#319: Your training plan was written for nowhere

Most training plans are written for nobody, for nowhere. Download one for a big gravel race and it'll build the basic physiology of cycling, but it won't tell you what to do seven hours in when you're sick of gels, or how to descend loose terrain on hands that have stopped working. In this episode, Rob Foster breaks down how to build a cycling plan that's actually specific: to the event, to the rider, and to the environment they train in. He covers why the gut is a trainable weapon and why you start now rather than January, how to manufacture real fatigue on eight hours a week using long weekends, stair repeats and a hard Friday after a hard week at work, and what a coach needs to earn before they can send an athlete into one of those weeks.If you're riding towards something big next spring, this is the conversation to hear in September, not February.

Rob Jones finished the Arc of Attrition in 2026. Of the 630 who started the 100 mile race that year, 261 made it to the end.The 2027 edition runs 22 to 24 January. Entries are open now, first come first served, no ballot. Which means if you want it, the decision is this month, not October.This episode is for the athlete who wants the Arc but trains somewhere that looks nothing like Cornwall in winter. Hot, flat, no mud, no hills, no night running. The question is not whether you are tough enough. It is whether the last 23 weeks of your training can be pointed at a race you cannot rehearse.Rob covers what actually transfers from your environment and what does not, the mistake he made in his own build, the decisions he had to make in order to finish that no plan would have told him to make, and how to choose between the 100M, 100K, 50K and 20K honestly.Not sure which distance to enter? Rob will help you... Book a free 15min call with him, just email [email protected]

Steph Humphrey joins us fresh off the back of finally cracking her sub 3 hour marathon goal, five years in the making. She talks through the final 100 metres, the mix of elation and relief, and why the real work of getting faster happens off the road just as much as on it.We also hear from Mary Ames, recorded live at an LRC Online Forum, sharing her journey from a 4:15 marathon to qualifying for and running the Boston Marathon in 3:20. Mary talks strength training, staying present in hard sessions, and why running the world's oldest marathon lived up to every bit of the hype.Two brilliant stories about patience, consistency and getting better at life through running.

In this episode, Rob Jones and Tom Walker break down one of the running world's most powerful tools and potential pitfalls. They kick off by catching up on Rob's final week of Chamonix training for the 13 Valleys, share quick heat management hacks for training in Dubai, and then dive deep into Strava.From its Swedish roots in 1995 to 195 million athletes across 185 countries, Strava has transformed how we train and share. But here's the real conversation: Is it motivating you or manipulating you? Through the story of Rob's VK (vertical kilometer) comeback, where friendly competition sparked a 3-minute PB, they explore when Strava works for you and when it works against you.They tackle the hard truths: How social validation can hijack your training plan. Why you shouldn't run hard every session just to post a decent average pace. The safety risks of location sharing. And most importantly, how to tell if you're chasing intrinsic goals or just chasing likes.Perfect for endurance athletes, weekend warriors, and anyone wondering why their Strava feed looks nothing like their training plan.

They fire a gun at exactly 12 hours. If you're not across the line by then, it doesn't matter how close you are, your race is over. That's Comrades, and this week we sit down with four-time finisher Steph Donaldson to unpack what actually gets you through 90km of South African road, from fuelling disasters to the strangers who talk you off the ledge in the final 20K. Then Rob Foster debriefs his first-ever triathlon at Challenge Roth in Germany, admitting exactly where his own prep let him down on the run. And Rob Jones brings us inside the Chamonix training camp, on why stripping the pace pressure out of a session makes people run better, not worse. It's a long one, but a good one. Three athletes, three very different days, and the same lesson underneath all of them: showing up matters more than the metrics.

Going pro has nothing to do with talent — it has everything to do with removing stress from your life.Rob Foster sits down with pro triathlete Zachary Cooper for an honest, occasionally hilarious look at the long way around to the top of the sport: quitting a stable job at the UCI with no plan beyond turning pro, six months at the legendary Laidlow camp that rewired how he trains and recovers, and the swim — the one weakness that demands everything and gives nothing back.They cover the case for a daily nap, why 180g of carbs an hour is becoming the new normal on the bike, and what two collapsed races this season taught him heading into Roth.If you've ever wondered what separates the athletes who make it from the ones who don't — this is patience, process, and refusing to be defined by your weakest discipline.

Race lotteries are getting harder to crack than the races themselves, and it's quietly breaking how athletes train.In this episode of Lottery Culture Is Killing Your Training Mindset, Rob Jones argues that when the goal shifts from building fitness to just getting a ballot place, everything changes: training becomes reactive, strength work gets dropped, and motivation becomes entirely dependent on a random number generator.He breaks down the real numbers behind ballot demand, shares a striking story of a runner who trained a full 20-week block only to lose the lottery and have no idea what to do next, and makes the case for why FKT-breaker Tara Dower is the model every endurance athlete should be following.If you've ever caught yourself waiting for a start line to justify your training, this one is for you.

In this episode, Rob Jones is back in person and joins Tom for a wide-ranging conversation covering everything happening at InnerFight Endurance — Chamonix camp, LRC 3.0, Performance Camp in Korfakan, and the Athens Marathon in November.Tom shares how his return to zone 2 running triggered a dramatic jump in HRV, they dig into aid station efficiency data from Ultra Trail Snowdonia and UTMB, and Tom breaks down what his MSc has taught him about brain chunking, visual perception, and why the small habits around training matter more than most people think.They wrap up by getting into how the IFE coaching team is now using AI — not to replace coaching, but to handle the deep analysis that used to take hours and give that time back to the athlete.

What does it take to break down the barriers holding the next generation of cyclists back? This week Robert Foster sits down with Paul Ball — entrepreneur, mountaineer, traveller and founder of Project PAU — a mission-driven initiative changing young lives through the power of endurance cycling.From building successful businesses rooted in youth development to creating a fully supported pathway into competitive cycling, Paul's story is one of purpose, passion and relentless drive. Project PAU gives young riders everything they need — bikes, coaching, nutrition — so the only thing standing between them and the start line is their ambition.Also in this episode, Rob runs through a huge month the InnerFight community — Dubai, Girona, Scotland, and plenty more adventures on the horizon.It's a big one. Don't miss it.🔗 Learn more about Project PAU: https://www.pau.co.uk/blog/team-pau-2026/▶️ Watch: https://youtu.be/AfpFxeKxvEg?si=6CO6eV9sPRt_-W9V 🌍 Velokhaya: https://velokhaya.org/ 📸 Follow Paul: @paulball1968

A slightly different episode today as we hear from InnerFight Endurance coach Rob Foster, stepping into a year that’s a little outside of his comfort zone.Rob is taking on two major challenges — Challenge Roth and the 13 Valleys Ultra — both firsts for him, and both demanding a level of commitment that means, for once, putting himself first.In this conversation, we get an insight into how he’s approaching the training, the mindset behind it all, and why these challenges matter — not just from a performance point of view, but on a much deeper level.A really honest look at balancing life, training, and purpose, and what it takes to show up for something that genuinely means a lot.