What separates the great from the good? Dan Gould on the Psychology of Olympic Excellence BPS 2012 conference keynote

A month ago, after a whirlwind trip to Japan and meeting Dr Matt Buman (the leading hitting-the-wall researcher in Sport Psychology) in America, I was lucky enough to attend the BPS annual conference in London. The British Psychological Society (BPS) is the professional body for psychologists in the UK that covers all divisions, from clinical to educational, occupational to sport, forensic and health. This year’s annual conference was themed around and focused on Sport, with the conference being held in this year’s Olympic city and showcasing to other colleagues from across the psychology spectrum some of the advances in our field.

My personal favourite talk was a study that introduced a yoga and mindfulness intervention to a group of swimmers, to see improvements in performance and flow states by researchers from Liverpool John Moore. It was the last 10 minute lecture of the last day (usually the graveyard slot) but a lesson in staying to the end at these events, when most delegates are keen to slope off to beat the traffic.

The heavy hitter for the conference though was Professor Dan Gould of Michigan State University who gave an hour talk on the Psychology of Olympic Excellence and its development over the past 40 years. Gould has worked with many US Olympic teams, across different disciplines and is one of the most respected Sport Psychologists. His book with Lew Hardy and Graham Jones is a standard textbook for all the Masters Sport Psych students I've ever known!

His talk started his talk looking at the role of psychology in the history of Olympic excellence and then drew our attention to 3 themes. 1) The psychological characteristics associated with Olympic success. 2) Psychological preparation and performance; and 3) Emerging research on the psychological factors and athlete talent development.

Starting with Sport Psychology in the home of the Olympics, Gould mentioned evidence from Ancient Greece, where (apparently) Self Talk in sport is referred to as far back as 776BC (didn’t catch the citationJ). Prof Gould bought things up to the modern day by referring to Taylor, Gould and Rolo (2008) and a study that aimed to look at the psychological differences of Olympic medallists and non-medallists.

Using the test of performance strategies (TOPS) tool, it was found that medallists reported greater emotional control and mental automaticity than non-medallists, who were shown to have (overall) more negative thinking. Medallists displayed better use of psychological skills in practice and in competition than non-medallists. In addition it was found that medallists more frequently used psychological strategies. So far, nothing reported was that surprising. But one confound to this was that of imagery, which is often seen as a skill characteristic of the best athletes (Paula Radcliffe and Michael Johnson oft cited) which wasn’t found to be any better in this group of Olympic athletes. That is not to say imagery is not an important factor. It is such a well-quoted skill in Sport Psychology  (e.g. http://espnfc.com/us/en/news/1071240/beautiful-game-beautiful-mind-.html) that I take it for granted. There are always areas though that deserve your attention as a professional, and it is an area I’m interested in exploring in more depth next year. I’m interested in the sports that the skill is most useful in and what the current leading research advises about the subject.

Moving to his second theme, Dan talked about the ‘Athletes and coaches project’ (Gould et al 1998, followed up in 2001 and 2002, then again in 2009), where his team looked at the factors that positively or negatively affect Olympic performance. By conducting surveys, focus groups and interviews, the team found that successful performance can easily be disrupted at Olympics by different distractions. After countless hours in training by athletes preparing for major competition, researchers have found that coaches and athletes need to pay minute attention to detail in order to achieve medal success. At the same time as also taking a flexible approach. He stated that talking to 100s of athletes across different Olympics games, the expectation of athletes behaviour by significant others is akin to taking a child to Disneyworld, throwing open the hotel window to see the park below, and then asking the child to do their homework!

Gould believes that everything at an Olympic games is a performance issue, from the transport, the food, sponsors, family and friends, to the tiniest detail. From research, athletes who have been the most successful have dealt best with these distractions, having a single minded focus, drawing energy from the excitement whilst not getting caught up in it. As Olympic Games progress, and athletes get nearer medals, pressure mounts. As dull as it sounds, the best advice is to take refuge in the routine, and stick with what you know. Advice that seems simple but at each Olympics, things will change.  

Prof Gould touched on overtraining, citing a study ran after the Atlanta games of 1996 that 28% of US athletes felt that they completed too much physical preparation. After running an education programme to reduce overtraining, researchers found the percentage of those who felt they over trained after the Sydney Olympics (4 years later in 2000) dropped to 14%. This is a lesson that all Sport Psychologists can take on board, to pass on to athletes preparing for big events the world over. Is doing those extra sessions just prior to an event doing more harm than good?

After 2000, Gould’s team found that those individuals in the US team who achieved most had the best education programmes not just for athletes, but their families – mainly to control their expectation. The best coaches give excellent physical training, mental preparation, support and confidence and are organised. Findings from athletes who didn’t fulfil expectation, showed they over trained, handled pressure less well, had less media training and were overall less well prepared.

Improvements encouraged to follow as Sport Psych professionals to study athletes were:

• ·       Study individuals longitudinally over the lifespan of their careers
• ·       Use in depth observational and intervention studies.
• ·       Reflect and compare progress across different competitions.

This way, the field of psychological preparation for big sporting events can be honed.

Whilst looking at the lifespan, Gould touched on Athlete Talent Development, stating that modern research findings point to talent being sport specific, complex and multivariate in nature. It is a delicate blend of physical, psychological and cognitive factors that interact to determine performance. Genes go so far to determine ability but environmental factors are required. Deliberate practice (10, 000 hours anyone?) is required, e.g. doing training when athletes don’t want to and making hard work as fun as possible from an early age to encourage motivation. By ‘learning to train, compete and complete,’ rather than win, research shows athletes stand a better likelihood of achieving success.

Finally, in addressing the psychological characteristics of Olympic champions, Gould’s research has found that the most successful feel little pressure to win, have a can do/optimistic attitude and have had early exposure to high-level competitors who have inspired and provided vicarious learning and motivation. I was reminded of Andre Agassi saying he met Jimmy Connors as a young boy. David Beckham famously spent a summer at Bobby Charlton’s soccer school (as did I, but our paths went in different directions :-) and in these instances additional motivation was provided.

Early exposure often comes about being promoted by family, and Gould flagged that parents and others play a central role, at best emphasising hard work and not winning or achievement. Gould’s studies have shown that the most successful athletes have parents who focus on values and mastery, not success – which if you work at the former, the latter will follow. Winning doesn’t need to be reinforced. Interestingly, from an early age, unlike Agassi’s family, research has shown it is recommended to advocate a multi-sport approach. Not just aspiring to get your child to the top in one discipline.

Another improvement to the field that Gould recommended professionals use was utilising theoretical explanations in research more. Such theory he stated should guide research and applied work. One such tool to consider is Martindale et al’s (2010) Talent Development Questionnaire to explore athlete’s progress in more depth.

Overall the keynote was a slick hour of a lifetime’s research that gave a great insight into findings that has been refined over 8 different Olympics with different athletes, of different disciplines to find consistent advice and practice for athletes, coaches, organisations and individuals. How much the elite medal winners of all countries competing in London utilise of these findings will be of interest to me, given it is unlikely I will work with anyone in any depth prior to the event. In fact, Gould recommended not introducing any sport psych interventions at this late stage to avoid interrupting performance, but as I progress next year in the field, I will be interested in capturing the psychological characteristics of 2012 athletes to compare against the existing research in order to guide mine and others research in the field (regardless of medal success). Gould and co have a sizeable body of work to add to, and as with all scientific endeavour, it will only benefit by being tested and refined.

References:

Gould, D., Guinan, D., Greenleaf, C., Medbery, R., & Peterson, K. (1999). Factors affecting Olympic

performance: Perceptions of athletes and coaches from more and less successful teams. The Sport

Psychologist, 13, 371-395.

Gould, D., Greenleaf, C., Guinan, D., Dieffenbach, K., & McCann, S. (2001). Pursuing performance

excellence: Lessons learned from Olympic athletes and coaches. Journal of Performance Excellence,

4, 21-43.

Greenleaf, C., Gould, D., & Dieffenbach, K. (2001). Factors influencing Olympic performance: Interviews

with Atlanta and Nagano U.S. Olympians. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 13, 154-184.

Gould, D., Greenleaf, C., Chung, Y., & Guinan, D. (2002). A survey of U.S. Atlanta and Nagano Olympians:

Factors influencing performance. Research Quarterly for Sport and Exercise,73(2), 175-186.

Gould, D. (2002). The psychology of Olympic excellence and its development. Psychology: The Journal of

the Hellenic Psychological Society, 9(4), 531-546.

Gould, D., Dieffenbach, K., & Moffett, A. (2002). Psychological characteristics and their development in

Olympic champions. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 14, 177-209.

Gould, D., Greenleaf, C., Guinan, D., & Chung, Y. (2002). A survey of U.S. Olympic coaches: Factors

influencing athlete performances and coach effectiveness. The Sport Psychologist, 16, 229-250.

Taylor, M.K., Gould, D., & Rolo, C. (2008). Performance strategies of US Olympians in practice and competition. High Ability Studies, 19, 19-36.

Barcelona Marathon 2012

Barcelona Marathon 2012

Overall, I have to put Sunday's result down to a ‘bad day at the office.’ When you’ve prepared so much in advance and ‘blown up’ in a race, that slightly obsessive, manic-look-in-the-eye internal force that has driven you on for 4 months wants to understand what happened. I’ve had enough time since to recover, rationalize and move on.

It was my 5^th race in 5 years. Last year, for the first time, my finish time went down from the previous effort (from 3:27 to 3:30). It forced me to re-evaluate training and increase my focus, in an effort to ensure a more comfortable race. In last years London marathon the heat got to me, slowing me down and I found I didn’t have anything to give where the previous year I was able to push on in the last 6 miles to clock a PB.

I made a conscious decision to train harder over the summer, to improve my half marathon time, to learn better how to deal with the heat and begin to lay the foundations for an improved time this year. I worked diligently, found my times dropped with track work, and in September I clocked a personal best in the Bristol half marathon. So far, so good.

At the turn of the year, I worked with my friend Enrique on a training plan for Barcelona, to ensure his first race was a success. We both took it seriously. The volume of miles went up. I adhered to the schedule better and with a new club, found my interval speed came down. On our long runs, we felt great, matching each other toe to toe, and as I wrote in my blog, I smashed through a glass ceiling to ‘the next level.’ This felt like real progress. The stats don’t lie…

Fast-forward to Sunday’s race. Our strategy, based on previous experience was to hook on to the 3:15 pacers, concentrate and keep with them. As was, it turned out to be a very different story.

We started off with the 3:15 guys, but there was a lot of traffic to negotiate. The first 10 km was challenging. The course was a lot tougher with some inclines on a different route than previously ran. The 3:15 pacers were actually nearer to 3 hour pace at times. That said, the stats for the first ten km weren’t that bad. 46 minutes for 10k. We crossed half way in 1:38, but the weather began to take its toll. Despite legs and head being strong, the sun began to exhaust me. What would normally feel comfortable felt a struggle. At my worst I could feel and see the pace drop off.

I hadn’t had this problem in training. The damn Manchester weather made sure of that. As 15 miles approached I was in a bad way. I wanted to stop and for the first time ever in a marathon, I walked. It was definitely fatigue, not the wall. This I know because in 2009 I hit the wall in spectacular fashion. I know now how to avoid it. The diet this year was spot on and the energy levels felt ok most of the time. When you properly hit the wall, you go through an experience where your entire world feels like being on the inside of a detuned television. It’s truly horrific, disorientating and I’d know if I were going through that experience.

For another 2 miles I managed to get running again. But each time I’d start, about 30 seconds later I’d slow again. The heat was sapping and with 10 miles out, my efforts felt futile. It was unusual to feel so lethargic so early. Knowing how far I had to go filled me with dread, as the finish line seemed a lifetime away. But I got motoring, moved the legs and though I thought I'd be getting round in 4 or 5 hours (the brain does funny things in races, trust me), I ended up getting enough pace to clock in 3:30. It was tough but by no means the worst end of race I had.

Since Sunday and Monday the support and love received from friends, family and twitter followers has eased any disappointment that we didn't get what we aimed for. Enrique's amazing debut to get under 3:27 brought instant cheer to me. He did so well, and our experiment to try and get identical times almost happened! I’m sure the increased mileage and extra gym work got me round in the time I did, as my legs felt fine and I had the stamina to continue in a respectable time.

With a higher fitness than ever before I just hadn’t legislated for it not going to plan. They say you should respect the distance. After that experience I say amen to those words. But if I proffer the performance to get round and not step out as the one I am most proud of. I’m better recovered and back to normal sooner than ever before. I return to fight another day. 

Chasing Olympic qualification - Paul Martelletti interview

At this time of year we are beginning to hit the peak of marathon training in Europe, so I want to up the content on the blog to help focus minds in those crucial last weeks of training, when we’re sharpening the opportunity to hit personal bests.

One runner currently sharpening their condition is Kiwi Paul Martelletti of Victoria Park Harriers. Known in the club as both a friendly and exceptionally quick runner, he has improved to Olympic standard level (A PB of 2:16:49 over 26.2 miles). This is a particular source of interest given the club is the nearest to the 2012 site.

“Marders” is a dedicated runner (he has topped out at 162 miles some weeks) having worked at a talent he first realized as a young student in his native New Zealand. After returning to endurance running prior to coming to the UK, he is now knocking on the door of the Kiwi selectors, to be their representative in London this summer. 

Last year, Paul finished 14^th in the Berlin marathon - the fastest ever race over the 26.2 mile distance - and recently tried to finish in the top 10 of the Xiamen race, in order to qualify for the NZ Olympic  ‘A’ standard. Unfortunately it didn’t go according to plan and in some discomfort, he came home in 20^th place in 2:31:24. 



I was keen to understand the training and psychology required to finish in the top 20 of a major marathon, competing against the best in the world. What does it take to go from being a good runner to running with the elite?

In describing going from good to better, Paul identifies that having set his goal to improve, it was necessary to up his mileage and run more! As Bud Baldaro advocates, there’s nothing better for getting quicker than having worked up some serious volumes of miles.

Having developed his self confidence through running more miles, I asked how important Paul thinks the mental aspects of racing are. He stressed how crucial your mental state is in the latter stages of a race, as it can “get you down, if you allow it.” 

He anticipates the final stages to be hard so prepares in training accordingly.

 I asked whether he used visualization as a technique prior to or during races. He said he tries mentally running his splits prior to race day. Whilst visualising, he's anticipating what to expect, to kinesthetically ‘feel’ how he will experience the race to the finish line. 



Taking a good look at the race finish helps him complete race preparation. For more detail, check out his account of preparation prior to the Amsterdam marathon and how it helped him how to judge his finish to reach a personal best.  



He doesn’t necessarily identify any racing edge to achieve his positions and times, but the effect of competition makes him run faster. That and the fear of spoiling his stats! In January, Paul ran in China to try and finish the top 10 of a recognized race to get an ‘A’ standard for the marathon, and a place on the team. Having not achieved this, he is now aiming at either the London or Rotterdam marathon to get the time needed to run in London 2012. 



Overall, having the chance to qualify for the Olympics is something that 2 or 3 years ago he wouldn’t have thought it even possible so it is a bonus to possibly be joining the best athletes in the world. He says that if it doesn’t happen, that its not end of the world. There’s also the 2016 games, the Commonwealth games and Worlds. But being the best New Zealander is on his radar and something he is striving for.  Given that he posted on his Twitter account yesterday that he won the Sidcup 10 mile in 50 minutes 27 (after 21 miles the day earlier and a 110 mile week), it shouldn't be too long before that target is reached. Good luck in going for the NZ marathon place Paul!

Running Inspiration

I was listening to Marathon talk earlier today, hearing the scholarly tones of Bruce Tulloh talking to Martin Yelling. It reminded me of hearing Bruce talk at a UKA day I went to two years ago, where he spoke to a group of coaches and runners, hanging on his every word to gain knowledge and assist their running. In British athletics, Bruce has been around longer than most, written many books on the subject and talks with authority and academic rigour on the subject, without boring his audience. For that reason he is an inspiration to me, and what I try to do on this blog and to people I meet. I try and impart some of the science (which I'm less knowledgeable on) and psychology of endurance. If you haven't already, check out the Marathon Talk archive - its a whose who of distance running!

The same day I met Bruce, I also met Bud Baldaro for the first time. Bud is a strong character. Based in Birmingham and a hugely respected coach to a number of top level GB athletes over the years. Both he and Bruce were keen to emphasise desire and motivation in athletes to succeed and push themselves harder to win, and set record breaking times. They state that talent goes so far, but determination on the part of a runner is the key ingredient to improving to fulfil your potential.

This got me thinking for a blog entry. Who are the people that inspire me most? Both in terms of coaching/sport psychology and my own running. Of those I met, I can see why Alberto Salazar is such an inspiring figure.  Most known in the UK for his work with Mo Farah, Alberto was a legendary marathon runner in his own right in the 80s, and has transitioned to become one of the most respected coaches in the world. Added to this, as he told me in 2010, he has worked for the past 5 years with sport psychologist Darren Treasure for the Oregon project, and greatly values the input of psychological training as much as the underwater treadmills, trusted methods and first hand knowledge that keep him at the leading edge of endurance.

From my world of academic research, Matt Buman at ASU has conducted a lot of research on hitting the wall (bonking in triathlon terminology) and encouraged me when I was doing my thesis. He inspired me to get my work finished and offered advice afterwards on getting published. Similarly, my unofficial mentor, Dave Alcock at UWE inspires me to persevere with my efforts to gain chartership to be a fully fledged Sport Psychologist.

In training I can always rely on Simon Freeman to offer support. Where I get the inspiration most from Simon is the fact that he is someone like you and me, who has found through running a way in which he can improve himself. Through his health, training and vocation, he is now a 2:40 marathon runner, something even he wouldn't have though possible 5 years ago! Within my club I'm lucky that Paul Martelletti continues to impress with his times trying for a place in the 2012 olympics. Having club mates setting top times spurs me on to get that bit better, work harder in training and enjoy my running in order to get fitter, and go the extra distance.

Similarly, my best friend who I will be visiting in Japan in 2 months, Ed Price, inspired me by running his first marathon last year in Kobe. Though he's not sure whether he'll do another one, it was emotional knowing he was running the distance on the other side of the world after dedicating himself to months of hard work. Similarly, my mate Birdy in Manchester ran the New York marathon 2 years ago, getting round on a really painful foot caused by an accident from her youth.

Without all of these characters, I would still run, but I wouldn't be as inspired, or as full of belief that I can get much better.

Let me know who inspires you, regardless of who that person is or how well they're known. And in what ways do they inspire you to push yourself and reach your best? 

Long Distance Training

After a couple of hard weeks effort, I'm beginning to feel the benefits of the intense training that I'm putting myself through for Barcelona 2012. When you take on the effort of a full marathon you make a pact with yourself on how you're going to approach training. This can change as 'life gets in the way' during the training cycle. 

If I look back at the 4 marathons I completed over the past 4 years, I can identify those where I was fully prepared, and those where I could have done more. In hindsight, I don't think I was anywhere near ready for two of them, and they are (unsurprisingly) the 2 races where I've been less satisfied with my time and performance.

I'd go so far to say that I've known from the beginning of training the races where I knew I'd have a good performance. Almost as if doing well was pre-ordained. In 2010 I was determined to improve significantly on the previous years marathon, where I felt I'd sold myself short. As was, I shaved off 25 minutes from my finish time and felt great at the end. Last year, training started really well, but I had to move city for work half way through training, and the change disrupted my training schedule, so that I was doing less, and didn't fulfil my potential come the end of the race. I was too distracted.

Sr Casarrubios & me in Llangollen

This year I've buddied up with my friend Enrique who is based in London (I live in Manchester) and we're training 'together' -  doing the same schedule at least, with the occasional run in person! After my spring marathon last year, I opted for the first time to really push on and keep my fitness up by conditioning my half marathon skills over the summer. I was caught out by the heat in last years London marathon (it was unseasonably warm) and having trained only in cold weather/not pushed myself, I got found out come race day. 

I can't do much about the winter weather, but having trained a lot with Enrique over summer, I know that both he and I are of similar ability. We ran two handicap races with our club, Victoria Park Harriers. Both times he was only a matter of seconds behind me. Come September, we both ran a half marathon - he the Royal parks, me Bristol. Results wise there was only 15 seconds difference! 

With a bit of cajoling I persuaded him to upgrade from the half marathon distance to full marathon. I've known Enrique for 5 years and know his character well enough to know he'd apply himself fully to getting ready for his first marathon. I promised that I'd help with a training plan, tips and would follow whatever training he would do so that come race day we are equally prepared. Of course I'm aware that two people can do exactly the same training but due to different biology, end up with different times. But having been running equal times for the past year, we're both confident we can match each other toe to toe come the marathon at the end of March. At the very least we'll give it a good go!

Training wise we're both nerds updating our stats from the end of each run and so far times are mirroring each other. This weekend we had a training camp up here in the North. Some hard running was done - a hill session and a long 18 miler. Pleased to say we both felt great and pushed each other on. 

Having said our goodbyes he's back to London to train with VPH, me with Salford Harriers, until we do it again and I return to the capital in a fortnight to see how we're getting on! As Simon Freeman put in his post on training with others it really does keep the motivation up, whether its in a group or just with one other person - theres no slacking off (I don't want him to see blank spaces on my schedule where I should have run!). Its a healthy rivalry, even if its just egging each other on. Come race day we'll put ourselves in the best position possible having done this training. I've not felt fitter/as prepared for a race as I do this time, Enrique says the same. Here's hoping our little experiment pays off and we can cross the line together. It'd cap a great training cycle and effort put in together. Buena suerte tio!!

Fuelling to the finish

It’s been a while since I wrote but I’ve been busy getting my head down for work and my feet pounding for racing, getting the mileage up for the Barcelona marathon in 10 weeks time. It’s been so long since training started that I can’t remember life before ‘marathon training’

As the miles go up I find myself getting up indecently early on the weekend to shovel (healthy) fuel to ease digestion a few hours prior to going out and tackling the next big distance on the plan. I’m eating & downing the morning cuppa before heading back to bed to catch a precious few more minutes sleep and put off the wintry elements in the North.

So why is a trainee sport psych (admittedly a marathon nut) writing about nutrition? Where’s the relevance? Well, without doubt, a healthy body leads to a healthy mind. If you’re not properly prepared before a race, whether physically, or mentally, then its my belief this will impact your thinking and mental performance in the race. Come race day, you want to be in the best frame of mind to tackle the gruelling challenge ahead. And I also think the kind of food you put in you has an impact on how you perform. You could put the cheapo petrol from the supermarket in your finely tuned vehicle, but its not going to do give your car the best performance, so its worth valuing the high grade fuel in your tank, enjoy it and feel good for race day.

Last year, my friend Monica completed a great post on what are the best foodstuffs for runners to help them cope with the long slow Sunday runs, for when you’re getting over half marathon distance in training.

For breakfasts, she suggested the usual suspects of oats, wholemeal toast and egg based recipes.  I put it out to my running community of friends on Twitter (@stuholliday) to see what people ate and most actually seemed to go for toast with honey as this was cited as being easier to digest than porridge. As ever bananas were popular (a great superfood), along with tea or coffee and maybe a bit of juice.

I always find breakfast is a tricky one (as does @nickersan) before a race, as the nerves can suppress your appetite. So your body says ‘don’t feed me’ but you really have to, to ensure you don’t suffer late on in the run. Coffee can be a blessing or a curse. It’s enema like properties may be wanted to dislodge nerves, or not risked at all!

Fundamentally, I’d say that whatever dietary habits you get into for fuelling before your long runs in training, keep when it comes to race day.

When I’ve run best I’ve done this. Eating the same breakfasts, at the same time, and following the same routine, so my body can know what to expect. Similarly, for taking on carbohydrate gels, get into the habit of trying them out early in your training so that if a brand disagrees with you, it happens on a training run when it doesn’t matter, rather than in a race situation. I think my slowing down during a run this Sunday was in part caused by a new gel that was as thick as treacle and put me off my stride. Go with what you know!

Which leads me to the big meals in the days leading up to your long runs. Monica’s post has loads of different delicious dishes. Paul Martelletti (@marders) makes the point that your big meal the day before a race should be eaten at lunch to allow digestion, and best avoid red meat. My straw poll of followers gave their favourites:

I was surprised to see so many opting for brown rice! Stephen Hitchcock (@egreenfitness), Linda Byrne (@alphabetbyrne) and me all swear by the stuff. When I suggested to Charlie Dark (@rundemcrew) that brown rice was a super food last year, I initially got a bit of grief, but making him try it with green broccoli actually got a positive reaction! The most common food that people reported having though was pasta and chicken the night before a race. A good mix of protein and carbs, though a few people said that they ate white pasta. Unless I’ve read all the wrong research, I’m 99% certain that us runners should keep it strictly brown to get the carbohydrate benefit. Bleached white pasta, from what I’ve seen is criticized heavily from having little nutritional value. I know I don’t want to come a cropper at 20 miles, so I always go with the brown stuff.

I like to make a tomato-based sauce to have with my pasta. According to Science Daily, “tomatoes are the biggest source of dietary lycopene; a powerful antioxidant that, unlike nutrients in most fresh fruits and vegetables, has even greater bioavailability after cooking and processing. Tomatoes also contain other protective mechanisms, such as antithrombotic and anti-inflammatory functions.” I also like how a good tomato pasta sauce tastes!

However, according to @mrtstephens he cooks spaghetti with pesto, a chicken breast and pine nuts, after seeing it recommended by Michel Roux Jr. For me, Michel is a hero, both in terms of his cooking, mentoring and running. The Masterchef star has run over 17 marathons in his life, as well as a Michelin starred restaurant. Naturally I recommend whole-wheat pasta for his recipe.

As a rule of thumb for portions I’ve always been told that you should use (roughly) a quarter of your plate for proteins, a quarter for carbs and half for veg. Though as your carbo loading increases with your weekly mileage, more carbs should also be added. The rule of thumb is to allow between about 8 to 10 grams of carbs per kilogram of body weight.

Most recently I’ve started working with a personal trainer who is getting me into the habit of adding whey protein into my morning smoothie – this also helps me manage to also digest my morning banana more easily, along with healthy berries, a dollop of honey, and a few oats that help with slow energy release. I’ve never previously topped up on protein shakes but my PT is quite vehement I should, as well as having a recovery drink after training to top up carbs and proteins that get taken out through hard work. I’ve only just started this regime, but I’m finding I’m less sluggish after my runs, though I’m keeping a watching brief as this is all new to me.

As well as that I also take a couple of gels with me for the long runs, some water and an electrolyte drink as I sweat out so much salt during exercise.

All of this is specific to me, but its worth thinking about or talking with the staff in your local running store who can better advise on different kinds of supplements, gels, etc. better than I can here. The watchword is to keep things to routine, and ensure that everything you’ve tried has been tested prior to the big day, and don't forget that you should keep well hydrated with plenty of water throughout your training. Good luck in your fuelling. Feel free to add your favourite meals for keeping body and mind together in your training and races, and advise if any of the points in here need amending.

The influence of others on sporting performance

Kenyan athletes training in a group

Having taken an extended break from writing whilst working this summer, I have been training and running aplenty. In London I had to fit in a big training schedule with work and commuting. I got fitter and set some PBs at a time when normally I'd be putting my feet up after 4 months of winter training. Having not made a PB for the first time in four marathons, I wanted to up my game and ran with Simon Freeman and runningwithus in my limited free time. Having a personalised schedule was great to help chart progress, but as with my training with Victoria Park Harriers in London and Trafford AC in Manchester, running interval sessions on the track every week helped improve my time and in turn, my confidence.

Simon in particular was a great influence, both on a friendship and athletics level. He encouraged me on and off the track with training. We share a love of endurance running and the mental side of sport, so it was great to be asked to help with an article on the benefits of running in groups.

Since my return to Manchester from London, I've taken a break from the running after setting a PB in the Bristol half marathon, and am head down in study mode for Sport Psych exams with the BPS. Once I've finished the first of my exams completed in early November, I'll be hitting the track as part of my goal to improve on last years Marathon time in London, and to achieve a Boston Qualifying Time (the famous and frankly scary BQT!).

In the meantime, I'll leave the virtues of running as part of a group and the benefits it gives you in training and races to Simon.