Week Commencing: 8 June 2026

Choose Day👇

Decent first week, nothing strenuous at all, a chance to ease your way in, understand the platform and bank some decent aerobic sessions. Starting off with a bit more focus on heart rate for those Zone 2 easy runs is a good way to get the right intensity. If you get it right you’ll soon find your pace picks up. Any questions just ask.

Coach Simon🍊

106 POINTS TARGET

106 Points

MONDAY

andy-alice

40 Mins Run

12 POINTS

After a week of holiday where I feel I am currently mostly made of cheese and baguette, a nice easy run to start back at work. Initially running to Z2 HR from my watch (which matches your Z2 HR range), but pace felt fast for the given HR. Eventually switched to running to a pace that allowed continuous nasal-only breathing and that seemed to level to an HR right at the bottom of the Z2 range but pace about in the middle of your range. Not completely sure which is “right” as I appreciate your zones are made from an initial set of data points – would be an interesting one to discuss! But overall just a nice run, despite the rain.
Good to have you on board. In terms of feedback, always be honest. Say what you want. Swear if you want, some of the team are pretty potty mouthed from time to time. In terms of the data metrics, unlikely we’ll have those zones spot on at first and they are easily adjusted. As long as you’re not spending 20% plus in zone 3 and above I’m happy with this. And actually good to see some kms starting with 6 as I think that’s where you went wrong prior to HHM, running too fast all the time. I’m obsessed with nasal breathing right now having been a mouth breather all my life (how did that happen?). If you can do it on your easy runs, even better. I’ve sent you a Strava invite to the PB Runner group as well. This really helps me easily find what the team have been doing.

Coach Simon 🍊
12 Points

TUESDAY

gym-workout

Home Legs/Core

8 POINTS

Russian twists are a bugger aren’t they! Did the stretches first and then the strength after. Going forwards am going to try and do the stretches set in the morning and will aim to start introducing them every day. Other than having to watch all the YouTube videos and laugh and how unbendy I am compared to the bendy YouTube women, stretches went well. Strength wise generally good, but the time based ones I struggled with – did what I could but didn’t go mad for now. Rep based ones generally all ok – except the Russian Twists where had to do mid -set breaks, but did do 15 per set – but definitely some knee stability I need to strengthen up; the last 2 deadlift sets felt wobbly (but not painful or like my knee was going to buckle)
Yeah it’s about edging into it gradually, so no worries if you are short of the time target for some of them, build up slowly and you’re soon notice the difference. Good form does help. I try and stretch most days, similar to this, but I found adding them to the dashboard for the team kicked a few arses into gear, rather than just saying “stretch everyday”. But glad it went ok. The start of good habits here and getting stronger and more flexible. These are not just beneficial for us as runners but something we should be doing for our overall well being as we get older.

Coach Simon 🍊
10 Points

WEDNESDAY

lo-si

60 Mins & Strides

22 POINTS

Legs a little heavy to start with after last nights strength session, but soon loosened up and overall felt easy. HR a bit higher than Monday – didn’t have a great nights sleep last night which may have contributed, or was just running a bit faster or whatever. Still within correct range (couple of minor blips out of Z2 on a couple of bridges). Watch battery died after 4 of the 8 strides….
Yeah I wouldn’t panic if you drift into Z3 for a bit, it’s not a disaster and we don’t need to obsess about HR, so long as we use it wisely and focus on that rather than pace we will get the most from these easy runs. One of the best bits of advice I ever got was “Never judge a run until after 10 mins”. This was never more relevant when I went for an east run 2 days before the Beachy Head Marathon. For the first 5 minutes I was in agony, my glute was on fire and I was gutted I was not going to be able to race. But you know what 10 minutes later the pain had gone and 2 days later I ran/walked (stupid course) the whole marathon with zero pain. So always remember that one.

Coach Simon 🍊
22 Points

THURSDAY

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rest-day

Rest Day

0 POINTS

FRIDAY

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su-sparkes

120 Mins

36 POINTS

Overall felt good, legs OK and at the end wasn’t feeling anywhere near exhausted, but was struggling to keep HR down. Not a good nights sleep last night which might have been a factor. Fairly strong constant headwind on the Brighton-Shoreham leg as well. But basically kept it Z2 with a few dips up to 150 on the couple of steep hills. Had a bit of time pressure to get to work at the end so was up at 146/147 a bit more….
Hills will always push you in to Zone 3 to be fair, and I wouldn’t worry too much about it. If you’re in Zone 2 90% of the run, then it’s doing the right job and pace looks better than previously when you were always at marathon speed. But glad to feel you felt good at the end. That’s the idea of these, that you bank some good mileage without needed another 3-4 days to recover. Excellent work Mark.

Coach Simon 🍊
36 Points

SATURDAY

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si-25-5-miler

5K Tempo (10K)

24 POINTS

Strong headwind on the return leg, but as was keeping to Z5 that didn’t really matter. Was able to run without buggy today which was good. Overall felt really good after the long run yesterday.
I like it. HR in Zone 5, pace in Zone 6, that is always a good sign that you are currently ahead of your targets. Decent effort that. I must admit I did parkrun at 10k pace, into that same headwind, and probably was guilty of pushing the effort too hard to maintain by pace. So you did better than me. Well done Mark. A really good first week.

Coach Simon 🍊
26 Points

SUNDAY

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rest-day

Rest Day

0 POINTS