Training guides

Getting started and getting faster

• Starting to run with a watch: the numbers that matter, and your first 8 weeks

  What pace, heart rate, cadence, training load and HRV mean, which ones to watch first, and a run-walk plan to 30 minutes without stopping.

• Why most of your runs should be easy, and how easy is easy

  The 80/20 idea, the talk test, heart-rate and pace zones, and the mistakes that keep most runners in the middle.

• How to get faster at 5 km and 10 km

  Run regularly and mostly easy, then add intervals, tempo runs and strides, with a sample week for each level.

Plan a race: from marathon to ultra

• A marathon training plan, week by week

  How long to train, how many runs a week, how far the long run goes, easier weeks and the taper, for a first marathon or a time goal.

• How to plan an ultra-trail season, phase by phase

  Base, build, peak and taper: how long each phase lasts, how fast the hours rise, why every fourth week is easier and what changes in the last three weeks.

• How many hours a week to train for a 50 km, 100 km or 100 mile race

  Typical peak weeks by distance and experience, why hours beat kilometres, and what matters more than the biggest week.

• The taper for an ultra, week by week

  The last three weeks before the race: how much to cut, what to keep, the last long run and the race-week mistakes to avoid.

Recovery and load

• Fitness, fatigue and form (CTL, ATL, TSB) explained

  What the three lines mean, how they're worked out, what form to aim for on race day and where the model falls short.

• Training with HRV: when a low morning should change your day

  What heart-rate variability measures, how to find your own normal range, and simple rules for when a low reading should move your hard session.

Strength, descents and fuel

• Strength training for trail runners: what, how much and when

  Why strength makes you faster and more durable, the exercises that matter for climbing and descending, and how to fit them into a season.

• Downhill running: how to train your legs for descents

  Why descents wreck legs, how one dose of downhill running protects the next, and how to build descents and eccentric strength into a season.

• Eating on long runs: fuel per hour and training the gut

  How much carbohydrate per hour, how to train your stomach to take it, and the basics of drinking and salt.