Martin Williams
Run Highlights
Represented Team GB at 2010 European Champs
Represented Scotland at 2010 Commonwealth Games
Scottish Marathon Champion
UK Half Marathon 3rd Place
Edinburgh Marathon Winner
No shortcuts. No gimmicks.
Just years of figuring out what really works — and what doesn’t — when you’re trying to run fast with a busy life.
I wasn’t a junior prodigy. I started late, learned fast, and found what actually matters. Here’s how it all began…
I never ran as a junior. In my mid-twenties, just as I was about to join the police, I was persuaded to give running a try — partly to help with fitness for football.
My wife was already a member of Tipton Harriers, so I joined her club and began getting some structured coaching. That’s when Tony Milovsorov, a local running legend, started to help me out and opened my eyes to how proper training really works.
At first, I began entering local races and was finishing near the front, but not quite good enough to win. Those early experiences gave me a huge amount of motivation — I could see progress, but I knew there was a lot more to learn.
As I started to progress, I became increasingly curious about how far I could go and how much I could improve. I was lucky to have some great coaches, mentors, and training partners along the way. With their support and guidance, my times began to drop and I started winning county and regional titles. My personal bests kept improving, and the sport quickly became a huge part of my life.
🏁 Finding the Marathon
Getting Started
After racing everything from 800m to the half marathon, I started to get curious about the marathon — something that, just a few years earlier, seemed like it was only for “old men.”
Discovering Structure
I didn’t have the luxury of being a full-time athlete or a 9–5 schedule. My shifts in the police were all over the place — early mornings, late nights, and the occasional all-nighter. That meant I had to learn what really worked for me and strip away anything that didn’t.
Chasing Progress
There’s a lot of nonsense advice out there that focuses too much on the minor details. With limited time to train, I was forced to be efficient — every run had a purpose. Through trial and error, I began to piece together a training approach that actually worked.
The Marathon Breakthrough
My first marathon was in Florence, and it went better than I could ever have imagined. I ran 2 hours 19 minutes, finishing 8th overall. It was such an unexpected result that the organisers initially excluded me from the official results, assuming I must have been part of the mass field because of my race number!
🥇 From Competing to Coaching
From there, I hit a real purple patch — winning the Edinburgh Marathon, earning selection for the Commonwealth Games, and representing Great Britain at the European Championships. I even had the chance to go on altitude training camps in the Pyrenees with Mo Farah and train in South Africa, gaining invaluable experience and insight into what truly works at the highest level.
Now, as I approach my fifties, I feel I’m in a great position to share what I’ve learned. I was far from a standout junior — I came into the sport late and built everything from the ground up. That gives me a coaching perspective that’s relatable to all levels of ability.
I now coach and advise my two children, Layla and Oscar, who are both showing they have real potential, and I’ve provided structured coaching to many runners who’ve gone on to achieve personal bests and rediscover their love of training.
With over 25 years of experience across all levels of competition, I focus on effective training for people with busy lives — cutting through the noise and providing practical, time-efficient structure that delivers results. I’m a big believer in group training, adapting plans to suit real-world schedules, and avoiding the blinkered, one-size-fits-all approach that holds so many runners back.