About

Alex Masidlover – UK Athletics Coach in Running Fitness, UK Atheltics Leadership in Running Fitness, UK Athletics/Fell Running Association Off Road Leader (Leadership In Running Fitness FMR), Strength & Conditioning Education Fundamentals Coach, Wilderness First Aid Qualified, Self Coached Endurance Athlete

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What I do Currently in Endurance Sport

I am currently coaching Manchester Harriers Senior Endurance section and some athletes from Gatley Runners.

I’ve been out of racing most of 2023 with a hernia repair followed by a herniated disc. Hopefully I’ll be racing the winter XC season at MACCL and a quick trot up Ben Nevis for The ROC Scotland.

How I Got Here

At school I loathed running and almost all sports apart from cycling, I was the butt of PE teachers jokes and was always picked last for teams.

At university I started eating badly and pretty much stopped exercise completely. My eating improved in my twenties, unfortunately both in quality and in volume. By the time I reached my thirties I was obese.

Once my eldest son was mobile (at about 18 months) I started getting out of breath chasing him and realised something had to be done.

I started a food diary and the weight came off over a period of about 18 months, then I decided a triathlon seemeded a good idea – all I needed to do was learn how to run! I completed the Couch 2 5K and then South Manchester Triathlon in 2012.

Then I started to read about running technique and realised that my running technique was awful – so I spent a year working on it and went from a 27 minute 5km to doing a 42 minute 10km (at the end of an olympic triathlon).

From there some particular highlights are…

Winning the Wildcat Aquathlon (1500m river swim and 10km trail run)

Racing 3 marathons; including winning the most recent one (albeit with a field of only 12 runners!)

Finally going ‘sub 3’ at Chester Marathon after 9 years of attempts

Being part of the winning team of an overnight 36km relay swim

Racing 3 winters of Manchester Area Cross Country League

Returning to Wollaton Park, where I used to walk around the annual school cross-country run, to run in the English National Cross Country Championships.

Accompanying 10 fabulous athletes, many of whom had never run a marathon before, through their journey to completing Manchester marathon 2022.

Spending many wonderful hours exploring the peak district and lake district by fell running

So I hope that when I come to coaching I’m able to empathise with a wide range of athletes.

Outside of Endurance Sport

I have a wife and two boys to keep me busy and am a director of Medoc Computers and Future Technologies (Omnia)