The Skoma blog
Notes on the work, the race, and the book.
Guides for building a better book, and stories about why the months of training deserve more than a camera roll.
Gift for a marathon finisher: what to give, and exactly when
The right gift for a marathon finisher depends on timing: something practical at the finish line, food and comfort for the first 48 hours, and a keepsake two to six weeks later.
Heart rate zones without a lab test
Set heart rate zones from your age in seconds, or more precisely from your resting rate and a measured max. What each method gets wrong, and who needs a lab.
How many calories does running actually burn?
Running burns about 1 kcal per kg of body weight per km, at almost any pace. Worked numbers, why running slower isn’t cheaper, and why watch figures drift.
Which Camino route fits the time you have?
Francés, Portugués or Norte: where a week, nine days, ten days or a fortnight gets you on each route at 25 km a day, and which one you can walk end to end.
Race predictors lie to you, politely
A race predictor turns a 22-minute 5K into a 3:31 marathon. What Riegel’s formula assumes, why it runs fast for most marathoners, and how to use the number.
Three ways marathon fuelling goes wrong, and the plan that avoids all of them
Marathon fuelling fails in three ways: too little, too much at once, or a plan never tested past 28K. The fix is a gel count set early and taken on a timer.
What heart rate should an easy run actually be?
An easy run sits at 60–70% of max heart rate, slow enough to talk in full sentences. How to work out your own range, and why most easy runs end up too fast.
How many gels do you need for a marathon?
About 11 gels for a four-hour marathon at 60 g of carbs an hour. The count by finish time, why most runners carry too few, and when to take the first one.
What to actually do with the box of old race bibs
What to do with old race bibs, ranked by how many people finish the project: a frame, a wall holder, a quilt, coasters, a shop donation, or recycling.
Planning a Camino: the numbers nobody tells you until you’re on it
How many days, where to start for the Compostela, what it costs and how long a stage takes: the Camino planning numbers, and tools to run your own.
What the Camino costs per day, honestly
Budget €25–40 a day with albergues and the pilgrim menu, or €55–85 with private rooms. Where the money goes, the full Francés total, and what doubles it.
How many days you actually need for the Camino Francés
Most first-timers need 32 to 38 days for the 770 km Camino Francés, rest days included. Days by daily distance, when to rest, and shorter starts that count.
Training through a heatwave: what to change, and what to leave alone
How to train when it’s hot: steer by heart rate, run in the cooler hours, give acclimatisation two weeks, skip unsafe sessions, and keep the plan itself.
Recovery tools for runners: what earns a place, and what’s mostly marketing
Foam rollers, massage guns, creams, ice baths, compression and pneumatic boots, sorted by what studies support, what each costs and who should bother.
The 5 fastest marathons to chase a personal best
Berlin, Valencia, Chicago, Frankfurt and Seville: five flat marathons for a PR, with elevation, race dates, typical weather and how to get an entry.
A running coach in your inbox: I gave Claude my Strava and a coaching brief
A read-only Strava connection, a coaching brief and a weekly scheduled task turn Claude into an honest Sunday training report. The setup, and where it stops.
Most running supplements do nothing. A few actually earn their place.
Caffeine and creatine have solid evidence for runners; magnesium, cordyceps and greens powders are maybes or insurance. What each does, and how to take it.
Two hours, broken: the marathon’s last great wall finally fell
Kipchoge’s 1:59:40 in Vienna never counted. Sabastian Sawe’s 1:59:30 in London in April 2026 did. What changed, and what running that fast takes.
A finish-line photo deserves more than a camera roll
Why we built Skoma: the best photo you’ll take all year shouldn’t disappear into an album of 12,000 screenshots.
Designing a race-day cover that does the moment justice
The cover is the first thing you’ll see every time you pick the book up. A few small choices make it feel like a bound volume instead of a printout.
Turn months of marathon training into a book you’ll keep
Your training block is a story with a beginning, a middle, and a finish line. Here’s how to turn the whole arc into something you can hold.
Mother’s Day gifts for runners: match the gift to her training
The right gift depends on what kind of runner she is and where she is in her training block. Gift ideas by runner type and price, plus what to skip.