The RunSpace

The RunSpace Online and in-person 1-2-1 and group coaching, based at Par Track, Cornwall. For runners of all abilities!
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07/06/2026

A little bit different today just to let you guys all know that yes I’m still here, running, coaching, and reflecting (I will get back to the whiteboard soon - it’s been a busy month!).

I know a lot of you love to run watch free for easy miles and long runs. But have you ever raced or done an intervals session sans-tech? Did your result or experience differ positively or negatively?

And on a posting note… it’s so easy to lose confidence - in racing, in running, in pacing, but also in simply posting and putting myself out there as a coach online too. When you get out of the habit sometimes the hardest thing to do is re-find that habit. But sometimes the best thing to do is remember where it all started.

Running for me started with turning up to parkrun and giving things a bash. I didn’t have a watch and it was the era of the paper barcode. I would wait with anticipation on Saturday afternoon for the results to be manually processed. Would the time beat last weeks? I would scan through the results (usually looking for my “unknown” as I am a serial barcode forgetter) and analyse myself reflectively: how had I felt at each lap or turn? What as I gonna do better next time - simply by feel?

And it’s similar with coaching and runstagramming too. Sometimes we focus too much on the views and the likes and the validation and who we want to speak to, rather than just wanting to share our incredible enthusiasm for this brilliant sport and connect with community through the fantastic tool which is the internet.

So here is a very much unedited word vom of where my running is at now!

And a reminder: Stats are a brilliant tool to use when we want them in so many ways. But don’t get too blinded that you put the stats first.

Big running love

Speak tomorrow (maybe on the whiteboard…)

Cat 🐱

Last day in The Netherlands and I’m very grateful that there are RunSpacers all over the world - even if we all run bett...
25/05/2026

Last day in The Netherlands and I’m very grateful that there are RunSpacers all over the world - even if we all run better than we pose.

🧡🇳🇱

One thing that the Netherlands has me hooked at again is cycling. I forgot how much fun two wheels were! Maybe going fro...
24/05/2026

One thing that the Netherlands has me hooked at again is cycling. I forgot how much fun two wheels were!

Maybe going from the usual 40-60 min turbo training a week to over 50km is unwise but it’s just such an amazingly cycle-able place (especially in comparison to Cornwall).

I think the long distance bike packing days are behind me (unless I can teach Jesse to live out of a bike basket) but definitely gotta consider how easy access to great cycling networks and terrains the next move is.

🧡🇳🇱

Netherlands photo dump so far (mostly cats and birds, I forget to take photos of the people stuff). First proper holiday...
24/05/2026

Netherlands photo dump so far (mostly cats and birds, I forget to take photos of the people stuff).

First proper holiday in 6 years - trying not to work when you’re self employed, especially in something which you’re so passionate about, is incredibly hard!

Tom is helping me by ensuring I leave my work phone securely in the B&B, and I’m trying not to think about “ooooh I wonder how this runner got on in their race…” (or the more mundane stresses of tax spreadsheets - which yes, are very stressful at the moment, ffs brexit).

But it’s been good practice, if not perfect.

And the not perfect aspect just means I’ll have to go back on holiday again soon 😉

So yes, for the first time in the last few years I have mostly forgotten about performance goals (still fan and cycled lots!), read a book, switched off, got enough sleep consistently, tried not to feel guilty spending money on myself rather than putting it back into the business and ate a LOT of incredible, healthy, tasty food rather than grabbing convenient macros on the go because it’s efficient fuelling. All things, of course, which I have to do more of. Because I know i’ll come back a healthier coach for doing so.

Because there will NEVER be a good time for a coach to take a holiday. I have athletes racing every weekend and apart from avoiding the big marathons and suchlike, I don’t know how else I can structure some time off apart from through good communication and boundaries. But of course, I feel coach guilt and worry!

But it’s something that I gotta get better at because seeing the world is something I put on hold for the past 6 years. It used to be something I would actively chase as a goal. And that’s a good goal to make a comeback.

So if you’ve messaged me or emailed about run coaching on the latter half of the week, I will be getting back to you… but it’ll be after return on Tuesday night!

Until then, I have some Dutch cats to pss pss pss and some chocolate vermicelli on toast to eat…

Big running hugs

Cat

How’s that for flying feet?! It might not have been my fastest time ever, but I dare you to find someone who had so much...
19/05/2026

How’s that for flying feet?!

It might not have been my fastest time ever, but I dare you to find someone who had so much fun coming 20th female in a race ever 😁

(Sorry Llewelyn 🫣🤭)

So much fun. Head back in the game. Let’s build!

Sometimes a race doesn’t have to be a PB to feel like a PB. This is 9 minutes slower than I was running before 2023. But...
17/05/2026

Sometimes a race doesn’t have to be a PB to feel like a PB.

This is 9 minutes slower than I was running before 2023.

But this is not 2023. I’ve had a major injury, and taken a much needed break from racing for psychological reasons (while… um, building an incredible community and self sustaining coaching business in The RunSpace…?! Yes, I could have chosen a more relaxing way to re-find my love of the sport, I’ll admit…). Last year, I came back, reluctantly taking the hit that my previous sub-19 min 5km self was no longer in existence. Ego management lessons were had.

But what once was can be rebuilt, and I know the process. This time last year, I was running 26-min-and-change for 5km all out. Today, I started perhaps the strongest paced 10km of my life with a sub-24. Then turned around and did it all again!

The greatest thing? I didn’t look at my watch once. I covered it with a sweat band and locked in to feel. How I used to run. And from the first step I backed myself.

And that’s one thing I’ve not been good at doing in the past. I know a lot about running, and coaching, and even Tom’s TEN MINUTE PB today shows that (sorry-not-sorry for micromanaging your HR zones 🤪). But sometimes a coach can be their own worst enemy in having too many tools. I’ve always had coaches to help me steer my thoughts and keep me on track.

But this year I’ve decided to back myself.

And it’s paying off.

Because not only am I doing what works, I’m doing what I can fit in, and what I find exciting, and challenging, and a little scary, and fun.

Because at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about!

Next race is back in 🇮🇪- Waterford 10km - and we got some work to do before then.

“Can I run again yet?!”

What a great feeling to have back.

Ps thanks to everyone who said hi. It’s still so surreal to be recognised and I appreciate you all so much 🫶🏻

A-goal: relax into it and run happy. Inspire another good training block. Come away with a time that reflects that, and ...
16/05/2026

A-goal: relax into it and run happy. Inspire another good training block. Come away with a time that reflects that, and which I deserve through my training. Which realistically, will be similar to last 10km, with a few added hills in the mix.

While training has gone okayish, it’s not been perfect, and it’s felt hard. There’s been a lovely buffer between race pace and interval pace but there’s still a bit of a mental block with that distance. Last time I felt pressure as the first run back and I don’t think that helped my head game: this is really just a little jog round Plymouth, hopefully in time to see RunSpace superstar cross the line of the half marathon in style!

A part of me is loving training at the moment: the chase in training is exciting, and I’m feeling motivated for every session. A part of me is frustrated though at not seeing the gains sooner, and to the same degree that I used to before, from the same return of effort. But that’s ok: it’s all a learning process, I’m not in the same body as I was before when I was fit enough to run these miles, and I have to remember that this build is still in its infancy really. And what is this but just another run. This is another run. Just another run. Another run. Run.

See you tomorrow Plymouth!

How pro do these look! So proud of how far this silly little run project has come. Want a tee? Drop a quack. Released Mo...
12/05/2026

How pro do these look!

So proud of how far this silly little run project has come.

Want a tee? Drop a quack. Released Monday! 🧡

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