Friday thoughts #7: Eating


I’ve had multiple requests to write about eating / nutrition in my Friday Thoughts series. Asking me about nutrition is like asking Giant Haystacks about trampolining. I am a recovering wotsit addict for crying out loud. I didn’t eat a salad till 2015 and I used to think that if the pizza base was thin crust…

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Friday thoughts #6: Niggles


The start of the ultra racing season is well and truly upon us. In Scotland there’s been some stellar performances already with course records being smashed left, right and centre. Abroad the big races are warming up too and the sport is growing rapidly. That means it is permeating in our every day. You can’t…

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Friday thoughts #5: Icons


Whenever I look back at my most recent races I always have one or two training runs I have done which I see as being pivotal in my preparation. During the race I draw on the experience of these runs and use them to push me on. They are my iconic training runs. These aren’t…

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Friday thoughts #4: Resilience


What is resilience anyway? Some call it mental toughness. I like to think of it as your ability to ride out problems. In the first Friday thought I touched upon some of the themes that align to resilience and a few folks have asked me to go a bit deeper on it. Being able to…

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Friday thoughts #3: Adaptable


How you react to an event, a setback or even a boost, will determine a lot about both immediate and longer term implications of said event. We are shaped by our experiences, but I would argue we also shape our experiences. One of the least used words in racing, training and running is adaptability. Yet…

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Friday thoughts #2: Irrelevance is not a bad thing


Whenever I am asked to recite a running anecdote I have a vast bucket of mental yarns to dip into. We all have great wee stories that can get a reaction ranging from belly laughs to boaking and everything in between. One of my favourites is from a tortuous Edinburgh Marathon from god knows what…

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