Al Sal et al at pre-World Half endurance conference

This evening should be fun. UK Athletics have put together a star studded line up for an evening coaching conference before this weekend's World Half Marathon in Birmingham. With Lisa Dobriskey and her coach George Gandy, Liz McColgan and most intriguingly Alberto Salazar there should be something for everyone.

Earlier in the summer when I was training in St Moritz I got to see quite a bit of Kara Goucher's final preparation for Berlin and then after watch Ritz recovering from his 10k and sharpen up for that historic 5000m at Weltklasse. Some of what I saw made me really curious, especially Kara's timing of descent from altitude and the intensity/duration of her last few workouts. So perhaps some insights.

And then tomorrow morning there is a marathon seminar with LA Olympic Bronze medallist Charlie Spedding, his advisor Lindsay Dunn and World Cup Marathon winner Richard Nerurkar.

Watch this space next week for some insights ...