The E=MC2 of running: Recent Episodes
Maggie Cooper
A podcast where I bring energy, enthusiasm and encouragement back into running with comment and opinion on interesting running related stories. I delve into some of the science behind running as well as interviewing some really remarkable running people. With over 40 years of running experience and a lifetime in science, I share my insights and top running tips to motivate, encourage and challenge.
Intro music "Daily Beetle" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
I completed the half-marathon leg of the Ironman relay in Swansea in 30 degrees heat - it didn't go well. In this episode I explore what went wrong and look at research to determine the ideal temperature to be running these long distances at.
I've been training for a half marathon which is this weekend. However, I struggled with some of the runs, even the easy ones. This episode is about the final weeks of my training and my plans for the future
I started using the Runna app that is linked to Strava, I'm now in Week 5 and this episode reviews the app and how the training is going.
I was listening to a different running podcast (can't always just listen to my own podcast!) and they were talking about using pickle juice to overcome cramp during a race. Now, personally, I thought this was a bit crazy so I decided to check to science literature to see if there was any evidence for it being effective and if there were any better cures.
What is TID and does it matter? For this episode, I looked at an article from Sports Medicine (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-024-02137-7) called The Training Intensity Distribution of Marathon Runners Across Performance Levels. I wanted to know if I should be running slower and how much time I should be spending in each of the intensity zones. I'm not sure I got all the answers but it was an interesting study.
This week I look at a paper about the effect of endurance training on natural killer cells https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-06057-y
If you think your training is going badly and you are just getting slower - don't worry, you are very unlikely to beat the world record for the world's slowest marathon
It seems that Lidl are now in the running shoe market. Is this the beginning of the shoe event horizon? Find out more in this week's podcast
Another week of training under my belt and I'm still getting slower not faster - what's happening? And how a German helped me see that it isn't all bad news.
After a bit of a layoff due to coughs and colds, I started training with some consistency again. In this episode, I share my running plan, how I have regained fitness and what I plan to do in the next few months. It's probably useful for anybody starting back running after a break or even starting running for the first time. The key is consistency and keeping going even if you don't seem to be getting any quicker.
Towards the end of September, I took part in a 100 mile cycle ride. I talk about the lessons learnt and how they apply to running. I also discuss my next big venture and the training that I have been doing.
I took up a challenge to cycle 100 miles from our village in Cambridgeshire to Aldeburgh on the Suffolk coast. So, now I'm in training, but this time on the bike. In this episode, I look whether there are advantages of cycling for running. Will cycling make me a faster runner? Will cycling make me fitter?
Also, I got an email from podcast.feedspot.com saying that this podcast features in the Top 40 running podcasts, you might like to find other running podcasts from their list
I downloaded a training plan while I was on the paid version of Strava and found it surprisingly useful and motivating. So, in this weeks episode, I talk about my training plan, my tips for things that should be in a training plan and how a training plan can really help you to progress in your running.
I decided to give Strava Premium a go during April, it was partly because I was aiming to run 100 miles during the month to raise money for our church hall and partly because I wondered what I was missing out on.
In this episode I talk about some of the benefits of having a premium subscription and how I found the month as a subscriber.
With the London Marathon tomorrow, I was reminded of the year when I ran the marathon but really struggled because of hay fever. I didn't really recognise what the problem was at the time but with a high tree pollen count again this year, I wondered whether there was anything in the scientific literature about running and hay fever, this episode is about what I found out.
In this episode I discuss the advantages of quality sunglasses (and other running gear) and whether it is worth investing in this type of kit
This episode is based on a paper published in Current. Sports Med. Rep.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20463502/ . I discuss the various factors that are reported in this nice review about prevention of running injuries. You might also like to listen to another podcast series that I'm doing with our running club called the Warriors Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-warriors-podcast/id1800811449
Although I haven't done a podcast for a while, I have still been running, although not racing. This is an update on my successes and disasters over the past few months.
After a bit of a break, I'm back with details of how my 10k went, what I've been up to and a bit of a book review.
You may have noticed that the weather has been a little warmer than normal this past week. I wondered if there really was an effect on performance with increased temperature. To be honest, I've tried to run before the sun is at its strongest, but sometimes that isn't possible. I found a nice paper in physiology reports that looked at the effect of temperature on running and I talk about this and my experience of following my Garmin coach on my watch in this week's episode.
Wondering what to do now the Olympics are over? You might have been inspired by some of the performances but left with a sense of what next?! Over the next few weeks I'm going to be training for an important 10k in the New Forest, it isn't important in running terms but it in in personal terms as I will be running in memory of my friend, Alex. Please support me if you can and follow me on my journey over the next couple of weeks. https://maggies-10k-for-alex.raiselysite.com/
In spite of the fact that the furthest run this year has only been around 7 miles, I foolishly thought it would be a great idea to enter a 10 mile race. Here's my view of how it went.
This Saturday was the North West Road Relays in Heaton Park in Manchester. It was a great event, this is a report about how it went and some thoughts on running relays.
It was the final week of our Parkrun challenge and the theme was 'run like a Kenyan'. If you want to support the club in Kenya then the is the link https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/Elgon-running-club?utm_term=WnX2B4kJR
Just a short update on this week's Parkrun challenge - crazy hair. Instead of my normal Parkrun location of Birkenhead Park, I ran in Cambridgeshire at Wimpole Estate Parkrun, so I was the only one with crazy hair. Also an update on our amazing athletes competing in various events around the world
This week's Parkrun challenge was to run an epic sprint finish. I'm not sure that mine was entirely epic, certainly no Usain Bolt but it was a least both a sprint and a finish. I had the opportunity to run in a new pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS running shoes so I talk about that, and finally I talk about the sprint in the World University Games and the controversy surrounding that.
This week's Parkrun challenge should have been to run in the rain! But it wasn't, it was to run at a Parkrun that you hadn't been to before. I planned to go to Chester, I'd sorted out the route there, worked out where to park and was all set for my tourism Parkrun. This episode is about how week 3's challenge went.
This week we were getting ready for Alex and Emily getting married next Saturday so we had to dress up as if we were going to the Hen Night or the Stag Night. In this week's episode I talk about how it all went and a few thoughts that came out of that.
Maggie gives a bit of an update on her running and why it's been a while since the last episode but mainly this week's podcast is mainly about the crazy Warriors Parkrun Challenge and how she got on in week 1. Just to say, it was a lot of fun.
I ran my first race in ages on Friday, a 5k in a lovely village near Chester. This is my race report - tune in to find out how it went.
School sports day - you either love it or loathe it. I'm more in the latter category, perhaps because my kids aren't all that athletic and I'm far too competitive. It can be fun though and then there's the parents race. The question is though - as a serious athlete, should you bother taking part?
I found a really interesting article looking at bone injuries in adolescent athletes. The group that did the study took a group of boys and studied them over 4 seasons taking lots of measurements to assess bone growth and skeletal maturation. I discuss their findings and my thoughts on what it means for those of us who are coaching young athletes. The link to the abstract can be found here
In episode 7, I featured a story about an ultramarathon runner called Jo Zakrzewski who had completed a 48 hour race running an incredible 255 miles. However, she was less of a hero in a recent 50 mile race.
I also feature some marathon musings from the recent London marathon and my own exploits and plans.
Iten is known as the runner's paradise. It is the place that you go to if you want to learn about why many of the best long distance athletes in the world are Kenyan's and it's the home of many of the world's best long distance athletes.
But Iten has a darker secret. In late 2021, Agnes Tirop was found murdered, with her husband/manager/coach implicated in this murder. Within 6 months, another female athlete, Damaris Mutua was found strangled in the home of her boyfriend.
In this episode I talk about how influence, power, love and money can be a toxic mixture in the coach/athlete relationship and discuss two recent articles that I thought made me start to think about this more carefully
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/mar/31/laura-muir-jemma-reekie-split-from-coach-after-training-camp-exit-olympics-athletics
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/04/17/why-were-two-female-olympians-killed-in-kenya
I set myself a goal to run every day this year, and so far, I have achieved that goal. I also set myself a goal to run at least 30km each week, and again, I have managed to achieve that. However, what I haven't done is much speed work and so I wasn't sure how I would get on running 5km at parkrun. Would I be able to maintain a good pace? Would I die after running the first km too fast? I felt fairly confident that I could run around 4.45 per km but could I run quicker than I had done in training without having done any speed specific training? Would my lack of focused 5km training be my downfall? Find out in this week's episode.
Following on from World Athletics announcing that transgender athletes would be banned from international female competitions, UK Athletics has following suit and made a similar ruling. In this episode, I talk about this decision. I also provide an update on how my running is going.
In this week's episode, Maggie talks to her friend, Jen Young, about some of the joys of parkrunning and we compare notes on their running experiences
I'm joined this week by Ronan Kearney, coach and founder of Warriors Pentathlon and Athletics Club. In this episode we discuss the benefits of getting young athletes involved in activities other than just running and how to bring fun back into running. We also talk about laser run, pentathlon, biathlon, fell running and other sports that might contribute to running.
In this week's episode I spoke to friend and fellow scientist, Michelle Ma, about her experience of running. Michelle would not describe herself as an elite runner and has never competed in a running race (since school) - so what motivates her to run?
We discuss some of the benefits of running, our favourite places to run in London, whether it's better to run with music or without and a host of other topics.
I was very excited to be joined by Dr Eoin Everard for this week's episode. Eoin is a biomechanics specialist and chartered physiotherapist from Ireland, he's also a pretty phenomenal runner being 5 times National Champion, sub 4 min miler and sub 30 min 10k runner.
I wanted to ask him about the benefits, or not, of static vs dynamic stretching as part of a normal running workout. However, we ended up talking about a whole host of other stuff too from running style, preventing injury, running mentality etc. The interview was packed full of really useful advice which was both practical and achievable. I hope that you enjoy listening to Eoin as much as I enjoyed talking to him.
You can get a download of his free book at https://everardpilates.com/books/
This Saturday was the National cross country championships and, for English athletes, this meant a trip to Bolesworth Castle near Chester. In this episode I talk about my highlights from the race (as a spectator not a runner) and I also talk about heart rate and the effect of different resting heart rates on running performance.
What is the longest distance you have ever run? For me, I think it's 28 miles. However, this weekend, British athlete Jo Zakrzewski ran 255 miles in 48 hours. In this week's episode, I talk about this amazing achievement.
What happens when you are training for a marathon and you get injured or sick? I've often heard people say that it won't have a big impact on your overall performance in the marathon. But is this true? Maybe that's the case if you just need to take off a couple of days, but what about a week or two weeks? Is it OK to take this much time off from marathon training or will that actually impact on your finishing time?
A study by Feely et al looked at Strava data from 300,000 recreational runners. They found that about half of marathon runners had a break in their training. However, they were able to identify runners who had run at least 2 marathons, one with a break in training and one without to compare the impact of the break on the overall time achieved for the marathon. In this episode I look into what they found.
In this week's episode, Maggie looks at a paper by Boere et al (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-26093-2) in Nature Scientific reports where the authors look whether a short walk outside is better than a short walk inside.
While running on the treadmill can be great, especially if the weather is bad, are there actually hidden benefits of running outside. Maggie discusses the paper's findings and speculates of the reasons behind the results.
In this week's episode, Maggie gets annoyed with somebody who says that running in the cold is just about having the right kit. She also talks about her excitement over this year's Spine race. If she were ever to run the race herself, she might not make it past the Green Dragon pub and tea rooms - sounds far too tempting not to just stay there.
Link to Katie Holmes website is here: Run Young 50
Are trail runners as good as road runners? An article published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36515604/) looked at differences in economy, biomechanics, strength and power between trail runners and road runners. I talk a bit about this article and the differences in running different disciplines.
I also provide a recap on how I'm getting on with my New Year's resolution to run at least 1 km each day and, I hope, provide some useful insights and advice.
Sudden cardiac death in athletes is extremely rare. However, a recent letter in the Scandinavian Journal of Immunology (Polykretis and McCullough - Rational harm-benefit assessment by age group are required for continued COVID-19 vaccination suggests that there have been as many of these types of deaths in the past 2 years as in the previous 38 years! Is that true?
In this episode I looked into further evidence to see if these claims were true and whether, as Polykretis and McCollough suggest, it has anything to do with COVID-19 vaccination. In particular, I looked at a paper by Bonaventura et al (Risks of the Athletic Field Revisited: Report of Unusual Occurrences of Cardiac Arrest and Sudden Death in Professional Soccer Players) published in the American Journal of Medicine looking at sudden cardiac death in professional football players in Europe between 2002 and 2022.
Whatever the cause, I think it is important that people learn how to use a defibrillator so that they can help if somebody does have a cardiac arrest. If you ring for an ambulance, they can tell you where the nearest defibrillator is and they are easy to use, with instructions provided - so don't be afraid to help in an emergency.
Welcome back to the E=mc2 of running for Season 2!
In this episode, Maggie talks about how to set a New Year's resolution (that you might actually be able to stick to). She talks about her own New Year's resolution and also gives an update on where she currently is with her running.
No science this week but some helpful advice.
You've heard of supershoes but have you heard of superpants? I really want a pair of superpants? These are definitely the next thing in running technology to make you go faster. Find out more about the science behind them on the podcast or, alternatively, follow the links in the excellent article from Outside magazine https://www.outsideonline.com/health/training-performance/running-exoskeleton-research-2022/
Do you like running in the dark? What about if it's cold and wet and dark? I've really struggled this past couple of weeks getting out and running when it has been dark.
I tried to find out if there was anything in the scientific literature to support my case against actually running in the dark. Alas, I found little of significance. I did, however, come across an interesting story which, I think, gives me a perfect excuse for not running in the dark. Find out more in this episode of the podcast.
I ran in the Manchester Area Cross Country League yesterday. The weather was miserable and I didn't really run all that well. But, can we blame the weather or was something else coming into play.
I discuss having the right mindset and how I might be able to improve my results in future races.
Do you like running in the rain? I don't but I know that quite a lot of people absolutely love it. It made me wonder whether the weather, particularly rain, made any difference to your running performance. To find out, I took a look in the scientific literature.
I came across two papers, by the same groups, looking at performances in the Berlin Marathon between 1974 and 2019. They looked at the weather conditions for the races and assessed whether the weather had made any impact on the times. You can find the papers here (from May 2021) and here (from July 2021).
Perhaps we will have to do our own research to find out the ideal conditions for our own performances. As for me, I will, no doubt, continue to be a bit of a fair weather runner, avoiding the rain wherever possible.
Have you ever felt like giving up? Have you ever got to a race and wondered why on earth you even entered? I felt a bit like that in the race on Saturday but, the words of a friend inspired me to continue. Those words were about an athlete who, despite the circumstances, refused to give up - I bring you the story of John Stephen Akhwari, a marathon runner from Tanzania competing in the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games.
This week we delve into the science behind running uphill. Can running uphill help you to run faster and will it improve your 5km Parkrun time?
I looked at a few papers from the sports science literature to find out if there was evidence out there to show any benefit to hill training and what those benefits might be. I looked at a study where sprinters trained on hills of different gradient, a study involving 32 Ethiopian distance runners and a study where 20 well trained runners did uphill interval training under 5 different conditions. Did they see improvements in performance outcome and what were the benefits to this type of training?
Our own athletes have been busy running, skipping and bounding uphills and anecdotal evidence suggests that this is beneficial. There are plenty of guides out there to help you start doing uphill training. The main thing is not to try to do too much too soon 5-6 hill repeats of 50-60m would be a good start progressing to an increased number of reps and/or increased distance as the weeks go on. Incorporating some training drills (like the skips and the bounds) will also help improve running form and running economy over time. It's also fun to do something a little bit different from a normal steady run and with the warm up and cool down, you will find that you actually cover quite a lot of ground in the session.
Welcome back to the E=MC2 of running. Having mostly recovered from an ankle problem, I'm back running again in earnest and looking forward to racing over the winter. In this episode I talk about Alice Wright's British Record attempt on the 1 hour track record, I report on the Javelina Jundred 100 mile race and follow up on the Kearney family world record attempt on the half marathon mother and daughter best time. Here's the link to Alice Wright's 1 hour run https://youtu.be/PyqrxqH9Za4
In this week's episode, Maggie interviews Sarah and Aileen Kearney. They are going to attempt to beat the world record for the mother and daughter combined time for a half marathon. As part of this challenge, they are raising money for the Clatterbridge Cancer Charity https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/kearney-worldrecordattempt. I've also got news of another world record and, of course, the sorry plight of my own running, which is beating no world records at the moment.
There was an interesting challenge this weekend, an attempt on the Paddy Buckley Road. Could Kim Collison beat Matthew Roberts time of 16 hr 37 min to cover the 47 Snowdownian peaks in Wales? Another challenge was the Olympic qualifying time of the marathon. With the NN Mission Marathon in Hamburg being cancelled, the event was moved to The Netherlands. Could Eliud Kipchoge run fast enough to secure his place in the Kenyan team? I also delved deeper into the use of exercise in cancer treatment. The results were really fascinating. Why have I never heard of exercise being used in cancer treatment before?
On the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, I wondered whether you could have run on board and that led me to search out whether running on a modern cruise ship is possible and whether there were any recommendations for running while on a cruise.
I also give my advice on training around the COVID vaccine, I look at a world record attempt over 50 km and investigate what macronutrients might be most important for masters marathon runners.
Just how many cherries do you have to eat to improve your running? In fact, can cherries even help you run faster or recover more quickly? I look at the science behind the potential benefits of tart cherries. I also talk about Beth Potter's amazing road 5k world best and I can't help mention those shoes!
I've got a problem with my ankles but I don't want to just not do any training at all. So, I wondered, what's the minimum amount of training that I can get away with? I delve into the science and see what I need to do in order to stay fit. The results surprised me a little. I also find out about coffee napping and report on this week's running.
I came across a few rather bizarre stories this week. One about a woman who ran rather fast over a mile days before giving birth, another about a woman who ran a marathon just before giving birth and another about the very unusual tactics involving poison that were employed in the 1904 Olympic Marathon in St. Louis. Let's just hope that such tactics are not used in this weekend's Olympic marathon trials in London. The main science focus of the podcast though is on running after giving birth and whether there are any advantages or disadvantages to doing this.
Have you seen the running shoes from FBR? They don't have a heel. It made me wonder if there was an advantage of not having a heel in terms of the weight that was saved by having no heel. I look at an article showing the effect of the weight of the shoe on running economy and a guy who did a slightly crazy experiment which involved cutting up his running shoes. I look at the results from both these studies. I also briefly look at a paper showing the effect of movement on the production of immune cells to fight infection.
Does the time of day that you run really affect your performance? What's the best time of day to run? What's the most beautiful parkrun in the country? And is there a dancer inside of you waiting to get out? These are the questions that I ask in this week's podcast with a more detailed look at a paper from Nature Research's Scientific Reports (2020) 10:16088 entitled Gold, silver or bronze: circadian variation strongly affects performance in Olympic athletes.
What is retro running and is it something that we should be embracing? We're not talking about putting on your 1970s running kit here but can retro running help reduce injury or be part of rehabilitation post injury. We also look at Wirral AC's success in the England Athletics virtual road relays and some interesting indoor races.
In this week's episode we look at a paper about sleep and the athlete from Br J Sports Med 2020. We discuss the problems that athletes, particularly elite athletes, might have with sleep and what we can do about it. We talk about good sleep hygiene and provide some advice about how to provide a good atmosphere for sleep.
If you've been paying attention to the discussion about equalising the distances in men's and women's cross country then you will know that the debate is quite polarised. I was interested to discuss the subject with women's athletics historian, Katie Holmes. We were coming from slightly different standpoints but highlighted the arguments from both sides. I also have a story about a woman beating all the men in the field It was also the Kenyan National Cross Country Championships this weekend so I took a look at the results.
I imagine that I'm running like a deer, elegant, powerful, relaxed, in control but the race photos are a continual disappointment, showing some mad woman, hair everywhere, grimacing in pain. The bible says The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights. I think I'd like feet like deer both for running and for life.
I think most of us are feeling the stress of lockdown. The not knowing, the uncertainty is having an effect on us all. What is going on in our brains and what can we do about it?
Do we need to take vitamin D supplements? It's a good question for those of us who live far north of the equator. Just what are the benefits of vitamin D and how much vitamin D do we actually need. I review a paper from the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism in today's episode to help you understand some of the reasons why it's important to have enough vitamin D.
Children are restricted from running certain distances in some countries but is there any scientific evidence to show that running long distances is harmful? I found an interesting article from Curr Sports Med Rep 2017;16(6):428-434 entitled the The Pediatric Endurance Athlete which looks at the important considerations for our young athletes and discuss the paper in today's podcast.
It isn't often you get a race where there is just one woman competing against a whole bunch of men, it's even rarer when that one woman beats all the men. But that's exactly what happened recently in Mumbai in a 24hr track race.
While my parkrun barcode gathers dust on my chest of drawers, speed Lauren Reid has been smashing the parkrun world record down under.
Katie Holmes only started running when she was 47 but she's fallen in love with the sport. So much so that she's now studying the history of women's athletics, particularly road running and fell running. She gives us a unique perspective on what running was like before the 'marathon boom' of the 70's and 80's changed things for ever. Read more on her blog www.runyoung50.co.uk.
Do you ever get weary of training? Do you ever get weary of doing the right thing? The bible talks about the rewards of doing good and, as with life, so it is when we do our training, we will reap the rewards.
We all know that exercise is good for us, but it's especially good for us as we get older. The benefits for the heart and lungs are pretty clear but the benefits for the immune system are less well known. However, even a small amount of exercise each day can be beneficial.
We've all be forced to train in public spaces, this isn't so bad for endurance athletes, but how are the sprinters coping. A recent article in the guardian reported that elite Welsh athletes had had abuse thrown at them while training in public spaces. What can be done about this?
All of us have had to get used to wearing face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic but so far, we haven't been made to wear them while exercising outside. Would wearing a face mask while running affect performance? Are there any other problems with wearing a face mask while exercising? I look at the science literature in search of answers to these questions in today's episode.
Is it a bit weird to greet people when you are out running or is this standard running etiquette? I don't want to appear like a madman but I quite like a cheery 'hello', a nod of the head or a smile. Is this a thing of the past?
You might have heard in the financial news about a group of small investors who took on the might of the hedge funds by buying GameStop stock. Well you might not know about the man behind this and how he was able to give the big hedge funds a run for their money.
There was no mile or 1500m for women in the 1960 Olympic Games, but in 1961 my mum, Liz Joyce, ran the world leading time for the mile. She never got the opportunity to run at an Olympic Games, a World Championship or similar international athletics meeting because the furthest women were allowed to run was 200m. Athletics has moved on a lot since then, we discuss what it was like for women running back in the late 1950's, some of her crazy anecdotes and the differences between running then and running now, from a women's perspective. It's a timely interview with much discussion going on about #runequal and equality for women running cross country.
What happens when you lose your focus on running, when you get distracted by other worldly pursuits? There is a path to redemption, and just as with life you can seek forgiveness, so your running sins can be forgiven. In today's podcast I look at what we can learn from the story of David and Bathsheba.
Can you outrun your car? I'm not talking about for speed but for mileage. What about setting yourself a challenge to run further than your car this week/month/year. It might make you think more about those unnecessary journeys and more about getting those running miles in.
Once again you're tired, hungry but you still haven't managed to get your run in. What can you do? Sometimes we need to think outside the box. Running training isn't just about running. There are alternatives that might just help us be better runners but the exercise we do needs to be manageable, it needs to be enjoyable, it needs to be planned and it needs to be useful to your overall running goals. I talk about my struggles with fitting running into a busy schedule.
You may know about Nike's super fast Alphafly Next% or Hoka One One's Carbon X2 running shoes but did you know that there is a new entrant into the carbon-plated market and that from an unlikely corner of the market? Find out more in today's episode.
Have you ever taken part in a race where there was no defined finish, you just had to keep going until you were the last competitor? It sounds like a crazy kind of a race but if you think of COVID as a kind of race then it seems somewhat similar. We've started the race but we don't know where the finish line is. What can running teach us about the strategies that we need to adopt in order to win this race? I look at an interesting article by Alex Hutchinson which tries to shed some light on this subject.
Have you entered this year's London Marathon? The race is going to be run both on the streets of London and virtually. How does it feel when your 'actual' race becomes a 'virtual' race and is it better just to accept that it might be virtual?
In the second part of my interview with Heartback Track Club athletes, Anna Shields and Everett Hackett, we talk about running 1 mile in a straight line on the road, running even paced in the marathon and on the track and our favourite workouts.
Sunday's Loving Lockdown Running looks at a verse from Psalm 23. Life, and running, can have its ups and downs. This lockdown has been quite difficult for many both in terms of getting motivated to get out of the door for a run or for life in general. I think this verse is quite encouraging.
Nick Willis just got the longest ever running streak for running sub 4 minutes for the mile. It's phenomenal to have that level of consistency year on year. Do you have a special running streak? Have you set yourself a running streak goal?
This is the last part of my little series for people starting to run for the first time or those coming back from injury or after a break. There are some useful tips about what to do and what you need in order to stay fit, healthy and motivated.
Do you always do the same run or the same distance - at the same speed. You really want to mix it up a bit, do some different runs and have more fun with your running. It will also improve your speed when it comes to that important race. I've got some great tips whether you're a complete beginner or if you've been running a little bit longer.
In the second part of my beginner's guide to running, I talk about that feeling you get when you start running for the first time or the first time in a while, what to put on your feet and getting into good habits by doing some running drills. I also talk about having a level of accountability to help you get out of the door when you really don't feel like going for a run.
I'm going back to basics with my podcasts this week and I've got some top tips for people starting out on their running journey, or coming back to running after a break. If you're a beginner runner then these next few episodes are for you, packed with useful advice and top tips.
Anna Shields remarkable story about how she started running again years after having originally giving up any hope of being a successful athlete. In the first of a two part interview I speak with Anna and her clubmate Everett Hackett, a pretty mean athlete himself with a 2:18 marathon time, about both the marathon and Anna's story.
Apparently Emil Zatopek used to train with weights on his back - sometimes that weight was his wife! But what would happen if you tried to race with a weight on your back - a bit tricky?! Well, many of us try to race through our lives with weights on our backs. In today's lockdown episode, I have a look at a verse in the bible that compares running a race with living our lives.
Do we always have the right perspective on the results we achieve? I look back at one of the most extraordinary races in athletics history and see what lessons we can learn from it about our own reaction to races that don't quite go as expected.
Have you ever been sent the wrong way by a marshal in a race? This weekend Eilish McColgan got sent the wrong way in a 10k race in Dubai and ended up finishing in the middle of nowhere! When has your run gone wrong due to no fault of your own?
Have we lost our social conscience due to COVID lockdown? What happens if somebody in the street needs help - do we stop and help them or are the COVID risks too high? I had a strange incident on my run that made me ponder whether I'd become less caring due to lockdown restrictions.
Is running bad for your knees and hips? I found an interesting sports science paper that looked into this question in more detail. In particular, the authors were interested in whether people who ran or walked were more or less likely to get osteoarthritis or need a hip replacement. Today's podcast has a quick look at this particular study.
Are these new Nike running shoes really faster? What evidence is there for the 4% claim? We discuss an article which looks at runners in marathon majors to see if times improved by wearing the new Nike shoes. The results are intriguing but there are still some questions. I'm joined this week by Wirral AC chairman and rather speedy marathon runner, John Heap, to discuss these shoes in more detail.
I decided that my Sunday podcast during lockdown would be slightly different. As a Christian I find many similarities between running and living a Christian life and there are several verses in the bible that allude to this. So, I thought I'd share one of my favourites with you and talk a little about it. This week it is Isaiah 40: 30-31.
What is your 'local area' when it comes to exercising during lockdown. The rules allow us to exercise with one other person in our local area but 2 women were fined for breaking the rules when they met at a reservoir 5 miles from their homes. So what is local and how far from our homes can we run?
What happens if it snows? Can you still run? In this podcast I give you my top tips for running in the snow. I'm only talking about British snow here (which is usually rather pathetic) and not great piles of snow like you get in some other countries. I think you'll find my tips quite useful but the main thing is - take care.
How's your lockdown going so far? I've got a little tip today that might help you just to break up your Zoom meeting/Google meet filled day while also providing a boost to your running training.
Every day during lockdown I intend to put out a short podcast to motivate, inspire, encourage, amuse or just entertain my running friends. Here's today's episode - day 1 of Lockdown 3.0.
I was lucky enough to get an interview with Mara Yamauchi for this week's podcast. Mara is a double Olympian, competing in the 2008 and 2012 marathon events. She is also, notably, Britian's second fastest female marathon runner ever with a PB of 2:23:12. It was so lovely speaking to her, she was so interesting and had lots of helpful things to say whether you are training for a marathon or if you are just running for fun. I certainly felt motivated and enthused about running after talking to her. I hope you will be too after listening to the podcast. Happy New Year and enjoy the episode.
It's been a weird kind of year for all of us. It's been frustrating and crazy and difficult, but it's also been an opportunity to learn, to help each other and to improve. I started the year wondering if I could be bothered to run competitively anymore and I finished the year fitter, stronger and faster. I learnt a lot of interesting things along the way and I share my year with you in this week's podcast.
This week I talk to Arran Kearney. He's just returned from his first term at college in the USA. We chat about how you can apply to study in the US, how you choose a suitable college to go to, what it's like being there, differences in training and the sports culture in US compared with UK. It's a really great insight into what it's like to study on a running scholarship in the USA. Arran also has a blog where he details his time studying in Kansas https://arransnotesfromtheprairie.blogspot.com
Has your exercise level increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic? Certainly some people took up exercise back in March but has that continued? How difficult is it to be motivated to go out for a run on cold, dark evenings? Are there ways of making exercise more fun? These are the questions we tackle on this week's podcast with Maggie and Peter Cooper.
What’s your best running streak? I mean how many days in a row have you run. Mine’s about 10 days. Charlie Slack’s is more that 250 days and he’s only 7 years old. In this week’s podcast I interviewed Charlie and his dad, Tim, and asked why he was running a mile a day. We found out what motivated Charlie to take on such a challenge, where the money he has raised is going and how he has managed to run every day for such a long time. Please give generously on Charlie’s Virgin Money Giving page (search Charlie’s Challeng – Run 1 mile a day or visit https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-display/showROFundraiserActivities?userUrl=AlexSlack3)
What if everything we had been told about a healthy diet was wrong? What if fat didn’t make you fat? What if breakfast cereals weren’t actually made to provide you with a good meal to start to the day but were invented to suppress sexual desire? These are the sort of questions explored in Charlie Spedding’s book, Stop Feeding us Lies. I interviewed Charlie about his book and about his marathon running and, in particular, about that bronze medal in the 1984 Olympic Games marathon. There is a blog post that accompanies this podcast on https://maggiesrunningpodcast.blogspot.com
I was interested when I heard about the Mymo device, a small sensor that you can use to test your running gait. You place the sensor in a little pocket in a kind of 'half-sock' and run for 1 min (for each foot) to carry out the test. The test is quick and simple and can be done on a treadmill or outside on a flat surface. How good was it though and was there any scientific evidence to show that it was accurate? I spoke to the inventor, Craig Downs, and one of the research scientists who carried out research on the product, Fraser Young, about Mymo, what it is, what it does and what its potential might be (see mymo.co.uk for more details). The research paper we talk about is available on maggiesrunningpodcast.blogspot.com
How might barefoot running help? How can you transition to barefoot running or how can you incorporate some barefoot running into your weekly routine? These are some of the questions I discussed with my friend Anne Rosbottom (a Pose Method Running Technique Specialist, a Born to Run Technique Coach and a UKA Leader in Running Fitness http://www.annerosbottom.co.uk). We based our discussion around a review about barefoot running by Peter Francis and Grant Scholfield called “From barefoot hunter gathering to shod pavement pounding, Where to from here? A narrative review.” We discussed our own experiences of barefoot running as well as the scientific evidence for advantages of barefoot running.
This week we interview Kalie Demerjian who recently came 3rd in the 100 mile Javelina Jundred, we look at how she started running, her first marathon and what it was like to run a crazy 100 mile race in the desert.
Have you ever wondered whether having big feet is an advantage when running? This week we look at a paper which compares the feet of 400m sprinters and untrained members of the public. Peter and Maggie had fun discussing the findings.
Is there a secret to running an even paced marathon? What factors may help you to not slow down in the second half of the race? We look at how you might be able to improve your pacing strategy for a marathon and reveal some of the secrets of running a better marathon.
Do you listen to music while you're running? We investigate whether there is any basis to suggest that listening to loud music when you're running could put you at great risk of injury.
In this special episode, Maggie discusses a paper about the difference in training of Kenyan and European athletes with Ronan Kearney, senior coach with the Wirral Endurance Programme. Why are the Kenyans so successful and what are the differences in the training that they do and the training that elite European athletes do?
Is one of your legs stronger than the other and does this impact on your running economy? We take a look at a paper that analyses asymmetry in adolescent runner and whether it affected their running. Maggie also did a crazy orienteering challenge at the weekend in a rather up and down week.
In this week's episode we look at recovery. Specifically Maggie reviews Good to Go by Christie Aschwandan a book about how to eat, sleep and rest like a champion. Have you ever wondered whether protein shakes, ice baths, massage etc. work? Well this is a book for you. If you are particularly interested in finding more about supplements then have a listen to Ross Tucker's The Real Science of Sport podcast where he has an excellent episode about supplements.
Can running help protect you against COVID-19? I look at a paper that talks about the effects of exercise on the immune system, particularly how exercise may be able to help protect the immune system from deteriorating as we age. I also discuss the beneficial effects our muscles have on our immune system when we exercise.
If you are currently injured then this one is definitely for you. We look at an interesting article about how your running gait might be causing your injury, but the good news is that there is something you can do about it.
This week we did an interval session on the track and everybody seemed to record different distances on their GPS watches so in this week's episode we look at a paper about the accuracy of GPS watches. Can you rely on the data that they give you and are there some conditions where they are more or less accurate? Here's a link to the article https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7381051/?report=printable
This week I've been doing a bit of cross-training aka messing about with the kids doing a bit of climbing and canoeing. But, can incorporating cross-training help improve your running? This week I look at a paper from the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2020, 19, 508 https://www.jssm.org/) which compared high intensity interval training either on a bike or running on the track in a group of middle aged female runners. The authors looked at whether it made a difference to how fast the women could run 10k. The results were interesting.
Just how fast could I run with our dog? I've never taken him out running before but would it be an advantage if I got him fit for running 5k? Should I be aiming at the world record? In this week's episode I look into the work of canicross and find out what advantage running with our dog might actually have on my 5k time.
How do you beat a world record? Or how do you beat your personal best? Well, one of the secrets might be running at an even pace. We delve into this a bit deeper in this week's episode. Is it always best to try to run at an even pace or do we need to think outside the box a bit?
Can exercise make you more intelligent? Will it prevent dementia? In this week's episode we look at a book called Spark by John Ratey about exercise and the brain and it has some fascinating insights.
On the 40th anniversary of that epic Olympic 800m battle between Steve Ovett and Seb Coe, I read an interesting article on Fast Running .com about Steve Ovett's training and wondered what we could learn from his training. I also talk about my week of running and progress.
This week is the final of the virtual 5km mob match. We needed every person we possibly knew to run for our team which meant enlisting all eligible members of my family. None of my family have actually done any running (apart from last week's 1km run) for months. How would they get on? Would they make it? Would they actually get out of the door? Find out in this week's episode.
The result of our epic virtual Egg and Spoon race is announced. As Maggie tries on new running shoes we ask can your running shoes make you run faster? And we've discovered new ways to make training/racing more interesting. All in this week's episode.
I'm learning that it takes quite a lot of effort to get fit, running is better with friends and I'm not too sluggish over 5k.
Can running up hills improve your speed? I've been trying out some different hill sessions over the past few weeks and it might, just might be improving my fitness and speed. I've also been chasing children round an athletics track.
There's been a bit of a gap but that doesn't mean we haven't been running. In this week's podcast the gap is explained and Maggie talks about training during lockdown.
This week there's been a bit of running and a cross country race (for the kids) but we finish by talking about the benefits of the low carb, high fat diet that we have been investigating.
There were no races this week but Maggie joined the group from the club for some hill reps while Peter did his own version of hill reps with our youngest child.
It was the Northern Road Relays at the weekend. We chat about how that went and why some people were disqualified. We also chat about how the rest of the family got on with their running this week.
This week Maggie went to the North West Road Relays so that's mainly what we talk about this week.
This week Maggie went to London, we talk about how the running is going and look forward to this weekend's road relays
We've been trying to get our eldest son out running. How do we encourage our kids to run? We also discuss how what we do in our daily lives can play a part in our fitness and training.
We've become middle aged, but are we doing enough exercise and, more importantly, are our listening habits suitable. We discuss the progress in Maggie's injury and look forward to races to come.
A recent article in the newspaper suggested that taking paracetamol could improve your running performance. Should we then take paracetamol to make us run faster in a race or does that put us in the same category as drug cheats?
Whilst we have both been exercising this week, we've actually been thinking more about food. We talk about the book 'Why we get fat and what to do about it" by Gary Taubes and how diet affects our ability to run.
There was a big change in the athletics club last week and Maggie now has the role of ladies cross country and road running captain. How do we encourage more people to run and what are the benefits of running? We discuss this during this week's podcast.
This week we've had fun running in the Lake District. We talk about the best way to find a good route on holiday and the benefits of a different kind of cross training.
Who doesn't like an old fashioned egg and spoon race and could we see the Welly race in the Olympic Games? We talk about School Sports and the fun we had watching our kids compete.
Maggie had a one to one Pilates lesson, found out which shoes to wear and has exciting news about the London Marathon.
There hasn't been a whole lot of running this week and the weather is unseasonably wet. However, we review our progress and plans for the coming weeks.
This week Maggie has been learning to walk! OK, so she knew how to walk but was she walking properly and was the way she walking helping or hurting her poorly foot?
Peter has been skipping his running and Maggie has been learning about the pose method for running.
Maggie is still suffering with plantar fasciitis but will a new sock be the answer or is it ski boots in bed? Meanwhile Peter is exercising to his new app.
Peter has been trying out a new exercise app and Maggie has been attempting to run. We talk about the app and also about what makes a healthy diet, a subject we may well come back to another week.
Plantar fasciitis continues to prevent full training but how did the first run in a while go? Exciting to be out running in the sunshine!
A visit to the physio with a reminder to do some exercises, balancing exercise with daily life, and spherical ex-athletes are all points for discussion in this week's show
Something slightly different this week - a book review. Maggie has been reading a biography of Emil Zatopek by Richard Askwith "Today we die a little" so we talk about the book.
In this week's episode we talk about the high fat low carb diet and its possible benefits to running. Maggie is still on the elliptical trainer and Peter is still running up and down the Town Hall steps.