Welcome, hope you all smashed last week’s training!
Quick update before we get into it. This Wednesday, I race. The Top Flight 5K at Battersea, my first number pinned on in seven weeks. One honest hit-out to find out what the reset has built.
But since I can’t race just yet, I did the next best thing. I made six runners race instead, and I put my own money on the line for it.
One lap of the track at world record marathon pace. That’s it. That’s the whole challenge.
It did not go how they expected. Let’s get into it.
Sawe held that pace for 105 and a half laps. I asked for one.
This Week:
→ Race week: the four comeback rules I’m using on myself.
→ This week’s video: Battersea, a game of seconds.
→ Your perks: BEST10, plus the £30 SiS challenge wrap-up.
→ The race-week sharpener session, waiting in the Hub.
This Week's Video: A Sub-15 That Came Down to Seconds
The last time I raced a 5K at Battersea, I went after a sub-15. Same park I line up in on Wednesday. Same crowded, chaotic course, weaving through runners, dodging people crossing, never quite getting a clean line. And the whole thing came down to a handful of seconds at the end.
Right side of 15, or wrong side? I genuinely did not know until the final straight, and that big finish is exactly the feeling I have been missing for seven weeks. Watching it back is half the reason I am so ready to pin a number on again.
Wrong side or right side? Hit the button and watch how it ended.
Weekly Blog
🏃 Four Rules I'm Following For My First Race Back
This Wednesday I'll be standing on a start line for the first time in seven weeks. Naturally, I'm excited, but I'm also reminding myself of something I tell the athletes I coach all the time.
The biggest mistake runners make after a break usually isn't losing fitness. It's poor judgement.
In this week's blog, I share the four rules I'll be following before, during and after my race. You'll learn why effort matters more than pace, why the first race back should never be judged by the clock alone, and how one simple mindset shift can stop a comeback becoming another setback.
If you've got a comeback race coming up, this one's for you.
Inside Running: The Fastest Runners in the World… and the Luckiest?
There are two completely different conversations happening in running this week.
One is about the fastest people on the planet.
The other is about everyone else.
Just seven days after Josh Kerr finally brought down the mile world record, the spotlight shifts to Glasgow as the Commonwealth Games athletics programme gets underway. Some of the world's best athletes will spend the next week chasing medals, national records and moments that could define careers.
We'll watch runners attack races with years of preparation behind them. Every split planned. Every session banked. Every detail obsessed over.
At the very highest level, success is built on control.
Then, almost at the same time, Boston announced something that has runners around the world talking for a very different reason.
The Boston Marathon is creating an additional 1,000 places for qualified runners through a new drawing system.
Read that again.
Not a faster qualifying standard.
Not another chance to run a quicker time.
A draw.
Your Subscriber Perks
Two things for you this week. One’s always on. One’s brand new, with a deadline of whoever moves first.
→ BEST10 gets you 10% off gear and merch. Same code, always on for you.
→ This week’s drop: the challenges are HERE, as promised. Two to start. Take on the 67-second lap test and post your time in the Hub. And bring three friends into the Hub (free for them too), because the first runner to do it wins a £30 Science in Sport voucher. Full rules in the Hub.
What's Next
The plan from here hasn't changed. Load, strength, and easy running through the reset, then the Top Flight 5K at Battersea on Wednesday 29 July, a first hit-out to see how the body responds before I fly to South Africa. The proper ramp starts 1 September.
And between now and then, the challenge is live. Run your lap, post your time in the Hub, and next Monday I’m sharing the best of them. If enough of you take it on, I’ll put a prize behind the fastest improvement.
So get to a track this week. One lap. See what it tells you.
Thanks for reading all the way through. It honestly means a lot.
Boom Shakalaka! 🔥
Coach Nick
