Totley’s ultra-running machine, Philip Kelly, has learned to trust Coach Dave Tune’s race time predictions when his initial scepticism over his potential was quashed by PBs across the board in less than a year of lactate threshold training!

Confidence is important in sport. To believe you are capable of achieving great things, and never doubt your training has purpose, is essential to keep motivation levels high and succeed in reaching your goals.

Although Philip jokes one of his reasons for running big mileage is to allow himself a few extra craft beers, it should not detract from his astonishing achievements over the last 10 months, where his lifetime best performances have been completely revised.

Following his first of three lactate threshold tests at the clinic last July, the 43-year-old has slashed his PBs from 19:11 to 18:39, 41:01 to 38:34, 88:53 to 84:25 and 3:19:02 to 3:10:41, the latter in London last month, just six days after running a very hot and humid Boston marathon!



He started running 17 years ago, but aside from a few non-competitive races, including a below-par 4:52 in Sheffield, he didn’t take it seriously until an unflattering photo of himself looking overweight spurred him onto start training for the 2013 Manchester marathon. He hasn’t looked back since.

He says: “I now run every distance from 5k to ultras, the longest being the 60 mile Ultra Tour of the Peak District last August. I run to keep fit and to give myself goals to aim for, as well as cycling and snowboarding when I can.”

However, it wasn’t until he followed up on personal recommendations from Dave’s lactate threshold-tested clients who had knocked chunks off their PBs that Philip started to fulfil his potential.

The businessman gave an insight into his testing experience at Blizard, how he applied his results, and the impact his new training plan had on his race times.

“The test was easier than I’d expected, apart from the last 5-6 minutes when you’re really being pushed”, he reveals. “ I liked the stats, and my potential race pace was a real eye opener. I was encouraged to communicate with Dave in the weeks following the test - which exceeded my expectations of the level of support I would receive - and now religiously apply the test results to my training, following my plans to the letter.

“I also worked hard to reduce my weight ahead of my A race in this year’s Boston marathon, cutting out alcohol for four long months!

“The training was tough, but focussed, with no more junk miles. My weekly mileage doubled but it didn’t feel like it, and although I came to dread the midweek threshold runs, I always finished them with a sense of purpose and a job done.

Crucially, as a result of my new training regime, my racing times dropped overnight.

“I broke 19 minutes for 5k and 40 minutes for 10k, before knocking four and a half minutes off my half marathon PB in January with a time of 84:25, which was exactly what Dave had predicted from my test results!”

Alas, although Philip did all he could to control the controllables ahead of Boston, completing two further lactate tests in the months before, he missed his target time when the temperature gauge hit the mid-70’s on race day. His supportive wife Judith did score a new PB in the Boston 5k while they were out there though, having gamely agreed to swap sightseeing in the US city for a coach tour of the race route the day before the marathon!



Just six days later, he was toeing the marathon line once again in London, and, despite suffering with sore legs and blister burns, he still shattered his previous PB by nearly 10 minutes with a superb 3:10 result, guaranteeing him entry into next year’s London and Chicago marathons.

“I know I wouldn’t have achieved that without the fitness improvements, confidence, race planning and advice I’d received from Dave throughout my build up,” he says happily.

“I am also grateful to Judith and my 14-year-old daughter Lucy. They were both extremely supportive of my training, and didn’t moan when I came back from work and was straight out of the door, not eating meals together, and my wife even weighed all of our food so I could calorie count to lose weight!

The energetic V40 Yorkshireman plans on setting some new running goals with Dave soon, once he’s got the small matter of a 150 mile cycle ride out the way, when he takes on the Coast to Coast challenge in one day next month, despite not having been out on his bike since last August!

However, Philip is keen to put his new-found confidence into action in another marathon soon, and with PBs in every distance since he joined the ever-growing band of lactate threshold training devotees, who can bet against him dipping under three hours next year?

“I know there’s more to come, and I now have that confidence I can do it. I will aim for sub-3 next spring, before an ‘enjoyable’ Chicago marathon in October!

“At first I thought Dave was having a laugh with his predictions for my race pace - I didn’t believe I had the ability to do those times. But when the PBs started to come they came big. In fact I still owe Dave a bottle for London!”