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"Just trust the process"

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We all question our training at one point or another.  As a coach, one of my roles is to make sure that runners can look back on their training, be proud, see progress and gain confidence from it.  One of my favourite phrases in this regard is, 

"Just trust the process" 

In this interview I chat to Sally who recently ran a half marathon personal best time, knocking 4 minutes off her previous time.  She talks about how we managed her injury concerns, how she found it difficult to run slowly in her training runs at first and she talks us through what it feels like when you know your time is going to be a good one!  I love Sally's story.  To me, she is a great runner and a pleasure to work with because she learns, adapts and isn't scared of a challenge!  Enjoy!

Are you ready to run? If the answer is "YES!" then sign up here for your own running coach and personalised monthly training plan to get you running stronger, longer and faster.  I will get in touch straight away and we can begin working on getting your running to where you really want it to be!

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The 19 races that were sat in my trash folder...

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The 19 races that were sat in my trash folder...

It would appear that we are in 'race promotion season’ at the moment as I have received emails detailing no less that 19 different races or running festivals, urging me to sign up and run.  So, in order to save you the hassle of trawling through your inbox and trash folder to find out about these races over the coming months, I have done it for you…. 

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From Injury to 5km PB!

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Returning from injury is not easy.  It can be frustrating, annoying and tests our patience to the limit.  It was great to chat to Jane recently about how she has gone from serious injury to 5km personal best times by training consistently.  I loved this quote in particular...

"The first few weeks were hard, but you just have to get out there and do it!  

Jane has come back from a stress fracture in her foot, to running with confidence again and smashing personal best times at her local parkrun in Melbourne! Jane talks me through what she thinks of her Go Run training plan and how she keeps consistently training despite lots of travel with her work, by telling herself to " just get out there and do it."  She also shares some of the awesome events that she is considering for 2016. Enjoy!

 

Are you ready to run? If the answer is "YES!" then sign up here for your own running coach and personalised monthly training plan to get you running stronger, longer and faster.  I will get in touch straight away and we can begin working on getting your running to where you really want it to be!

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"There's no way I can run 5k!"

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I have heard this quote from lots of runners when they first start running...

"There's no way I can run 5k!" 

In this interview I chat to Maddie who also uttered those words at one point.  Maddie talks to me about how she went from "the girl who can't run" at school, and not running even 3 years ago, to a marathon personal best time at Melbourne Marathon in October 2015.  I find Maddie's story inspirational and I loved hearing about how she overcame some of the stresses associated with running and in particular the question of "what are people going to think of me?" in her most recent marathon.  Enjoy!

Are you ready to run? If the answer is "YES!" then sign up here for your own running coach and personalised monthly training plan to get you running stronger, longer and faster.  I will get in touch straight away and we can begin working on getting your running to where you really want it to be!

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"What will people think of me?” Recognising the real fears of real runners

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"What will people think of me?” Recognising the real fears of real runners

In my last blog I wrote about getting goosebumps when trying to choose the right event for 2016.  I got an amazing response to this blog and even had one of the Go Runners suggest that the idea of a first marathon gave her goosebumps and that we start working towards that as a new goal.  AWESOME!!

Before we all get carried away, it is important to recognise that goosebumps are just the start…  Now the tough stuff starts.  Time to overcome all of those real but hidden fears that we put in the way of ourselves when training for these events.  This blog is about recognising those fears. 

Even as a coach, I am not somehow immune to these fears.  In fact, I am one of those people that wants to be good at something before they try it.  This means that if i don’t think i will be good at it, I either don’t do it, or it takes A LOT of persuasion to get me to try.  This has been the case with numerous sports, from swimming as a kid, through to pilates as an adult, even my running has required a lot of work on this front.  My mum will tell anyone who cares to listen about my swimming lessons as a kid and how much I hated them, because I wanted to be able to swim already.  I don’t remember those very well (selective memory perhaps??) but I do remember signing up to train with a local football team in the UK one summer and being so petrified of going to training that I pretended to be sick, hid upstairs and refused to leave the house.  Now, lets get one thing very clear. I loved my football.  I played all day and watched it most evenings.

So why the drama?

I was absolutely petrified of not being good enough and of what people might think of me.

I can’t even dismiss this fear as being something that I only had as a kid, because I still care what people think.  I remember it took almost a year of persuading and waiting for me to try pilates, which I now love.  I remember putting off my first parkrun in Melbourne for weeks, whilst my wife, Kathryn went, raved about it and met some of the best friends we have ever had.  I have now done over 100 parkruns.  I have no doubt that I am getting better but Kathryn keeps telling me that I still care too much about what other people think.  I am a work in progress…..aren’t we all?

Over the past three months I have been doing a lot of listening to the runners I coach and others, hoping to understand more about some of the fears that exist for real people around their running. I have heard stories that really do make me sad.  Fears like...

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Use the power of goosebumps to find YOUR event in 2016

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Use the power of goosebumps to find YOUR event in 2016

If you are anything like me, the Christmas break has meant a quadrupling of my food and alcohol intake, accompanied by many reflections on the year that has gone, discussions about what races I enjoyed, questions about whether I am actually any fitter this time around and bold predictions for the new year.  As runners, this is usually accompanied by animated conversations with friends and planning around events and races that we want to sign up for.  

With so many events on the running calendar these days and entry costs going through the roof, it is becoming tricky (and expensive) to decide which event is actually the right event for you.  I see so many people sign up for events that they don’t really want to do and / or have little motivation to do well in.  

I want you to use the power of goosebumps to avoid that!

I have just gone through this process having had a pretty great 2015, with PB’s at half marathon, marathon and half ironman distances, as well as my first ever Ironman.  However, I struggled to find the right event to sign up for 2016.  You know, the one event that keeps you motivated and gets you out of bed in the morning when you really don’t feel like it.   

Read on to get a little insight into my slightly quirky, random thought process, when deciding to sign up for Ironman New Zealand and how this can help you pick the right event for you in 2016.

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Older doesn't mean slower! By the first person I coached

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Older doesn't mean slower! By the first person I coached

As you may know, Go Run is a small, young, start up company, but thankfully the good news stories and results are already starting to roll in!  I want to tell you about the first runner that I began coaching, my dad!  

He is nearly 62 years old and has run for recreation and fitness for over 30 years, completing 6 marathons (all of them under 4hrs 15 mins), over 20 half marathons, plus many other shorter races.  We began working together over a 14 week period to prepare him for the Great North Run half marathon in mid September and he managed to get his best half marathon time in 7 years (2:06:32)!  

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Melbourne Marathon Festival 2015: Results

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Melbourne Marathon Festival 2015: Results

Yesterday was a BIG day for GoRun.  Our first major event in the spring / summer running calendar came and went with the Melbourne Marathon Festival.  Five GoRun coached runners entered in the 10km (2 Go Runners), Half Marathon (2 Go Runners) and Marathon (1 Go Runner) all performed amazingly well and I am extremely proud of what we managed to achieve together!  So here are the results:

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Dealing with taper time

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Dealing with taper time

Many of you will be lining up to start your races at the Melbourne Marathon Festival in less than two weeks time.  Congratulations on getting this far!  You will mostly have gone through the tough, long preparation for the 10km, half marathon or marathon distances and now entering a taper period, to freshen you up for race day.  This is a weird and wonderful couple of weeks where things are more likely to go wrong than right.  Many people can derail their races during this period, so I thought it would be useful to run through five 'race ready' tips with to help keep you focused and ready to roll when you get to the start line in under two weeks time.

Here goes...

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Running in the Melbourne Marathon Festival? Training Tips for the next 10 weeks

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The Melbourne Marathon Festival is now ten weeks away! The PMPP team is in the midst of its training and looking strong!  The next ten weeks of running will be challenging, so we have enlisted the help of Recreational Running Coach, Chris White from GoRun (www.gorun.com.au).  For this blog, we asked him for five tips to surviving and flourishing over the next ten weeks before crossing the finish line at the MCG.  

Read the full guest blog I did over at the Port Melbourne Physio & Pilates website 

 

Are you ready to run? If the answer is "YES!" then sign up here for your own running coach and personalised monthly training plan to get you running stronger, longer and faster.  I will get in touch straight away and we can begin working on getting your running to where you really want it to be!

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Running the system

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Running the system

In the immediate aftermath of any major event that I train for, I eat junk food and reflect. Post-Boston Marathon last year, I remember scaling new heights on both counts. The eating I am still working on, but to help my reflections I wrote a blog. So here goes….