I help my athletes learn to run intuitively by effort rather than focusing exclusively on pace. This means they can race with confidence in any conditions and on any terrain as they truly know their own body. It also helps prevent overtraining as they learn to listen to and work with their body rather than against it.

I use pace for a few key sessions if an athlete is targeting a road race, and can usually predict their race time within 1-2%.

I use athlete feedback along with the combination of all the data I can see on Training Peaks to help guide them, and to make sure that their training is optimised. 

For example, a 20 minute tempo run with stable heart rate but a big drop off in pace towards the end tells me that that athlete will benefit from a training block focused on improving lactate buffering, durability and running economy. Whilst a long run or race where heart rate and pace decline rapidly at a certain point shows an athlete who will benefit from more focus on aerobic fitness, endurance, strength and durability.

Amongst the first sessions you will be scheduled are ones designed to help you understand “rate of perceived exertion” or “effort”. They explain how you should feel and include imagery that can help you key in on what’s required. 

There is an example of such a session below.

Every session has a purpose: to create changes in the body by triggering specific signals. Sessions are designed with the adaptations in mind and chosen for an individual to elicit those physiological changes. I have a library of 100 sessions (to keep things precise, personalised and fun) every one of which was written by me (no drag and drop from Training Peaks).

In addition to looking at their data to see when planned sessions need to be adjusted, I also listen to my athletes and learn what is normal for them, adjusting training before fatigue or small niggles build.

I encourage my athletes to have a curiosity mindset: “what can I do?” rather than “what must I do”. Research - and experience - shows this leads to happier athletes and better performances.

I read a lot of sports science, exercise physiology, psychology etc but I’m also aware that not all research translates outside the lab, or has not been proven outside of “healthy men aged between 20 and 24”…

So I start with science and adapt with experience to personalise.

There are also areas where there is no consensus, despite what influencers try to tell us: the effect of exogenous ketones on endurance for example.

An important area for women is the affect of the hormone cycle on training and performance. Most of the current research was done without measuring hormone levels, simply using the phases established for fertility. But the variation in hormone levels within these phases makes this research very low quality. However we can hypothesise from what we do know about the physiological effects of hormones (e.g. we know that progesterone increases body temperature and respiration rate) and apply that to individual experiences.

All Ultra Potential athletes have the option of strength and conditioning and the sessions are chosen specifically for each athlete. This might be an overall conditioning program, a mountain-specific one, or one focused on maintaining strong bones... Age, sex, propensity to injury, and type of races all affect the choice of sessions.

Realising how vital this was to my athletes I took a professional diploma in Strength & Conditioning from FC Barcelona (9 months, 18 pieces of coursework, 9 timed tests and a final exam), where I learnt the importance of sport-specific training and how we can use strength training to stop niggles from advancing and return quickly from injury.

You’ll find your training on the Training Peaks platform (basic is free). Training Peaks syncs with 100s of devices so if your watch or app is one of them your training will be sent directly to your watch and then uploaded to Training Peaks after you’ve run.

After running you can add a comment for me directly on the activity and this information will be taken into account (I might then make changes to your upcoming training).

WhatsApp is the primary method of communication outside of Training Peaks and allows you to join the athlete group where I share advice, news (who is racing and where…) and join in the discussions on running-related chat.

All payments are handled by established online payment processors like Stripe and Paypal.

You can cancel your subscription any time you want but a month’s notice is appreciated (I’ll already be thinking about and planning your next block…).