What a fantastic achievement at Chester Marathon. I know the plan went well, but there is never any guarantees on race day. Although one thing I know with you, is you never quit, and have that ability to work harder than most when it matters.

A huge congratulations for executing the plan and race to perfection and that sub 3 can never be taken away from you now.

So what next? Well I’ve targeted Paddock Wood as the goal race. But it’s too far off to start a training block straight away. So with that in mind I think a short 5 week interim spell, where we drop the training pts a fraction, to avoid that cumulative fatigue.

To be honest you probably won’t notice much difference as it’s still the same number of runs and sessions, we just drop the intensity a little.

Then we can kick on and get to work on a 16 week plan for Paddock Wood that will hopefully set you up nicely for that sub 80 minute PB.

I’ve gone with the same shift patterns as before, please do let me know if they are the wrong way round (I hope not as that would screw everything up). But the same pattern continues, Tuesday track every fortnight, more Wednesday evenings again so you can lead, and more easy Sunday runs so you can take your group.

I’ve also tried to get some fast parkruns in there too. Along with the 2 strength sessions per week.

It might feel like you’re working a bit harder in terms of the schedule for Paddock Wood as without those big marathon sessions we need a few more runs in there to hit the training points target. But when you look at the numbers it’s very similar.

From 3.4 runs per week up to 3.57. From 136 training points per week to 140. Those slight increments should ensure progressive overload and you continue to make improvements.

Thank you as always for your continued support and the part you’ve played in helping me set up my coaching platform. You’ve played quite a role in the success of Team Orange, and I’ll be forever grateful for that.