The plan as it is presented right now should be overlooked a tad. I say this because I think in your situation we need to be as flexible as possible. What we have in any given week is 6 opportunities to exercise and improve your fitness.

ASPT Class or Hastings Runners Track – Monday Evening
PB Runner Efforts – Tuesday Evening
Pilates – Wednesday Evening
Bimble – Thursday Evening
parkrun – Saturday morning
Long Run – Sunday morning

Obviously we don’t want any week where you do all 6 of those, especially not right now. That would be madness. But if we can do 4 that’s a good week, 3 is ok, 5 is excellent.

What we want to do is even out across a 4 week block where you average 4 sessions per week, ideally 3 of which are runs.

This gives you flexibility and takes away some of the pressure with work. So even if you have to work late Monday – Wednesday and can’t attend a session, don’t get frustrated, know that you still have 3 opportunities to make up for that.

I could also include a home S&C (strength and conditioning) session at some point which would give even more scope for flexibility.

I’ve had certain clients that leave me frustrated because they can’t or don’t complete the sessions I set. But coming into this knowing at times that will be tricky is a good place for us to start. You might have a week where you only do 2 or 3 sessions, but the following week you have the chance to do 5.

What’s pleasing for me also is we start in a very good place. The fact you can already run for 2 hours is brilliant and makes my job easier. In fact I’ve changed your goal already, as I think you need something a little bit more daunting and exciting. So I’ve pencilled in the Pier to Pier race. Eastbourne to Hastings. It’s 26km. It might sound scary right now but given where you are at already you’ll be fine and a lot of the team will be training for it and doing longer runs on Sundays in the build up.

If you can run 26km, then the 21km around the hills of Hastings will seem less daunting as well.

What I want to achieve most from this plan is increase that mental rating. I want you to be more confident as a runner come the Hastings Half. It’s an issue quite a few of the team I have and at times I feel like some don’t listen to what I am saying.

So trust me, what I tell you, I mean. I’m not just saying this because you are paying me. I’ll be honest at all times, so if I say you’re a good runner, I mean it. So take that on board and hopefully my feedback can help with your confidence and nudge that rating up, because that’s highlighted as your weakness right now.

Anyhow enough waffle. So in summary, super flexible, positive feedback and just be as consistent as possible. Progress takes time, but if you stick with it, you’ll see those improvements and hopefully have fun along the way.