Paula's Run Club

It’s Week 6  in our Road to London Marathon series! This week’s guest is Nicola Carragher who’s gone from novice runner to completing marathons across the world - helped by her husband, former Liverpool and England defender Jamie who is often criss-crossing cities on water and refuelling duty.   Nicola’s ‘can do’ attitude to running is remarkable, so if you’re struggling for inspiration to get out...

This week on the Shakeout, we hear about Paula's ranking after her Six Star Marathons achievements and answer more of your questions.  INCLUDING Should you join a running club if you need help getting back on track after injury and how to deal with nerves ahead of a marathon. We also talk about when to buy those new trainers...  PLUS we of course have the Honours Board where we find out what £2 mi...

Welcome to Week 5 in our Road to London Marathon series! Comedian, podcast host and runner, Rob Deering joins us to talk running but mainly makes us laugh!  He explains how he can run a marathon and host a podcast at the same time when most people are focussing on just surviving. He tells us his getting-into-running story and how running helps him honour his dad's memory. Music is a huge part of R...

Welcome to the weekly Shakeout where we answer all of your burning questions. Also this week - find out why a listener makes Thommo cry! If you'd like to know whether Strides could be the answer to your Sub 4 dreams, whether or not you should start training at week 1 even if you're an advanced runner or if you have burning feet then this is the episode for you! PLUS should you join a running club...

Strength and conditioning expert Rich Blagrove joins us this week with tips on how to build those exercises into your week. He discusses the importance of S&C sessions in your marathon training with some invaluable advice about HOW to do it and WHEN to do it! Meanwhile, Thommo has tweaked his calf but is relieved to discover that Paula is back having survived the Bermuda triangle..  it might be so...

Our build up to the London Marathon continues with more of your questions in the weekly Shakeout. This week the topics include advice on positioning yourself within a marathon and mental strategies for running in a pack. Paula and Thommo chat about how to train in the heat, especially if you're wanting to train outside rather than on a treadmill. There's information about how to taper your distanc...

Our road to London continues with some brilliant advice from Georgie Bruinvels who's an expert in sports physiology. She's got plenty of tips on nutrition, supplements, boosting our immune systems and how to know we're doing the right things. There's also a good discussion about using creatine. She talks to Paula and Thommo about gut health and probiotics and there's a discussion about pelvic floo...

Our build up to the London Marathon continues with more of your questions in the weekly shakeout. Paula and Thommo begin today with some reflections on the World Cross Country Championships. This week the topics include running with bunions and recovery after surgery...a subject Paula knows all too well. Paula and Thommo chat about whether you should train in miles or kilometres and surprising thi...

It's Week 2 of our Road to London and we have the PERFECT guest as we're joined by Hugh Brasher, CEO of London Marathon events. He tells us about some London Marathon exclusives, gives us his top tips for race day, advice for first time runners and gives us his marathon times predictions - World Records anyone?! Hugh also talks to us about how the LM is a celebration of humanity and we can't help...

It's the first weekly Shakeout in the 16 week run-up to the London Marathon. Paula and Thommo are giving out advice to all your running questions. They discuss aiming for two marathons in 2026 whilst recovering from a four month lay-off. There's a discussion on strength and recovery sessions to help rehab and improvement...with a focus on the back and calf. There's a question on arms and elbows wh...

Happy New Year! Today kick's off our road to the London Marathon with 16 weeks of tips and plans in the build-up. The year has started with Paula being awarded an OBE for her services to running and broadcasting. So congratulations Paula! Today's main guest is someone was such a popular medal winner at the World Championships in Tokyo in 2025. Uruguay's Julia Paternain entered the race ranked 288t...

Happy New Year! On this first weekly Shakeout of 2026 we talk resolutions and answer your questions. There's a question about trying to break 3 hours for a marathon and another query from someone looking to come home in under 4 hours who wonders if they're missing somethingn to help them record a PB. In the discussion, there's a side issue about the use of new tech in running shoes and how much it...

Today's guest is the former England women's footballer Jill Scott MBE, who was part of the Euro winning squad in 2022. She's also a winner of I'm a Celebrity...and also winner of the junior Great North Run and the North East Junior Cross Country Championships. We recorded this ahead of a charity quiz we were all part of. Jill talks about her junior running career and what it taught her along with...

Happy Christmas! As this episode drops on Christmas Day Paula and Thommo chat Christmas Dinner, Christmas Stockings and a Christmas Day run. With so many colds and so much flu about there's a timely question about whether to run and when to rest. It's not an easy answer! Thanks for your questions... other subjects we look at today include how to pace runs to make them a little easier; There's the...

Paula and Thommo bring you a special Christmas Edition. They talk about running on Christmas Day - when do they run and why? And they share how they spend Christmas and how much they eat! Thommo insists on doing Christmas cracker jokes...which he loves. There's a reflection on 2025 and some of the people that have been on the podcast...like Chelsea Clinton, Dr Steve Peters, Jake Wightman, Brendan...

Paula and Thommo's pre-Christmas shakeout answers your running questions and reveals a quirky injury Paula picked up just before a world record breaking run. There's a fair amount of marathon talk, including dealing with the mental aspect of setbacks and decline. One of the community is pondering running the Manchester and London marathons, which are within a week of each other. Family and friends...

Today's guest is Ricky Wilson, the front man of the Kaiser Chiefs. It's a lot of fun as he talks about his love of running and his disastrous marathon. Ricky tells Paula and Thommo about his London marathon experience - he finished the course in over 5 days...after collapsing at mile 24 on the day of the event. Now Ricky runs for himself, every day, to give himself headspace...but it's also inspir...

Paula and Thommo are back on the South Coast with our sponsors HIGH 5 in Brighton. Any more south and they'd be in the sea! They're answering questions from our invited audience covering the best ways to stay hydrated; the reasons layering your running gear is good...but also bad; and how to take 20 minutues off your PB. Plus we'll look at the best ways to approach your first marathon if it's 3 mo...

It's been great to have Innes FitzGerald chat with us ahead of the European Cross Country Championships. She's part of the new generation of British Athletes going for a third success title in the under 20's race. Innes talks about her rise from finishing way back in the pack(176th) in the English Schools Championships to where she is now. Her career has moved quickly under the guidance of Jo and...

On today's Shakeout Paula and Thommo are answering more of your running questions. There's a great one from a 30 year old runner who's come up with the 3 F's weekly approach. Something fun, something fast and something far! We love this. And there's advice on pacing a first marathon. One of our club members, who has a gastric sleeve has just done his first half marathon and wants to get advice on...

We're back in Rutland for the second podcast recorded in front of a live audience at the Steve Cram training camp. Today we hear from breathing expert Jane Tarrant and Nick Hardy, running shoe guru. Paula and Thommo question Nick about the carbon plate revolution and the science behind it. He explains the difference they can make to runners of all standards. Jane speaks passionately about breathin...

On today's Shakeout Paula and Thommo are giving out advice to a listener who's getting frustrated at not being able to run faster! Paula prefers quality over quantity when it comes to training. A 45 year old mum also asks about times! She wants to repeat a sub 3 hour marathon but worries she won't be able to break that barrier again. Whilst Thommo struggles to say 'let your race weight find you ra...

Today we're joined by British running legend Steve Cram in an episode recorded in front of a live audience at one of his running training camps in Rutland. Steve sets the scene by talking about how he gets inspired byseeing runners of all abilities coming together and hearing their motivations. He then takes wide-ranging questions from the audience - from pre-race superstitions to tips for prepara...

On this episode of the Shakeout we've got some great racing and training advice. Paula's asked how she managed to combine daily family life with running two marathons. And both Thommo and Paula give some heartfelt words for anyone dealing with a long-term injury and the feeling that you'll never be able to run again. Cat wants tips for running the 'Liverpool Cross' - the British Athletics Cross Ch...

When grief struck three times in less than two years, Lisa Jackson turned to the one thing that had always helped her through life’s hardest moments: running. And today she shares her journey, her laughter and tears with Paula and Thommo. Lisa is full of energy and wisdom as she shares how she dealt with the devastating death of her husband from cancer. She shares the lessons she's learnt and how...