Articles
Training Load: Why Distance Alone Does Not Tell You How Hard You Are Training
Training load is the demand created by your training, not simply the number of kilometres in the week. Its meaning depends on volume, intensity, recent training history and how sessions are arranged. The same workout can be routine for one runner and a large jump for...
Why Recovery Weeks Belong in Marathon Training
A lighter training week is not lost training. Reducing volume or intensity can lower accumulated fatigue while preserving continuity, making the next build more productive. The exact timing and size of a recovery week should depend on the training completed and the...
What Happened When About 60 Runners Trained With SmartRunning?
In an early observational SmartRunning group of about 60 marathon runners, 90% were recorded as reaching their stated goal and 6% reported an injury during preparation. These figures are encouraging, but they do not establish causation because there was no control...
Why Not Just Ask ChatGPT for a Marathon Plan?
ChatGPT can generate a detailed marathon plan from the information you provide. The practical difference with a purpose-built training system is continuity: the system can ingest completed training, apply predefined coaching rules and keep updating the runner profile...
Too Much, Too Soon: How Quickly Should Running Increase?
The familiar 10% weekly mileage rule is not a proven boundary between safe and unsafe training. Recent cohort evidence suggests that large jumps in the distance of a single run may matter more than simple week-to-week mileage ratios. Progression should therefore be...
Missed a Run? Why Catching Up Can Be the Wrong Response
A missed run is not training debt that must always be repaid. Moving a workout can alter recovery time, stack hard sessions together and change the purpose of the week. The better decision depends on what you have already completed and what is scheduled next. Missing...
Why 50 Kilometres Is Not Always 50 Kilometres
Weekly distance tells you how much you ran, not how demanding the week was. Fifty kilometres dominated by easy running is a different training stimulus from 50 kilometres containing intervals, sustained hard work and a faster long run. Intensity, terrain, conditions...
Ready for Today’s Run? That Is a Different Question
Being on track for your marathon does not mean every planned session is automatically right today. Day-of readiness should combine what your training data shows with what only you can report - unusual fatigue, how the last run felt and whether you can keep today’s...
Are You on Track to Be Ready on Marathon Day?
Marathon readiness is not a test of whether you could race 42.2 kilometres today. It is a moving assessment of whether your training is developing in the direction required for race day. Training history, threshold-related performance and ordinary training data can...