I love this plan. It just feels right and gives me great confidence in my model which this year has delivered some fantastic marathon results.

Conal 3:29
Kieran B 2:57
Paul 2:56
Jack 3:10
Me 3:29
Lindsey 3:51
Sam D 3:13

It works. Trust the process. Keep showing up. All that nonsense. There’s a reason those phrases are repeated a lot though.

So your plan. We jump from 120 to 135 in terms of points. In simple terms, the more points, the harder the training. In theory the harder the training, the fitter you get.

My sub 3 Chester plan saw me hit 150, but that was my 19th training plan. There are a few on the team working harder, (up to 160pts per week), but their circumstances are slightly different and I think post Brighton if you wanted to push even more, there is the potential for that.

It’s why I believe there’s still plenty of room for improvement. Sub 20 was always a big goal for me. I’ve not crept down to 19:14. I believe if we keep applying the logic of progressive overload to your training, you can get there too.

So Brighton? I think 3:40-3:45 for your first is a really good time to aim for. My race predictor is currently saying 3:35, but if you plan to do future marathons, getting the basics right in the first one is key.

It took me 5 years to get sub 3:30 and I cocked it up so many times. Finally realising quality over quantity is definitely the best approach.

So the average number of runs per week is 4.05. That’s plenty. Paul knocked 20 mins off his PB (from 3:16 to 2:56) averaging 3.5 runs per week. Plus we’ve got the 2 S&C sessions in there which are key. So only really one rest day, so you’re still working hard.

Same routine as before. Tuesday efforts, Wednesday easy, Saturday parkrun, Sunday long run. So what is different? The Wednesday long run (if you have time) will extend slightly (max 80 mins) and Sunday will be the biggest change.

Both increasing the long runs in time and also some big marathon sessions where we can practice that 3:40 pace.

I’m entered into Brighton too and am taking one step back with my training to focus on my strength so if our plans align, and my injury sorts itself out, every chance I could do some of those Sunday runs with you as we should be training at the same pace.

Fuelling. We want to be on this straight away, which I think you are? Gels every 30-40 mins at a minimum for the long runs, just to train the gut.

I think that’s it. I can tweak the S&C if it gets a bit repetitive or we could even squeeze it into a shorter time frame by making it more of a HIIT session.

I’m excited for you. Running a marathon is great (for 20 miles) and such a brilliant achievement come the end. You got this.