Let me know if you need to move anything around. Who put Xmas Day on a Thursday. I mean seriously 😂 But a good week with Sunday being the highlight. I have changed Wednesdays session as I realise it’s almost certain you won’t be on the track and might need to hit the pavements. Merry Christmas to you and your family. See you Sunday 🎄

171 Points Achieved

Not a bad week in the bank. A little rescheduling to suit accommodate Xmas and get all my runs in.

Monday was club run to the Xmas tree in the city finished with strides.

Tuesday rest day and a few drinks with work friends.

Wednesday was S&C with a little hangover.

Thursday was 3 miles at M and 3 miles at HM. I actually thought this session went well and gave me confidence for Sunday.

Friday was 50 easy and S&C.

Saturday was easy park run.

Sunday was race day. As per my race feedback. Tried something different for the race. Running to effort took the pressure off the pace but in fact made my pace worse. A little disappointed with my overall average pace. It was pathetic.

Looking back through Strava, I ran a stronger 10 mile race 3 years ago. with the last 6 miles being at 6:40 pace.

Where my pace and endurance has gone is a mystery. 14 months ago I was hoping to be on the start line of a 10 mile race thinking a sub 60 could be on the cards. However I got man flu, still ran the race and ran a 1:05.

My day will come again and I am as determined as ever but boy it feels hard at the moment.

Putting the running aside, had a great night away with my wife and like I said was great to meet you!!

FYI – I have updated my comments for next week schedule.

Great week Dan. Keep believing. When things turn and you rediscover that form it’s going to feel even sweeter because you’ve had to work for it. I still remember going to Staplehurst for a 10k 8 years ago and running 64 minutes (I was trying my hardest 😂), that was my low iron days and lack of training. But I look back at those races with great pride now because despite my struggles I kept turning up. So hopefully that will be the same for you (not running a 64 minute 10k). Was great to meet up and really hoping I can be the coach to get you to where you want to be.

MONDAY

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22 Points
TR 50%
Easy club run to the Christmas tree in the center of Peterborough, finished off with some strides.
Great turnout. Looks like you are part of a really good club. Thanks for doing the strides at the end.

TUESDAY

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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!”

TR 74%
Last minute plan to go out for a couple of Xmas beers with my work mates. Have shuffled my week around to suit.
No worries. I appreciate these things crop up at this time of year and you don’t want the training to get in the way of this. Important to have a healthy balance.

WEDNESDAY

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15pts | Dan S&C

15 POINTS
Glute Bridge 2 x 20
Hamstring Walkouts 10
Split Squat Iso Hold 10*
Leg Swings 10*
Goblet Squat 2×10 (12kg)
Kettlebell Romanian Deadlift 2 x 10 (15.5)
Single Leg Deadlift 2×8 (13 kg)
KettleBell Swings 2×10 (13 kg)
Split Squat 2×8 (13kg)
Kettlebell Bent Over Row 2×8 (13 kg)
Calf Raises 2×10 (13 kg)
Single Leg Calf Raises 2 × 15 *(10.9 kg)
Suitcase Carry 2×30s* (18 kg)
Kettlebell Side Bends 2×10* (18 kg)
Dead Bugs 2 × 10* (5kg)
Russian Twist 2x30s (12kg)
Plank 2x45s
Press Up 2×15

Give this a go and let me know how you get on. Can always tweak it going forward.

15 Points
TR 50%
SLIGHT hangover but got my S&C done in the evening whilst Sharn was putting Poppy to bed.
Well done Dan, easy to make excuses at this time of year. But great job for still getting it done.

thursday

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33pts | 5K Marathon Pace/5K HM Pace

33 POINTS

2km WU @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

5k @ Marathon Pace (RPE: 4)
5k @ Half Marathon Pace (RPE: 6)

2km CD @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

A good session to mix up paces. WU & CD very important to slowly build the pace. A flat route is ideal here if you can.

33 Points
TR 75%
Xmas day session. Got to Park Run early, did a warm up and then did the park run route before the park run. Did park run with everyone and then a cool down. 1st 5k was at M effort around 7:20 pace. 2nd 5K was at HM effort around 6:40 pace (slightly quick but HR was in a good place). Enjoyable little session. Sharn, Pops and Mavis came along too to cheer me on. MERRY XMAS COACH!!! Hope you have a great day.
I really like this session. Glad you enjoyed it too. And it’s ideal to incorporate parkrun because it can make HM pace feel quite comfortable as you found, you were able to pick up the pace a bit whilst keeping that heart rate low. Christmas Day was great hear thanks. Volunteered at parkrun, where I got to so loads of my friends and team members, including some lovely hugs (I’m not a hugger, but will if someone initiates it, just to avoid any awkward moments this Sunday 😂 when we meet), then some quality time with the family. Loved some of your pics on instagram. Great running Dan!! Roll on Sunday

FRIDAY

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15pts | Dan S&C

15 POINTS
Glute Bridge 2 x 20
Hamstring Walkouts 10
Split Squat Iso Hold 10*
Leg Swings 10*
Goblet Squat 2×10 (12kg)
Kettlebell Romanian Deadlift 2 x 10 (15.5)
Single Leg Deadlift 2×8 (13 kg)
KettleBell Swings 2×10 (13 kg)
Split Squat 2×8 (13kg)
Kettlebell Bent Over Row 2×8 (13 kg)
Calf Raises 2×10 (13 kg)
Single Leg Calf Raises 2 × 15 *(10.9 kg)
Suitcase Carry 2×30s* (18 kg)
Kettlebell Side Bends 2×10* (18 kg)
Dead Bugs 2 × 10* (5kg)
Russian Twist 2x30s (12kg)
Plank 2x45s
Press Up 2×15

Give this a go and let me know how you get on. Can always tweak it going forward.

15pts | 50 Mins Run

15 POINTS

It’s important to keep the easy runs easy. Focus on good running form and low heart rate.

31 Points
TR 68%
Wrapped up and went out for 50 very easy minutes this morning with a couple of strides to finish. Just done my S&C whilst watching the first half of the football.
Well done Dan!! Always good if you can get something decent on the telebox whilst doing the S&C

SATURDAY

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9pts | Easy parkrun

9 POINTS

“Easy means Easy! Not 5k pace, not 10k pace, not even marathon pace. Easy pace!! 😉”

Save those legs for the bigger sessions and enjoy running comfortably among the pack.

Thank you.

10 Points
TR 75%
Easy park run completed. 4x strides done afterwards making a friend accountable to her plan. (Not recorded)
Well done Dan, good to be able to help others as well.

SUNDAY

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60 Points
TR 75%
Enjoyable little race for the end of year. Nice scenic route with mount Everest at mile 6. Good warm up. Little bit off progression to get the heart rate up. 4x strides. Some dynamic drills and then a couple of strides all near the start line. On reflection the race itself went okay and to plan. I planned to start easy and then build into the race and finish strong. From my HR chart which is from my arm strap I did just that however the pace wasn’t what I expected. My pace was awful (Thats how I feel anyway). I enjoyed running to effort today as I had no pressure but seeing the end result I probably wouldn’t rush back to try it again. Cool down completed running back to HQ. Great to meet you, your partner and some of your runners.
Was really nice to meet you Dan and Sharn. Glad you enjoyed it as I appreciate it is a long way to come for a race like that. Definitely some good benefits there from a training perspective. But I think we both know you’re better than that. So I understand your disappointment at the time. Just one of those things. I always race using pace as my main metric. There will be days it feels tough from the word go, but often you’ll then find you settle into a rhythm and it becomes a bit easier. Having had our post race chat, I love your ambition, I think it’s great, but perhaps tweaking it slightly can remove some of the pressure from yourself and also that disappointment when results are not what you hoped. My goals going forward are not to be better than anyone else, but hopefully train harder than anyone else. What with my current injury that might take some time, but I want to earn more points than anyone else on the team. There’s genetically better runners than me, I can’t do anything about that, but if I combine cross training, strength and training, with running, then I think I can potentially get closer to 200pts. Then the results take care of themselves (or they should if I’m not overtraining). A long way of saying focus on the process. If you stick with my plan, and work hard in races, ultimately the responsibility falls on my shoulders. And so far, those that have stuck to my plans have had decent success in marathons, so I’m confident you will too.