The Physiology of Endurance Running Podcast · Dan Nash and Owain Zerilli

Road to Valencia 2025 - 5 weeks to go

·1 hr 55 min·5 clips

Jen says her 5K averaged 193 bpm and peaked at 202 bpm.

Owain, Jen, and special guest Dave Long open with the Road to Valencia series title and some friendly ribbing. Dave is introduced as Jen's husband and coach, which quickly sets the tone for the teasing that follows. They joke about giving him grief over Jen's training and about whether any awkward execution belongs to athlete or coach. The mood stays loose rather than formal, and that works well for the group. Dave is credited with helping Jen to personal bests over 10k and the half marathon, plus two GB team appearances. He also gets a reminder that he is running Valencia in December, in what will be his debut marathon. That gives the conversation a coach-chat feel and a race-week reality check at the same time. There is a brief sponsor detour to SOAR and some chatter about the brand's New York activity. From there, the episode settles into the real point of the hour. The main advice is not to obsess over the last few sessions before race day. A good session can settle the nerves, but a bad one does not wipe out a whole block of training. Fatigue, illness, heavy training, cold weather, and the usual nonsense can all make a workout look worse than the fitness behind it. Dave and Jen both lean hard on the idea that fitness cannot really be faked. If the fitness is there, it is there. Jen says the harder part is confidence. She explains that training no longer gives the same obvious track-session markers she used to rely on, so it is harder to find proof that the marathon pace work is enough. That leads into a familiar runner problem: knowing the advice is right for someone else, and then struggling to apply it to yourself. The pair talk through the need to trust the work already done and to be sensible about the opening half of the race. The closing stretch circles back to the same taper question, with talk of training load, remaining days, and how much damage can really be done now. It ends with a practical, slightly anxious reminder that the final weeks are mostly about not getting in the way of the fitness already built.

As heard by us

A grounded Valencia countdown chat with practical training advice and a little sponsor chatter.

A Valencia countdown chat that keeps its eye on the work ahead. Owain, Jen, and Dave Long spend much of the episode on Jen's training, the thinking behind it, and the pressure that hangs over the final weeks before her race.

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Why you'd press play

You want taper advice that treats one bad workout like background noise.

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