First week of the taper. Most of the hard work is done. Sam D one of my runners questioned all the marathon paced tempo runs at this stage of his plan, I think he even said they were boring. But come race day he nailed his target pace and even used the word easy. So they are worth doing. I also like to chuck in a quick parkrun at this stage of the plan because you should be running well and it can be a nice confidence boost. Just don’t push so hard you do yourself any damage. Any issues though let me know. Keep up the great work James

129 Points Achieved

MONDAY

15pts | James S&C

15 POINTS

Goblet Squat	2 x 12 (8kg)
Plank	2 x 60s
Split Squat	2 x 12 (8kg)*
Glute Bridge	2 x 10
Calf Raises	2 x 15 (8kg)*
Flutter Kicks	2 x 40s
Russian Twist	2 x 45s (5kg)
Shoulder Press	2 x 10 (8kg)
Bent Over Row	2 x 15 (8kg)
Bicep Curls	2 x 15 (8kg)
Tricep Dips Dumbbells	2 x 15 (10kg)
Dumbbell Swings	2 x 15 (10kg)
Farmers Walk	2 x 60s (12kg)
Wall Sits	2 x 60s

A decent workout covering all the fundamental movement patterns & key muscles groups. Let me know if anything feels too easy or too difficult.

15 Points

Another good strength session, felt good

Really pleasing to hear at this stage of the plan. Well done James.

TUESDAY

26 Points

Much tougher than expected today.
Was warmer than it has been recently & the sun was out, never really settled into a good rhythm.
Still workout completed & on to the next.

It’s weird, you’re not the first person to struggle with a shorter MP session, so I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s still good to practice race pace, and as you say, job done, we move onto the next.

WEDNESDAY

thursday

10pts | 30 Mins Spin

10 POINTS

A good way to smash out some cardio in just 30 mins. You should find you get a good sweat on doing this session.

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.

28 Points

30 more ms spin, was good fun & got my heart rate going well
60 mins easy felt good. Was later& slower than normal but was running with my friend who is running from Milton Keynes to Bury (150 miles) hoping to arrive on Saturday.
Ran for an hour with him handing over to the next person. Felt good & was a very easy chatty pace.

I did wonder what you were doing out at 9pm on a Thursday evening, makes sense now, that’s some effort from your friend and really hope he’s gets to the end unschathed.

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

30pts | parkrun & Strides

30 POINTS

parkrun is the best!!! Every Saturday at 9am. A great opportunity to push our effort levels and run alongside other people. Make sure you get there nice and early for your WU & Strides. I normally aim for 8:15 to give myself plenty of time.

30 Points

A small improvement so still moving the right way. 20:46 I think will be a course PB
A good first mile & finish but was a tough middle section today. Had to really dig in but was able to pick it up at the end.
Happy with the progress & will be a good starting point for what’s to come after the marathon.

We haven’t done a great deal of 5k training to be fair, so I wouldn’t expect huge gains, it’s good from a sharpness point of view to do a run like this at this stage of the plan. Wake up those fast twitch fibres so they are ready for mile 20 and beyond in a few weeks time. So really well done James. If you wanted to get under 20 for the summer, you’d do that easily with additional speed work.

SUNDAY