I know, I know: you just can’t get any better. I’ve been there and it’s frustrating. You convince yourself that it’s OK not to run fast and keep plodding along at the same speed, but the truth is you really do want to go faster.

Of course, you don’t want to be an elite or anything; not even a fast club runner – who has time to train like that? And besides, you enjoy food and drink too much. Nope, you just want to run a bit faster and improve every few months so your running is a bit easier and you are less likely to get injured.

But with the huge amount of information in blog posts, online magazines, YouTube, Instagram and even TikTok, it’s easy to think “sod it, I can’t be bothered with all this”. And that’s OK, it can be overwhelming when you don’t know where to start.

Even when you do pick a starting point you quickly realise that it takes a lot of effort to change the smallest thing. Much of the content is trying to teach you as if you are that fast club runner, or perhaps worse – a complete beginner that just started yesterday. Why isn’t there something in between? Why isn’t there a how-to, a step by step, even just some pointers and simple advice for those of us that have been running for a few years but are just not progressing. 

Well, that’s why I built my running business and built this site. There is a better way to approach this.

Forget trying to change into the runner you’re not and embrace being the best runner you are and want to be in the future. 

I have realised through coaching a lot of runners just like you, that we improve by being confident in who we are and the skills we have. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. If you want to be good at your job, you make sure you are confident in what you do.

Genuine confidence usually leads to genuine competence, so why do most running tutorials and systems try to leap you ahead and teach you skills that you are not ready to achieve?

Did you learn how to walk by being told to lift your heels up, have high knees and strong glutes? No, of course not. You experimented and someone held your hand and encouraged you while you learned to move in a way that allowed you to walk. You progressed in a way that helped your brain feel safe, and when your brain feels safe it is far more likely to to go along with the small risks you need to take when learning something new.

Becoming confident in your running is about building a solid foundation that covers off the following 4 Pillars of Confident Running:

1. Fluidity of movement
2. Relaxed, stable posture
3. Relaxed, efficient breathing
4. Clear, confident thoughts (neuro, Brain Safe)

The first three may make more immediate sense than the fourth, so let me explain a little more.

Clear, confident thoughts will naturally occur once you have reached a certain level of mastery in the other three pillars.

When you can be confident in making your own decisions about how you train, your running will take off like never before!

Because your brain’s number one priority is to always keep you safe, if anything is seen as a threat then your running will suffer. Your brain gets to feel safe when it knows you are confident in the skills you need for any given activity, and confident in making the decisions about how to improve those skills.

The first three pillars are intertwined with each other, so improvements in one area will almost definitely create improvements in the other areas, all the time building up your Brain Safe confidence.

If you can change how you learn to run and follow the 4 Pillars of Confident Running, then many of the running form/technique changes and tweaks that you see on YouTube and Instagram, and read about elsewhere online and in books, will happen a lot easier. Not only that, but they stick around. 

If you try to leap ahead and implement the “advanced” running form styles without the 4 Pillars foundation, you are likely to become frustrated and demotivated because it will be so hard to do and you’ll simply revert back to where you were. I’ve learned this through years of coaching and teaching ordinary runners that just want to enjoy running, and my own running journey stands as a testiment to this system.

I recommend reading my FREE Run Strong Guide.

Next, download my FREE Blueprint for Running to learn how you can approach improving your running technique.