On Sunday 28th April, I had the pleasure of talking to family friend Louise Burgess who has run 2 half-marathons and is currently training for another and aiming for around 1 hr 40 mins.

Louise first acknowledged running back in the 90s, when she felt too unfit to run to catch her bus. After training for some time, she signed up to a couple of 10ks, but she didn’t just stop there. Since 2017, Louise really fell in love with the sport and trained for her first half-marathon which is an incredible achievement. Running is her passion and she really inspired me to work on my running by giving me loads of useful tips. 

Nutrition

Firstly, I asked Louise about nutrition and what she likes to eat, to fuel herself before and after a run. Before a run Louise tends to have a banana as it gives her quick and easy sugar. Any run, over an hour she recommends taking "gels" with you, so you are able to keep running without losing too much energy and keep your calories up. Then after a run she will drink a “protein shake”. The 3 things that have made the most difference to her are “protein, sleep and keeping hydrated”. Drinking water is essential and “if you’ve got a race think about rehydration tablets in your water”. On top of this you must eat a “balanced diet” which consists of “enough carbs, lots of protein and some form of fruit or vegetable in every meal”. She also added that especially if you are female, you should “watch out for anaemia”. Women need more iron for menstruation, so if you aren’t getting enough in your diet and you run regularly then you are at risk of becoming anaemic. 

Sleep

Louise also finds that getting a "good quality of sleep" is one of the building- blocks every runner must have under their belt. It helps you push yourself to your limits and she “obsess(es) about getting 8 hours of sleep every night."  Furthermore, she recommends getting an exercise watch to monitor your sleep (as well as pace in runs) and see how you can improve to better your performance for the next day. 

Louise runs 5 times a week and fills the rest of her time with recovery walks, a mix of cross training, weights, swimming and cycling!

The ideal run

“Most of my runs are really good because I just love running. I think the location is important, weather can make a big difference too, company- I have 3 girlfriends who I absolutely love running with. Running and chatting. Nice, steady easy pace. That’s just joyful”.

Louise also very interestingly mentioned that "80% of your mileage run in a week should be at your easy pace, and only 20% at your hard pace!"

For me, a good run can be a mixture of things. It could be a PB, a brilliant playlist, perfect weather, a running partner. However not every run you do can be your greatest achievement. Sometimes music won’t solve your problems, and it is better just to be at one with nature and you might have nobody to run with.

 

Finally, Louise’s advice to new runners is to “join a running club” as they are “relatively inexpensive to join” and very “encouraging”. Have a go at the couch to 5k. I used to despise running and could barely stagger through a slow kilometre. Now I am able to run 10km comfortably. I hope to follow in Louise’s footsteps one day and run my very first half-marathon when I am old enough!