Quality training
Purposeful sessions designed to complement your existing programme and club commitments.
Ambition. Commitment. Progress.
Athletes
A high-performance environment for middle-distance and endurance athletes who are serious about becoming better.
Who it is for
Find your next level
ND Performance Hub welcomes ambitious athletes from all clubs.
Train alongside like-minded runners, exchange experiences and leave every session with greater confidence, understanding and belief in your potential.
Performance standards
Ready to contribute
- Men: 5km under 15:00 or an equivalent standard
- Women: 5km under 17:00 or an equivalent standard
- Recommendation from your current coach
- Exceptional junior and developing athletes may be invited
- Final entry remains at the Hub's discretion
Shared knowledge
Open discussion about training, racing, physiology, nutrition and performance development.
Positive culture
Professional, supportive and collaborative, with no club boundaries and no egos.
Athlete support services
Support services
Practical support beyond the track, helping athletes and coaches navigate the wider demands of high-performance sport.
WADA guidance
Clear anti-doping guidance, including checking medication, supplements and current WADA requirements.
Read the clean sport guideTraining camp preparation
Plan the purpose, preparation, travel, training and return home so the camp improves the athlete rather than simply exhausting them.
Plan your campCamp funding support
We are developing guidance to help athletes identify suitable funding opportunities and prepare stronger applications for training-camp support. This service will focus on practical planning, eligibility and presenting a clear performance case.
World Athletics race selection
Guidance on choosing suitable World Athletics competitions and understanding opportunities within the points system.
Explore the race pathwayAttracting sponsors
We are developing practical resources to help athletes build a credible profile, communicate their story and approach potential sponsors professionally. The aim is to help athletes create meaningful partnerships rather than promise guaranteed sponsorship.
International travel support
We are exploring partnerships and funding routes that may help athletes manage the costs of international competition. This fund may also support appropriate training camps, including altitude and environmental camps. Future guidance will cover travel planning, suitable opportunities and potential sources of financial assistance.
Recovery and wellbeing
Signposting and practical support for recovery, injury, physical health and mental wellbeing.
Training camp preparation
Arrive Ready. Return Better.
A complete camp-planning guide for endurance athletes
A successful camp is not measured by how tired an athlete becomes. It is measured by whether athletes and coaches arrive prepared, absorb the right training and learning, remain healthy and return home better equipped than when they left.
Start with real life
The perfect camp rarely exists
A camp will not always fit perfectly around the race calendar or an athlete’s current fitness. Many elite athletes also balance employment, study, family and financial commitments.
Those realities are not obstacles to ignore; they are part of the plan. The Hub works with each athlete to find the best achievable camp structure, protect important commitments and set realistic expectations.
The first question
Why are you going?
A clear purpose determines the destination, duration, training load, support required and timing of the return home.
Performance camp
A planned block supporting specific key races or a championship objective.
Altitude discovery
A first exposure focused on learning how the individual responds and adapts, not proving how hard they can train.
Heat preparation
A controlled environmental camp preparing for competition in hot or humid conditions.
Training holiday
A productive camp built around annual leave, family time or a limited period away.
Training & learning
New surroundings, shared purpose and the chance for athletes and coaches to train, question, observe and learn together.
Development block
A focused period to build fitness, refine routines and learn without an immediate race target.
The camp pathway
Six stages. One performance goal.
- 1DefinePurpose, dates and success measures
- 2AssessFitness, health and life commitments
- 3PrepareTraining build-up, travel and equipment
- 4AdaptSettle in and respond to the environment
- 5ExecuteTrain, recover, monitor and communicate
- 6ConvertReturn, recover and turn the camp into performance
Preparation timeline
Work backwards from departure
- Agree the camp purpose and dates
- Review work, study and family commitments
- Select the location, environment and support team
- Check passport validity, entry rules, insurance and budget
- Seek travel-health advice early where required
- Book flights, accommodation and local transport
- Build the pre-camp training progression
- Review health, injury status, medication and nutrition needs
- Plan access to tracks, trails, gyms and recovery facilities
- Agree communication and emergency arrangements
- Confirm the daily training outline and adaptation phase
- Check equipment, kit, prescriptions and documentation
- Protect sleep, fuelling and recovery
- Avoid chasing last-minute fitness
- Record useful baseline measures and athlete feedback
- Arrive healthy rather than depleted
- Hydrate and fuel normally
- Confirm travel, transfers and check-in details
- Share the final itinerary and contacts
- Pack essential training kit in hand luggage where practical
Readiness & training build-up
The camp must match the athlete who arrives, not the athlete they hoped to be. Review recent training consistency, current fitness, injury or illness, fatigue, sleep and competition schedule. Build towards the camp progressively and adapt the planned load if preparation has been interrupted.
Never use the opening days to catch up on missed training.
Location & logistics
Consider flights, visas or entry requirements, passport validity, travel insurance, inoculations or health advice, accommodation, catering, laundry, local transport, training access, climate, time zone and personal safety.
Choose a hotel, apartment or Airbnb based on what supports sleep, nutrition, recovery and reliable travel to training, not price or appearance alone.
Altitude camps
Altitude responses are highly individual. The first camp may be a learning camp: observe sleep, wellbeing, training response and recovery before making conclusions. Training intensity and volume may need to change while the athlete adapts.
The right model depends on the athlete and purpose. Options may include living high and training low, living low and training high, or living and training at the same elevation. Each creates different practical and training demands.
Altitude exposure should be planned with appropriately qualified coaching, sports-science and medical support. Symptoms or unusual deterioration must be reported, not hidden.
Heat & environmental camps
Heat preparation should be progressive and individual. Training load, hydration, fuelling, clothing, session timing, cooling and recovery all need planning. Recent illness and the athlete’s response to heat must be taken seriously.
Environmental stress is an additional training load. More stress is not automatically better.
Life on camp
Agree each day’s purpose, intensity and recovery. Monitor wellbeing, sleep, soreness, appetite, mood and session response. Build consistent routines around meals, hydration, mobility, treatment, downtime and communication.
A group camp should create positive accountability, not pressure to copy another athlete’s pace, mileage or recovery habits.
The return home
The camp is not finished when the flight lands. Plan travel fatigue, sleep disruption, work or family responsibilities, the first sessions home and the next competition. Avoid immediately testing fitness with an unnecessary hard session.
Review what worked, what did not and how the athlete responded. The objective is to convert the camp into sustainable performance.
Daily athlete check-in
Green light or adjust?
Good camps are responsive. A short honest check-in helps the coach decide whether to progress, maintain or modify the day.
- How did I sleep?
- How do I feel physically?
- What is my energy and motivation?
- Am I eating and drinking normally?
- How did I respond to yesterday?
- Do I have symptoms, pain or concerns?
Future ND Performance Hub camps
Train together. Learn together.
Our future camps will not focus solely on athlete fitness. They will create shared learning environments where athletes and coaches can understand the purpose behind the training, discuss individual responses and take practical knowledge back into their own programmes.
Pre-altitude training experiments
In summer 2026, ND Performance Hub will work with a UK university on practical experiments exploring specific training before an altitude camp. The project will investigate whether individualised pre-camp training can help athletes begin adapting more quickly once they arrive at altitude. The work is exploratory: individual responses and findings will be reviewed carefully before any approach is applied more widely.
Learning while on camp
Camp activity may combine coached sessions with practical discussions on physiology, altitude response, recovery, fuelling, monitoring and the reasons behind changes to training.
Individual camp models
We will consider approaches such as living high and training low, living low and training high, or living and training at altitude. The model should serve the athlete’s event, training history, response and performance goal.
Knowledge that comes home
Athletes and coaches should return with more than completed sessions. They should understand what worked, what needs adapting and how the learning can improve future training and competition preparation.
Official travel checks
Plan early. Use trusted advice.
WADA guidance
Clean Sport Guide for Elite Athletes
A practical guide for endurance runners
At ND Performance Hub, we believe success should be achieved through talent, dedication, hard work and integrity. Every athlete has a responsibility to compete clean and understand the anti-doping rules that govern our sport.
Every athlete should follow this routine
Search. Check. Apply.
Before taking any medication or supplement:
- Search
Check whether it is permitted in sport.
- Check
Find out whether you require a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE).
- Apply
If required, submit your TUE at the appropriate time. Emergency and retroactive provisions may apply.
Check your medication every time
Never assume a medication is safe simply because it was prescribed by your GP, bought from a pharmacy, described as “natural”, used by another athlete or taken by you before. Always check it first.
Check medication on Global DROFood supplements
Supplements are a significant source of accidental anti-doping violations. No supplement can be guaranteed completely risk-free.
- Only buy independently batch-tested products.
- Check the exact batch number before use.
- Keep a record of every product and batch you use.
- Avoid unknown products bought online.
- If you do not genuinely need a supplement, do not take it.
Therapeutic Use Exemptions
If you genuinely require a prohibited medication or method for a medical condition, you may need a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE).
- Tell your doctor you compete under anti-doping rules.
- Ask whether a permitted alternative exists.
- Check which organisation you must apply to and when.
- Apply for a TUE if necessary.
If you are selected for testing
Remain with the Doping Control Officer or Chaperone as directed.
- Take identification if requested.
- Declare every medication and supplement used.
- Check all paperwork before signing.
- Ask questions if you are unsure.
Travelling abroad
Medication ingredients and brand formulations can differ between countries.
- Re-check every medication for the country of purchase.
- Carry copies of prescriptions.
- Keep medication in its original packaging.
- Check supplements again before every major competition.
Mobile resources
100% me Clean Sport App
UKAD’s athlete education app covers anti-doping education, medication guidance, testing procedures, Global DRO and athlete responsibilities.
Get the 100% me appGlobal DRO
The quickest way to check the status of medication purchased in the UK and other participating countries.
Open Global DROOfficial information
Know the organisations
Anti-doping rules and the Prohibited List can change. Use these official sources for the latest information.
UK Athletics (UKA)
The national governing body incorporates the UK Anti-Doping Rules into its competition rules for people under its jurisdiction.
UK Anti-Doping (UKAD)
The organisation responsible for delivering and enforcing anti-doping programmes in the UK, including education, medication checking, TUE guidance, testing and reporting concerns.
World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)
WADA maintains the World Anti-Doping Code and publishes the annual Prohibited List used across Olympic sport.
ND Performance Hub advice
Before every race, ask yourself
- Have I checked every medication?
- Have I checked every supplement and exact batch?
- Have I checked my inhalers?
- Have I checked my cold and flu medication?
- Do I need a TUE?
- Could I confidently explain everything I have taken if tested today?
If the answer to any of these questions is no, stop and check before competing.
World Athletics race selection
Rankings & International Race Selection
Your guide to qualifying for international competition
Understanding how international athletics works is as important as understanding how to train. This guide simplifies rankings, race categories and selection so athletes and coaches can make informed decisions throughout the season.
The simple pathway
From ambition to the start line
Five decisions turn a championship ambition into a practical race plan.
- 01Choose your target
Championship, event and realistic performance goal.
- 02Read the policy
Know standards, trials, dates and federation criteria.
- 03Map the window
Work back from the qualification deadline.
- 04Select smart races
Balance fast conditions, race category and placing opportunity.
- 05Monitor & adapt
Track scores, expiring results and Road to status.
Two routes
How championship qualification works
Entry standard
Run the championship entry standard inside the official qualification period. This satisfies the World Athletics route, but selection still depends on the relevant national federation policy.
World ranking
If the entry standard is not achieved, remaining places may be filled by ranking position until the event’s target field size is reached, subject to championship and federation rules.
The points equation
Fast running + valuable placing
Every eligible performance receives a Performance Score. It combines how strong the result was with where it was achieved and where the athlete placed.
01Result scoreHow fast you run
+02Placing scoreWhere you finish and the competition category
=03Performance scoreThe points earned from that performance
Why race quality matters
The same time can earn different points
Imagine two athletes both run 13:30 for 5000m. The result score may be the same, but the final Performance Score can differ.
Domestic meeting
13:30 at a lower-category meeting with fewer placing points available.
Result score + lower placing scoreHigher-category meeting
13:30 and third place in a stronger eligible international competition.
Same result score + higher placing scoreChoosing the right race can be almost as important as running fast.
Competition categories
Not every race is worth the same
World Athletics uses ten placing-score categories. In general, higher categories offer more placing points, but only eligible events and designated races receive the advertised category.
- Highest opportunityOlympic Games & World Championships
- Global eliteDiamond League & top World Athletics tours
- InternationalContinental Tour Gold, Silver & Bronze
- ChampionshipArea and National Senior Championships
- FoundationInternational and national permit meetings
A moving window
Rankings do not reset each season
Rankings are updated weekly and operate on a rolling period. New performances enter, older performances expire, and athletes need to replace strong scores to maintain or improve their position.
Older score
expiresBest current scores
form your averageNew race
enters
expiresBest current scores
form your averageNew race
enters
Your ranking is an average
Build enough quality performances
World Athletics averages the required number of eligible Performance Scores; it does not simply add every race. Some scores must come from the main event.
GB & NI selection
Qualification is not automatic selection
Meeting World Athletics qualification criteria does not guarantee selection. UK Athletics publishes a separate policy for each major championship.
- Entry standards and qualification periods
- World ranking position
- Trials and National Championship performances
- Fitness and readiness requirements
- Discretionary selection criteria
Always read the current policy for the championship you are targeting.
Official tools
Check. Track. Plan.
How ND Performance Hub can help
Build a season, not just a race list
- Understand how rankings and qualification windows work
- Identify races with the greatest realistic opportunity
- Decide when to chase a standard or build ranking points
- Monitor expiring scores and plan replacement opportunities
- Interpret the relevant UK Athletics selection policy
- Prepare an intelligent international racing season