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.