Harry Richard PT

I started using these 9 tricks on long runs...
and honestly, some of them felt ridiculous at first.

I used to just stick it out when runs got hard.
Slow down, suffer, question all my life choices.

Then I started experimenting with genuinely weird stuff that other runners swore by:

🏃🏼🏃🏽‍♂️Chase the person in front of you
📲Put on a podcast instead of music to focus on something
🧮Mental math - estimate your average pace across the whole run
🏃🏼❌Don’t let the person behind catch you!
🧘🏼Take your headphones out and treat it as meditation
✅Focus on perfect form
➕Count your cadence
👋🏼Greet every other person out exercising

No supplements, no gadgets, just... odd little tricks.
And weirdly... each one of them work in their own little way.

Here’s why:
Your brain decides to quit long before your body has to.
These hacks give it something else to focus on so your legs just keep moving.

I used to fade badly past the one-hour mark without fail.
It turned into a mental battle more than a physical one.

Now I reach for one of these and push straight through it.

It’s not conventional running advice.
But honestly, it’s what actually extends a run when everything hurts.

Which of these have you tried?
Got a weird hack that works for you? Drop it below.

I used to eat these before runs and wonder why I felt awful...
and honestly, I had no idea I was the problem.

I used to just eat whatever was around.
- A coffee and toast.
- Leftover pasta.

Once, regrettably, a meat pie.🤢

No thought. No timing. Just food.

Then I started learning about sport nutrition.
Eventually studying it at university.

Here’s a quick 10 foods to avoid before you run: (and why)

🥓Bacon - high fat & protein takes time to digest
🥦Brocoli - high fibre slows digestion
🧀Cheese - high fat sits in your stomach
🫘Beans (any kind) - high fibre slows the carbs getting through
🍝Pasta - slow release carbs
🐓Chicken - heavy & long time to digest
🥜Nuts - low carbs
Chia seeds - high fat & fibre
🥛Milk - dairy and fat can upset stomach
🥑Avocado - high fat & fibre

Avoiding these kinds of foods, my runs immediately felt cleaner.

Here’s why:
Heavy, fatty, or high-fibre foods before a run pull blood to your gut instead of your legs.
Your body can’t digest and perform at the same time.

I used to feel sluggish from kilometre one without knowing why.
Now I avoid these 10 foods, and others like them, and show up ready.

It’s not the most exciting nutrition advice.

But honestly, it’s the stuff that changes everything.

Which food on this list surprises you most?
Ever had a run ruined by something you ate?

I waited 6 months to sign up for my first race.

Six months of “I’ll do it when I feel more ready.”
Six months of training with no deadline.
Six months of no accountability.

Guess how much faster I got?
Big fat ZERO.

The problem: no event on the calendar means no real commitment.

Training without a race is just running in circles.

You skip the hard sessions because “there’s always next week.”
You never taper, never peak, never test yourself.

What changed everything for me:
- Signing up before I felt ready.

Suddenly every run had purpose.
The plan mattered.
The work got done.

I used to think: “I’ll sign up when I’m fit enough.”

Now I know: you sign up to GET fit enough.

That’s the difference between joggers and runners.
Runners have a date circled.

Stop putting it off.

Sign up for that event this week.

Not when you’re ready. Now.

The commitment creates the readiness.
Not the other way around.

👋🏼Hi I’m Harry, I help professionals get stronger & fitter fit for life, and athlete’s smash their PB’s

I started eating Coco Pops before every run...
and honestly, I didn’t expect this.

I used to think pre-run breakfast had to be “clean.”
Oats. Eggs. Whole grain toast.

The proper athlete stuff.

But then the guys over at mentioned something I thought was ridiculous:
Just eat Coco Pops.

Not fancy. Not optimised. Just... Coco Pops.

And weirdly... it worked.

Here’s why it slaps:
- Super simple carbs that digest fast. 1g = 1g of carbs
- Minimal fibre. Minimal fat. No gut drama.

Just instant energy that hits your legs, not your stomach.

I used to feel sluggish by the 5km mark.
Now I feel fast from the first step.

It’s not the sexiest pre-run ritual.

But honestly, it’s become my go-to before early runs.

Easy on the gut. Tasty as hell. And it actually works better than half the “proper” breakfasts I’ve tried.

What’s your go-to pre-run breakfast?
Ever tried something weird that actually made you run better? Let me know in the comments.

👋🏼Hi I’m Harry, I help professionals get stronger & fitter fit for life, and athlete’s smash their PB’s

I trained without zones for years.

And it kept me stuck.

Every run felt the same.
Medium effort. Medium pace. Medium results.

I wasn’t slow.

I also wasn’t getting faster either.

The problem: no specificity.

Each zone trains something different.
Running only 1 pace all the time trains... 1 thing.

So I started training in all of them.

Here’s the zones I used:
Zone 1 (50-60% max HR)
- Active recovery
- Adds volume without fatigue

Zone 2 (60-70%):
- Better oxygen delivery to the muscles
- Improves your fat-burning engine

Zone 3 (70-80%):
- Improves muscular endurance
- Increases work capacity

Zone 4 (80-90%):
- Improves lactate threshold
- Increases fatigue resistance

Zone 5 (90-100%):
- Raises VO2 max
- Improves fast-twitch muscle fibre recruitment

When I started training by zones, everything clicked.

Easy days actually easy.
Hard days actually hard.
Each session had a purpose.

That’s the trade-off no one mentions.

Training “by feel” keeps you comfortable.
Training by zones makes you faster.

What I’d do differently from the start:

Find my actual max HR (not 220-age).
- A 1-mile test to give an accurate estimate.

Build a plan that rotates through zones.
- A 2-week plan can easily factor in all zones.

Stop living in Zone 3 purgatory.

Save this if every run feels the same and progress has stalled.

👋🏼Hi I’m Harry, I help professionals get stronger & fitter fit for life, and athlete’s smash their PB’s

I tapered wrong for my first half-marathon.

And I arrived f*cked my whole race.

I used to think “rest week” meant couch week.
Cut everything: volume, intensity, frequency.

And I showed up race day feeling flat, not fresh.
Legs felt heavy.
Pace felt foreign.

I’d rested myself out of sharpness.

Here’s what I learned the hard way:

Taper isn’t about stopping.

It’s about reducing fatigue while keeping fitness.
Week 1: Drop volume 25%.
Week 2: Drop volume 50%.

But keep the intensity.
Race pace efforts stay in.

They remind your legs what fast feels like.

Maintain frequency too.
Same run days, just shorter.
Skipping days completely throws off your rhythm.

Then prioritise recovery hard.
Sleep like your race depends on it (it does).

Bump carbs up the final 48 hours.

I used to think taper meant “do less.”

Now I know it means “recover smart while staying sharp.”

👋🏼Hi I’m Harry, I help professionals get stronger & fitter fit for life, and athlete’s smash their PB’s

I trained Zone 2 only for months.

But something was missing.

My base was solid.
I could run forever at easy pace.

But when I needed a higher gear... Sh*t show.

Heart rate would spike.
Breathing got ragged.
Pace felt way harder than it should.

The problem: I only trained one part of my aerobic system.

Zone 2 adds mitochondria. 30-60 minutes conversational pace.
It’s the foundation.

But you also need:
Long runs for durability -
- 60-90 mins
- Boringly easy

Aerobic intervals efficiency at pace
- 4-6 x 5-10 mins
- Medium effort

I was doing one thing well.
But missing two other critical elements.

That’s the mistake most runners make with “base building.”

They think Zone 2 = complete aerobic development.
It doesn’t.

What I’d do differently:

Rotate through all three weekly.
- 2 x Zone 2 runs.
- 1 x long easy run
- 1 x aerobic interval session.

Build the whole system.
Not just the base.

Save this if your Zone 2 feels great but race pace feels brutal.

👋🏼Hi I’m Harry, I help professionals get stronger & fitter fit for life, and athlete’s smash their PB’s

I used to fuel long runs with whatever felt “healthy.”

Here’s what tanked my pace.
My energy would crash around 10k.

Strong start.
By halfway I felt cooked.

Every. Single. Time.

The issue wasn’t my fitness.
It was what I was eating beforehand.

Whole grain toast. Eggs. “Clean” protein.
All terrible choices when your blood’s in your legs, not your stomach.

Digestion slows down mid-run.
Your body struggle to break down complex food.

It just sits there, stealing energy.

What changed everything:
Simple carbs. Low fat. Low fibre.

A Banana and electrolytes 30 minutes out.
Coco pops.
Honey.

There’s a reason elite endurance athletes drink Coke.
It’s pure, instant energy your body doesn’t have to work for.

Easy to digest = strong to the finish.
Complex and “healthy” = bonking at halfway.

👋🏼Hi I’m Harry, I help professionals get stronger & fitter fit for life, and athlete’s smash their PB’s