To be honest, up until this weekend I’ve had doubts about whether or not this running coach venture of mine was just another pipe dream. And trust me I’ve had a few down the years.

For the first time I’m starting to believe I can make this happen, and that new found confidence comes from you guys, the team! 🍊

It’s nearly Monday lunchtime and I’m still buzzing. I was quite emotional yesterday with the amazing achievements of the team!

I’ll start with Sue Mann who is one of the longest standing members and is currently on her third training plan. Sue is brilliant. Week in week out she’s rocked up to track and smashed out the session, no questions asked.

When she’s not off racing she’s been along to the Sunday long run and despite often being at the back, which is hard folks, Sue soldiers on and gets the 2 hours ticked off.

A recent bout of Covid set Sue back but yesterday she headed along the South Coast with a target time of 2 hours for the Great South Run. Sue smashed it. Knocking 10 minutes off her time to complete the race in 1 hour and 50 minutes.

Her facebook post and message to me privately filled me with joy, appreciating just how much that meant to Sue, and the pleasure it had given her. So well deserved and a proud coach moment.

Dave King was also taking part in Portsmouth and he’s another who’s overcome recent setbacks to his plan. Injuries and illness meant a sustained period on the sidelines but Dave exceeded mine and his own expectations to run 1:20 in the Great South, again 10 minutes under the target time.

Dave is training to complete 4 marathons in 7 weeks next spring and this is a real confidence boost after a tricky spell in his training. Well done Dave.

A little closer to home Paul Lambert took on the Hove 10K. Paul has only been on the team for 3 weeks and this race came at the end of 21 days of pretty demanding training. The big difference being an extra run thrown in and some much quicker speed work than before.

Paul was on top form when he joined, running a recent 10K PB of 39:00 in the Barry Richards so I knew he was performing well. But given the tough 3 weeks of training under his belt I didn’t expect him to run a 37:56 10K. Amazing.

Again, super proud of this time by Paul and incredibly excited about what lies ahead. What I love about Paul too is how much he gives back to the running community. Coaching on Mondays and Wednesdays. He’s also been a regular at the Tuesday PB Effort sessions and when he catches his breath back he’s the first to encourage the rest of the team. I’m delighted to have him on board.

Another new member Matt Button recorded his fastest ever parkrun on Saturday. Again I can’t take much credit given Matt has only been on board for a few weeks, but a couple of changes to his weekly schedule and warm up routine will certainly have helped.

Race times are the most obvious indicator of our current performance & fitness levels but we should celebrate our achievements in training as well. Alison Anderson has reached the peak of her training plan for New York Marathon.

She set off alone at 8am Sunday morning and ran for 4 hours, briefly stopping to refuel en route. 4 hours folks! I’m mean wow! Superb. It’s taper time for Alison who is now less than 3 weeks away from what is a hugely exciting trip across the Atlantic. Again, another proud Coach moment for me.

The Team is now 22 strong! You don’t need to smash out PB’s or run for 4 hours to make me proud though. Simply ticking off the sessions, being consistent on a week to week basis will leave me smiling.

If you’re reading this and have had a troublesome week, then don’t feel left out or deflated. There’s always going to be a few of the team struggling at any given time. Dave (illness/injury), Sue (covid) and Paul (foot niggle) have all had problems in recent weeks but bounced back.

With the support of myself and the others in the group your time will come and I’ll be talking about your race achievements. Trust the process and enjoy the journey.

Thanks for making your coach proud.

If you want to get involved and become part of Team Orange then get in touch. What does in entail? Well I’ll create you a training plan around your goals and then offer monthly support, which is feedback on every single run you do. You’ll also get the encouragement from other members and hopefully feel part of something special. It certainly feels that way to me right now.