You’ve probably heard the phrase:
“Train smarter, not just harder.”
It sounds simple — but after coaching many athletes over the years, I’ve realised most runners still fall into the same traps.
Here are the five mistakes I see most often — and how you can avoid them.
1. Running Too Many Sessions at the Same Pace
One of the biggest barriers to improvement is doing every run at a similar effort level.
Your training week should include at least two purposeful hard days. These are the sessions where you switch on mentally, prepare properly, and truly challenge yourself.
Examples include:
Track or interval sessions
Tempo runs
Fartlek workouts
Hill sessions
Structured efforts within a long run
These are the moments where progress happens — when you step outside your comfort zone.
But here’s the key:
Hard days only work if easy days are truly easy.
Recovery runs allow muscle repair and adaptation to take place. If you push too hard on easy days, you arrive at your quality sessions fatigued — limiting performance and slowing improvement.
Around 75–80% of your weekly running should feel controlled and comfortable.
If you run the same pace every day, you will improve — just much slower than if your training has structure and purpose.
2. Neglecting Strength and Conditioning
Most runners love running.
Far fewer enjoy strength work — yet it’s one of the biggest factors in staying injury-free.
Strength training builds resilience. It supports weak areas before they become problems and helps make training sustainable long term.
Too often, runners only start strength work after an injury appears.
Don’t wait for that moment.
Aim for:
Two weighted strength sessions per week, or
At minimum, one structured session plus regular bodyweight work.
Simple movements done consistently make a huge difference:
Jump squats
Lunges
Calf raises
Even small daily habits add up.
👉 Ten squats a day can genuinely keep the niggles away.
3. Increasing Training Too Quickly
Running fitness takes time to build. The body adapts gradually — never overnight.
A common pattern I see is this:
A runner starts structured training.
Improvement comes quickly.
Motivation rises.
Training load increases too fast.
Injury follows.
Progress is exciting — and addictive — but patience is essential.
As a general guideline, avoid increasing mileage, speed, or training load by more than 10% week-to-week.
Gradual progression gives you the best chance of improving consistently while staying healthy.
4. Not Practising Nutrition During Training
Race day is never the time to experiment.
Your stomach needs training just like your legs do.
Earlier in my career, I believed running long distances without fuelling would somehow make race-day gels more effective. That thinking was wrong.
Consistent fuelling during training:
improves performance,
enhances adaptation,
and prepares your body to tolerate race nutrition.
You want to arrive at race day confident — knowing exactly what works for you.
Practise your gels. Practise your hydration. Practise your routine.
It matters more than most runners realise.
We live in an era where nearly every run ends up online.
It’s easy to compare yourself to others — perfect form, fast paces, impressive workouts.
But comparison can quietly damage your training.
Many runners start pushing easy runs too hard because they worry about how their pace looks on Strava.
The truth?
Your easy runs should serve your training — not your social media profile.
The easier you run on recovery days, the fresher you’ll feel for quality sessions. And productive training leads to real results.
Own your style. Run your own race.
Final Thoughts
I’ve made many of these mistakes myself.
Running improvement isn’t about doing more — it’s about doing the right things consistently.
Train smart. Stay patient. Look after your body.
Give yourself the best chance to improve while minimising injury risk.
Onwards and upwards,
Coach Nick
