Firstly, congrats on the London Marathon. At your age and with the knee issue in the build up, not to mention the heat, that is a fantastic time.

I think we can build on what you’ve achieved so far and I see real potential in you. You can almost be as good as you want to be really. But it’s important to still enjoy the training.

Ultimately everything you do will continue to lay down those foundations for your future career, so keep using that as motivation.

If this plan goes well I can see you posting sub 20 for 5K and even sub 1:40 at the Hastings Half.

Now we have the lighter evenings and better weather it’s not such a grind to get out the front door. On your easy runs perhaps explore some new routes. There’s a nice path near the Black Horse Pub which takes you towards Sedlescombe Golf Course, from there you could explore the 1066 country walk, Battle Great Woods. So many good trails. Also you have Marline Woods, Crowhurst, lots of options to avoid just running along the Ridge or out towards Battle.

Perhaps get your girlfriend out on the bike when you have 60-120 mins easy! The seafront, Rye Harbour, finish with a drink and a bite to eat. I say these things, because running can take us to some of the best places in town, so make the most of it.

We’ll keep up the gym work. I’ll just post the legs sessions as I have been and make them progressively more challenging as this plan goes on.

I’ve added in some races. Hastings 5 Miler, Barry Richards (you need to be a HR to do this one) and Battle 10K. They are not essential, but will give that added interest to the plan. But let me know if you do fancy them.

In terms of the interval sessions, if you can join the group, whether it be Mondays at track, Tuesday AM or PM, that will help with motivation and I can always tweak the plan to fit those in.

Let’s do this. Would be quite nice to get you to a point where you’re quicker than me, but perhaps also your brother 🤷‍♂️ I think both are possible.