I spoke to Anna Hedley about what it's like to be a full-time triathlete. Having left home at 17 to go to St. Mary's University and run with the Endurance Performance group, coached by Mick Woods, she then got unlucky with an injury within the first few months and struggled to refocus, but still graduated with a degree in Physical Education, Sport and Youth Development last summer.

Since August 2024, she's been training with the Scottish National Triathlon Centre and Stirling University Performance Triathlon Squad, and loves the set up for triathlon in Stirling – Marc Austin is the lead squad coach and she also has help from Fiona Lothian, head of Performance Triathlon in Scotland.

Outside of competing, Anna is passionate about is inspiring children in sport, especially females, as she believes it is so important to have female role models in sport.

We talk about all of this, and more, enjoy!

Our running topic this week was lead by a brilliant listener question - "How much does post-run nutrition actually matter?" - so we delved into how much, or little, we each know about this...

Let us know if you have a running question that you'd like us to discuss in a future episode!

Dr. Luke retells his tales of The Running Show in Birmingham, Sam tries some 800m reps and Fran starts running again - enjoy!

We're back and we're the same but different...

We're not all doing a marathon at the same time, we're not even all doing a race at the same time, but we do all like talking about running, so that's what we'll do.

This series will be episodes with two halves:

1. Our running - what we've been up to that week and what we have coming up.

2. A running topic, like the fads but not fads. Things that we have opinions on that we'd like to share. This week's is a great one to kick things off... choosing a challenge.

Good to be back and let us know if you have any running topics you'd like us to discuss 🏃‍♀️

We come to you first from the streets of Valencia, and then from Dr. Luke's London flat for our first in-person episode.

Fran and Luke relive their marathons and then we recap the series, talking funny fads and memorable moments.

It's a long one so lace up those shoes, plug in and get out for that looong run!

(Also, thanks for listening - it's been brilliant to have so many people comment on this series. We'll be back...)

Not content with one race recap, Sam gives two - one post race and the other to Fran and Luke - hopefully it's an insight to how race reflections change when there's time to think about it all, but also just a chance for self-indulgence - sorry!

Fran and Luke also gear up to their race and talk taper and final maranoia, and Dr. Luke comes in with some great carb insight for our final Fad, Friend, Foe, Fun!

Also, it's your final chance to ⁠enter our competition⁠ with ⁠PACE coffee⁠ - get those guesses in ☕️

Maranoia nounPronunciation: /ˌmærəˈnɔɪə/

Definition: An irrational fear of not being adequately prepared for a major event, particularly a marathon.

Maranoia can impact athletes at any level and typically emerges 2-3 weeks before the event.

Associated Concerns: Common worries that can trigger maranoia include potential injuries, performance issues and unexpected or “freak” accidents.

Tips to Mitigate Maranoia:

On that note, we are delighted to announce that we have partnered with ⁠PACE coffee⁠ who aim to connect runners who love coffee with Ethiopia – the land of distance runners and the motherland of arabica coffee.Look out for our competition next week to win some of this delicious coffee, but in the meantime enjoy a discount of 15% on all their coffees until the 25th November with the code REPLAY15

This week's guest is an Olympian GB Marathoner who also loves coffee!

Richard Nerurkar tells us all about his running - including going to two Olympics and winning the World Cup Marathon - as well as what it was like moving to Ethiopia and working with none other than Haile Gebrselassie to set up the Great Ethiopian Run International 10km road race.

He's now one of the founders of PACE coffee who aim to connect runners who love coffee with Ethiopia, the land of distance runners and the motherland of arabica coffee.

It's great to speak to someone for the first time and instantly have something you can talk about for an hour, or more.

That's what running is, and does. It connect people, communities and worlds, and that's proved in this episode.

I spoke to Alice about her running, from being an afterschool social activity to running for her country. Then going away, before coming back again.

One thing is certain, running runs through her veins and she really loves everything to do with it - enjoy!

Is there one shot that can do it all? Well, if it can help with mara-tiredness then we're here for it, cos we are tiiired!

Sam's nearly at the taper, Fran's found even more hills and Dr. Luke talks us through our latest 'Fad, Friend, Foe, Fun', the Steeps One Shot – #gifted