The future of endurance. By Marina Kalcina, featuring Rick Mirabella

As the story goes, Pheidippides ran 26 miles from the town of Marathon to Athens to announce a Greek victory and warn the Athenians of the incoming Persian fleet. This epic run had three notable consequences. The first two were relatively immediate: Pheidippides, who had run 280 miles in the 10 days prior to his marathon, dropped dead from exhaustion. The second: His message allowed the Athenian army to organise their defence, thus defeating the Persians a second time and making Europe as we know it possible.

The third consequence happened centuries later. The first marathon, inspired by Pheidippides' legendary runs, was introduced to the modern Olympic Games in 1896. Fittingly, a Greek man by the name of Spiridon Louis won the event.

Since then, interest in running has been on the rise. The first running boom occurred after the 1972 Munich Olympic Marathon, when a German student, who was not actually in the race,...

How do I fit in the 1%ers?

In almost every sport or anything in life worth pursuing, you will hear the term, you must do the 1% "ers"!

Or maybe "Johnny does the 1% "ers" that's why he is so good'  

What exactly are the 1% "ers" ?   

And how do they fit in within the sport of running?   

Quite simply to complete all the 1%ers just means to do all the extras that will enable you to be the very best you can be.   

I know that a lot of our Runnez family runners all over the world are time poor already and the thought of adding anything else to a busy schedule is overwhelming at best and no chance of being done at worst.

So see below my tips for fitting them in.   

Ok, the meat and potatoes of a training plan will always be the major training stressors and principles.   

These are your - Hard workouts (Runnez sessions on your phone), or fartleks, aerobic power etc  - Your volume and longer running ...

The slow days are important too

Our beautiful worldwide community of runners and fitness enthusiasts in the RUNNEZ Redzone and Runnez Coaching App  inspire us everyday with their stories of learning to run, running PBs, running marathons, losing weight or simply just feeling and moving better each day. 

All of these are beautiful outcomes, but there are also some very valuable lessons learnt along the way on the days that may not seem so positive at first.  As we always say, we must LOVE the PROCESS, and that means gratitude and intelligence around the days where we don't feel AMAZING, or SUPER FAST.  On the day's we are feeling fatigued, tired, sluggish, bloated  and slow, do not force it.   These days are just as important as the days you feel great and they are the days that will compound and add to months and years of consistency, leading to the results you may have been lacking.   Unless you are unwell, in that case take the...

Run your strides

You may have read the term in running programs, running books or your favourite running magazine. Strides or striders... they are included in most running programs, but often with no explanation as to how to complete them or why you are doing them.

So what are "strides" and why do we need them????

Generally strides are efforts of 50metres to 150metres usually done in a rep range of 3-6. Completed at a quick pace, 5km race pace or quicker or above 90% perceived rate of exertion with a walk back recovery.

They are very important for teaching our nervous system to recruit and fire fast twitch muscle fibers, for promoting and retaining fast twitch muscle fibers and for teaching our bodies how to run fast and how it feels. They are best done in the absence of fatigue eg after an easy jog and with the walk recoveries. Strides are  not done to improve aerobic power or for increasing your lactic threshold, ( That is what the RUNNEZ sessions are for) They are done for...

"Exercise is Medicine"

How to make exercise a part of your every day!

“Exercise is medicine” How much will you do today?

I love the quote but I can’t claim it, I’ve heard it from Mick Hughes a Physiotherapist and Exercise Physiologist from Melbourne he  has been doing a great job spreading the word about daily movement. I’m unsure who originally coined the phrase – but I love it. I love physiology, I love performance coaching, but most of all I love seeing people improve themselves. For me It is all bout YOU.

For a long time, I’ve been drumming on about intelligent training, and this ring’s true for both competitive athletes and people who may train for health and lifestyle.

Below I have outlined 5 tips for starting to exercise and never ever stopping.

1. Beginners start slow - whether exercise is something totally foreign to you or was part of your life decades ago, be smart when commencing. Be smart and increase both volume and...

CONTINUITY IS KING 

In the sport science world, we use it almost daily “continuity is king” along with consistency it is the most often used word in our vocabulary.

The fact is, consistency breeds success in EVERY thing, and in the fitness space it is remaining consistent in a combination of different variables  that yields the most bang for your buck. At the risk of using the word too often consistency also builds... well,  consistency. There is no magic pill. 

The training must be consistent – clearly, but it also must be intelligent. Consistency in nutrition, hydration, sleep and attitude are crucial! 

And the biggest factor in all of this is PATIENCE. In a world of instant gratification via modern technology, we can have whatever we want when we want it.

This coupled with certain television programs, “Personal Trainers weight loss photos” on social networks, nutritional pyramid schemes, and...

Process first for best results.

 We are living in a world of instant gratification, this is not the first piece to mention that and it wont be the last. We are being programmed to want more and want it now, by our phones via social network and similar apps, from commercial television and even with the ease of which this email has landed in front of your eyes. We do live in a world of comfort which is great, and we are all forever grateful.  

But in many things, be it in a professional, academic or athletic performance pursuit we need to move away from this notion of "Instant Gratification"

We need long-term goals and short term goals, yes. But more importantly we need to learn to program our brains to focus on enjoying each day and each training session and not to rush it. 

We mustn't allow our mood or consistency to be driven by how we perform in training or how we feel from a fitness point of view, we can not react to a bad training session or race.

We just...

Why do we run?

It is a question that you may have never asked yourself, why do I run?

When we are children we run for many varying reasons, to play, for freedom, to explore, to get to the shops, to get to school, or to run away from siblings lol. 

As we get older, other interests, possibly other sports, work, or life in general may put an end to this youthful freedom of running with reckless abandon. It is unfortunately part of life in the western world. Other "things" take over. 

Unless as a teenager you run cross country or track or play a field based sport that involves a need for a strong aerobic base, running for running itself seems to take a back seat until at the earliest in our early 20s and for some others well they may not lace up again until they are in their 60s.Which brings me back to my title, why do we run?

In my experience we all start for different reasons, and continue running for different reasons there after. But at it's core we all continue for very...

Interval Training. A term most people may have heard of, but is sometimes misunderstood.

Today I want to talk about the evolutions of interval training and the whys behind it. 

As a Running Coach, and Online Running Coach,  I have been prescribing interval training every day since 2007 and been completing interval training sessions for years before that. 

When you drill down on it, RUNNEZ sessions are 45 minute interval training sessions for any level of athlete,  that can be done running, riding, rowing or walking. But the basic physiology and methodology in every RUNNEZ session is to help the athletes completing them progress and run faster and more economically from 1500m to the Half Marathon, then if on they are on  right plan that will parlay over to the Marathon, Ultra Marathons and field based sports. 

What is it and Why Interval Training? How does it help me? 

I'm a big believer in humans of all fitness levels, ages, backgrounds and...

How to break a plateau!

Running has been an exhilarating journey for you, you have never felt better, you have dropped KGS, you are running longer than ever and your 5km time is minutes faster than you ever dreamt it could be. Yes indeed this is the honeymoon period of your running life. If you have been a runner for long enough though you would have experienced some form of running and fitness plateau. It can be very frustrating when the paces stagnate, the miles become harder and every step feels hard. 

Well take a step back take a breath and relax because it's normal! We all stagnate in performance from time to time for many varying reasons.

As a running coach I have see some form of it weekly and have experienced the plateau myself many times,  I have my fair share of advice to give to you today if you are reading this in a similar situation. 

The trick is identifying it and using the below tips to overcome the roadblock in your way to achieving even...