The Small Logistics That Can Ruin a Big Race Ask a runner about race prep and you'll hear about training blocks, interval sessions, tapering, carb loading. Fair enough, that stuff matters. But I've watched plenty of well trained athletes get undone by things that have nothing to do with fitness. A missed alarm. No safety pins in the bag. A toilet queue that isn't moving. A lace that snaps ten minutes before the gun. A fuel bottle sitting on the kitchen counter, exactly where you left it. None of that cares how many kilometres you logged in training. Race day has a way of blowing small mistakes out of proportion. Something you'd shrug off on a normal Tuesday run turns into a real problem when there are ten thousand nervous people trying to use the same three toilets on a tight schedule. So here's a checklist. Not to make you faster. Just to stop the avoidable stuff from becoming the story you tell about your race. The Night Before Starts the Race Most race da...
Why Walking Isn't Cheating Welcome, fellow runners and fitness enthusiasts. There's an odd idea in running that just won't die, no matter how much the sport evolves: if you stop running and start walking, you've failed. You see it at every race. A runner slows to a walk and glances around, half hoping nobody noticed. Someone passes them, and they speed back up. A few minutes later, they're walking again. Why? Walking is one of the most useful tools a runner has. Done right, it manages fatigue, controls effort, saves energy, and keeps you moving longer. For beginners, it can make running possible in the first place. For experienced runners tackling long distances, it becomes a deliberate part of race strategy. The walk-run method does exactly what it sounds like: you alternate planned periods of running with planned periods of walking. Planned is the key word. There's a real difference between walking because you've completely run out of gas and walking...