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Matty Abel

@mattyabel

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Running Coach | Athlete | Educator
Helping runners get stronger and faster
15+ years | Proven system
🐍 @vipers.rc
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This is the coaching philosophy behind the Matty Abel Running Academy.
Not trends. Not noise. Just the systems that actually move runners forward. by @mattyabel

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10 months ago

If you’re new to my coaching or you’ve followed me for a while, this is the story behind everything I do. by @mattyabel

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10 months ago

Two levels of coaching. One goal: help you perform at your best. by @mattyabel

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10 months ago

You check the forecast race week, see 22 degrees, decide that's not even hot, and keep your goal pace exactly as planned. Then somewhere past halfway it falls apart. You didn't get unfit overnight, you just didn't adjust for the one variable most runners never plan around.

Researchers Ely, Cheuvront, Roberts and Montain analysed results across 140-plus years of major marathons (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2007) by wet bulb globe temperature, a combined measure of heat, humidity, wind and radiant heat, not just the number on your weather app. Once conditions climbed into the 20 to 25°C range, elite marathoners ran about 4.5% slower than their own course record, up from as low as 1.7% in cooler conditions. Mid-pack and back-of-pack runners slowed down by more than the elites did.

Here's why most runners get caught out. Pace doesn't account for heat at all, but heart rate does. Even at a completely steady pace, heart rate climbs over time, a phenomenon called cardiovascular drift, and heat dramatically speeds it up. Your body diverts blood to your skin to cool you, so your heart works harder to deliver the same oxygen at the same pace. Same number on your watch, rising cost underneath it.

So check WBGT or a heat index, not just temperature. Build a slower target pace into a hot race before you start, not mid-race when it's too late. Use heart rate as your real-time check, if it's climbing fast for the effort, that's your cue to ease off.

Your pace plan doesn't adjust for heat. Your heart rate already has.

Follow for the physiology most coaches won't explain.

Source: Ely, Cheuvront, Roberts & Montain, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2007. by @mattyabel

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21 hours ago

A few weeks on from Sydney Marathon and I’m still not in any rush to get back into hard training.

It’s been a big year of road racing, so recovery has been the priority. I’ve kept moving, but changed what that movement looks like. More strength training, cycling, easy trail running and generally just giving the body a bit of a break from the structure and intensity of marathon training.

Nutrition is obviously a big part of that as well, particularly making sure I’m still hitting my daily protein targets even though the training load has come down.

One of my go-tos has been the @yoproaunz PERFORM Pouch. 20g of protein, BCAAs and easy to grab when I’m on the go.

Recovery doesn’t mean doing nothing. For me, it’s about giving the body what it needs now so I’m ready to go again when the next training block starts.

#AD #YoPRO #FeedYourProgress by @mattyabel

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2 days ago

@vipers.rc Spring Challenge. Handicapped format based on your current 5km prediction on Strava or Garmin 😮‍💨 mine is definitely lying after 3-weeks off 🫣 by @mattyabel

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3 days ago

You know the guy. Fastest 5k in the club, leads every tempo session, never gets dropped on a hill repeat. Take him onto a technical trail descent and someone half as fit walks straight past him.

That's got nothing to do with how fit either of them is. Researchers tracking real trail races found runners barely differed from each other on flat sections, but on technical terrain the variation was enormous, over 25%. Running economy showed no correlation with technical descent performance. Trail skill and road fitness are close to separate variables.

That gap has a real cost, ankle sprain rates on technical terrain run roughly three times higher than road running. But here's the reassuring part, downhill running does cause real, measurable muscle damage, that heavy-legs feeling is genuine, but it's not proven to be an independent injury risk once your technique and conditioning catch up. It's a skill, not a danger.

I've spent years racing and coaching this side of the sport, and commentating UTMB and UTA. The pattern's always the same, the runners who get hurt aren't the unfit ones, they're the fit ones who never trained the trail-specific stuff on purpose.

So I put together a proper trail skills playbook, terrain technique, descending, poles, footwear, mandatory gear, and the safety section most people skip, including exactly what to do for a snake or spider bite.

Comment TRAIL and I'll send it through. by @mattyabel

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4 days ago

Fast up, slow down — that's the one rule that makes lifting actually work for runners. The slow, controlled lowering phase is where tendons adapt; rush it and you miss most of the benefit.

Outrun breaks down the full tempo and 4-week progression. Comment Outrun to get your copy.

#outrun #fitnessfirstau #fitnessfirstaustralia #sydneyrun #runprogram #running by @mattyabel

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6 days ago

What's the biggest mistake runners make? Running too hard on the days that should be easy, and too easy on the days that should be hard. Coach Matty Abel explains why slowing down is what actually makes you faster.

🏃 Fitness First Members, the full Outrun ebook is included in your membership! Get yours via link in bio.
🏃 Not a member? Comment OUTRUN and we’ll send you a preview plus a 1-day trial!

#outrun #fitnessfirstau #sydneyrun #runprogram #running by @mattyabel

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7 days ago

At the start of 2026 I set myself a pretty ambitious goal. Run Paris under three hours, then eight days later line up at Boston and somehow do it again.

I managed both, and thought that might be enough marathons for the year. Apparently not.

A few months later I was standing on the start line at home for Sydney Marathon. I crossed in 2:56:59 and what started as a goal of two sub-3s had somehow become three.

I’m pretty proud of that, especially while continuing to grow the Academy and fit training around everything else life throws at you.

I’ve learnt a lot about the marathon this year too. Not just the training, but how much the details matter. Fuelling, carb loading, pacing, patience and what happens between your ears when things start getting uncomfortable.

The quest to run all the Marathon Majors in sub-3 continues, but for now I’m craving something different.

Trails. Mountains. Exploration. Probably where my enjoyment for running really started.

Very grateful to the partners, friends and training crew who have helped make this year what it’s been. by @mattyabel

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8 days ago

Runners who rotate between more than one pair of shoes have a significantly lower injury risk than runners who stick to one pair, roughly 39% lower in one well-designed study tracking 264 recreational runners over 22 weeks, even after adjusting for training volume, experience and prior injury.

This isn't about buying more shoes for the sake of it. It's about load. Every shoe distributes impact slightly differently. Run in the same one every session and the same tissues absorb the same forces the same way, over and over. Rotate between genuinely different shoes and that pattern varies instead.

The researchers weren't certain exactly why the effect shows up, they think it's the variation in loading, but that specific mechanism wasn't directly tested. What the study did show clearly is the outcome, runners in rotation got injured less.

One nuance worth knowing. This likely isn't about owning three pairs of the identical shoe. If variation in load is what matters, it's shoes that are meaningfully different from each other, drop, cushioning, geometry, not duplicates. As an example, something like a Novablast for everyday miles, a Megablast for long runs, and a Metaspeed kept for race day, three genuinely different profiles.

Source: Malisoux L, Ramesh J, Mann R, Seil R, Urhausen A, Theisen D. "Can parallel use of different running shoes decrease running-related injury risk?" Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 2015. by @mattyabel

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10 days ago

825km down the Croatian coastline in 10 days, 3 hours and 55 minutes.

There are some athletes where the result makes complete sense when you know the person behind it, and @aydanpapac is one of them.

I’ve coached Aydan for a while now and one of his biggest strengths has always been his consistency. He works on himself, does the small things well and understands that the 1% improvements don’t mean much today, but stack enough of them together over time and you become a very different athlete.

But I think this challenge showed something else about him. His tenacity and his willingness to suffer when things get properly hard.

At one point Aydan ended up in hospital for 24 hours. For most people, that would have been the end of the challenge. Instead, he got back out there, reassessed with his crew and changed the plan. The Croatian heat had become too much during the day, so they pivoted towards running through the night.

That’s where having the right people around you becomes so important.

A challenge like this is never really an individual effort. When you’re exhausted, sleep deprived and deep into another 80km day, you need people around you who can think clearly, problem solve, keep you moving and sometimes make the decisions you’re no longer in the best position to make yourself.

His crew played a massive role in getting him to that finish.

Fitness gets you a long way in these events. But eventually there’s a point where fitness isn’t enough. You need patience, adaptability, good people around you and a willingness to keep finding a way forward when the original plan has disappeared.

Aydan has plenty of that.

📸 @rhidianscotttowers by @mattyabel

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11 days ago