The Self-Coached

Honest thinking for runners who coach themselves

No plans to follow. Just clear thinking about the decisions you make alone — usually late, usually second-guessing.

• AI Made the Training Plan Worthless

  The plan was never the point. What's scarce now is something that thinks alongside you — and why Tempo exists.

• Should I run with low HRV?

  How to read the number instead of just obeying it — and the times a dip does and doesn't mean back off.

• Niggle or injury? How to decide before you run

  The questions worth asking before you run through something — without catastrophising or ignoring it.

• Are my easy runs actually easy?

  A self-test that doesn't need a lab — and why most self-coached runners run easy days too hard.

• Did I peak too early? Taper flatness vs real fatigue

  Why you feel flat in the taper, and how to tell nerves and freshness apart from genuine over-fatigue.

• Acute:chronic workload ratio, in plain English

  What the ACWR actually tells you about injury risk — and why it's a guide, not a rule.

• What a deload week actually does (and how to know you need one)

  Why cutting back isn't doing nothing — and the honest signals that this is the week, left as your call.

• Zone 2 training: the signal vs the dogma

  What easy aerobic work really does, where the internet rules overreach, and how to weigh it against your own data.

• How to taper for a marathon when you feel terrible

  Taper tantrums, phantom fatigue, and telling normal weirdness from a real warning sign — without panicking.