Fast Running Performance Project 2020 Launch appeared first on Fast Running.

**UPDATE** we received a huge volume of expressions of interest and as such the intake for this Autumn is now closed. You can still fill out the form to express interest in the project for Spring 2020.  You’ll find the application form here. 

The two experienced coaches are looking for 30 athletes undertaking autumn marathons to be part of stage one of the Fast Running Performance project. Be it Berlin, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, New York or a UK based race, the project aims to help all levels of runner improve and learn about their sport.

“We wanted to take the one to one remote coaching and make it more accessible to everyday athletes” said England Marathon coach Craggs. “To do this, but without sacrificing the actual coaching experience for each athlete, was our conundrum but we think the FR Performance Project is just the ticket.”

Britton, a 2:29 marathoner and GB ultra distance athlete himself, said “I’ve always felt it’s important for an athlete to learn, as well as improve their running. If we can help marathoners not only with a training plan, but also the knowledge and confidence to ensure their training is right for them. Training is a really individualised thing and we felt the off the shelf training plans really miss that.”

“The FR Performance Project aims to be a big step up from those off the shelf plans, but more affordable than one to one remote coaching. At £30 a month it’s about £1 a day, so not too bad at all. We want to work alongside clubs and club coaches as well, to help athletes fill in the gaps between their club nights and make the right decisions for their own running.”

A strong partnership

Craggs highlights that the pair actually got talking during their MSc Performance Coaching with the University of Stirling. “It’s a remote course and I knew Robbie a bit beforehand, but it was whilst working on a whole range of projects that we realised we shared a similar coaching philosophy.

“The goal is always to do what is best for the athlete and this project will let us work with a whole bunch of runners of all abilities.”

If you are interested in being part of the 30 initial athletes for the first stage of this exciting project then more information and the sign up form are on the page here.

With only a small number of spots available in this initial stage don’t hesitate to get involved. Your next marathon can be your best yet as part of the Fast Running Performance project. Coaches Craggs and Britton have a wealth of experience built up over years of running, coaching and studying.

How it works

Each athlete is given a Final Surge account and marathon training adapted to their current level. Alongside this the athlete is given access to the Fast Running Performance community and we work together to build not only fitness, but knowledge too.

Together the coaches and athletes will adapt the training plan on a day to day basis. Each runner will have control over their own training. “It’s really important to have ownership of what you are doing” explains England marathon coach Craggs. “If you truly understand what and why you’re doing each session then the research shows you will have much greater levels of motivation, perseverance and commitment to your training.

“Effectively we are looking to give athletes the ability to coach themselves with myself and Robbie mentoring and guiding.”

“The project aims to create a community of marathon runners who help each other, alongside the coaches,” says Britton. “In any one group of runners there is a huge wealth of knowledge and experience. As coaches it is our job to bring this forward and facilitate learning for everyone.

“Not only help people run faster, but learn how to keep getting faster in the future too. If we do our job well, then eventually there will be no need for us,” jokes the GB athlete.

The full package

As well as training there will be advice on all the additional work that goes into making a better athlete. Using some of the Fast Running resources, like this article on sleep, but also exclusive material just for the Fast Running Performance project.

**UPDATE** we received a huge volume of expressions of interest and as such the intake for this Autumn is now closed. You can still fill out the form to express interest in the project for Spring 2020.  You’ll find the application form here.

Are you a fan of Fast Running? Then please support us and become a patron. For as little as the price of a monthly magazine you can support Fast Running – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.

The post Fast Running Coaching launches for autumn marathons appeared first on Fast Running.

If you’re the type of runner who thinks that just adding more mileage will always make you faster then this article could be for you. You are you could be missing out on one of the most important training methodologies carried out by some of the UK’s best athletes. 

Cross training can be considered any non-running cardiovascular training. As long as you’re getting the heart beating and working the cardiovascular system then there can be a benefit, even very light exercises can be great for aiding recovery.

From cycling to cross country skiing, how you spend those extra hours can be really beneficial and not just in the obvious way of “more is better”. Here’s some reasons why you should add it into your training. 

One Step back, two steps forward

Runners so often go into ‘shut down’ mode when an injury strikes. Cross training can help to maintain and even progress you fitness whilst you are injured provided it can be completed pain free. Instead of taking two steps back overtime you have a niggle or injury, you can maintain, or sometimes even improve, your fitness during you time off from running. 

If you’re an injury prone athlete then adding in cross training alongside the mileage your body is capable of maintaining healthily can be a progressive step.  

For example, for some runners adding the additional training runs needed to progress is just too much for their current level of strength. 

In particular for competitive runners who find double days are a significant injury risk cross training can give you that extra aerobic volume with less impact. For some athletes recovering from injury adding in harder, inteval based cross training sessions alongside easy running can be an excellent bridge back to a full running plan.

“Cross training has played a huge roll in my development over the years. It has taken a long time for me to get to where I am now and cross training has helped so much.” says Jess Piasecki, GB road and XC runner “I can run just as well when supplementing double days with a bike or a swim as I do if I did a double run, in fact I don’t like doing double runs as the next day I feel quite fatigued going into whatever training I have that day. Recently Rob (Robert Hawkins – Jess’ coach) got me to complete an FTP test on the bike so we can get even more specific bike workouts over the rest of the summer.”

RELATED: Anna Boniface talks about the role of cross training for her

Variety is the spice of life

Many runners just love to run, this is fine if your body can cope, but over the years I have worked with many runners who struggle with the monotony of purely running.

Our enthusiasm for our sport is a good indicator of if we’re getting the physical loading right too. If training is just a mental chore each day then some time off, or a bit of cross training, could be just the ticket. 

It’s also heathy to mitigate an obsessive focus on mileage and purely running. If you can’t enjoy a bike ride or a slightly different sport then is running something you rely on a little too much?

Feel the burn

By working different muscle groups you can give those already pounded running muscles a break whilst still working the heart and lungs. An bit of intensity on a turbo trainer might be a great stimulus whilst the impact is greatly reduced on your tired pins.

In addition, because many of the cross training options are carried out with resistance, you can build greater strength across a range of lower and upper body muscles.  

A whole host of muscles can get a greater workout via a different training method too. You might just think “well I work all the muscles I need just by running” but a weakness or imbalance might benefit from greater strength through cross training.

Managing the ego

If you’re the type of runner who struggles to put your ego in a box on recovery runs cross training is a great option. Without the GPS on your wrist you might find it much easier to keep your easy efforts genuinely easy when cross training.

Cross training can be a lower stress training option with less self imposed pressure and expectation helping you bounce back quiker for your next running session.

Taking it easy

Last, but by no means least, cross training can be a great way to give the body a break and/or take things down a notch. For those who dread the idea of taking a few weeks of inactivity at the end of the season or some time off post marathon, cross training can be the solution.

An end of season break or recovery period post a key race can be very important to keeping you healthy ahead of a new training cycle. If you feel are going to struggle with complete rest relaxed cross training can be great option to keep your body moving safely.

Don’t look at it as training time missed, but time invested in preparing your body and mind for the progress ahead. 

Keep an eye for the next article on the different types of cross training and what might be best for you.

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This afternoon should be a time to relax and prepare mentally for the task awaiting you in the morning. It is often said all the hard work is done, but there are still ways to hamper your chances for tomorrow. We asked some of the best marathon minds around on how they manage race day and what advice they could share.

Below are tips from a 2:09 marathoner, this year’s Manchester marathon winner, England and GB internationals, top marathon coaches and a pastry expert from Sussex who ran 2:18 at Brighton already this year.

Don’t get over excited

We all hear it, everyone tells you not to start too quickly. Easier said than done in the excitement of a big city marathon, but maybe the voices of those more experienced ringing in your ears might help out.

England’s 2:38 marathoner Dani Nimmock told us that  “Despite how good you will feel in the early miles stay controlled and take on carbs so you can finish strong then brace yourself for the worst so when fatigue hits you’re prepared to fight through it!”

With a 2:28 marathon Sonia Samuels is one of Great Britain’s best ever and has an excellent record of running well over the marathon distance. “After a taper week or two your legs will feel raring to go” suggests Samuels, “but stick to your race plan and pace, resisting the temptation to push too early. Be ready to push at 20 miles!”

Photo: Virgin Money London Marathon

Don’t get carried away downhill

The slightly downhill early miles of the London Marathon are mentioned by both 2:09 marathoner and former London winner Mike Gratton, as well as recent 2:18 man Paul Navesey.  Other races have fast starts too and it might be tempting to “bank” some time for the second half but coach Gratton highlighted that “in London, even effort might mean a slightly faster first four miles as it is overall down hill, but then it is important to get into a groove at goal pace.”

Crawley AC’s Navesey says to “accept the easier miles earlier on and save the extra energy for the final push after 20 miles.” Several mention the importance of being strong later on in the race with Gratton saying “getting the pace right will have the psychological advantage of passing fast starters from 18 miles on.”

Coach of the AB Training group Allison Benton goes beyond the controlled start and suggests to “know your honest, true target pace” and then “stick closely to that pace for at least the first 18 miles, no matter how easy it feels.”

Winchester AC’s Louise Damen speaks from experience when she says ” as you have tapered, carbo-loaded and are full of race day adrenaline, it’s all too easy to run the first 10km or so too fast.” The 2:30 marathoner insists “don’t fall into the trap of trying to ‘bank’ time earlier on as you will burn through your glycogen stores at a quicker rate and this could make the final few miles pretty challenging”.

I can still hear the words of coach Tom Craggs ringing in my ears when my watch pinged a 5:20 mile at the start of the Valencia marathon. “Start easy, you’ll feel good but don’t get carried away”. That made the last few miles a lot harder work than they needed to be.

Adapt to the race in front of you

As discussed by myself in a recent article, you need to run the race you’re in. Don’t get too caught up worrying about last year’s times, that your club mate is ahead of you or where “Bob from the track” thinks you should be at mile seven. Focus internally on your own effort and do the best you can on the day.

Benton, coach to a host of strong marathoners like Navesey, England’s James Westlake and Kevin Rojas, reminds us to “adapt the target pace in advance based on the expected weather – be honest and ruthless about the impact of heat,” and don’t calculate your gaol pace on “‘what you think you can do because the crowds will inspire me'”.

RELATED: Run the race you’re in

RELATED: PB conditions forecast for London Marathon weekend

“Focus on your own race. Dont worry about what the others around you are doing.” is sage advice from Great Britain’s Aly Dixon. “Theres always going to be other people going through good patches and bad patches so don’t run your race by them. Do what YOU need to do.” The 2:29 marathoner should know, having raced in championships across the globe and having just finished 16th at the tough Boston Marathon.

Fight and smile to the finish

There’s no hiding it, the final miles can be tough, but prepare yourself for them. If you race well, pace sensibly early on and fuel well then those final few miles can be a glorious series of overtaking manoeuvres to a personal best.

“The race really starts at 20 miles so keep your powder dry until that point and then push on” says 2:16 Lincoln Wellington man Aaron Scott. “Trust your training and don’t be held back by any pre-conceived time limits.”

RELATED: Aaron Scott manages 120 mile weeks alongside full-time work

Photo: Cardiff Half Marathon

Recent Manchester marathon winner Jenny Spink tells us “in the last 10km, when it’s feeling tough, imagine a training run route that you have done time and again and tell yourself that you can do this.”.

This is backed up by Professor Andy Lane of Birmingham University. The celebrated sports psychologist suggests “focus a mental loop on the runners feet ahead of you; imagine they are running your feet.” Not sure what Eluid Kipchoge should do about that though?

“For many runners it’s the relationship wth fatigue and anxiety. Both are normal feelings for a marathon as the goalie challenging,” continues the academic. “Accept that fatigue is not negative, but how it should feel.” Know that everyone is feeling that fatigue and you’re just going to cope with it better than those around you, you will excel when it gets tough.

Bristol & West’s Spink uses distraction techniques when it’s tough.

She adds: “This could be saying names of loved ones over and over in your head or focusing on trying to overtake someone just ahead or getting to the next landmark.”

If you break down the task at hand, just dealing with one mile, one kilometre, one lamppost at a time, then it makes it more manageable chunks for your mind to work with. Even one step at a time if need be.

Enjoy the day

Last, but not least, enjoy the day. This is what all the early mornings, hard miles and tired legs have been for. Make sure that when you are on that start line you look around and wish those around you the best. You are all united by one goal of doing your best over 26.2 miles. It’s fun, I promise.

If it gets tough later on, then smile. Science has even told us that smiling helps, but you don’t need science to put a big grin across your face. Embrace your inner Cheshire cat and smile to those cheering from the side lines. Feel the energy of the crowd and use it when you really need it. Control those emotions early on, but don’t be afraid to let them push you on to the final few miles.

“Dare to believe. You have done the hard work, believe that you can do it!” is Jenny Spinks’s final piece of excellent advice.

RELATED: Smiling can make you a better runner

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With the internet providing hundreds of different news sources and most people just keeping up to date with Twitter, you can find any forecast you like if you look hard enough. We decided to scour the world wide web and find the best forecast for Sunday’s marathon.

The ever trustworthy BBC sometimes gets the weather right (expect for that hurricane that Michael Fish underestimated a tad) and they have a fine prediction of 10-14 degrees celsius, light cloud and a moderate breeze from the north west. Perfect running conditions you might say, if a touch windy.

All the reports we checked had the wind coming from the north-west so what does that mean? Amateur meteorologist and four time finisher Danny Kendall, more commonly known simply as #Danny, is gunning for sub 2:30 on Sunday and told us that “the prevailing westerly winds mean there will likely be a tailwind at the start, so don’t get too carried away. Then you might feel a little headwind in the final miles, but nothing too bad.”

What do the Norwegians say?

One of my favourite weather websites is yr.no. The Norwegian website provides decent weather predictions for all around the cold and with the wild weather of Norway you’d want to be getting it right. Our Scandinavian friends actually have the wind forecast as a bit windier at six metres per second than the BBC’s four metres per second and temperatures ranging between nine and 11 degrees celsius.

Weather.com, who must be good with a website name like that, have the same as the Norwegians although they write it in the more alarming style of 22km/h, which seems faster than six metres per second, but is actually exactly the same.

The running experts

England marathon coach Tom Craggs feels “it’s ideal weather conditions for a marathon with around 10-13 degrees during the race and although there will be a light headwind in those final miles it won’t be enough to make a difference.”

“After last year’s hot weather there will be no excuses this weekend” continued the coach, “it’s going to be perfect for some fast running and we can all be hopeful to see some PBs.”

Crawley AC marathon record holder Paul Navesey suggests “to not get carried away with the slightly downhill start and tailwind, just run your target pace and accept the sightly easier ride early on”. The 2:18:16 man was second at Brighton Marathon this year and suggests “saving a little something for that horrible little slope at 20 miles”, just like the ABT training group member had a little something left to win a print for second on the south coast.

“It’s going to be perfect weather in London” said 2:39 marathoner Julia Davis, who’s just set a new course record for the South Downs Way 50. “Remember to vaseline your feet though, even if it’s not super hot, that’s my top tip for fast road running.”

Don’t worry, be happy

The key now though is not to worry too much. The weather will be how the weather will be, it is how you react to the conditions that is most important. Previously we have highlighted performances like Stephen Scullion at London marathon last year and Robbie Simpson at the Commonwealth Games as exemplary displays in running the race in front of you.

Be bold, start cold. When choosing your outfit for the race, which you’ve hopefully tests multiple times on long runs already, don’t be worried about being a bit chilly at the start. You’re dressing for the hottest part of the race, when you’re working hard. Unless you’re Kate Carter, who’ll be toasty in her panda outfit from the gun.

Four days until @LondonMarathon when I will be running dressed like this. If you would like to sponsor me (and if so thank you) please head here >> https://t.co/tJxWWBWefF pic.twitter.com/dfNtnhANXk

— Kate Carter (@katehelencarter) April 24, 2019

The taper is finishing, the training is in the bank. The well is full and Sunday is the day to empty the tank. All that is left to do is not get too carried away at the London Marathon Expo (a bit late for Sir Mo it seems) and channel your inner Eluid Kipchoge. Be calm, smile big and have a great day on Sunday.

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The post London Marathon weather forecast: PB conditions appeared first on Fast Running.

Everyone runner or coach has a favourite session or two that stand the test of time. You might look forward to it every time or it could be a session you get no pleasure from, but the rewards are evident.

Tom Craggs is an endurance coach who works with a number of organisations and brands including England Athletics, Polar and Saucony and coaches a range of different runners. So what is his favourite session?

“Any session needs to be within the context of what is best for an individual athlete at any one time,” says the Running With Us coach. “What might work for Joe Bloggs, might not be good at all for another runner at the same stage.”

“Yet when marathon training starts to toughen up I like to introduce some faster running into the long run.”

Getting used to running at your marathon pace when you’re already tired is a key skill for anyone taking on the 26.2 miles and adding some quality running into your long run is a good way to simulate the final miles without the damaging effect of the first half of the race.

Craggs feels that adding speed into a long run “can take on a number of forms” but some example long-run sessions that he has prescribed to runners include:

1) 32km ran as 10km easy, 10km of fartlek with 90 seconds fast, 90 seconds steady and then, here’s the kicker, 10k at marathon pace. Finish it off with 2km of easy running to get your legs back.

2) 35km run as 10km easy, 10km marathon pace, 5k easy, 5k at 5-10 seconds quicker than marathon pace, 2k hard (whatever that may be at this point) and then a nice 3km easy to finish off.

3) Midweek longer runs, something like 80-90 minutes, with the final 60 minutes ran as a 3 minutes threshold effort, then 3 minutes steady (so 80-90% of marathon pace). No rest between the 3 minutes, just swapping from one to another to get comfortable being uncomfortable.

All three of these sessions are tough workouts and are not to be underestimated. They may be key sessions in the peak weeks of your training before the race and adequate recovery before and afterwards, will be required.

“All of these sessions require proper recovery, otherwise you’re just going to overcook an athlete,” warns 2:45 marathoner Craggs. “Marathon training is about consistency and none of these sessions will make up for that so don’t sacrifice it by under recovering.”

Additionally, sessions like these can be a good time to practice race nutrition as if you can’t eat and drink well during these then you might struggle on race day. As with any hard effort make sure to refuel and rehydrate afterwards too.

Sports dietician Renee McGregor says: “within a couple hours of such a big workout you would want to be taking onboard a good mix of carbs, protein and some fats too. If you use a recovery shake then great, but a glass of milk straight afterwards can be just as beneficial.

“If your primal meal time is within a couple of hours then just stick to what’s normal, but if dinner is a long way off then a snack with protein and carbs would be a good idea.”

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