I like this plan. We push to new levels in terms of training points with the target up to 135. But. And it’s a good but. We don’t need to run more. Still 4 runs per week. The extra points will come from getting in the gym and doing two quality S&C sessions per week.

The runs stay at 4 per week. There’s always that option to play football if you want. We can work that in there, replace it for an easy run perhaps, just see how that evolves.

I think if longevity is one of your main goals, getting stronger now will be key. It’s something I’m working on really hard with my own running. It will also reduce that risk of injury and if you ever wanted, give you that option to do more miles.

The plan itself looks a good one. Loads of good marathon and half marathon sessions in there, including lots of new ones I’ve created to keep things interesting.

We start with a few midweek 10k sessions in prep for your New Years Day race and then we go back to weekly speed workouts to compliment the big sessions at the weekend.

That’s supported by 2 easy runs and the gym work.

If you can’t always get in the gym we can switch that out for body workouts. The gym also gives that option for cross training if the legs ever feel battered from a hard work out. Some Mondays, you might find cross training is kinder of the legs than 40 mins of running.

I’ve put a half marathon in March but obviously we don’t have a set date yet so that can change when you decide which race you want to do.

Any questions just ask, but I like this plan. It pushes you that little bit harder but without going full scale “all in”. To give you a comparison, some of the marathon runners on the team at a similar level to you are training at around 150-160pts per week. That extra 15-20pts they are achieving through an extra run.

So it shows there’s still room to keep working harder if you wanted to, and in my eyes that means the potential to get fitter and quicker. Exciting times ahead.