I’m excited by this challenge. It’s not something I’ve done so far in my coaching journey (coming on 3 years), with the shortest distance trained for being 5k. But so far my model has adapted really well to new challenges, so I’m optimistic if the training goes well, you should see the progress.

This plan is very specific to your goal, and it’s important to understand that I wouldn’t encourage anyone else, running 5k or above to train in this way. So if you do get those questions, why are the sessions so short for example, it’s because your target is very different to others. So don’t let that put you off.

This plan works in stages.

Stage 1. Find that pace. 4:00 per km. For the first 3 weeks we repeat the same session 6 times. Why? Because it gives you that opportunity to work on your speed, and hopefully come week 3, we’ll find you’re getting close to that target for the 200 metre reps.

We don’t really want to move onto the next stage until we achieve this. Logic tells us if you can’t hold the goal pace for 1.6km in 200 metre blocks, then the chances of hitting it for 2km continuously are very low.

During this first stage, if possible I would like you to record yourself running. Ideally from two angles. From a side angle and running towards the camera. This will give me the opportunity to offer some feedback on your form. The better your form, the more likely we are to achieve the target, and making those tweaks early can be very important.

It will also help me get an understanding of what type of runner you are. Light and fast, or strong and powerful. Depending on which one it might change the advice I give and also the additional work we do alongside the running.

During Stage 1 it would also be useful to get a good understanding of your stats. Our pace is determined by two factors, our cadence (number of steps per minute) and our stride length (how much ground we cover with each stride). To run faster, one of those must improve whilst the other stays the same.

With such a clear target to work towards if we know which of those stats we can improve, we can do some extra drills and work to make that happen. When I was going on my own running journey my biggest improvements came when I focused on increasing my cadence and I did this using a metronome. It basically took my pace from around 4:40 per km for 5k to under that 4:00 minute mark for the first time. It was an absolute game changer and something which may make a huge difference for you. So I’d be keen to explore that.

Once we’ve hit the pace, we’ll start increasing the distance of the reps to add to the challenge. So working on “speed endurance”. This will then progress as the plan does and you’ll become more comfortable and confident running at your target pace.

Alongside these increases, we’ll make the 3rd run, the easy run, progressive too. So hopefully by the end of this plan we will able to do those 6 miles in the week alongside the speed work.

I’d also like to include a 4th session but won’t know how best to utilise that time until I have a better understanding of you as a runner. So that might be plyometrics or a short strength work out at home, just to complement the runs.

If you have any questions for me at this stage just ask. But otherwise it’s just a case of showing up and giving it your all. Running at high pace like this is hard. We need to be mentally tough, but hopefully having me to be accountable to will help you. Finding a reason why can make a big difference to push through those tough moments. And our bodies are capable of far more than our minds tell us.

Perhaps if you can find someone to do the speed sessions with that would help. 200 metre reps will help any runner, but also be good for rugby players as well, who rely on short bursts of speed during games.

Best of luck! Let’s make this happen.