Andy Mellor

As a child I was never the runner, I was no cross-country superstar, neither did I do any run training in high school. I've just always been pulled towards it and I believe that personal bests I have, I've gained through hard work and self-belief. I spent the early part of my life playing football (soccer), but after watching a film about Bruce Lee, I found myself involved in martial arts, and it was here I spent a few years training and competing in Muay Thai boxing. I used to run daily to keep fit for fights and I started to actually prefer that side of my training; running was a fantastic way to go exploring, I found myself wanting to go on longer. This was not productive for the boxing and I ended up wanting to race instead of fight. I think I half expected to train few times and run a four minute mile or something and so racing did not go as planned, and I was very average. This was because I struggled to understand how to train for races and always found myself running better in training than competition, so I quit. I spent years weight training, doing CrossFit workouts, Powerlifting, and getting very muscular, I was asked to do a charity run event and I won. This sparked my love of running but I always struggled with consistency. I found it difficult to apply any consistency to run training. I was working in gyms as a personal trainer helping people with their strength, weight loss and performance goals, which was rewarding. I currently work one-to-one with some very good boxers, runners and triathletes. After an offer to do a triathlon, I found my find my spark again. I did not own a bike, or even know how to swim, so I had to research, study and learn how to train. This was a firework for my passion for sport and I loved training. My running improved and I found myself addicted to parkrun and Strava segments. I was locked into how to get better and better. I knew that there was more effective methods of how to achieve faster running so I read everything, but what made and has made the most difference to me is following a plan designed for me, if you don't have the those glorious genetics, then you need to work harder than everyone else, and smarter than everyone else. I didn't want to waste hours doing the wrong training, so if I am going to work hard, I want to do it the correct way.