I’ve included Rye to Hastings as I think that would be a good race to do. The big challenge will be slowly adding time onto the Sunday long run but that won’t happen until week 4 anyway and it will only be 10-15 mins every 4 weeks or so.

The hope being that come the end of this plan you’ll be able to run for 3 hours (15 miles), giving you a head start going into your marathon training block. 99% of marathon running uses our Aerobic Energy System which we improve simple by doing more miles. Intervals are still important but ultimately there’s no real secret other than running more, but we will do it very gradually as not to put too much demands on you.

It’s important you continue to enjoy your running. Every third week I’ve taken out an effort session and replaced it with an easy Tuesday run, just to offer some variety and a break from the feeling you’re having to work hard every Tuesday evening.

That said if you’re keen to do those Tuesday sessions we can always add them back in. We’ll do that on a week to week basis.

To be honest making that step up isn’t that difficult, other than just committing a bit more time, but you should find that will help your overall fitness and your times for 5k and 10k may also improve in the process.

It can be tiring at times, but from my experience it’s worth it and being able to say you’ve run the London Marathon will be pretty epic.

I’ve updated your rating based on where I feel you’re at right now and that highlights the improvements you made from the first plan. So just a case of being consistent going forward and the improvements will continue to happen.