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.

• How do you set up a Garmin vivoactive 4 watch for running?

  Data screens, heart rate zones, alerts, workouts and battery on the vivoactive 4, checked against the owner's manual.

• How long does recovery after running take?

  How long recovery takes after 15 km or a long run, what heart rate recovery and resting heart rate tell you, and when to resume intervals.

• Can You Trust Your Watch's VO2Max Estimate?

  This article walks through how a watch builds its VO2Max number, why two watches can disagree, and what to check in your own training data instead.

• What is a normal heart rate when running?

  Why 220 minus your age often gets your maximum wrong, how to test it yourself, and when a high heart rate is worth a doctor's look.

• Why do legs feel dead after easy runs?

  What delayed onset muscle soreness is, why a slow pace doesn't decide how sore your legs get, and the signs that point past ordinary soreness.

• What Does a Readiness Score Actually Measure?

  What a readiness score is built from, why it swings night to night, what it can't see about your training, and how to weigh it against your legs.

• Why does the same pace feel harder in the heat?

  Why a familiar pace feels harder in the heat: where your blood goes, what sweat costs, how heat acclimation helps, and how to compare hot and cool runs.

• Does cadence actually matter for a recreational runner?

  What cadence changes in your stride, why the popular 170 to 180 range is not a rule for you, and what to check in your own running data instead.

• Is Running by Feel Better Than Heart Rate?

  What heart rate and perceived effort each measure on a run, where each one gets fooled, and how to read them against each other instead of picking one.

• Why does heart rate drift upward on runs?

  Why heart rate climbs on steady runs while pace holds: the sweat and heat mechanism, what makes drift steeper, and when drift is worth a second look.

• What to do the week after a race?

  What the week after a race should hold: how muscle damage, glycogen and tendons recover on different timelines, and which signals say you're ready to train.

• Am I overtraining, or just tired?

  How to tell training fatigue from overtraining by reading resting heart rate, pace at effort, sleep and mood as a trend, and when to get a professional read.

• Should my long runs be at race pace?

  What a long run builds, why running it at goal race pace costs more than it gives, and when a race-pace finish belongs in your long run.

• What does a rising resting heart rate mean?

  What raises resting heart rate, why one high morning means little, when a trend held over several days matters, and how to weigh it against your week.

• Should I run easy when I feel great?

  Why an easy day stays easy when you feel great, what feeling fresh does and doesn't measure, and what to check before running a little faster.

• Can you still PR after a bad block?

  What a disrupted training block costs a goal time: which fitness fades first, why weeks left before race day decide more than the cause, and what to check.

• Should a tune-up race change your pace?

  How to tell whether a bad tune-up race reflects your fitness or just the day: the causes to rule out, what training already shows, and when a trend is real.

• Should I stop a run that's going wrong?

  How to tell a stop-now signal from ordinary training stress mid-run, when finishing a hard session is worth it, and what a cut-short run means for the week.

• Skip or shorten the workout after bad sleep?

  How much one bad night of sleep changes a hard session, when a shortened version keeps its value, and which signs point to skipping it instead.

• Can a Training Week Survive a Work Trip?

  Which session to protect during a work trip, what can flex without cost, how to rebuild the week around travel, and what to check once you are home.

• Does work stress count as training load?

  Why a stressful week at work adds to your training load, which signals to check against your own baseline, and how to weigh today's session against them.

• What happens to my race goal after illness?

  What two weeks of illness costs your fitness, why the comeback carries more risk than the layoff, when a race goal needs to move, and what to check.

• Is a missed week of running as bad as it feels?

  What one missed week of running costs your aerobic fitness, why it feels worse than it is, when a gap matters, and what to check in your data.

• Do you need a full marathon training plan?

  What a marathon build needs in its first weeks, why a full plan written on day one is mostly guesswork, and which parts are worth fixing up front.

• Why does easy pace feel harder some weeks?

  Why the same easy effort gives a slower pace some weeks: heat, sleep, dehydration and training load, and how to tell a bad week from a real slowdown.

• What should the last week before a half marathon look like?

  A day-by-day plan for your last week: training, carbohydrates per kilo, race morning, and what changes for a beach race like Egmond.

• How long does a taper need to be?

  Taper length by race distance, from 5k to marathon: what a taper clears, how volume and intensity change, and which signals in your data confirm the length.

• Should I run with low HRV?

  How to read a low HRV morning against your baseline, sleep and recent load, when a dip is worth easing off for, and what HRV can't tell you.

• Niggle or injury? How to decide before you run

  Four questions that separate a passing niggle from an injury before you run, what the answers point to, and the signs that mean seeing a physio or doctor.

• Are my easy runs actually easy?

  A no-lab test for whether your easy runs are easy: the talk test, what heart rate adds, why easy days drift too hard, and what to check in your own runs.

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

  How to tell normal taper flatness from early peaking or real over-fatigue: the warning signs, a strides test for nerves, and what to check in your data.

• Acute:chronic workload ratio, in plain English

  How the acute:chronic workload ratio is calculated, the range studies cite, why researchers debate it, and what to check in your own training data.

• What does a deload week do, and do I need one?

  What a deload week does to fatigue and fitness, the signals that point to needing one, how much volume to cut, and how long and how often to deload.

• Zone 2 training: the signal vs the dogma

  What easy aerobic running does, where the 80/20 ratio, heart-rate formulas and never-leave-zone-2 rules overreach, and how to check them against your data.

• How to taper for a marathon when you feel terrible

  Why a marathon taper can leave you heavy, flat and achy, what the taper is doing to your body, and how to tell normal taper fatigue from a real warning sign.

Compare

• Training with ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini: what a runner keeps, and what breaks

  Runners who train with ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini have the right instinct and the wrong reader. What the habit gets right, where it breaks, and what Tempo reads instead.

• Training with a plan app: what the block gives you, and what it cannot do when life gets in the way

  A plan app starts from a goal and hands you a block. Tempo starts from the same goal and re-proposes the week with you when life gets in the way, reasons on screen, your call.