Articles
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...
Polarized vs Pyramidal Training: What Does the Evidence Say for Runners?
Polarized and pyramidal training both keep most endurance work at low intensity; they differ mainly in how the remaining work is distributed. Current evidence does not support one universal intensity split for every runner. In marathon datasets, pyramidal patterns are...
How to Choose a Marathon Training App: 6 Questions That Matter
Do not choose a marathon app because it says “personalized,” “adaptive” or “AI-powered.” Those labels are now common. Ask how it decides where you should start, what limits progression, what evidence triggers a plan change, how recovery affects training, how much...
What 688 Marathon Runners Told Us About the Hardest Parts of Training
In two SmartRunning community surveys completed by 688 runners, 47% reported pacing as a challenge, 36% reported difficulty with consistency and 37% expressed concern about injury. Around 71% rated adaptation to daily feedback in one of the two highest importance...
What Should AI Actually Do to Help a Running Coach?
AI is most useful in running coaching when it reduces the runner’s analytical workload: processing training history, spotting relevant patterns and turning multiple signals into clear guidance. It should not replace defined coaching principles, progression rules,...