Welcome to the New Running Blog from Momentum Sports.

We'll be post our thoughts about everything running here, with news, tips, and general musings over the coming months and years.

Whether you are a sprinter, a marathon runner, or somewhere in between - or even just a fan of the sport, we aim to keep you entertained and informed.  Part of that is for you to let us know what you are thinking about the posting we make - if it is great, we'd like to know, equally if there is something you don't like, we are quite thick skinned and can take constructive criticism.

Enjoy the blog and, of course, your running.

The first two weeks of this year have been as cold as any in recent times and just getting out to do your running has been an achievement in itself.

Even after it warmed up on Sunday, being out coaching for 3 hours (in the sun - in the afternoon) it took several cups of cocoa and a nice warm pair of slippers to warm this old coach up.

So, well done to all those who have stuck to New Years' Resolutions to get fit.  If you have stuck with it this far, then things are looking good for you having made a real lifestyle change and having put yourself on the road to a fitter, healthier you.

If not, then why no pretend the New Year starts now - it is much warmer and there is much less ice on the pavements to slip on.

If you are looking for a little extra help, either in motivating yourself, or to knock time off your Pbs, then we can help - why not have a look at our <a href="http://www.momentumsports.co.uk/TrIntroduction.asp">Online Coaching Information</a> to see if this is something that might be beneficial to you.

Many of the athletes we coach are now turning their attention to upcoming races, whether they be indoors, over the country or preparing for something like the London Marathon.  It is an exciting time of year as you feel these things are now only just around the corner.

Happy Running to Everyone.

We can now announce that all of the reviews to help you choose the right kit for you for your running have now been completed on the main website.

There is a wide range of reviews on all types of clothing, shoes, spikes and all the equipment and gadgets that you could need.

We hope that you'll find these really useful and that they give a runners insight into the important things to look out for, as well as the features which are not really necessary.  If there is anything in these articles that you would like adding to or change, please don't hesitate to let us know.  We are always looking to make all the information on the Momentum Sports website as thorough and useful as possible.  Here are some of the pages you might be interested in.

Running Shoes

Running Spikes

Running Clothing

Treadmills

Weight Training Equipment

Stopwatches

Cross Trainers

Have fun!!!!

Here are Momentum Sports we spend a lot of time trying to make sure that we offer the best possible advice and help to all of our runners, whether they be training at Kingston in Surrey or through the website.

It is important to us that we stay abreast of the latest in training methods and anything else (from across a range of sports) that might help our athletes to run faster.

Obviously, there is a limit to what can be done for an individual, as much of the determination and ambition comes from within, but that needs to be steered in the right direction and supported as much as possible.

We are looking to enhance our team of experts over the coming months to include specialists in different fields to help our athletes, so we'd like to offer help with nutrition, physiology, medical back-up etc.  The first step to doing this is going to be to bring in a sports masseur to the Kingston athletes to help maintain and improve them physically, trying to reduce the risk of injury and improve the functionality of muscles.  If you might be interested in being that masseur, please get in touch with us at coaches@momentumsports.co.uk and we can discuss what we are looking for and money that is available to get you involved.

We have been working hard recently on helping people to pick various pieces of kit for their running.

One of the first to go up is the page on treadmill running which give a guide as to what to look for when you are choosing a treadmill to go in your home gym.

There are quite a few criteria to think about, when making sure that you get the best value treadmill for what you are looking for.

There are other pages about other pieces of kits as well which we'll return to in the future.

Life feels like a bit of a treadmill at the moment with lots happening for Momentum Sports.  We have a record number of athletes on our books  and have been working hard at establishing our ever increasing presence on the internet.  The last two months have seen the best two months of visitors we have ever had - in fact we are now getting about 5 times as many visitors as just over a year ago.

Please do keep on coming to see us!

We have asked around to see what people wanted from a running website.  Generally, we seem to be doing okay here at Momentum Sports in providing the sorts of information that people we telling us they wanted.

However, we did here quite a bit that people also wanted to be entertained a bit more and have a site that complements the wealth of information and knowledge that we supply and the informed coaching, with a bit more fun.

So we thought.....

and we thought a bit more....

and finally we came up with Momentum Sports Live!

It is a whole website devoted to you and your running friends in a social site that gives many of the advantages of others such site, like Facebook - but with the massive advantage that you know everyone on there shares your passion for running.

Make friends, meet up with friends online, post videos and pictures, write a blog, create groups, play games, add widgets, run events - the world if your oyster.

So why not visit Momentum Sports Live and see what all the fuss is about.  Get your friends involved too.

Back in the good old days, before cars, television, hobbies, sport etc. life was really simple.  You woke up, you worked, you ate, you went to bed.

Now, everything is so much more complicated and even in the field of sport there is so much choice out there that it is very hard to know what is right for you.

So - how to choose?

Do you want to be part of a team, or in an individual sport (which can also be part of a team - just to complicate things further!).  Do you want to get fitter as a result of what you do?  Does the sport need to be cheap or can you buy lots of equipment?  Do you like power or endurance sports?  How much time do you have (want to make available) for you activity?

No - don't call me biased, but I think all of these questions lead to just one possible answer.  You should be running!!!!  What?  Me - biased - I can't believe you would say that.

Seriously, running is a great sport which can take in sprinters all the way up to ultra-distance runners.  You do an individual sport, but often as part of a team.  You meet great people and get fit.  You can indulge your competitive spirit against others or even just yourself.

What could be better!

So, grab your trainers and get running - the more you do the more you'll love it.

In these days of massive turmoil in the banks and money markets and with the UK (and probably the rest of the world) heading into what looks like a pretty hefty recession, non-essential spending is often (quite rightly) the first part of the budget to be trimmed when households are looking at ways to make savings.

Many sports are hugely expensive and need to be as the facilities required are extensive and often supervision is needed to help you get the best from the sport.  A round of golf is often £30, a climbing lesson a similar prices, a days go-karting can be upwards of £100.  Even a sports, which is closely associated with running, such as triathlon - has potentially large costs associated with it - for example race fees are often £50-£80 and a decent bike is upwards of £1500.

So, it is good to know that running and athletics remain a fantastic value option for all the family to get out and keep fit and hopefully enjoy a bit of healthy competition too.  All you need are a pair a trainers, and some clothing and you can run for free after that.  A total outlay of maybe £60-80.

For those who are a little more serious, a track pass to your local track, the above kit,  maybe a pair of spikes and membership to an athletics club, which can provide you all the competition needs you might have in the course of a year will come in at about £6-8 / week.

So, what is stopping you, get yourself out in your local park, to the local track, onto the internet for more information (I've heard Momentum Sports is a good place to start!) and get running it is good for your health, a great way to enjoy a challenge, to meet people no matter what age you are.

Last weekend I entered a 5 mile cross-country race with several other Momentum Sports athletes.  Unfortunately, this is 20 times as far as I normal race - so 5% into it I was starting to hope for the finish line!

Only by setting off VERY steadily, did I manage to make it round what was a pretty hilly course in a vaguely respectable 36.45mins.  It was a little disconcerting that I was beaten by 3 minutes by a guy in his mid-60s, but he is a quality runner.  I was an even more distant 8 minutes behind the winner of the race!

Despite feeling like it would never end and hoping a big hole would swallow me up for much of the race (or at least someone would chuck a nice big bucket of water over me as it was a very warm day), in retrospect it was pretty good fun.  I had a good tussle with 4 others - beating two in the end and losing out to the other two.

As this is a once yearly thing for me - I am now fully fuelled up with banter for a while and will definitely be back in 12 months time (in which time I'll have run lots of my preferred 400m distance!).

Remember, for all your running banter try our new social website Momentum Sports Live.

Keep on running...

Momentum Sports is pleased to announce that we have created the social network to end all social networks - all for runners.

That may not strictly be true - but it is a great new tool for keeping in touch with all your running friends, having a bit of banter about achievements, discuss training or the latest kit or even just to show pictures of your running (or anything else.

Have a play with it and see what you think - we are still developing it, so are open to suggestions as to improvements that we can make.

The site is at Momentum Sports Live 

Enjoy!!

In the past athletics was a very easy sport - it was amateur, the people who took part were doing so for fun and at times training was even frowned upon as seeking an unfair advantage over your opponents.

That all changed, gradually, through the 20th Century and now in the 21st century, if you want to achieve in your sport it is no longer enough just to go for the odd run, turn up on the starting line and do you best.

You need to make sure that your running training is right, you eat and drinking properly, you get stronger in the gym, you prepare mentally and you have the right support in terms of medical back up and advice.

To this end, here at Momentum Sports we have put together a project from the elite athletes in training with us.  In return for the athletes dedication, talent and enthausiasm we will do what we can to provide extra resources to aid their training in addition to the normal high level of coaching we normally try to achieve.  This includes video analysis of technique, nutritional help, psychological approach to athletics and many other things.  We also hope to help with the costs of participation in the sport, which often runs to £1500 - 2000 for a national level athlete.

We are looking for sponsors to help us with this project.  Sponsorships isn't purely a one way deal - in return we will discuss ways in which we can promote your business, including advertising on our website, which is one of the biggest running websites around, receiving over 40,000 visitors a quarter and 200,000 page impressions.

If this is something that would interest you, please get in touch at coaches@momentumsports.co.uk

Also, if you are an athlete, and this seems like something that might possibly interest you and you'd like to join our group in London, please let us know.

Sorry about the lack of postings recently - but I've been on my holidays.

I won't bore you too much with the mundanities of it - but suffice to say my 4 year old daughter has now had a first 5 nights under canvas and was surprisingly well behaved!

Before I went, I would have posted more on the site - but frankly I couldn't drag myself away from watching the Olympics on the TV for long enough to use the keyboard.  It was BRILLIANT - I love being self-employed, even though I hardly earn enough money to live off!!!!

So superlative is there that can't be used about the Olympics.  It was fantastically well organised, the atmosphere seems to have been great and even those who normally aren't that interested in sport, let along athletics have been talking about the greatest sprint feats of all time from Usain Bolt.

We'd better start with that, I guess, how does someone that tall generate that much power, it is truly amazing.  Like Michael Johnson before, here is a man who stands head and shoulders (in Usain's case literally as well as figuritely) over their opposition making them stand out amongst the 6 billion people on the planet as being hugely better than the best of the other 5,999,999,999 people!!!

Sub 9.7 and he was easing down - and then backed up with a 19.3.....

That will live in Olympic history, up with Jesse Owens, Paavo Nurmi and Carl Lewis.  If it wasn't for a certain Michael Phelps he'd be a shoe-in for top sportsperson of the year - even though I believe he has put Phelps' unbelievable talent slightly in the shade, as the 100m is the blue-riband event of any Olympics.

Next, the double from Kenenisa Bekele was an amazing feat, the first time the 5000 and 10000 has been won by the same athlete since 1980 - both in very fast times, and yet off that great sprint finishes.

On the womens side, I love the way Christine Ohuroughu runs - she is so fantastically strong.  Personally, I'd prefer to see her doing more 400m races in the course of the season, but who can argue with the result.  It would be good to see what she can do for an 800 - a totally different race, I know and she wouldn't probably have the strength for rounds at a Championship - but in a one off race I would think a sub 2 minute run would be almost a certainty.

It was a shame Phillips Idowu didn't win the gold he so badly wanted - but he did his best jump of the year and was just beaten by the better man on the day.

I could go on for hours, but for now I'll say thanks to all the athletes, the officials, the Chinese and ultimately the sporting world for a great feast of entertainment.

All the talk over the last couple of weeks has been of Dwain Chambers (amazingly, he's not going, which is the right decision - even if the ban may not have held up in court with better representation, according to the judge), human rights, internet access in China, pollution etc etc.

What we need now is for the sport to take over.  Britain has a good chance of taking a good number of golds and may even finish 4th in the medal table, if things go well (you heard it here first!).

It is going to be very tough for the athletes from Britain in Beijing though, not many are strong medal chances - although the UK target is for 5 medals.  The best chances will be Phillips Idowu, Kelly Sotherton, Christine Ohuruogu and Nicola Sanders.  I would assume the medal aim includes relays, so hopefully at least the mens 4x100 and womens 4x400 could stand a chance, with the latter being the more likely.

Why not enter our fantastic Beijing Fantasy League game for the British Athletes at www.momentumsports.co.uk/OgInfo.asp .  We have some great prizes and it'll be your chance to show your friends how much more you know about athletics than they do.

Having spent some time on here defending the rights of Dwain Chambers to be able to race again - I am know going to go against him on his attack on the BOA for the same reason.

He knew when he took drugs (a cynical ploy at achieving self-gain) that the penalty was a 2 year ban from racing in all athletics events.  He has now served that time and in my opinion should be allowed to run again.  Had it been a 4 year penalty that was available then that is what he should have served.

However, he also knew that the BOA has a lifetime ban for athletes who take drugs (and this isn't a case of possible mistaken identity - his admittance to the offence is well documented) - so he should accept that that is the penalty for breaking the rules.

So I am saying that on both sides the rules in place at the time should be respected and not changed retrospectively to suit one camp or the others.  Let him run and earn a few pounds on the regular circuit (although how he is going to pay back the huge sum of money he earnt whilst taking drugs is another question - I can't see many companies wanting to sponsor him), but keep him banned from the Olympics.

I guess we'll continue to have to see how this one unfolds.

It often appears that athletics (and other sports) is all about medals at major championships.  Talent identification, fast tracking athletes to the big name coaches, bums on seats at major events, medals at Olympics and World Champs etc etc.  

It seems that if we take the cream of the talent and develop them, almost to the exclusion of all others, we are going to end up with a very empty sport.  This isn't necessary just conjecture either - the numbers of athletes at matches at the lower levels of athletics have dwindled substantially in the 25 years or so I've been involved in the sport.

Just a small example of this is that the first ever Southern League match I took part in in 1987 I did the B string 400m in Division 3.  I came 3rd in 51.8.  There is rarely an A string winner who does that time in the same league in 2008.

Without mass participation in the sport and lots of competition for places in teams the grass roots of athletics will gradually fade away and this will soon permeate the higher levels of athletics too.  Athletics is not the only sport that seems to be suffering from this - tennis champions talk about identifying future talent when they are 6,7 and 8 years old.  Even earlier than athletes.  Not once do these ex-champions talk about the fun the kids should be having and how they should be playing with their mates whilst (as a side benefit to this) learning the skills for a sport.  We hear stories of football clubs who are signing up younger and younger players on contracts and then telling them it will be detrimental for their careers to be doing other sports too much as it will disrupt football training - a vast majority of whom are not taken on as professionals at a later date.

Kids should be encouraged to try a wide range of sports and have fun with them - not settling into one sport too soon to the exclusion of all else.  At a sensible age, where a young person can make an informed choice they can then specialise in the sport of their choice (may vary from 13-17 depending on the youngsters abilities, maturity and chosen sport).  This doesn't mean they can't work hard and still have fun - but there should be an all-round nature to their activities rather than narrow blinkered focus.

Apart from anything else, this inclusive (and I still mean competitive) sport (not a kind of woolly, knitted yoghurt kind of hippy utopia - I have run too many courses for kids to not know that they love games and competition above other activities) gets kids fit and healthy on a much more general scale - rather than excluding all but the most talented.

Much of this work needs to be done at the grass roots level I talked about earlier, getting youngsters excited about trying sports, enjoying the camaraderie of being in a team and the excitement of competitions, where the taking part is as important as winning.  From these roots the future champions will develop and the whole sport will flourish.