The 2025 Royal Sutton Fun Run is upon us again and many people will be out on the streets of Sutton Coldfield training for the big day, myself included.
As a 6-time winner of the Sutton Fun Run including last year (please read my blog on the 2024 Sutton Fun Run) and a fully qualified Personal Trainer and Nutritional Therapist based at Wyndley Leisure Centre I thought I’d write an article to give you some tips on how to train for the Sutton Fun Run 2025.
1. Build Your Base Endurance for the 2025 Royal Sutton Fun Run
The event is 8.5 miles so it’s certainly not short, therefore it’s important to build a solid endurance foundation.
If you are starting from scratch aim to run 3 times a week but build your distance up gradually (no more than 2-3 miles per week).
Don’t worry about the speed of your runs at this point, just focus on getting time on your feet.
If you already are doing some running again aim to build the mileage gradually. Then everyone should be looking to do one long run a week of 8-10 miles.
This ensures your body can handle the race distance without excessive fatigue.
The long run should only be done once a week and again should be gradually built up in distance.
Please check out my ITV appearance with presenter Hannah Bechelet, in which I ran with her in Sutton Park and gave tips on the long run while she was preparing for the London Marathon.
2. Incorporate Hills into your Training
There is no getting away from the fact that the Royal Sutton Fun Run is hilly! With cardiac hill at around 6 miles being especially difficult!
Therefore, incorporating hills into your training for the 2025 Sutton Fun Run is a must.
How do you do that? Well, firstly you could just go for a ‘hilly run’. If you train around Sutton Coldfield you certainly won’t be short of hills.
The beautiful Sutton Park also has lots of rolling hills, so a 4-mile run in the park will certainly get you running up and down plenty of hills!
You could also do some ‘hill repeats’. This incorporates running up a hill of anything from 100m-300m in length, then jogging back down to recover. I would aim to do 8-12 of these repeats. However, as always gradually build this up.
The benefits of running hill repeats are vast. They help build strength and endurance, meaning you’ll be more prepared for the Sutton Fun Run.
Studies show that by performing hill repeats your VO2 max will increase, your resting heart rate will improve, and speed endurance will improve, which ultimately improves your race times!
3. Fartlek Training
Fartlek is a Swedish term, meaning ‘speed play’. Fartlek training is unstructured interval training which is fantastic training for the 2025 Sutton Fun Run.
Why is this the case?
Well, unstructured interval training takes the pressure off you meaning you aren’t always looking at your split times on your watch.
Basically, you could go out for an 8k run and after maybe 1k of easy running, add in some intervals, but this could be as simple as ‘sprint to the next lamppost’ which might be literally 20 seconds, or you could decide to do a more sustained effort for say 2 minutes.
Another way you could use Fartlek training is to incorporate hill training within it, for example, you could decide to put in ‘efforts’ up each hill. The options really are endless, and it is a great fun way to incorporate interval work.
4. Tempo Running
Tempo running is a great way to boost fitness. So, what is it?
Tempo running is where you run at a comfortably hard pace for anything from 20 – 60 minutes.
However, if you are new to tempo running I would recommend starting at around 10 minutes, then building up to 15 minutes, then to 20 etc.
If you do a 20-minute tempo run, I’d advise a 5-minute easy run warm-up before going into the tempo, followed by a 5-minute easy jog cool-down.
How does tempo running benefit you? Well, I’ll explain the ‘sciency bit’…..
When we run at a tempo pace we reach something called ‘our lactate threshold’. This is the point where our body can no longer deliver enough oxygen to the working muscles, this leads to lactic acid being released which causes muscle fatigue.
Tempo running increases your lactate threshold. Therefore, you can run at a faster speed for longer before your body stops delivering oxygen to your muscles quickly enough. Hence, it is a great way to train to improve your Sutton Fun Run time.
5. Strength Train to Avoid Injury
Resistance training is probably the most neglected area of training for most runners.
Weight training helps build strength which will really help on the hills and also is fantastic for injury prevention. All the best runners do it so it’s got to be beneficial right?!
So, what are the best exercises for runners? Squats, glute bridges, deadlifts, lunges, hamstring curls, and planks just to name a few.
As I mentioned I’m a Sutton Coldfield-based Personal Trainer and can provide training at Wyndley Leisure Centre in Sutton Coldfield, you don’t need to be a member to train with me. I’m also available in Birmingham city centre. So please do get in touch for more details via my website Ultimate Personal Well-Being.
6. Use Parkrun
Parkrun is a fantastic tool to help you prepare for the 2025 Sutton Fun Run.
It’s an event that will get you used to running with a group of people also at 5k it is under distance compared to the Sutton Fun Run meaning it will help provide you with ‘speed reserve’.
So what is ‘speed reserve’? Basically by running an under-distance event in your build-up to the 2025 Sutton Fun Run the speed at which you run the Sutton Fun Run should feel easier.
This is because when you run the Parkrun as it is less distance than the Sutton Fun Run, you’ll run it faster, meaning when you run the 8.5-mile distance at a slower pace, as it is longer it will feel easier which psychologically should really help you.
Running Parkruns in the lead-up to the 2025 Sutton Fun Run is also a great way to assess your fitness and see if your times are improving.
Also, the Sutton Park Parkrun is very hilly which is great preparation for the Sutton Fun Run, it also even incorporates some of the Sutton Fun Run route.
So there you have it, 6 great tips to help you train for this year’s Royal Sutton Fun Run.
I also wrote a blog last year on some last-minute tips for last year’s event, including some Nutrition tips please check the Blog out:
Several Fantastic Tips For The Sutton Fun Run From 5-Time Winner Jonny Carter
As mentioned already as a Sutton Coldfield Personal Trainer I’m based at Wyndley Leisure Centre in Sutton Coldfield, where you don’t need to be a member to train with me. We also have access to a fantastic gym and athletics track along with the beautiful Sutton Park on the doorstep.
Please read my blog on The Benefits of Outdoor Personal Training.
You can also read my blog on The Benefits of Park-Based Personal Training
I also offer corporate running sessions which is a great way for employees to get out of the office and improve both their physical and mental health.
Please read my blog on The Benefits of Corporate Exercise Classes.
You can also book with me for Nutritional Therapy Consultations which can be done online, or you can get the best of both worlds by combining Nutritional Therapy With Personal Training.
Enjoy your training and happy running!
