Pilates and Running with Sarah

2 runners demonstrating perfect examples of smart racing last weekend😇

Andy (left) was running South Downs 50k, which was to be only his second ultra after a successful debut at Run to the Sea last year🏃‍♂️ When we knew Saturday was forecast to be the hottest day of the year, we talked hydration, electrolyte and pacing strategies and Andy backed off the pace and ran a well-executed race, to finish in 7:07 hours and had an absolute blast🤩

And then Harry (right) was running London to Brighton 100k🏃‍♂️ Coming off a strong Seville marathon training block and SDW50, he was hoping to run a big course PB at L2B, but again when the weather wasn’t playing ball, he adjusted his race goals and ran a really well-paced race, moving up the field as the race progressed, to finish in 14:47 hours🙌

A great run from Claire last weekend as she ran NDW50, the second race in her Centurion Grand Slam finishing in 10:48 hours and enjoying every minute of it🤩

She’s now got a bit of a break from the GS before the next race In September, but has got a busy summer planned with a 5 marathons in 5 days in July🏃‍♀️

It was another busy weekend of racing with marathon season in full swing🙌 In alphabetical order…..

Kat was running London Marathon after running a big PB at Seville earlier in the year, and she’s now in mountain 🐐 training for OCC so the plan was to treat London as a controlled fun run out🥳 And she ran 3:37, a time which only 2.5 years ago would have been a PB for her……and now she’s running that time for fun in the middle of mountain training!🙃

Katie (pic 1) was also running London as part of her build to Comrades in June, and she ran a brilliantly executed race to finish in 3:35, for her second fastest marathon ever🤩

Also at London was Maria (pic 2), who continues to amaze me what is possible with her running at the age of 76😍 After an amazing training block, gastroenteritis hit in race week😭, but Maria still managed to finish in 5:36, beating the GFA qualifying time for her age group by a whopping 30 minutes🩷

And then up in Stratford upon Avon, Suzy (pic 3) was running the Shakespeare Marathon, this was the final marathon of her 50s…..and she ran her second fastest marathon ever and fastest time since 2015 to finish in a brilliant 3:48🤩

And then on Sunday it was Brighton Marathon Weekend🙌

Aysha ran first in the 10k, finishing in a solid 42:18, despite running half of it into a strong headwind - the joys of racing on the south coast💨🫠 Here’s hoping for less windy conditions at Worthing 10k in a few weeks time🤞

And then Ben was running the marathon, where he’d had a great block of consistent training and was targeting a PB of 3:15👊

And in less than optimal conditions at times, he ran a fantastically executed race and came away with a huge 14 minute PB in 3:13:47🙌 A super result to round out a super training block, and there’s definitely more to come at Frankfurt later in the year👊

Some excellent running on the south coast this last weekend, starting on Saturday with the SDW50🏃‍♀️🏃🏽

This was the first race in Claire’s Centurion 50 mile grand slam, and she finished in a fantastic 10:15 hours, knocking 30 minutes off her time from last year🙌 What is even more impressive is that Claire underwent foot surgery in December, and is testament that if you do your rehab and XTing you can comeback stronger than ever👊

Harry was also running SDW50, and as always Harry impresses me as he juggles running his own business, family life with 2 little ones, international travel work and still finds time to train😇

His dedication paid off as he ran a really well-executed race to finish in 10:19 hours, ticking off another successful training block and race✅🙌

Another busy weekend of racing, and again in alphabetical order….

Aoife was running the Paris Half Marathon in the build up to her 24 hour race next month and ran a nice controlled progressive 1:39✅

Claire A was running the hilly Steyning Stinger marathon, which she finished in 5:05 hours, and the most impressive thing about this was that in December Claire had foot surgery to sort a long-standing foot injury🙃 She was a model patient with her rehab and did lots of XTing when she couldn’t run, and the return to running couldn’t have gone any better, and shows that sometimes you have to take a little step backwards to make big gains forward🙌

Up in Scotland, Claire R was running Inverness Half Marathon🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 This is part of her build towards GUCR in May and again she ran a controlled consistent race to finish in 2:04😀

And then finally Kat was at Paddock Wood Half Marathon, her final road race in an epic 12 months of road racing, which has seen her PB across 5k, 10k and marathon distance👏 And she ran a big 2+ min PB of 1:33 to claim a full sweep of road PBs🤩 And now it’s time for her to put her Alphaflys away and get her trail trainers and poles out as we turn our attention to OCC training next🙌

Some great racing at a very wet and windy Brighton Half Marathon yesterday🙌 In alphabetical order…..🙃

First up is Andy, who despite the less than optimal racing conditions🫠, rounded out a super block of training with a 4+ minute PB in 1:50👏

Then Aysha was just using this as a ‘fun run’ as we focus on shorter races for the first half of the year, and despite running with a stitch for 13 miles🫠, still ran a solid 1:36 and always with her trademark smile😍

Next up is Maria, who yet again showed that age is just a number, as she won the V75 age category by a huge margin, with a brilliant 2:21🤩

And then last but certainly not least, Suzy, whose A race is the Glasgow to Edinburgh later in the year, but we are using some shorter races in the build up to this, and she ran a strong 1:50 showing the road to Glasgow is already looking very bright🥳

Also racing in Seville was Harry🏃🏽 With two children and a new business launched in the past year, time is precious for Harry, so we reduced his training to just 3 runs a week and focused on making every run count.

And Harry absolutely rose to the challenge, often getting up at 4am to start his long runs at 5am😇 His commitment paid off with a superb 3:51, his second-fastest marathon, an achievement he should be incredibly proud of👏

Over in Spain, Kat ran the Seville Marathon🇪🇸🍊and what a run it was🤩 Her marathon progression over the past few years has been phenomenal.

When we first started working together, she’d run just one marathon (just under 4 hours) and wasn’t even sure she liked marathons🤣 Since then, she has improved year after year, and in Seville she produced a perfectly paced negative split to finish in 3:20, a huge 7-minute PB and comfortably securing her Boston qualifier🤩

Kat truly is the Queen of Consistency👸 In 3½ years of coaching she has never missed a run😇 and it’s brilliant to see that dedication rewarded🩷

Some fantastic racing this weekend🤩

First up, Aoife ran the Donadea 50K (Irish 50K Championships) 🇮🇪 This was planned as a tune-up race ahead of her 24-hour race in a couple of months, but she still delivered a superb performance, a brilliantly executed race and a 5-minute PB, finishing in 4:09🤩

Aoife has an incredibly busy work life, often with long, unsociable hours, yet she consistently finds a way to train at a high level, and it’s so rewarding to see that commitment pay off, with yet another strong result😍