Delighted to have you onboard. I think I’ve said a few times when we’ve chatted, you are doing a lot of the right runs. In fact I was surprised you weren’t improving given how often you were attending track, the long runs and racing.

But looking back at your recent training did explain a lot. There was just a lack of consistency in the training.

Some weeks you were working too hard, others not quite enough. So the idea of working with myself and joining Team Orange is to be more consistent with your training.

There’s two recent weeks I came across, where at no point in this next plan will I push you that hard. Notably the week which including the Alan Corke and Heathfield 10k (ouch).

But what I will do is try and help you be more consistent, which is ultimately when we start to really see the benefits and make progress.

I’ve recently introduced a system called Training Points. CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE. I know quite a lot of the team are confused as to how this works, but it’s just my method for creating training plans. You can completely ignore it if you like, but it does help to have an understanding.

Any questions just ask. But I believe if you are averaging 100pts per week, across this plan, you will improve. Why? Because recently you’ve been averaging 79 points per week, and inconsistently. So the logic is, training harder (more points), get fitter.

We can discuss further if need be. But it’s more for my information, but you will see it on your dashboard. If you miss a session or run, it’s useful to know how many points it was, so we can potentially try and make that up.

So the plan. 3 half marathons in 7 weeks at the end. I think we’ve got enough time to get you in good shape for the Great North Run and hopefully strong runs will follow at HHM and Rome.

To do this we’ll introduce some half marathon sessions which you can incorporate into the Sunday long run. There are 3 main ones in the plan, and it will just get you used to running at race pace.

I’ve included Wednesdays pretty much every week as I know you enjoy them, and then intervals, at the moment, mainly Tuesday, because you want a rest after your long run Sunday. But there’s no reason if you wanted to bring your long run forward a day, you can’t do track the following Monday. Every week can be different, the plan is very flexible.

Come week 3 I’ll also start introducing some strength work. Starting off 10 minutes at a time and very basic. To be honest once we get past 40, we really should be doing some basic strength and conditioning. Not just for running but our overall health. So if we can start creating good habits now, these could last you a lifetime.

As someone that spends too long at my desk I’m very wary of the importance of these.

I think that’s it for now. I’ve added in some extra races, but entirely up to you if you choose to do them. Bewl 15, Romney, the Handicap 5K and the Barry Richards 10k.

Let’s get you running more consistently and watch those times improve.