London – Tom Hollis Health

Carbohydrates, Events, Fibre, London, Running, Sport

11 things I learned from London Marathon 2022

October 4, 2022 No Comments

Let’s start with the headlines: a first London Championship start, a 2:38:12 finish, a PB of nearly two minutes, and a negative split (1:19:21 / 1:18:51). I am genuinely over the moon with this, but as ever with the marathon, this is just the start of the story, and I learned so much more along the way. I like writing these blogs after big races in case others find them in any way helpful, and because my brain just does not retain this sort of detail, so I find them useful to look back on too. Training block issues I’ve written […]

Events, London, Running, Sport

Marathon memory lane part 2

May 9, 2021 No Comments

3. London, April 2016 Time: 2:51:29 Halfway: 1:26:57 With: John Conditions: Freakishly perfect. Sunny and cold again Fresh from breaking 3 in Rotterdam, I waited eagerly for the London Marathon Good for Age entries to open in August 2015, and secured my place for 2016. I’d been living in London for 8 or 9 years by that point, had been in the marathon crowd most years, and half-heartedly applied (unsuccessfully) for a ballot place a couple of times too. So, this definitely felt like my home race, and a big moment. I was working in central London by this point […]

Clinical dietetics, Events, London, Public Health, Running, Sport

2020: An unforgettable year as a runner…and ICU Dietitian (part 2/2)

January 2, 2021 No Comments

July and August The second half of the year started in a similar fashion to June – just enjoying being in good shape and the very gradual easing of lockdown restrictions and return to some semblance of normality across the UK. This included our ‘Last Man Stands’ cricket season belatedly getting underway, albeit with lots of hand gel, elbow bump wicket celebrations and socially distanced team photos. I developed and delivered ‘introduction to running nutrition’ webinars to local running clubs and had a great response. We were also able to escape London and get a proper change of scenery for […]

Clinical dietetics, Events, London, Nutrition in the media, Public Health, Running, Sport

2020: An unforgettable year as a runner…and ICU dietitian (part 1/2)

December 31, 2020 No Comments

Perhaps a little self-indulgent, but this year has been unforgettable for all the right and mostly wrong reasons, so here’s my month-by-month recap. I’m lucky that running is a constant in my life, and something I can turn to on even the hardest of days, so I’ve based this blog around that. January: Starting the year buzzing with optimism but still burdened by my terrible sense of direction, I got lost and missed the start of Whitstable parkrun, but caught up from the back and swore this year was definitely going to be the year I got to my first […]

Events, London, Running, Sport

Running in 2020 / virtual races

September 5, 2020 No Comments

So virtual races are now a thing, and they’ve certainly stirred up some strong opinions out there in the running community. Here are mine! (Apologies for the London bias of this piece) Overall, I think it’s a positive move. It’s all well and good using running for routine, relaxation and to stay sane (and I can say with some certainty that I would have struggled to achieve any of those 3 in 2020 without it), but competition is important. For some people, keeping fit, pushing themselves in training or following a strict schedule are sufficient running goals in themselves, but […]

Carbohydrates, Clinical dietetics, Dairy, Diets, London, Micronutrients, Plant based, Protein, Running, Sport, Veganism

Nuggets of running wisdom (part three)

April 22, 2019 No Comments

Following on from blogs one and two, I’ll now bring this mini series of blogs to a close with four final nuggets of wisdom that have helped to inform and improve my running performance. Given my role as a dietitian, I’ve decided to finish up with some ideas on nutrition. I’m not claiming to be an expert on sports nutrition (yet!), but I’m starting to move in that direction at least, so I hope you enjoy my thoughts below. 7. Running on ‘empty’ can be a good thing When we train for a marathon, one of the key things we […]

Events, Hydration, London, Running, Sport

Marathon blues

April 17, 2018 No Comments

I’ve got the marathon blues. Last year’s final few weeks of long training runs were so punishing that I’d made up my mind long before race day that I’d be taking the following year off. More importantly, I then stubbornly stuck to that decision despite the euphoria that followed. So, I won’t be running London on Sunday, and it will mark my first year in six without a marathon. With my usual home town half in Bath also cancelled this year due to that (first) ridiculous week of spring snow, the only organised runs I’ve been doing are Park Runs. […]

Clinical dietetics, London, Research

Introduction to Intensive Care

February 8, 2018 No Comments

My clinical career has seen some significant changes recently, so I thought I’d write a quick post to briefly update and reflect on a busy few months in the day job (and inevitably the language will be slightly more clinical than usual – apologies!) For the second half of 2017, I took on the role of Senior Specialist Dietitian in Lower Gastrointestinal Surgery and Gastroenterology at my previous trust, Imperial. Given the nature of the surgery and diseases in this population (e.g. bowel cancer, crohn’s, pancreatitis), patients are often unable to digest food normally, with their intestinal tracts either inaccessible […]

Breakfast, Carbohydrates, Events, Hydration, London, Running, Sport

London Marathon 2017

April 24, 2017 No Comments

Reflecting on my time in South America, I mentioned that the unhealthy diet and scorching heat would probably end any hopes of beating my marathon PB this year. Despite my best efforts of catching up on return to the UK, this proved to be the case, although I was still chuffed to come in at 2h 53m, just a couple of minutes over last year’s time. Most people are familiar with the phrase ‘carb-loading’, and I always take this pursuit almost as seriously as the training itself, particularly in the days leading up to the race. Food basically becomes just fuel during […]