Half Marathon’s are great; a serious and taxing challenge, but one which won’t dominate your weekends for 6 months and take weeks and weeks to recover from! We have come up with 4 nutrition rules, that will help you fuel and recover from your Half Marathon training and racing. Carbohydrate is the bodies ‘currency of choice’ Both in your training, and on race day you will need to rely on carbohydrate to fuel your body and enable it to recover from the training. You don’t need to slam back mountains of spaghetti for breakfast, lunch and dinner - but it needs to be an integral aspect of your die ..read more

It’s the Summer! Beautiful sunny days, long balmy evenings, and the gasping hum of parched runners whining about the heat. We work harder, sweat more, and run slower. However, if done safely, running in the heat provides a distinct training stimulus that can enhance your fitness and running prowess.  Training in the heat improves your ability to regulate and manage your temperature. You become a more “advanced sweater,” dispersing heat more effectively and reducing your overall core temperature.  Heat training also boosts fitness - improving the transportation of oxygen through an in ..read more

Even before the pandemic, the line between work and home was becoming increasingly blurred. That line has been shattered. Under increased  work pressure, employees expect support from their employers. 87% of people would be more likely to stay with an employer who looks after their wellbeing. A well defined wellbeing strategy helps attract staff too. When health and wellbeing are actively promoted, companies are 2.5 times more likely to be viewed as a top performing organisation. We all have much to gain from encouraging a culture of exercise and wellbeing, but it’s often the first thing ..read more

Living through the pandemic has had a greater effect on our relationships than we care to realise. Our connection with our employers, colleagues and bosses have changed. We’ve spent the last 12 months communicating ‘remotely’ via phone, video and email and it will be difficult to return to ‘normal’ in the short to medium term. Staff are increasingly feeling lonely and disconnected. 33% of UK workers feel less connected towards both their company culture and colleagues during the COVID-19 pandemic, with another survey suggesting 41% of workers were mulling leaving their jobs in the next 12 mont ..read more

Over the last 12 months a large proportion of us have become less productive. According to a survey by Ipsos-Mori and the World Economic Forum, over half (46%) of all workers globally reported reduced productivity in the period. There’s lots of reasons for this, from video meeting burnout, to the complete absence of  informal ‘networking’ with colleagues, or the buildup of dirty laundry on the bathroom floor. Though the flexibility of working from home  As we start to return to offices over the next 6 months, there has been much talk of hybrid working models and the benefits this mig ..read more

by Philippa Richardson, Founder of The Circle Line The mind-body connection is a powerful thing. Aligning the two can release an enormous amount of our energy and talent. But fulfilling our full potential takes time and work. It takes dedication and practice. Just like running. So, let’s get started. I clearly remember meeting Dr David Hamilton, a former chemist at Astra Zeneca. He’d spent a decade or more developing drugs for the global pharmaceutical industry, trying to help people be physically well - and had grown more and more interested in the one thing the chemists were trying to elimin ..read more

There's a lot of evidence to show that those who set interesting, inspiring and motivating goals end up achieving more. So, the challenge today is to come up with some fitness goals for 2021 and beyond. But first, here are our 3 tips. 1. Set goals based on process, not on results A process-based mindset is grounded in sports psychology and performance. Here, process just means the day-to-day of life, with results meaning individual moments along the way, whether they are races, events or challenges. The problem with results is that they don't make you happy in and of themselves. There is a p ..read more

With a raft of new race cancellations this autumn - it looks like we are going to have to get used to running virtual or solo road running challenges for a while longer. It's not going to be easy - it's incredibly difficult to keep your mind on the job without the stimulus of crowds and other competitors. Having said that, virtual events provide an opportunity to create the perfect race for you. You can choose the course, start time, and 'in-race refreshments'. You can even reschedule if the weather isn't quite right! Here's our tips to get the most out of your event. Don't forget to enter our ..read more

In a decade’s time, how will we look back on this tumultuous period? Has the coronavirus brought about a ‘revolution’ in our working habits?  Broadly speaking, despite huge advances in technology very little has changed in the way we work since the industrial revolution. The types of employment have undoubtedly changed but we still, largely, live in cities and travel to work in large centralised ‘production’ centres.  The lockdown has, perhaps, accelerated our move to decentralisation. Remote working has now become the norm and has, broadly, worked well in the short term. It’s benefi ..read more

As the racing calendar continues to wilt, due to the Corona Virus pandemic, it means that the Summer and possibly Autumn ahead are looking sparse for competitive opportunities. Many of us rely on races to motivate our training and to use as a target for peak fitness.  In the absence of races over the coming months we look at what you can do to keep motivated and make good use of your hard training. Virtual Racing Over the last couple of months we have seen a growing number of virtual race formats being staged. These challenges have ranged from 1km time trials to 100 mile events. Courses ..read more