The E=MC2 of running

This week's Parkrun challenge was to run an epic sprint finish. I'm not sure that mine was entirely epic, certainly no Usain Bolt but it was a least both a sprint and a finish. I had the opportunity to run in a new pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS running shoes so I talk about that, and finally I talk about the sprint in the World University Games and the controversy surrounding that. 

This week's Parkrun challenge should have been to run in the rain! But it wasn't, it was to run at a Parkrun that you hadn't been to before. I planned to go to Chester, I'd sorted out the route there, worked out where to park and was all set for my tourism Parkrun. This episode is about how week 3's challenge went.

This week we were getting ready for Alex and Emily getting married next Saturday so we had to dress up as if we were going to the Hen Night or the Stag Night. In this week's episode I talk about how it all went and a few thoughts that came out of that. 

Maggie gives a bit of an update on her running and why it's been a while since the last episode but mainly this week's podcast is mainly about the crazy Warriors Parkrun Challenge and how she got on in week 1. Just to say, it was a lot of fun. 

I ran my first race in ages on Friday, a 5k in a lovely village near Chester. This is my race report - tune in to find out how it went. 

School sports day - you either love it or loathe it. I'm more in the latter category, perhaps because my kids aren't all that athletic and I'm far too competitive. It can be fun though and then there's the parents race. The question is though - as a serious athlete, should you bother taking part?

I found a really interesting article looking at bone injuries in adolescent athletes. The group that did the study took a group of boys and studied them over 4 seasons taking lots of measurements to assess bone growth and skeletal maturation. I discuss their findings and my thoughts on what it means for those of us who are coaching young athletes.  The link to the abstract can be found here 

In episode 7, I featured a story about an ultramarathon runner called Jo Zakrzewski who had completed a 48 hour race running an incredible 255 miles. However, she was less of a hero in a recent 50 mile race.  I also feature some marathon musings from the recent London marathon and my own exploits and plans.

Iten is known as the runner's paradise. It is the place that you go to if you want to learn about why many of the best long distance athletes in the world are Kenyan's and it's the home of many of the world's best long distance athletes. But Iten has a darker secret. In late 2021, Agnes Tirop was found murdered, with her husband/manager/coach implicated in this murder. Within 6...

I set myself a goal to run every day this year, and so far, I have achieved that goal. I also set myself a goal to run at least 30km each week, and again, I have managed to achieve that. However, what I haven't done is much speed work and so I wasn't sure how I would get on running 5km at parkrun. Would I be able to maintain a good pace? Would I die after running the first km too fast? I...

Following on from World Athletics announcing that transgender athletes would be banned from international female competitions, UK Athletics has following suit and made a similar ruling. In this episode, I talk about this decision. I also provide an update on how my running is going. 

In this week's episode, Maggie talks to her friend, Jen Young, about some of the joys of parkrunning and we compare notes on their running experiences

I'm joined this week by Ronan Kearney, coach and founder of Warriors Pentathlon and Athletics Club . In this episode we discuss the benefits of getting young athletes involved in activities other than just running and how to bring fun back into running. We also talk about laser run, pentathlon, biathlon, fell running and other sports that might contribute to running. 

In this week's episode I spoke to friend and fellow scientist, Michelle Ma, about her experience of running. Michelle would not describe herself as an elite runner and has never competed in a running race (since school) - so what motivates her to run? We discuss some of the benefits of running, our favourite places to run in London, whether it's better to run with music or without and a...

I was very excited to be joined by Dr Eoin Everard for this week's episode. Eoin is a biomechanics specialist and chartered physiotherapist from Ireland, he's also a pretty phenomenal runner being 5 times National Champion, sub 4 min miler and sub 30 min 10k runner. I wanted to ask him about the benefits, or not, of static vs dynamic stretching as part of a normal running workout. Howeve...

This Saturday was the National cross country championships and, for English athletes, this meant a trip to Bolesworth Castle near Chester. In this episode I talk about my highlights from the race (as a spectator not a runner) and I also talk about heart rate and the effect of different resting heart rates on running performance. 

What is the longest distance you have ever run? For me, I think it's 28 miles. However, this weekend, British athlete Jo Zakrzewski ran 255 miles in 48 hours. In this week's episode, I talk about this amazing achievement. 

What happens when you are training for a marathon and you get injured or sick? I've often heard people say that it won't have a big impact on your overall performance in the marathon. But is this true? Maybe that's the case if you just need to take off a couple of days, but what about a week or two weeks? Is it OK to take this much time off from marathon training or will that actual...

In this week's episode, Maggie looks at a paper by Boere et al ( https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-26093-2 ) in Nature Scientific reports where the authors look whether a short walk outside is better than a short walk inside. While running on the treadmill can be great, especially if the weather is bad, are there actually hidden benefits of running outside. Maggie discusses the paper...

In this week's episode, Maggie gets annoyed with somebody who says that running in the cold is just about having the right kit. She also talks about her excitement over this year's Spine race . If she were ever to run the race herself, she might not make it past the Green Dragon pub and tea rooms - sounds far too tempting not to just stay there. Link to Katie Holmes website is here: Run...

Are trail runners as good as road runners? An article published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research ( https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36515604/ ) looked at differences in economy, biomechanics, strength and power between trail runners and road runners. I talk a bit about this article and the differences in running different disciplines.  I also provide a recap on how I'm gett...

Sudden cardiac death in athletes is extremely rare. However, a recent letter in the Scandinavian Journal of Immunology (Polykretis and McCullough - Rational harm-benefit assessment by age group are required for continued COVID-19 vaccination suggests that there have been as many of these types of deaths in the past 2 years as in the previous 38 years! Is that true?  In this episode I looked into f...

Welcome back to the E=mc2 of running for Season 2!  In this episode, Maggie talks about how to set a New Year's resolution (that you might actually be able to stick to). She talks about her own New Year's resolution and also gives an update on where she currently is with her running.  No science this week but some helpful advice. 

You've heard of supershoes but have you heard of superpants?  I really want a pair of superpants? These are definitely the next thing in running technology to make you go faster.  Find out more about the science behind them on the podcast or, alternatively, follow the links in the excellent article from Outside magazine https://www.outsideonline.com/health/training-performance/running-exoskel...

Do you like running in the dark? What about if it's cold and wet and dark? I've really struggled this past couple of weeks getting out and running when it has been dark. I tried to find out if there was anything in the scientific literature to support my case against actually running in the dark. Alas, I found little of significance. I did, however, come across an interesting story which...