I’ll start this post by sharing the achievements of the team over the weekend. At Brighton Marathon on Sunday there were PBs for Jack Matthews (3:34) and Sam Evans 3:26).

At the London Landmarks half Kirsty Marsden was ecstatic with her time of 2:08, whilst Ellie Miller concluded her latest training plan with a really solid run of 2:43.

New team member Sarah Taylor was in action in the Blyth 10K, finishing in 1:16, laying down a good marker to improve on over the course of her training plan.

Sue Mann has overcome a recent injury and was in Poland to tackle the challenging Krakow 10K, finishing in 1:11.

There were two parkrun firsts at the weekend. Paul Lambert took his first P1 at Peacehaven in 18:44 and Steve Gates, as a parkrun first timer, achieved the same feat at Bedgebury in an impressive 17:53.

Despite the success of the team, as a coach it’s hard to ignore when a runner doesn’t quite achieve their goals. After all, it’s often the very reason a runner employs a coach in the first place.

Whilst I have no control over the outcome of a race, and to some degree even as runners there are things we don’t have any influence on, such as the weather, it still raises the question, what could I have done differently? Was the plan correct? Did I set the right training load? Was there enough easy miles?

The answer may never become clear and that’s part and parcel of being a coach. With a team close to 50 runners, it’s inevitable there will be times when we don’t all hit our goals, but generally the results have been excellent.

I’m someone that wants to continue to improve, more so with my coaching now than my running, but I will continue to seek new ways to get the very best out of the team. It’s always a learning curve and sometimes a very thin line between success and failure.

I hope this doesn’t come across as being negative in anyway. That’s not my intention. But instead to highlight my burning ambition to keep getting better.

As for my own running, I’m loving it right now. My confidence is probably as high as it’s ever been after last weeks PB at parkrun. I did a progression run on Saturday which added to that morale as I overtook over 30 runners and clocked my quickest ever km at parkrun.

Sunday I took the opportunity to get some much needed head space. As a coach there are constant demands and I think it’s important to realise that at times I need to look out for my own well being and partly why I needed a solo run.

That sense of moving gracefully, at a decent click in beautiful surroundings was a wonderful experience and I would highly recommend visiting the Cuckoo Trail. Whether it be a run, hike or cycle, it’s a lovely place to be, especially if the sun is shining.

We’ve come through the winter months and now have the longer daylight hours to enjoy. Now is a time to kick on with our training and ensure we remain in peak fitness for the upcoming races.