Day 5 of my tip streak and I headed down to Hastings parkrun in my latest pair of running shoes. Slightly concerning this is the 4th pair I have purchased in as many months.

I’ve gone for the Puma Velocity Nitro 2, costing me a respectable £75. First impressions are good. More on those later.

I changed into my Saucony Endorphin Pro 2s as was hoping for a quick time today but made the mistake of joining the start too late and was left way back.

If you’re one of those runners who stands right on the start line and finishes outside the top 50, or even top 100, just think about your life choices for a minute.

Anyhow, with a quick parkrun out the way I focused on good form and slotted into Marathon pace as I weaved my wave through the crowd. At the turnaround point there was plenty of space so I set myself the challenge to overtake as many runners as possible.

This was so much fun and it was the point my effort level crept up from an RPE of 3, to a 9. It’s in these moments as we really start to work hard that today’s tip holds more importance.

Stay relaxed.

We can only run to our true potential if we stay relaxed.

I love that line and it’s one I reiterate to my runners all the time. We have this natural tendency to tighten up as our effort increases and this has an adverse effect on our form.

The more inefficient our running form becomes, the less free energy we can generate, and ultimately the harder it becomes.

It’s in those challenging moments that we need all the help we can get, so keep reminding yourself to stay relaxed and you’ll find yourself achieving much better times.

So how many runners did I pass? 78 in total, in 2.5km of running. Pretty impressive given I’d done the first half of the race at my marathon pace (5:00/km) and started fairly near the front (10-15 runners back).

Why not give this challenge a go, but also keep reminding yourself when running feels hard, to stay relaxed and run freely.

Thanks for reading.