Marathon Talk

As a sport psychology consultant to Team GB Katherine Bond is ideally suited to keeping us on the mental straight and narrow... Martin talked to her in depth about all things running. With Tom ill, Martin injured and Liz ill AND injured it's not a great time for the team right now... Tony flew the flag with a Great North Run... banana style!

Only three weeks to go until the Bank of America Chicago Marathon so what better time to catch up with Race Director Carey Pinkowski. We reflect on an amazing Marathon Talk Motivation Station, talk training, catch up with Tony and reveal the coolest name in running.

Fresh from victory at the North Face UTMB we speak to Jez Bragg and find out exactly what flicks his ultra-distance switch... talking of long runs Tony tells us all about the Bullock Smithy and we discuss recovery strategies for peak training sessions. Liz brings us the latest from her Road to Chicago, we rant we rave, we answer your questions and we Winner of the Week.

With 21 sub 2:30 marathons, two world championship wins, six big city marathon victories and two Olympic marathon silver medals this week's guest certainly lives up to her nickname of 'Catherine the Great'! Tony and Liz both keep us up to date, Martin's off to Monaco and Tom's off to the Bullock Smithy.

As a TV presenter who has stood in front of 350 million viewers and a six time marathon finisher Charlie Webster talked to us all about running and how the media can influence future generations. Tony popped back in with some great fashion advice, Tom scored a personal worst, Martin ranted about fish size and we found out about D-D-D-Doublers! 

Chris Thompson tells us all about his amazing silver medal run at the European Athletics Championships earlier this year. Martin's back in the UK, Liz is flying and Tom is loving the vegetarian life.

Only three British runners have ever broken 27:30 for 10,000 metres and Chris Thompson is one of them... in the first of our two part interview we talked to Chris about the early days and dealing with and then overcoming injury. Martin's still in Annecy, Tom's putting his feet up and we talk all about running.

Last month Chrissie Wellington smashed her own Ironman record at Challenge Roth, running a 2:48 marathon after 'warming up' with a 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike... we found out how she did it! We also caught up on the latest news from the world of running, Tom turned veggie and Martin went all Alpine...

With just two years until the opening of the London Olympics we spoke to Britain's last marathon medalist Charlie Spedding and talked to the head of the BBC's Olympic website Mark Coyle. Tony's Trials returned and we launched the Marathon Talk Smackdown.

At the forefront of barefoot running Ted McDonald talks us through the history and evolution of the barefoot movement. We hear from Liz Yelling on her build up to Chicago and recent race in Sunderland. Marathon Talk smashes through 2,000 Facebook fans and approaches 100,000 downloads from 56 countries. Martin promises to get back running and Tom promises to stop training so hard... soon ;)

It's been hot hot hot recently so we caught up with Lucozade Sport's Head of Sports Science Nick Morgan to talk about hydrating in the heat. Liz tell's us all about her Chicago prep, Tom gets lost AGAIN and Martin needs to pick up the pace ;)

We're doing things American style this week... talking to the President of Boulder Running Club Rich Castro, catching up with Liz's plans for the Chicago Marathon and giving out some love to running groups.

With the Autumn marathon season fast approaching it's time to kick those bad habits into touch, strap on your training shoes and head out the door. We catch up with Liz Yelling to hear how she's planning her training for the Chicago Marathon in October, we also talk about what you should do... NOW, and announce yet another legendary interviewee...

Martin completes his first ultra marathon and Tom turns his hand to sprinting. Scott Jurek as won just about everything there is to win in the world of ultra running, Martin caught up with him to find find out more and keeping it ultra, endurance coach Ian Corless joined us for training talk. 

Sammy Wanjiru has run the fastest Olympic marathon, UK based marathon and American marathon of all time... we caught up with him on a recent trip to Bedford. Also on this week's show, Martin is about to go large and Tom get's back in the groove with a half-Ironman.

As a two-time Olympian, Commonwealth Games medallist and British record holder for the 3,000m steeplechase Helen seemed the perfect person to speak to about running... fast! We also heard about fast sessions, faster OAPs and the correct speed with which to reply to an email!

In the last five years parkrun has gone from 13 friends running round Bushy Park on a Saturday morning to over 5,000 people running 5k for free every single weekend in over forty events, which in their time have seen 20,000 volunteers get involved... we chatted with a few of the key people behind this running revolution! 

Tom returns from Ironman Lanzarote, Martin heads for the hills, Tony's feeling patriotic and you lot tell us all about the Edinburgh Marathon. Our winner of the week digs deep for eight hours and we tell you how you can win a free entry to this year's Nottingham Marathon.

In 2007 Ryan Hall became the first American to break 60 minutes for a half marathon and in 2008 set the fastest marathon time ever run by an American born athlete crossing the London Marathon finishing line in 2:06:17. We caught up with him to talk about all things running. Also this week, Tony squeezed out a new PW, Martin took a turn for the worst and Tom made his final training bank deposit. 

Stride UK was set up by Mitch and Elle Phillips to help runners get the most out of themselves through high-tech video gait analysis, Tony's got the blues, Tom's off to Lanza and Martin's running long...