Already running? How to keep improving without burning out
Every run, the same run
Let me describe a runner. See if you recognise them.
They go out three or four times a week. Same route, or near enough. Same pace, which is always "quite hard". Not flat out, but definitely not comfortable. They check their watch at every kilometre and feel a bit disappointed. Every run is a little test they're secretly hoping to pass.
They were improving for a while. Then they stopped. Now they're a bit tired all the time, there's a calf that's been grumbling since March, and they've started to wonder whether this is just as fast as they're going to get.
That runner was me. For years.
I started out running 10-minute kilometres. I've since run a 2:45 marathon at Loch Ness, and I'm 46. That didn't happen because I found a secret workout. It happened because I stopped doing a few things wrong and started doing some boring things right. Here they are.
Slow down to speed up
his is the big one, and it's the one nobody wants to hear.
Most of your running should be easy. Properly easy. So easy you could chat the whole way round, or sing along to whatever's in your headphones (I'd recommend not actually doing this on a busy path). If you can't hold a conversation, you're not running easy, whatever your watch says.
Back in 2021, I was trying to figure out a more sustainable way to train, and I read 80/20 Running by Matt Fitzgerald. It changed how I think about every run. The idea is simple: roughly 80% of your running at an easy effort, and the other 20% harder. It sounds backwards. Surely running slowly makes you slow? It doesn't. Easy running builds the engine: your heart, your lungs, all the plumbing that lets you run faster later. And because it doesn't batter you, you can do more of it, week after week.
The trap most of us fall into is the middle. Every run is a bit too hard to be easy and a bit too easy to be properly hard. So you're always slightly tired, and you never get the benefit of either.
In May this year I ran the Bridgwater Bolt 10K in about 41 minutes. I hadn't been smashing intervals. I'd spent a year doing mostly easy running, and the annoying thing is that the boring training worked.
I'll be honest, the first few weeks of slowing down feel ridiculous. You'll get overtaken by people walking their dogs. Your ego will take a hit. Let it. Your ego isn't running your next race.
Get stronger
I avoided the gym for years. I was worried about bulking up (no chance), getting injured, wandering around not knowing what I was doing, and being surrounded by blokes grunting at mirrors.
Then in 2023 I started strength training at Watergate Studios, and it changed my running more than anything else I've done. I'm not exaggerating. I got more resilient, I picked up fewer niggles, and I ran more efficiently. The year after I started, I took 13 minutes off my marathon time.
Running is basically hopping from one leg to the other a few thousand times. Strength work makes your muscles, tendons and joints better at coping with that. It's not about getting big. It's about being able to take a pounding.
You don't need a fancy gym to start. Twice a week, 20 minutes, focused on legs and core: squats, lunges, calf raises, bridges, planks. Bodyweight is fine to begin with. Once that feels easy, add some weight. I now do deadlifts and squats that would have terrified 2019 me (admittedly, most things terrified 2019 me).
The trick is to treat strength as part of your training, not something extra you'll get round to. It's not a bonus level. It's the level.
Listen to the niggles (I'm still learning this one)
I'd love to tell you I've got this sorted. I haven't.
In 2024 I had a place in the London Marathon and had to pull out with a stress fracture. This year I had a shin that started grumbling during a big training block, and I discovered I'm an expert in what I now call runner's limp logic. Step one: notice the pain. Step two: decide it's probably fine. Step three: repeat. It's a brilliant system, apart from the bit where it doesn't work.
Here's what I've learned the hard way:
Pain that changes how you run is a stop sign. If you're limping, even slightly, you're done for the day. Being sore after a hard session is normal. Limping isn't.
Don't add too much too soon. Big jumps in mileage are where most of my problems started. Build gradually, and every few weeks have an easier week to let your body catch up.
Rest is training. Your body gets fitter when it recovers from the work, not while you're doing it. A day off isn't lazy. It's where the improvement actually happens.
Sleep and food matter more than your shoes. You can't out-train four hours' sleep and a diet of coffee.
See someone. If something hasn't settled after a week or so, see a physio. Earlier is cheaper, faster and less miserable.
Burnout isn't only physical, either. After the 2025 London Marathon I felt completely worn down and took a step back from running and from filming on every single run. It's fine to have a lighter few weeks just because you've lost the spark. The goal is to still be running in ten years, not to win October.
Quiz: are you training smart, or just training hard?
Seven quick questions. Be honest, nobody's watching. At the end you'll get your score and a three-step action plan based on your answers.
Are you training smart, or just training hard?
Whatever you score, don't skip the last question. If you dread every run, something needs to change. Running should make your life better, not be another thing on the to-do list you feel guilty about.
Where the Club fits in
The PKS Training Club isn't only for beginners. If you're already running, you'll find plenty here too.
Easy running, pacing, race prep and strength work come up every week. The Strength Library has follow-along sessions you can slot in around your runs. And you can ask me anything. I've gone from 10-minute kilometres to a 2:45 marathon, so I've made most of the mistakes already, usually more than once.
Just as useful, there's a group of people who'll tell you to take the rest day. Or ask why you ran your easy run at 10K pace. Again.
The Club isn't a personalised training plan. If you want a plan built around you and your race, that's what my 1:1 coaching is for. But if you want the knowledge, the rhythm and the people, this is it.
I'm opening 15 founding places at £20 a month, yours for as long as you stay a member. Get on the list and you'll be the first to hear when the doors open.
Now go and run your next easy run properly easy. Let the dog walkers win.
Have a great week, folks.
Paul
The information in this post is general guidance. If you have pain, an injury or a medical concern, speak to your GP or a physio before starting something new.
