Olympic runner Eilish McColgan reveals her training secrets ahead of the London Marathon – and why she’ll rarely run twice a day
Olympic runner Eilish McColgan reveals her training secrets ahead of the London Marathon – and why she’ll rarely run twice a day
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These are the training, nutrition and recovery methods the four-time Olympian uses to stay at the top of her game. In early 2023, Eilish McColgan was London Marathon ready. The training was done, plans were in place, then a knee injury forced her to withdraw just days before the event.
![[Eilish McColgan]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/29/15/24/Eilish-McColgan.jpeg)
A couple of months later, McColgan’s spot was confirmed in the 2025 London Marathon elite women’s race – an event her mother won in 1996. “I’m looking forward to the challenge of a marathon,” the 34-year-old says. “It’s frustrating to have done all the work and not have anything to show for it before. But it was a good experience, going through the whole build, because at least I know the type of training I need to do; what works and what maybe didn’t work. Hopefully in 2025 I’ll be able to turn it around a little bit.”.
She plans to do this by combining hard work, tech and the know-how only years spent competing at the top level can bring. Below, we dive into her typical training week, refreshing approach to nutrition and surprising secret weapon for running faster, not further, than rivals each week.
When I spoke to McColgan, she was gearing up for the Vitality London 10,000 – a race she would go on to win in a time of 31min 36sec. “Obviously mileage varies throughout the year, so it’s usually a bit higher in the winter months then even higher coming into races,” McColgan explains. “It cuts down by about half when I’m going into a big competition. That’s the general gist of training.
