I’m happy. I feel like you’ve been running really well. I’m delighted you want to keep working with me. That makes me happy. I’m also happy with the plan I have created over the next 12 weeks. So in summary, you could say, I’m happy 😁

10k is the focus and there is the Rye Summer Series in July that I used as a goal race. If you do fancy running that, great, but it’s not essential. As a coach I just need something to work towards in terms of building the foundations of a training plan.

I’ve tried to keep in the runs you like. The Monday 30 mins easy, the big sessions of which 10k will be the main focus but I’ve included loads of variety, including shorter reps, 5k sessions and half marathon sessions.

The long run is limited to 2 hours as I don’t feel like we need to go beyond that, but equally it will maintain the endurance you built up whilst preparing for the HHM.

parkrun is a staple of the plan as I know this is important to you and I wanted to include quite a few quick ones. If the weather ever looks good and you don’t have a fast run scheduled just let me know. There is so much flexibility we can always make those changes.

HYROX? I like the idea of this. I get the impression you’ve struggled a little with the S&C, so why not give it a go. I notice Constant Pursuit Fitness offer a free taster session.

Then if you decide it’s for you, let’s find a way to get it in the plan. I think once you’ve done a session you’ll know what the training load is. I might even do it myself once my strength game is a bit better, that will give me an understanding of the difficulty attached.

As you mentioned in your message, this is a time of year you’ve often struggled with, so keeping up the training will make a big difference. And just always remind yourself it’s only ever 2 big sessions a week, complimented by the easy runs. I think anything more for those of us with jobs and families and it’s just too much. Plus the results using this approach have been great.

Oh I’ll conclude my saying I’ve pushed your training load up to 1100 from 1050 from the last plan. There’s still loads of room for improvement here, but I think it’s crucial we do that 1 training plan at a time. When you’re ready to have another crack at a marathon you’ll be primed to push that training load to the 1300+ mark.