Some times I will create a training plan and it just feels like a work of art. That might sound a bit arrogant, it’s not meant to be. It’s just like everything comes together really nicely.

We’ve got that main goal of Manchester at the end, which should provide a perfect opportunity to bank yourself a new PB.

The training is nice and progressive in the sense we start off working on speed and threshold sessions, before introducing the goal paced half marathon training in the 2nd half of the plan.

That gives you a nice bit of variety. I’ve listened to what you’ve said in the past about which sessions you enjoy, so there are a lot of your favourites in there.

I’ve tweaked the concept of training load to training points. I’ll explain in more detail shortly, but all you need to know is your training has progressed from the last half marathon block we did.

So you’ll be banking some decent mileage now each week and hopefully that consistency will make you even stronger.

The one thing we’ve yet to really get nailed is the strength and conditioning. I’m not overly concerned at this stage of your running journey given your age, and my advice is during this plan to try and find a class which fits in with your schedule. A simply circuits class would be ideal and I think once a week will leave you fresh enough to keep smashing out those all important sessions.

If you do get out on the bike at all, I think it’s important we factor that in. I’m more than happy to include that and generally 60 mins on the bike is the equivalent of 20 mins of running. So even if you wanted to do a 3 hour weekend bike ride for instance, we’d only need to sacrifice an hour of the running.

I’m really pleased with your progress to this point, but I also believe there is plenty more you can achieve going forward. I just feels it’s important we take small steps and progress slowly. I’ve seen local runners smashing 15-20 minutes off their marathon time, but at the result of picking up injuries and missing months of training.

So keep chipping away and no reason those times can’t keep improving for many years ahead.