I strongly believe that no two athletes are alike. We differ as much on the inside as on the outside. We have different blends of muscle fibres that give us different capacities to respond to the different types of training. We have different nervous systems, perceptions of discomfort and cardiovascular capacities.

The core principles never change, but the intensity and duration of training and racing must be fine-tuned to the individual.

My approach to coaching runners is a blend of the science of running (acquired from formalised learning) coupled with the art of running (from many years of personal experience).

Over more than 30 years, I have covered distances from 5k to 75 miles, at home and abroad across a wide variety of terrains.

Like many runners, I started out with 10ks then up to half-marathons. For a while that was it, until I was 'encouraged' by a friend to take a charity place and run the London Marathon.

That first marathon didn't go too well, and I remember being overtaken by Rupert the Bear at the 23-mile mark. But I learnt from that first experience and after a few further attempts recorded a marathon PB of 2 hours 44 minutes.

From there, I branched into ultras and trail running. I love the variety of race formats, from 24-hour events around a track to 2-day mountain marathons. My curent favourite format is the backyard ultra.

I have discovered what works for me and also what doesn’t (finding out the hard way is sometimes the best way to improve).