The analogy goes that once the hay is in the barn you can’t do anything more. Apply that analogy to running and it fits the taper wonderfully. You’ve done your training, you can’t add fitness during a taper, but you can take away from it. But what you can do during the taper to avoid the tantrums, twitchiness, anxiety and general “maranoia” to use a post London phrase, is… Plan. I’ve got a race coming up and I’ve asked ETO members for their pre race organisational tips to kee

This USB, the one in the picture above, holds all of the ETO session plans, coaching info, certification, routes, risk assessments, terms and conditions etc etc etc that I’ve ever created for Embrace The Outdoors Running Club. And last week I lost it. Before I go on, I know the more tech savvy amongst you will be screaming “USB?!!, why aren’t you using THE CLOUD” I tried that (twice) and both times my files became corrupted and unusable. I went back to good old (relatively) f

2025 was a year of firsts for many ETO'ers: marathons, ultras, road 5kms... So for 2026 I wanted to change the focus, to the sub ultra races Gloucestershire (and a little further) have to offer. "But you love ultras?!" I hear you all cry. I do, but there are three reasons sub ultra will be the focus for ETO this year: Training time/life balance Ultras take a lot of time to prepare for and take a long time to run! They can fit into a busy lifestyle but every race you do needn

You’d recognise it when you see it. But unless you’ve experienced it, you might not fully appreciate it. When a runner crosses the line,...

Magnificent Eastnor Castle 7 Race Report: Myself and Honesty representing Embrace The Outdoors running club. I've not done a Race Report...

On reflection, could that 100km debut have gone better? Tapering, the most hateful part of race prep. The lethargy, kit panic, taper flu....