Porthkerry 5: multi-terrain running race

Mark took part in the Porthkerry 5 this morning, it's a 5 mile off road (multi-terrain) running race held in Porthkerry Park, near Barry.

It's a tough race, all off road and it has some tough, tough hills thrown in at several points in the race, just to spice things up a bit!

Mark used this race as a training race in the run up to his 'A' race of the season (Holland in July as part of the GB off-road triathlon team) and managed a very creditable 7th pace in a very large field of runners - well done Mark!

Mark provides one-to-one running, cycling and triathlon coaching and online training plans, so if you're in Cardiff, Penarth, Barry or Cowbridge and are contemplating getting a coach to guide you through your 2013 season contact Mark (Cardiff, Penarth & Barry) on 07947 010276 or visit the brand new WhittleFit website for more details on the running coaching services that Mark provides.

5 things to do to kick start your personal fitness program

The most common challenge that people I talk to face is how to incorporate fitness into their lives. They know they have to do something to get in shape but they really don’t know how. It can be quite off-putting because of the abundance of information out there. So much so that you may not know where to begin.

Our society has so many food choices that it is easy to pack on the extra pounds. Also our day to day jobs are far less physical as they where 100 years ago so we have more sedentary life styles. We know there are benefits involved when we exercise and clean up our diet, however, most of us don’t know how or where to start.

So where do we begin? Or is the question: How do we begin?

If you feel you are out of shape you should consider going to your doctor and get their approval to start exercising. Your doctor may also provide some helpful tips as well.

After you get the OK from your doctor, try these 5 things to help you get started:

1. Make the choice to start exercising and eating right: Making the decision to do something provides a form of commitment you make to yourself. Deciding that you need to change your behaviour creates new possibilities. When you say to your self “I need to get in shape”, it means something. You should be answering these questions in your mind: When can I work out? What exercises do I need to do? What foods should I be eating? Make yourself think about the commitment you just made. Only then you can let go of the past and take steps to move forward.

2. Write down what you do: You need a reference that is realistic towards your weekly activity. Write down everything you do during the week. This should include work hours, commuting hours, nights spent with your spouse, your child’s activities and anything else you can think of that you do. You should also include what you do on weekends. You should make a list for each day of the week, as some people set lofty goals like working out for 2 hours a day. This can be due to an old saying, “More is better”. However, this is not the case. Knowing your schedule will help you set realistic goals and help you find a few hours a week to start exercising. You’ll have a visual perspective on what you can and can’t do with your routine.

3. Research and get information: Most people do not have enough information before they start a work out program. So how do we get the information we need? The good news is we live in the information age. Take advantage of your favourite search engine and learn a little bit about fitness and nutrition. However, do not go overboard and lose focus. Find a source of information you like and take notes. Find the simplest and easiest workouts and nutrition tips. Don’t overload yourself with information. If you prefer you can hire a personal trainer for a few sessions to help you get started. Hiring a personal trainer is a great way to get started because you have made a commitment to meet someone to workout. Your goal is to have the trainer show you the basics on exercise and eating healthier. It may also be safer to learn how to perform the exercises (especially if you have not exercised for a while).

4. Create a simple plan and set realistic goals: Keep it simple! Following a simple plan while on a hectic schedule is much easier than following an convoluted plan. You should have a plan of which days you want to work out and a goal to change your eating habits for the next few weeks. For example, “I will work out for a half an hour for 3 days this week. I will eat a little less each meal.” Keeping it simple is a major key to success.

5. Execute your plan: Now that you have a plan, all you need to do is follow it. Sounds easy! However, this is another big step. You should look at your plan every day. You need be mentally prepared for the great day ahead of you. Having your daily schedule in hand will help you achieve your goals for the day. When you complete your workout for the day, highlight it or cross it off your list. It will show you that you accomplished something for yourself.

I hope these things help you get started on a new life of physical fitness. Life is filled with making decisions, knowing your commitments, getting information, planning and execution. Try these approaches for yourself and you will see that having your own workout and nutrition program is not as far fetched or complicated as you think. Good luck!

300 bodyweight challenge

The 300 bodyweight challenge:
Here's a quick 300 rep bodyweight circuit to start the day for you, here goes, enjoy!

Prisoner squats x20
Press ups x20
Alternate lunge x20 (x10 each leg)
Close grip press ups x20
Burpees x20
Rest 2mins
Repeat (3 rounds in total)

7 tops tips for healthier and fitter living

More and more people these days are getting sedentary instead of physical jobs. Sitting in the office chairs all day long has become the norm for many of us. The stress, busyness and rush make us forget about regular food and stuff our stomachs with convenient pre-packaged fast food and sugary drinks, which don't do anything good for our bodies.

As a result of such crazy life rhythm, we rarely find time for exercises, gyms or balanced nutrition. As a matter of fact, it's one of the reasons why there are now more that 60% of U.S citizens that are overweight. However, it is possible to change your lifestyle and lose your weight if you are willing to.

These 7 day-to-day life tips provided below will help you to drop your extra pounds, become more energetic and healthier.

1. Drink More Water
Our bodies need a lot of water. Water removes waste from our organisms and carries various nutrients into all our organs and cells. Your body also loses water by using it for various processes within the body. For this reason you have to replace it and drink water more often than you are used to. Start your day with a glass of water in the morning. Drink a glass of water before any meal. Take a bottle of water with you when you go to work. Your body needs approximately 3-5 liters of water during one day. So don't hesitate to drink plenty of water wherever and whenever you can.

2. Eat Fruits and Drink Fruit Juices
Eating fruits and juices helps you eliminate toxins from your body. Eating a variety of fruits also helps you get enough fibre, vitamins and antioxidants, which is one of the main reasons why you should eat fresh fruits and drink natural fruit juices as often as possible. Fruit juices from supermarkets are often sweetened (with a LOT of sugar!). If you want to drink juices, try to make fresh juices yourself. If you think it takes too much of the time, then look for juices with labels that say 100% fruit juice, these are much healthier for your body as they contain many more vitamins.

3. Eat Lots of Vegetables and Vegetable Salads
When it comes to losing extra pounds, vegetables are a great choice. They are natural and contain different vitamins, minerals and tons of other useful chemicals known to provide benefits for your body. Vegetables are low in fat and calories, they help control blood glucose levels, reduce blood cholesterol and reduce the risk of colon and other cancers. All these features also help control your weight effectively. If you feel that eating vegetables alone isn't great choice for you, then make some salads. Mixing vegetables together gives you even more different vitamins and health benefits. There are tons of tasty, healthy salad recipes on the internet. You can also use you imagination to make some great salads.

4. Eat Only When You Are Hungry
How many times you've been to a party where you saw lots of different and tasty looking meals, which you were offered to try. Don't just eat it because you are offered to. Eat only when you want to. Many people also like snacking. In between meals or when have nothing to do. Quit snacking. Most snacks contain a lot of fat and calories. Replace your usual snacks with vegetables or fruits. These are healthy to your body and you'll never get fatter, only thinner.

5. Carry Healthy Food with You
Many of us work busy office jobs and don't have time to eat regularly. In this case, bring your own made food with you. Instead of bringing sandwiches with meat, take vegetable salads, carrots or chicken or turkey salads. Any low fat food will do. This way, you won't have to wait for a break to fill your stomach. It's also quite important to try to eat about 5 times a day, rather than 3 or 2. Eat in smaller quantities, but more often. This helps you to increase your metabolism.

6. Work Out When You Can
Working out in a gym is not only a great way to grow some muscles, but also to drop a few pounds. Exercising helps you burn your calories instead of storing them in your body as fat. Our bodies were made to be active, so exercising slowly and easily can actually help you get more energy and make you feel much better. At the end of the week, try to lose all the stress and burn your calories in a gym or having some kind of physical activity at home. If you have time, then try to do easy exercises everyday.

7. Don't Lie Down or Sit When You Can Move
Many of us like to watch TV lying on a couch or sitting in a comfortable chair. Of course, when you come home after hard working day, you're tired, and all you can think of, is a couch and a remote in your hand. But such laziness won't help you lose weight. Contrarily, it will make you grow some more pounds. So don't lie or sit, when you can walk and move. Instead of staring at TV, go ahead and work out in your garden for example, clean your garage, fix your car, go to walk in the local park or beach. Breathe fresh air and move more often. Not only does it help to reduce stress after work, but also ups your mood and makes you more energetic.


Remember that all these tips will help you to lose weight, but only if you are determined and are ready to devote some of your time. Don't expect to slim down 4 sizes after eating 5 carrots and drinking orange juice. 

Your body, just like many things in this world, needs time. So be patient. And if you will honestly use at least some of these tips, you are going to change your lifestyle, which in the end will lead you to a thinner and healthier body.

Open water swim training for triathlon

With the triathlon season almost upon us, and many more people deciding to undertake bigger and longer triathlons, I thought it would be timely to highlight a few tips and tricks regarding the open water aspect of triathlon.

Because open-water swimming includes many variables that differ from normal pool swimming, the only way to get better is to practise; therefore you must get out and swim more in the open water. This is one of the biggest fundamentals of open water swimming, nonetheless, here are my top tips to help you excel at your next open water triathlon race:

1. Train in the open water
If you have a race in the open water, then you must train in the open water! Do not use the triathlon race itself as your first open water swim session, if you do you’re setting yourself up for disaster.

2. Practice sighting
When swimming in open water you have to lift your head out of the water to see where you are going (called sighting). One of the best ways I’ve found to sight is to lift your head straight up, look forward quickly, then turn your head to the side to breathe. Try to keep your head fairly low, just so your goggles are just out of the water, as you want to limit how high you lift your head because your hips will drop, causing more drag, thus slowing you down.

3. Sighting on buoys
Swimming in a straight line and sighting on the course buoys can be very difficult at times, due to the size of the buoys or the chop and swell of the water, therefore sighting on landmarks that don’t move (like a pier, house or trees) is the better option. So choose a stationary prominent landmark and swim to that, so much easier than sighting on a tiny buoy that you can only see every few minutes.

4. Practice swimming with others
Swimming on your own is very relaxing. Throw in a few hundred other people and all sorts of strange things happen! Try swimming with a masters swim group or during a "family" swim time and get used to not having the water to yourself. This will help you experience more choppiness than usual in the water, help you deal with unexpected changes of pace of other swimmers and allow you to become familiar with swimming in and around other people.

5. Drafting
Drafting is an integral part of open water swimming. It can help you sometimes and hurt you others. Swimming behind someone (called drafting) allows you to swim faster so you may be able to hang on to a faster group of swimmers, likewise you can also get stuck behind some slower swimmers who will slow you down. Additionally, you can be tempted to simply follow the feet in front of you and not sight the course, this is great if the swimmer in front is swimming the correct line, but please check, as you could both be swimming way off course if left unchecked!

So if you're in Cardiff, Penarth, Barry or Cowbridge and are contemplating an open water triathlon race and would like some help with your swim technique or your triathlon training plan, check out our Vale Sports Therapy website or contact Mark (Cardiff, Penarth & Barry) on 07947 010276.

Enjoy your open water swimming and have a great triathlon race!!!

Great Learn To Run workshop today

This morning we presented another successful Learn To Run workshop in Penarth, on the outskirts of Cardiff. The goal with our workshop is to teach the runner the steps, principles and drills to enable them to become more successful at running.

Richie, a local runner from Cwmbran, really enjoyed the workshop and had this to say about it:

"As a new runner I was looking for tips on technique when I came across the Whittlefit ‘Learn to Run’ Workshop. I have been coached in other sport most of my life and in comparison found the workshop format easily digestible. Match this with the welcoming, friendly and informative style of the Whittlefit team and I would recommend the Whittlefit ‘Learn to Run’ workshop to any new runners. Since attending I have noticed improvements in both pace, and more importantly comfort, and will be keeping a keen eye out for any future Whittlefit events."

So if you're a runner in Cardiff, Penarth, Barry or Cowbridge and are contemplating running a 10K, half marathon or full marathon and would like some help with your running technique or your running training plan, check out our Vale Sports Therapy website or contact Mark (Cardiff, Penarth & Barry) on 07947 010276.

First ever mountain bike race

I did my first ever mountain bike race this weekend! And what an experience it was!

It was a 90 minute race held by Red Kite Events as part of their Winter XC Series. It was my first MTB race and my first 'real' outing on the new Merida 29'er.

I travelled up to mid-Wales the night before, just so I could get to the race site in plenty of time, and the weather was looking rather grim (snow & frost forecast) so I thought it would be prudent to be near the race site to avoid the worst of the weather.

However, the weather was pretty bad come race morning, -3.5'C on my car computer!!! The race was quite a low key affair, but the course was pretty brutal. The course consisted of a mix of fire road, single track and technical downhill sections, I was fine on the less technical climbs (always passing people), but really suffered on the technical descents, with loads of people passing me back. And that's the way the whole race went really, me passing them on the climbs and them re-passing me on the technical sections.

It proved to be a great race, very, very cold, but a great experience! Results won't be out for a few days but I'm content with my own race, and now know where I need to focus my efforts before the next race (in a few weeks time). Train smart all!

Learn To Run workshop

Would you like to run faster, with less effort? Well, with the Learn To Run workshop you’ll learn an effective run technique that allows you to run more efficiently, with no injuries and best of all, faster! With these new running skills you’ll enjoy a more active lifestyle and gain great health benefits whilst enjoying the wonderful sport of running.

Personal trainer John Bruno and running coach Mark Whittle have teamed up to present this amazing workshop. The workshop is primarily aimed at beginners and novices, so fitness levels aren’t important; the goal is to teach you the steps, principles and drills for you to become more successful at running.

The next Learn To Run workshop is:


Date: Sunday 20th January 9.30am - 12.30pm

Location: John Bruno Total Training studio, Glebe Street, Penarth
Cost: £40


So if you live in Cardiff, Penarth, Barry, Bridgend, Cowbridge or Llantwit Major and would like to learn how to run more efficiently, faster and with less injuries, register with John Bruno on 07976 769390 or Mark Whittle on 07947010276.

Yasso 800's: the good, the bad & the ugly!

If you’ve ever done a marathon or been involved in distance running for a number of years you’ve probably heard of Yasso 800’s. If not, here’s a quick synopsis. Bart Yasso, the Chief Running Officer of Runner’s World magazine, “invented” the Yasso 800’s where he suggests that if you can run 10 x 800m in the roughly the same time (in minutes and seconds) as your goal for the marathon (in hours and minutes) AND you have trained correctly for the marathon, you should be able to achieve your goal time. So, if you want to run a 3-hour marathon, you run 10 x 800 in 3 minutes. A 4-hour marathon would equate to running the 800’s in 4 minutes and so forth. The rest or recovery period should be equal to the interval you just ran, so if you ran your 800m in 3 minutes, your recovery period will be 3 minutes.

Sounds good, right? Well, yes and no.

The good:
One of the main advantages of following a Yasso 800 plan is that it is easy to remember and easy to implement. There’s not much planning involved, if you want to run a 3hr30 marathon, go to the track and run 10 x 800m with each 800m being completed in 3min30, easy! And with the Yasso 800’s you don’t need a coach to tell you specific paces or split times or reps, just go out and do 10 x 800m at your goal pace (building up from 4 or 5 x 800’s to 10 over a period of a number of weeks). In essence, this is a great-uncomplicated go-to session when you just want to get a decent session done without putting too much thought into it.

The bad:
For all the good points, there are several negatives about the Yasso 800’s. Intervals are designed to stress the Vo2max system and are traditionally best done somewhere between 3 and 5 minutes at a pace that is between your 3km and 5km pace, the Yasso 800’s are definitely not that! Essentially the 800’s are a set of slow-ish intervals that are slightly too short (perhaps 1200m and 1600m intervals are more relevant) and slightly too slow to really stress your Vo2max system.

Yasso also recommends building up to 10 repetitions of the 800’s from 4 and building week on week. Indeed it is good to build up steadily, but unless you are a complete novice to faster paced running I wouldn’t recommend wasting your time building up over many weeks your Yasso 800’s. If you only do one session a week of faster paced running, like many people do, you want to make sure you’re getting the best bang for your buck and I’m afraid the Yasso 800’s are simply not that (for the reasons stated above). You could easily spend 6 or 7 weeks building up to the magic 10 repetitions, but this period of time could be spent far more wisely doing other more marathon specific sessions.

The ugly:
Yasso recommended this protocol as a good predictor of your finish time, so if you can run 10 x 800 in 3 minutes and have trained correctly for the rigours of a marathon, then a 3-hour marathon should be achievable. Yasso suggests that you can determine your performance potential at an endurance/stamina-based event (the marathon) by successfully completing a faster paced workout. This doesn’t sit well with me and most running experts agree that Yasso’s prediction is out by anywhere from 5 minutes to 25 minutes. Which means that if you actually run at the pace that the Yasso protocol “predicts” you could go through the half way mark of the marathon much quicker than you should be (or are capable of), which will almost certainly lead to a painful, slow second half of the marathon.


To surmise, the Yasso 800 protocol is a decent go-to track session if you don’t have a coach to tell you what training you should be doing, or if you simply want to turn your brain off and get a track workout in. But it’s not the be-all and end-all, I certainly wouldn’t use it to predict a marathon finish time and I can think of many more effective training sessions that would prepare the athlete for the demands of such a long endurance event such as the marathon.

Enjoy your training!

Hydration tips for runners

We’ve all heard at some point or other about the importance of hydration, in particular with regards to running and running performance. But what does it really mean? Our bodies are made up of approximately 70% water and to keep our bodies performing at an optimum level we need to keep those hydration levels relatively constant. As we exercise we sweat, which means a loss of water, salts and sugars; as these levels decrease our bodies become less efficient. Hence, it makes sense that the greater the deficiency, the more inefficient the body becomes.

So how much should we drink and when? Previous thoughts included drinking at regular intervals whether you were thirsty or not, with the intention of trying to get “ahead of your thirst” (i.e. drink before you are thirsty). The experts thought that by the time you were thirsty, it was too late, you were already slightly dehydrated and this would affect your performance.

However, studies out of South Africa by the well renowned Dr Tim Noakes suggest that this slight dehydration has no effect on your performance. Studies show that drinking during exercise only when you are thirsty has no detrimental effect on performance or health. In fact, studies show that drinking at a high rate (to try to get ahead of your thirst) has no advantages at all and has been seen to negatively affect some athletes by causing severe stomach distress by drinking too much.

Noakes would be the first to admit that drinking to thirst is not a perfect indicator of your hydration status, but it does seem to be a good indicator of optimal drinking rate and the limited dehydration that may occur from drinking to thirst will have no negative effects on your performance.

I think the bottom line is, like many aspects of running and running training, to try these things out in training. The old adage of “practise makes perfect” is key here. Everyone is different; therefore it is worthwhile trying different hydration strategies during your running training and see what works best for you. Good luck and enjoy your running journey! 

Swansea Bay 10K

On Sunday Mark took part in the Swansea Bay 10K. It's a fairly local race and is well renowned for its deep field and fast times. Well, the field was certainly deep and some fast runners turned up but perhaps didn't quite go as fast as they would have liked due to the atrocious weather conditions. Here's Mark's short race report:

I was coming into this race off limited training due to various running injuries, but the latest one was a badly sprained ankle, so I knew my time at this race wasn't going to set the world on fire. With that and the driving wind and rain, I knew I was in for a tough day.

The way the wind was blowing was effecting slightly behind you on the way out (for about 5K) and then in your face for the return leg. I felt pretty good for the first 5K, but once we turned for the return home, it was simply no fun at all! I was working really hard into the wind and could tell I was slowing down from the pace being shown on my GPS watch, but everyone was in the same boat and I was now passing loads of people. It seemed that so many people had misjudged the first half of the race and were now paying the price.

I came home in a time of 38:15 which I am fairly content with considering the conditions and my reduced training. If the wind hadn't been so strong I am pretty sure I would have been knocking on the door of a new PB.

The winner was a Kenyan who came him win a time of 28:30, although I'm pretty sure he would have gone sub 28 minutes on a perfect day!

Anyway, back to training now, I've got a 10 mile road race in a few weeks time where I'd like to go quite well, lets hope the hernia holds off and the ankle stays strong! Train smart all!

3 running quick fixes to reinvigorate your training

If you need to reinvigorate your running training and give your running a boost, try these 3 quick fixes to make an instant difference! 

To break out of a running rut you need to change up your training and add in some different types of running. If you always run long and slow, you’ll become very proficient at running long and slow; which means when you try to run faster your body is simply not used to it, which results in fatigue and potential injury. Here are my 3 quick fixes to turn around your running fortunes:

Interval training:
Ditch some of your long slow runs for faster interval sessions. These interval sessions involve adding in some faster efforts into your longer slower paced runs, 30 to 60 seconds works really well. Some studies have shown that runners can improve their speed by up to 7 percent by cutting their running distance in half and adding in 50 to 100m faster efforts into their running program.

Progression runs:
A progression run, or a build run, starts off at a slower pace and then continually picks up the speed of the run until you finish your chosen route. So you may run 10 minutes really easy, then 10 minutes easy, then 10 minutes steady, then 10 minutes hard, etc, etc. This is a really good way of adding in some faster running without absolutely killing yourself in the process!

Increased flexibility:
Stretching and increasing your flexibility helps with injury prevention and recovery, thus allowing you to train more consistently, and as we all know, consistency is king when trying to improve at anything.

So if you're a runner in Cardiff, Penarth, Barry or Cowbridge and are contemplating running a 5K, 10K, half marathon, full marathon or if you simply want to get fitter and faster, Mark can devise a bespoke running training plan for you. Check out our Vale Sports Therapy website or contact Mark (Cardiff, Penarth & Barry) on 07947 010276.

Another PB for one of our running clients

One of our running clients, Angharad, set a new personal best time today at the Great North Run half marathon in Newcastle!

Angharad has been training with Mark for about 4 months now with a view to run the Snowdon marathon in October. Mark sets out a detailed weekly running schedule for Angharad which is tailored especially for Anhgarad's busy lifestyle, taking into account all the stresses and commitments of our daily lives (including life, family & work).

Angharad has seen some massive progress in the last few months and I'm sure she'll run really well when she takes on the Cardiff half marathon in a few weeks in preparation for the Snowdon marathon a few weeks later. Watch this space to hear how Angharad gets on.

So if you're a runner in Cardiff, Penarth, Barry or Cowbridge and are contemplating running a 5K, 10K, half marathon or full marathon and would like some help with your running training plan, check out our Vale Sports Therapy website or contact Mark (Cardiff, Penarth & Barry) on 07947 010276.

Ospreys v Ulster

Delme provided sports massage to the Ulster rugby squad both before and after their Pro12 rugby match with the Ospreys last night. Delme's specialist sports massage skills were put to the test, with Ulster taking a narrow win over their south Wales opponents. 

The Ospreys have now slumped to their second successive RaboDirect Pro12 defeat of the new season, not a great start, but I'm sure the Ospreys will come back firing in their next match! 

The Ospreys captain, Alun Wyn Jones, said 

“We are disappointed and we sound like a broken record at the moment.” 

"It's not good enough and we have to put it right."

Want to run faster? Running coaching is the key!

Our running coaching service is aimed at people of all abilities. Your goal might be to get fit, stay fit, attempt a challenging endurance event or set a new personal best time; we’re here to help you achieve your goals! Our running coach, Mark Whittle, has trained countless people, from housewives simply wanting to get fit to nationally ranked athletes.

Whether you choose to work with Mark in person or simply online, he can definitely help you to achieve your running goals. His structured, progressive approach will provide you with the motivation and accountability required to achieve the results you desire.

Mark believes the key to quality coaching is the appreciation that everyone is an individual and “one size does not fit all”. You must balance your training and goals with your lifestyle and commitments. And let's face it; you won’t get that from a generic training plan.

Mark’s philosophy is that coaching is an educational process. High quality coaching/education allows the runner to understand the process and why they are training in a certain way, rather than simply “training”. This holistic approach is proven to provide the runner with a greater likelihood of improvement and achieving their goals.

 


Mark is a qualified British Triathlon Federation coach, a Newton Natural Running Form coach (one of only 12 in the UK) and has over 22 years experience in competitive sport within the military, which includes multiple Ironman triathlon races and representing Great Britain at the European Age Group Triathlon Championships.

Services available: 

Online bespoke training plan:

The online training plan is structured to include and integrate all the stresses and commitments of our hectic daily lives (including life, family, work & financial), with the goal of achieving a balanced life, thus leading to consistency in training, which in turn leads to significant improvements in performance.

Mark writes a fortnightly plan that is totally bespoke to the individual (most coaches provide 4 week plans as it’s VERY time consuming to update a plan every week). There is nothing copied and pasted from the internet, it is totally individual to that person, their goals, fitness level, work/family/social life, etc. Our view is that there is no point in piling on loads of training sessions on top on of our hectic daily lives, it has to be integrated into our life, this is the key to our highly successful training plans.

The service includes an initial consultation, goal setting and season planning, an individual training plan structured to fit around your life, unlimited adjustments and updates to the training plan and unlimited email and text contact and advice.

Price: £50 a month (based a 3 month minimum commitment)

One-to-one running coaching:

Mark offers one-to-one running coaching in the Cardiff area. This predominantly covers running technique but also includes pace control, breathing, understanding of training methodologies and correct warm up and cool down protocols.

The one-to-one running coaching session teaches the runner an efficient and effective run technique. This technique allows you to run more economically, with fewer injuries and best of all, faster! With these new running skills you’ll enjoy a more active lifestyle and gain great health benefits whilst enjoying the wonderful sport of running.

Price: £35 per session

Combination of online training plan and one-to-one coaching:

A bespoke combination of online training and one-to-one running coaching sessions can be arranged to suit the runner’s needs. 

Price: depends on combination of coaching required

So if you're a runner or want-to-be runner and are seriously looking to improve your running and general fitness, lose weight, look and feel great, and get faster, then check out our Vale Sports Therapy website or contact Mark (Cardiff, Penarth & Barry) on 07947 010276. 

Product Review: Sufferfest Indoor Cycling Videos

By now hopefully you'll know that Delme and I both love endurance sports, especially running and triathlon (swim/bike/run). And as both of us are time-crunched due to family, work, sports and social commitments, we need to find methods of fitness training that are effective and that we can actually fit into everyday life. Well, as far as our cycling training is concerned, this is it!

The Sufferfest group of training videos are intended for cyclists, triathletes and fitness enthusiasts who want to get seriously fit, but are limited for time. However, I warn you now - they are not easy! In fact they are designed to seriously kick your butt; they are evil! But they work!

So what are they exactly? They are downloadable videos for you to use on your indoor bike trainer (known as a turbo trainer in the cycling and triathlon world), spelling out the exact intensity and time interval required for that section of the training session, all set against the backdrop of some amazing pro cycling race footage and some great music tracks.

So in essence each Sufferfest video is based on a specific workout (like flat out sprints, short intervals, climbs, time trials efforts, even 20 minute race simulations), and tells you how hard to go and for how long, and during that interval the footage shows you what you should be doing (so if you should be sprinting, you'll see some amazing sprint footage). How simple is that? Even I can follow it!

The 2 videos I bought are "Revolver" and "Downward Spiral", each being 45 minutes and 60 minutes respectively. Revolver is billed as simple, brutal, uncomplicated and it doesn't disappoint. The main set is 1 minute intervals, with 1 minute recovery, it is tough, tough, tough, as you have very little time to recover before hitting the next interval. This is a great training session when you are very short on time and just want to get your ass kicked! Downward Spiral is 60 minutes of maximum intensity intervals, which gradually decrease in duration, with decreasing recovery intervals. This intense session even has you chasing Tom Boonen during his solo breakaway in Paris-Roubaix! Another great training session.

For me these training videos are a very welcome change to staring at a concrete wall in your garage, listening to music or watching a movie and have been a stable part of my triathlon training for a long time, in fact they were integral for me in qualifying for Team GB last year for the European Triathlon Long Distance Triathlon Championships. The combination of the intervals, the awesome cycling footage and the pounding, motivating soundtrack just makes it so much easier to train harder!

The Sufferfest videos are incredibly cheap too, I bought mine last year for less than £10 each ($12.99) and I'm really surprised they haven't increased in price yet. For your $12.99 you get a downloadable video that will see you through many a tough training winter, or even when you just need a kick up the butt to reinvigorate your training! You can check out the full range of training videos at the Sufferfest website, I would definitely recommend trying out one of their videos, but only if you're ready to work hard!!! Did I mention they are evil? Enjoy!

Running PB for one of our clients

One of our local runners, Victoria, managed to claim an amazing PB (personal best) at the Cardiff ParkRun (5K) this morning! She had a great run, particularly as she's in the middle of marathon training so is not really doing too much speed work at the moment.

Victoria gave us a great testimonial a few weeks back (thank you!), but the improvement we've been seeing is purely down to her hard work and her consistency in training. I'm positive she's going to achieve all her goals this year!

So if you're a runner in Cardiff, Penarth, Barry or Cowbridge and are contemplating running a 5K, 10K, half marathon or full marathon and would like some help with your running training plan, check out our Vale Sports Therapy website or contact Mark (Cardiff, Penarth & Barry) on 07947 010276.

4 running tips for getting faster!

Recently some runners have been asking me how to get faster, so here are my top 4 running training tips that can take your running to new heights:

1. Run faster
It might sound obvious, but to run faster, you have to run faster! So, instead of simply plodding around in training you have to add some “speed” sessions into the mix. Your fitness and chosen race distance will dictate how far/fast your intervals should be, but simply adding in some shorter faster sessions will transform your running. Tempo/threshold and fartlek run sessions are ideal for this.

2. Get stronger
Strength underpins endurance. To be fast you have to have an element of strength in your training program, there’s no point in having a great "engine" (heart & lungs) if you have a weak "chassis" (body structure). You can add some simple strength exercises into your program without any impact on your normal running program, not only will it increase your speed and running economy but also help prevent overuse injuries.

3. Lose weight
By shedding some body fat your speed will automatically increase. Have you tried running with a rucksack that weighs 5 or 6 pounds? It’s hard work, but losing those extra pounds will make your running much, much easier.

4. Improve your technique
How many runners do you see heel striking, sagging in the mid-section, being tense around the shoulders with arms crossing their body? By moving to a mid-foot strike, holding a nice tight core, relaxing your posture around the neck and shoulders, and driving your arms forward and rearwards will result in a running style that looks light, relaxed, smooth and ultimately quick.

By adding some or all of these tips into your training program you’ll be amazed at how much your running will improve!

In fact, I'll break down these 4 top tips further in future blog posts, just so you know exactly how to take your running to a new level and get faster.

If you're a runner in the Cardiff, Penarth, Barry or Cowbridge area and are contemplating running a 10K, half marathon or full marathon and would like some help with your running training plan, check out our Vale Sports Therapy website or contact coach Mark (Cardiff, Penarth & Barry) on 07947 010276.

Product reviews coming soon!

Coming soon to this blog will be a whole set of product reviews, from nutrition products, to training equipment, to coaching and training plans and even some things you wouldn't think of!!! However, if there's something you'd like me to review, just let me know.

Magor Marsh 10K

Yesterday Mark raced the Magor Marsh 10K near Newport, about 15 miles from Cardiff. This race was part of Mark's training schedule in the lead up to a Half Marathon race that he's doing in September, so he knew he wouldn't be peaking for this 10K race but still would race it as hard as he could.

Over 220 people turned up for the race as it's renowned for being a flat, fast course. The race turned out to be a little slower than everyone had hoped (it was quite windy) but Mark still managed to come home in 13th position. Not quite a personal best time, but Mark was happy with his race, especially as it was not a priority race for him.

If you're a runner in Cardiff, Penarth, Barry or Cowbridge and are contemplating running a 10K, half marathon or full marathon and would like some help with your running training plan, check out our Vale Sports Therapy website or contact coach Mark (Cardiff, Penarth & Barry) on 07947 010276.