Welcome to the Team. Very excited to have you on board and I’m really glad you approached me when you did. I believe this gives us just enough time to build up that endurance for Brighton.

The self assessment is a really good exercise before a plan, because you’ve highlighted yourself what you need to improve on. Flexibility, Strength and Endurance.

Personally I would recommend trying to introduce a daily stretching routine, 10 minutes is plenty and will make a big different to your running. I do mine just before I go to bed and as someone that sits in my office chair for far too many hours, it’s a life saver. We can discuss some good stretches to add to this routine if you’re keen to add this.

The strength work. I think we introduce this slowly and it can be so basic. I’ve got some pre written sessions which are just 10-15 mins. I hate strength work, and for the first time in my last training block I did it regularly, again only 10-15 mins a time, but it made a huge difference for my marathon. These sessions are also good as you don’t need any weights and could easily do them in your hotel room if travelling.

Speaking of which. I’m well aware that will be a factor in this plan. And my advice is when you’re at home take that opportunity to do a speed session with the group. The ones I’ve put in are what we’ll be doing on a Tuesday evening. I take a session from 6:15-7:30pm. I also coach Hastings Runners track sessions on a Monday at the same time. But I’m also happy if you want to attend the Tuesday AC session, they are a lovely group and if you’re wife is also going, that makes sense to stick with that.

Those weeks you are away we just need to make best use of the time you have available. Hence why I’ve scheduled in some 20 min tempo runs, I think that would be good to push the pace and effort a little when time is limited.

The great thing about the Training Points system I use is it’s adaptability. It’s also very precise and ensures you’re training is really consistent from one week to the next. So if you missed a run whilst away at work, I’d potentially look to shift those points across the next couple of weeks. Even adding 10 minutes onto runs can make a big difference and means come the end of the training plan you will have hit those targets.

I’ve separated this plan into two 12 week blocks. The first we are simply building that base fitness to get you up to half marathon and adding a few marathon sessions at the end. It’s quite a steep curve in truth, but given your running background I’m confident you will be fine.

Then a week before we really start to ramp up the bigger Sunday sessions. Lots of training at goal pace so come the day of the race it feels comfortable.

Saturday and Sunday are always on the plan, then it’s a case of trying to fit in those 2 midweek runs. The strength work will slowly get more challenging and you’d be amazed at how tough a 15 minute core workout is. I still swear a lot when doing mine 🤦‍♂️

Any questions just ask. In the second 12 week block you’re working close to the level Paul Lambert was to achieve his sub 3 goal, and also doing more runs. So I’m confident in this approach and optimistic it will work well.