The E=MC2 of running

Are these new Nike running shoes really faster? What evidence is there for the 4% claim? We discuss an article which looks at runners in marathon majors to see if times improved by wearing the new Nike shoes. The results are intriguing but there are still some questions. I'm joined this week by Wirral AC chairman and rather speedy marathon runner, John Heap, to discuss these shoes in more det...

I decided that my Sunday podcast during lockdown would be slightly different. As a Christian I find many similarities between running and living a Christian life and there are several verses in the bible that allude to this. So, I thought I'd share one of my favourites with you and talk a little about it. This week it is Isaiah 40: 30-31.

What is your 'local area' when it comes to exercising during lockdown. The rules allow us to exercise with one other person in our local area but 2 women were fined for breaking the rules when they met at a reservoir 5 miles from their homes. So what is local and how far from our homes can we run?

What happens if it snows? Can you still run? In this podcast I give you my top tips for running in the snow. I'm only talking about British snow here (which is usually rather pathetic) and not great piles of snow like you get in some other countries. I think you'll find my tips quite useful but the main thing is - take care.

How's your lockdown going so far? I've got a little tip today that might help you just to break up your Zoom meeting/Google meet filled day while also providing a boost to your running training.

Every day during lockdown I intend to put out a short podcast to motivate, inspire, encourage, amuse or just entertain my running friends. Here's today's episode - day 1 of Lockdown 3.0.

I was lucky enough to get an interview with Mara Yamauchi for this week's podcast. Mara is a double Olympian, competing in the 2008 and 2012 marathon events. She is also, notably, Britian's second fastest female marathon runner ever with a PB of 2:23:12. It was so lovely speaking to her, she was so interesting and had lots of helpful things to say whether you are training for a marathon...

It's been a weird kind of year for all of us. It's been frustrating and crazy and difficult, but it's also been an opportunity to learn, to help each other and to improve. I started the year wondering if I could be bothered to run competitively anymore and I finished the year fitter, stronger and faster. I learnt a lot of interesting things along the way and I share my year with you...

This week I talk to Arran Kearney. He's just returned from his first term at college in the USA. We chat about how you can apply to study in the US, how you choose a suitable college to go to, what it's like being there, differences in training and the sports culture in US compared with UK. It's a really great insight into what it's like to study on a running scholarship in the...

Has your exercise level increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic? Certainly some people took up exercise back in March but has that continued? How difficult is it to be motivated to go out for a run on cold, dark evenings? Are there ways of making exercise more fun? These are the questions we tackle on this week's podcast with Maggie and Peter Cooper.

What’s your best running streak? I mean how many days in a row have you run. Mine’s about 10 days. Charlie Slack’s is more that 250 days and he’s only 7 years old. In this week’s podcast I interviewed Charlie and his dad, Tim, and asked why he was running a mile a day. We found out what motivated Charlie to take on such a challenge, where the money he has raised is going and how he has managed to...

What if everything we had been told about a healthy diet was wrong? What if fat didn’t make you fat? What if breakfast cereals weren’t actually made to provide you with a good meal to start to the day but were invented to suppress sexual desire? These are the sort of questions explored in Charlie Spedding’s book, Stop Feeding us Lies. I interviewed Charlie about his book and about his marathon run...

I was interested when I heard about the Mymo device, a small sensor that you can use to test your running gait. You place the sensor in a little pocket in a kind of 'half-sock' and run for 1 min (for each foot) to carry out the test. The test is quick and simple and can be done on a treadmill or outside on a flat surface. How good was it though and was there any scientific evidence to sh...

How might barefoot running help? How can you transition to barefoot running or how can you incorporate some barefoot running into your weekly routine? These are some of the questions I discussed with my friend Anne Rosbottom (a Pose Method Running Technique Specialist, a Born to Run Technique Coach and a UKA Leader in Running Fitness http://www.annerosbottom.co.uk ). We based our discussion around...

This week we interview Kalie Demerjian who recently came 3rd in the 100 mile Javelina Jundred, we look at how she started running, her first marathon and what it was like to run a crazy 100 mile race in the desert.

Have you ever wondered whether having big feet is an advantage when running? This week we look at a paper which compares the feet of 400m sprinters and untrained members of the public. Peter and Maggie had fun discussing the findings.

Is there a secret to running an even paced marathon? What factors may help you to not slow down in the second half of the race? We look at how you might be able to improve your pacing strategy for a marathon and reveal some of the secrets of running a better marathon.

Do you listen to music while you're running? We investigate whether there is any basis to suggest that listening to loud music when you're running could put you at great risk of injury.

In this special episode, Maggie discusses a paper about the difference in training of Kenyan and European athletes with Ronan Kearney, senior coach with the Wirral Endurance Programme. Why are the Kenyans so successful and what are the differences in the training that they do and the training that elite European athletes do?

Is one of your legs stronger than the other and does this impact on your running economy? We take a look at a paper that analyses asymmetry in adolescent runner and whether it affected their running. Maggie also did a crazy orienteering challenge at the weekend in a rather up and down week.

In this week's episode we look at recovery. Specifically Maggie reviews Good to Go by Christie Aschwandan a book about how to eat, sleep and rest like a champion. Have you ever wondered whether protein shakes, ice baths, massage etc. work? Well this is a book for you. If you are particularly interested in finding more about supplements then have a listen to Ross Tucker's The Real Science...

Can running help protect you against COVID-19? I look at a paper that talks about the effects of exercise on the immune system, particularly how exercise may be able to help protect the immune system from deteriorating as we age. I also discuss the beneficial effects our muscles have on our immune system when we exercise.

If you are currently injured then this one is definitely for you. We look at an interesting article about how your running gait might be causing your injury, but the good news is that there is something you can do about it.

This week we did an interval session on the track and everybody seemed to record different distances on their GPS watches so in this week's episode we look at a paper about the accuracy of GPS watches. Can you rely on the data that they give you and are there some conditions where they are more or less accurate? Here's a link to the article https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC73...

This week I've been doing a bit of cross-training aka messing about with the kids doing a bit of climbing and canoeing. But, can incorporating cross-training help improve your running? This week I look at a paper from the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2020, 19, 508 https://www.jssm.org/) which compared high intensity interval training either on a bike or running on the track in a gr...