Awakened Wave

Once again, Trailblazer’s Abi and Nik showing that success rewards consistency! ❤️🔥

Both tackled the Maverick Race trail marathon last weekend which was their first ever marathon and they absolutely smashed it.

Their training was simple:
- 3 to 4 runs per week (1 workout, 1 easy & 1 long with the occasional back to back)
- 2 strength workouts per week

No fancy workouts. Just fantastic consistency and very intentional workouts specific to their weaknesses/strengths.

The priority with this training block was developing downhill confidence, leg power for sensible uphill pacing and learning to run on tired legs.

This was done in 3 ways:

Downhill Running - Long run’s emphasised fast downhills as well as some weekly downhill technical practice and drills.

Uphill Leg Power - Hill strides, strength training and hilly runs.

Leg Fatigue - Several back to back long runs. Often after a Friday strength session. Focus on fuelling big efforts with appropriate carb intake and plenty of water.

✨Super proud of them both!✨

If you want to know more about joining my team of 1:1 coached trailblazer adventurers, comment “TRAILBLAZER” and I’ll send you info.

Love you all, keep adventuring! 💚

I’ve just launched a weekly newsletter called “The Weekly Wave” 💚🌊

All Patreon members (Free or paid) will receive it every Monday in their emails. My free Patreon membership also includes podcast/webinars released each Friday and the occasional blog post.

To sign up, click the link in my bio!

My intention behind this newsletter is share positive weekly updates and stories from the world’s adventure communities. I hope these stories will keep inspiring you to live adventurously.

On top of this, I am keen to help you live more adventurously through small weekly tasks. The tasks are designed to help push your limits, feel deeply fulfilled and live just a little more adventurously.

I believe combining these three points of focus (achievement, awakening and adventure), is the recipe to a life well lived.

Love you all, keep adventuring! 💚

This weekend, one of my TrailBlazer Athlete, Róis, took on the 70km “Reach the Beach” Ultra marathon. 🔥

She pushed hard and after 62km decided to DNF after a reoccurring calf problem came back.

I could not be prouder of Róis.

When your body tells you to stop but your mind doesn’t want to, it can be tough to make the right decision. But she knew what was best in that moment and sensibly listened to her body.

I spoke to Róis after the race and she is happy with her performance and the decision to stop.

Too often we use the finish line of Ultra Marathon’s as an indicators of success and failure. If we explore a little deeper, we often realise that this is a surface level goal and in fact we race to feel a sense of fulfilment and satisfaction.

Sometimes the finish line brings this feeling, and other times it doesn’t.

Giving anything our best shot and feeling proud of our effort regardless of performance is the ultimate sign of success.

Well done Róis for an epic day out! 💚💪🏼

✨Athlete Shoutout - Nik & Abi ✨

They both smashed it this weekend at the 32km Dearg Up n’ Doon.

Loads of consistent training over the past few months and some specific hill work has paid off 💪🏼🏔️

Well done guys, very proud! 💚

✨Big Weekend for some Awakened Wave Athletes! ✨

Maddy - Crushed her first marathon in brutal heat.

Róis - Completed her longest training run of this block (50km)

Abi & Nik - Finished their training block and now time for a good recovery week before their race on Saturday!

Exciting stuff ahead 💚🌈

✨Adventurer Shoutout - Róis✨

Smashing out Tiree Half Marathon this weekend in the glorious west coast sunshine!

Róis has been incredibly consistent with training over the past few months and progressing nicely toward her next Ultra Marathon in a couple of months!

For coaching enquires, drop me a message!

💚

Big thanks to Jamie and Sim for a fun day exploring the hills on Sunday! 🏔️🏃🏽‍♂️💚

Below are a few trail running tips we covered:

ASCENDING
Pick 1 of 3 ascending techniques and vary it based on the terrain and your desired effort:
1) Power hiking - Walking with an excessive forward lean and pushing on legs with arms for additional help. Often good on steep gradients.
2) Short Steps - Use short fast steps to stay light on your feet. Often useful on shallower uphill gradients.
3) Bounding - Long, powerful strides that use momentum to get over a short steep hill quickly without loosing your flow. To be used for less than 10s durations at a time.

DESCENDING
- Falling over is not a sign of failure.
- Thoughts often become reality. Select mantras that help you feel confident as you descend.
- Stay light on the balls of your feet for greater control. Practice skipping downhill to mimic this feeling.
- Sometimes faster can feel safer assuming your legs have the strength to support you.
- Look forwards not down whenever you can.
- Fast feet, floaty arms.

PACING
Choose a relative effort on a scale of 1-10 and constantly vary your pace so you stay within your desired effort range. Don’t get locked into one pace or running technique. As the terrain changes, you need to change with it.

Any questions about trail running then fire them my way.

I also have availability for online coaching at the moment. It costs £120 per month. So if you’re keen to know what that involves drop me a message.

Love you all. Keep adventuring! 💚🌈

Shoutout to adventurer who won the summer solstice challenge! 🏅🌅

She summited Arthur’s Seat 18 times totalling 100km in distance and 4.5km of vert. 🏔️

I spoke to Skye a week before the race and she told me very clearly “I want to win this.”

I believe too often we shy away from telling the world what we want to achieve because it feels too ambitious and the risk of failing is too great.

But be honest and brave!

Tell people what you want to achieve even if it seems unlikely.

Risk failing in front of others because maybe your bravery will unknowingly inspire someone else to be ambitious.

And who knows, maybe you’ll pull off a show stopping performance and it’ll make you reevaluate your own limitations.

Well done Skye! 💚

I believe it’s my job as a coach to make the impossible feel a little more possible.

If you want to work with me then either comment below or drop me a message and I’ll send you some info.

Love you all and keep adventuring! ❤️

Me: You’re injured so take it easy and just do a gentle cycle or hike this weekend.

Skye: Okay…

Also Skye: Cycles 140 miles 🚴🏼‍♀️🔥😂

I love coaching athletes who understand their body better than I do. This isn’t something I would have recommended and yet Skye listened to her body and wanted to go on an adventure, so she did!

My training approach is about having fun and preparing you for big adventures. Both mentally and physically. When I see my athletes do crazy spontaneous s**t like this, I fu***ng love it! It fills me with so much joy! ❤️

Sticking to a training plan is great and will help most people excel. But combining a well structure training plan with your own intuition and a desire for adventure is the absolute sweet spot.

If you know anyone who wants MORE from life and wants to train for big, fun adventures. Send them my way. I would love to help!

Comment or message the word “ADVENTURE” and I’ll send you more details on coaching options.

Big love and adventure on! 💚🏔️