Hi Phil, to view more details of a session, just click the title or the green plus sign. If you ever need to move things around you can click the “Schedule Changes Needed” button and let me know about your availability that week. And then after you’ve completed a day or later in the week leave the feedback. I generally reply the following morning and that’s when you’ll see my comments on the dashboard. Your training paces are a rough guide. For easy runs I would suggest focusing more on RPE or HR than pace. Conditions or the route will effect your pace on any given day, so we don’t want to work too hard on the easy runs. The S&C can be tweaked to suit you, but those sessions are decent workouts and cover all basis. If you wanted to include some upper body stuff as well we can, but it’s not particularly beneficial for us as runners. Welcome to the Team.

130 Points Target
134 Points Achieved

MONDAY

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10pts | Gym Legs/Core L1

10 POINTS

A good all round session to work the legs and core. You should have built up to this fairly gradually, so don’t dive in head first as you want to take your time building your strength. Be sensible with the weights to begin with.

If short on time combine 2 exercises together (superset) them to save on the recoveries. Ideally one leg exercises and one core exercise where possible. Eg squats and planks.

12.5 Points
12m elliptical w/u. Completed as required EXCEPT FOR side plank (unable to do this due to shoulder injury – give me 2-3 mths if that is ok) Ab crunch – 3 x 20 (slow cycle crunch on back – is that what you meant?) Walking lunge 3 x 15 (L+R=1) Bent knee 3 x 18 Training readiness below 41 per Garmin (recov after run yesterday) – Phil’s assessment is c50% Feel good and positive. Did some light hip mobility last night whilst watching TV
Hi Phil, well done. Bonus pts for the elliptical. We can leave the side planks out for now, so just ignore them. Most of these sessions are pre loaded, and I like to keep S&C simple and that seems to deliver the best results. If in the gym there might be an ab crunch machine, but sit ups or bicycle crunches are equally as effective. I tend to mix up my routine slightly from time to time. The main thing is getting the key exercises done and having the routine and accountability.

TUESDAY

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21pts | 30 Mins Tempo (M)

21 POINTS

Should feel relatively comfortable this, but always good to get some extra miles in at goal pace.

21 Points
Completed as planned w/u @ 9:51/m MP @ 8:59/m c/d @ 9:50 elliptical 10m to warm up (helps as i can then do active stretching in my gym) 139 BPM (I have a head cold so felt higher RPE than normal) 175 cadence, so ~180 on the MP section as this is what I can usually run to Recovery hours at start of day was 24h and now 47h – partly the legacy from Sunday and partly because of the head cold I suspect. Good sleep scores this week tho
That’s a great HR for marathon pace. It’s good to practice it then come race day it feels naturally and you should then notice without relying on the watch if you are going too fast or the pace drops. Well done Phil

WEDNESDAY

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10pts | Gym Legs/Core L1

10 POINTS

A good all round session to work the legs and core. You should have built up to this fairly gradually, so don’t dive in head first as you want to take your time building your strength. Be sensible with the weights to begin with.

If short on time combine 2 exercises together (superset) them to save on the recoveries. Ideally one leg exercises and one core exercise where possible. Eg squats and planks.

Morning Sir. Heavy cold yesterday and sleep affected today, so I did 50% of the workout as I felt I’d reached a tipping point of effort/return, and felt it was better to prioritise rest today. I plan to complete the other 50% either tomorrow or Friday (keep me honest) assuming I recover okay. In terms of running, I may need to swap Thursday and Friday around depending on how the cold goes, so as to do an easier 60m tomorrow and then the Half MP workout Friday. Thanks for your encouragement Simon, it’s really appreciated. Note readiness below was at the start of day
Well done Phil. Sorry to hear you have a bit of a cold. Definitely worth easing off a little. I’ve noticed that so many of the team who travel on planes come back and get ill afterwards. The percentage is crazy high, at least 60-70%. I know it’s hard for you to avoid with your job. Let me know if you want me to switch anything on the dashboard as it’s nice to keep it all neat and tidy.

thursday

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18pts | 60 Mins Run

18 POINTS

Keep that RPE down. You want to be able to run and chat, speaking of which, joining a group can add to the enjoyment here.

24 Points
Evening coach! London all day so had to do a run when I got back. Disrupted sleep again and felt under the weather so training readiness at start of day was poor again … hopefully it will pick up tomorrow after a better sleep and i start to trade through the man flu. So, completed as planned but RPE felt nearer to 5 than 3
Ok, I’ll tag some extra pts on this because of the higher RPE. It’s worth factoring that in as we progress through the training as that then suggests the body will need extra rest. So 20 mins less somewhere this week will be fine as you’d still hit your points having bagged extra here. Hope that makes sense and really hope you feel better soon.

FRIDAY

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26pts | 3 x 10 Mins (HM)

26 POINTS

10 Mins WU @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

10 Mins @ HM Pace (RPE: 6)
5 Mins @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)
x 3

10 Mins CD @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

Super simple session and a chance to get some half marathon paced miles in, but not overdo it.

26 Points
On the up today. Good session, enjoyable, and RPE much more in line with expected. Congested still but should be ready for the long run on Sunday. Session completed as planned. Extra elliptical w/u (light). 180 car, 145 BPM 3 x 10m at 8:15/m with wu at 10:00/m
Great work Phil, glad you are feeling better today and were able to hit those paces. Really hope you feel back to full health for the long run this weekend.

SATURDAY

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Rest Day

0 POINTS

“Rest days are key. Our body adapts and gets stronger when we rest & recovery. Have a good one!”

Simon, thanks for your WhatsApp note. Re next week, can I move the 4321 long run to Saturday, from Sunday? I fly to Shanghai on the Sunday and get picked up at 9.40 am so whilst I have enough time for a S&C session or a 60m run, I don’t have enough time to do a long run. I wasn’t sure which Schedule Changes Needed button to request this
Thanks Phil, to be honest it doesn’t matter too much how you contact me, this is fine, or WhatsApp. I’ve switched that over and moved 40 mins to Sunday morning, it just means you get a rest day before the big session rather than doing 3 days running on the spin.

SUNDAY

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45pts | 150 Mins Run

45 POINTS

All about time on feet. Don’t focus on pace. Instead keep that effort level down and concentrate on good running economy. Fuelling and hydration key too.

15.0 miles (2h 26) @ 9:46/m 139 BPM but prob a bit lower because of the stops. Cadence 168 which is “ok” for a slow run and it will naturally pick up when I do MP. Aerobic fitness felt fine – I think I’m fit enough to run a marathon already, but quite a few aches in the hips and feet. Three toilet stops – also a concern so I will switch gels to High 5 Aqua for next Sunday. Prep wasn’t 100%. We were away for the weekend in an uncomfortable bed and I had to rush the prep this morning. All in all I’m pleased I’ve bagged it and we move on to next week. Thanks for your encouragement this week Simon and it’s great to be working with you. Question on next week, should we tweak the 50m run on Thursday to be either 60 or 70 and/or should I be doing a mile or two at MP? I just wondered as the mileage is staying broadly the same for the week.
Great stuff Phil. Really good to bank those miles and an excellent first week banking 134 pts and hitting 103% of your target. That’s a good question about the mileage but I think that’s where my approach is slightly different. So yes mileage might be the same but you’re working harder becomes the sessions are tougher. And for me, with the evidence I’ve seen from my runners to date, it’s that extra intensity rather than extra miles that delivers the best results. So if we increased both intensity and mileage at the same time you are then at greater risk of picking up another niggle. So this week the target is 135 pts, compared to 130 last week. Plus I also generally focus on 4 weeks blocks, each one finishing with a recovery week at the end. And it’s really in those 4 weeks we increase the training, rather than making every week tougher than the last.