In Search of Hope – Strava Art For Beginners

If you’re a regular Strava user, you’ll have seen them. Sketches, portraits, and words spelled out in city streets. They are shared widely on social media, traveling far beyond the world of obsessive runners and graphomaniacs. I’ve often wondered how their creators have the time and energy to create their invisible messages and artworks whilst … Read more

Quitting Strava: The Surprising Benefits Of A Social Media Break

Runners seek motivation and accountability from different places. Some turn to their partner or family members for encouragement, others join a running club, and some runners even depend on their beloved four-legged companion and run with their dog.  Another popular avenue for increasing motivation to run is by using a running app. Running apps not … Read more

Women And Ultrarunning: Why Women Make Awesome Ultra Runners

Ultrarunning continues to gain a ton of popularity as runners all over the world are making it their go-to sport. Women and ultrarunning seem to be a match made in heaven as strong women everywhere are completely smashing it on the trails!  More and more women are signing up for and running ultras every day. … Read more

Marginal Gains: 9 Ways To Level Up Your Running

The concept of marginal gains considers how by making small adjustments to your habits, you will eventually produce improvements in performance. While in isolation the adjustment may not result in a noticeable difference but combining them all together and then repeating the process over time, should lead to significant gains. In this article, coach Cathal … Read more

Consistency: The Essential Pillar to Long-Term Running Success

Whether you’re just starting out, maintaining your current condition, or looking to improve, the element that must always be present in your training, and life in general, is consistency.  There are no shortcuts in distance running. If we want to achieve our goals, improve, and avoid a decline in our fitness levels, we need to … Read more

Choosing The Path Of More Resistance

I’ve always found running to be a good metaphor for life in general. I know that running has made me better in other aspects of my life, and I’m sure this has something to do with running being hard. As much as I love running, it isn’t always easy. But hey, neither is life. And … Read more

How Derek Murphy Catches Marathon Cheats : Marathon Investigation

You can run, but can’t hide from Derek Murphy, the man behind MarathonInvestigation.com.  For the past six years, Murphy has been catching marathon cheats in the form of bib stealers, bib mules, bib buyers, and course cutters in races around the world, starting with the Boston Marathon and stretching to far-flung places such as the … Read more

Hash House Harriers: The Global Drinking Club With a Running Problem

The Hash House Harriers, or HHH, or H3, are a global group of sociable and non-competitive runners and drinkers. The Hash House Harriers are known as The Running Club With A Drinking Problem or The Drinking Club With A Running Problem, and their favourite drink is beer. Globally, there are more than 1,700 groups of Hash House Harriers, and … Read more

The Marathon Monks of Japan: The World’s Toughest Ultramarathon

The Marathon Monks (gyoja) of Mt. Hiei, Japan take on kaihōgyō, a spiritual challenge of endurance in pursuit of enlightenment.  The journey lasts over seven years and the stakes are high.  If they fail, the monk must perform Hara-kiri – ‘honourable suicide’.  If they survive, they become a living saint. They wear white, the Buddhist … Read more

Adventures in Distance Running and Keto: How To Run Far on an LCHF Diet

In this post, I’m going to share my experience and advice in adopting the keto diet for 10-14 day cycles as a distance runner.   We’ll explore the background of ketosis, explain the potential benefits, and address the nay-sayers.  Interested in keto and running? Let’s jump in! The principle behind the ‘keto’ diet is that … Read more

My Story of Overtraining

In 2018, Mark Callaghan embarked on a wild journey of running all six World Marathon Majors, followed by the Comrades 89km ultramarathon.   In this guest blog, he recounts the story of a year of travelling the world running – and the running overtraining issues he faced in running back-to-back events. He talks about the unexpected … Read more