AW Run Coach

Nothing like some 5k pain to cap your Saturday. Back under 18mins for the first time in a couple of years at the Athletics Wellington 5k champs. Should out to the Wellington Scottish legends who turned up in droves and smashed it. In particular to Amanda Broughton who continues to inspire and show us all how to be the best we can be 💪

Opened up the road season with 🥇 at the Moonshine Relay in Trentham today. Great running also from Adele, Jiwon and Max. All of us pumped for the Wellington 5k Champs next weekend 💪

Every now and then, you receive something that reminds you exactly why you started.

Coaching has never been about finish times or podiums for me. It’s about helping people discover they’re capable of more than they ever thought possible.

Reading Mel’s words genuinely stopped me in my tracks. Working with Mel has been one of the greatest privileges of my coaching career.

Thank you for trusting me to be part of that journey. Your hard work, resilience and willingness to embrace the process made those achievements possible.

Reviews like this mean more than you’ll ever know.

3:02 on the GC. Great run 🔥🇳🇱🇳🇿

A huge congratulations to Floor on an outstanding 3:02 marathon today on the Gold Coast.

This training block has been one of commitment, consistency, and resilience. After a minor ni**le back in May, she never lost sight of the bigger picture. We managed the setback, trusted the process, and she came back stronger, nailing session after session with real purpose.

Today's race was executed almost perfectly. Floor settled into the sub-3-hour pace group, stayed patient, and raced with confidence through the bulk of the marathon. As the marathon always does, it asked a few tough questions over the final 5km, and it managed to claw back a little time. That's the nature of 42.2km.

This result is about so much more than the clock. It's about turning up day after day, doing the work when no one is watching, and building the fitness and belief that performances like this are possible.

I'm incredibly proud of the way Floor approached every part of this campaign. Here's the exciting part… 3:02 isn't the end of the story. It's another stepping stone. Based on what I've seen over the past few months, I have no doubt that the sub-3-hour barrier is within reach. It's only a matter of time.

What a day for the AW Run Coach crew at the and Half Marathon. 👏

In brutally tough conditions, with Wellington delivering a classic southerly and relentless wind, these athletes stepped up and produced performances to be incredibly proud of.

🔥 produced an outstanding marathon debut, running 2:38 to finish an incredible 4th overall. For someone tackling the distance for the first time, Max raced like a seasoned marathoner — sticking to the plan, seeking shelter when it mattered, and absolutely nailing the racing line from start to finish.

🔥 Ben Twyman was right there alongside Max for much of the race, showing tremendous strength and composure. A brief unscheduled stop for a call of nature cost him some time, but he battled on superbly to finish 5th in 2:39.

🔥 .erceg produced a huge breakthrough in the Half Marathon, taking a massive eight minutes off his PB to run 1:18.

🔥 surpassed even his own expectations, running a fantastic debut Half Marathon of 1:40.

Days like today are the reward for months of consistent training, early mornings, and trusting the process. Super proud of every one of these athletes and excited to see what comes next.

The future is looking pretty exciting. 👊

One year on — and this is just the beginning. 🎉

Twelve months ago AW Run Coach started with a simple goal: help everyday runners train smarter and achieve more than they thought possible. Today, the website is officially live and there's never been a better time to join. 🙌

Whether you're chasing your first 5km or your next marathon PB, there's something here for you:

✅ Personalised one-on-one coaching, built around your goals and lifestyle

✅ AW Extra Mile — a supportive community for beginner runners

✅ A free Pace Calculator + workout library to train smarter
To every runner who's been part of this journey — thank you. This one's for you. 🧡

Ready to take the next step? www.awruncoach.co.nz

👟 Turn your shoes over, right now.

One of the simplest diagnostic tools you own is sitting on the bottom of your running shoes, and most people never look at it.

These are my current Adidas Evo SLs. Same pair, same mileage, same two feet doing the same job, but the left is noticeably more worn than the right.

The outsole doesn't lie. Here's what mine are telling me:

After my Achilles injury, I've done the work and the strength is back in the affected leg, but the soles say otherwise. Biomechanically, I'm still loading and pushing off slightly differently on each side.

Strength restored isn't the same as movement restored, and my shoes are quietly having that second conversation.

That's the point. Your soles record how you actually move, not how you think you move.

So make it a habit. Every week or two, flip your shoes over and read them.

🔍 Look for:
• One shoe wearing faster than the other
• Wear drifting toward one edge
• A pattern that's changed from how they used to look

You don't need a lab. You just need to turn your shoes over and pay attention.

15 January 2020 with

Sometimes the best recovery is not recovering at all!

4 × 3km at threshold. 1km floats between. No full stops.

The numbers tell it:

→ The reps got FASTER, not slower: 3:23, 3:22, 3:18, 3:16 — last km the quickest of the day at 3:12.

→ Float HR: 148 → 152 → 156. Never dropped to easy. The engine never cooled.

I wasn’t recovering at rest. I was recovering on the move…clearing lactate while still working, holding the aerobic system lit from the first rep to the last.

That’s not a fitness trick. It’s a racing skill. No race gives you a stop button. You surge, settle, cover the move, change gears…always against fatigue that’s already there. The float trains exactly that.

Run the recovery with purpose. The reset you skip is the fitness you keep.

2010. My first marathon. Dad was there at the finish line, proud as ever after I’d battled my way to a 3:35 finish.

Looking back, what stands out isn’t the time. It’s the man standing beside me.

Dad was a lifelong advocate for movement and exercise. He believed that staying active could change lives, regardless of your body type, ability, or age. It’s one of the reasons I gravitated towards sport and exercise throughout my entire life and tried to endlessly push myself.

He practised what he preached. A two-time national champion in the 110- and 220-yard breaststroke back in the 1960s, he never lost his love for being active. Long after his competitive days were over, he was still swimming 2km every day simply because he enjoyed it.

In fact, he swam his usual 2km on the day he passed away in November 2012.

I know he’d be pretty stoked that I eventually got that marathon time down to 2:35…an hour faster than the runner in this photo. More than that, I think he’d be proud that I’ve carried forward the values he lived by…movement, consistency, and helping others discover what they’re capable of.

This photo reminds me where that journey started, and why I still love doing what I do today.