Biggest week yet with 120 points up for grabs. Keep being patient and trust the process. I would say aim for about 5:30-5:40 per km for marathon pace. A little bit faster than sub 4, but that should feel comfortable enough and then during the “off” mins, drop back to anywhere 6:00 per km + Any issues just shout.

135 Points Achieved

Another week of running >50k and second week of running four times a week – maybe it’s a sign to change the plan? Seems to be fine as long as I keep the easy runs easy. Foot is sore after long runs / tempo runs but recovering quickly. It feels like I’m walking a bit of a tightrope but managing not to fall so far! Thank you for guiding me through it! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Yeah happy to make some tweaks 135-140pts for someone of your ability training for a marathon is about right, perhaps still on the conservative side, but obviously because of the uncertainty of the foot at the start we began much lower than that. But happy to push to that level all the time you are happy with the foot. If it does start to hurt more we can reign it in again or bring back the cross training. So whilst we hit 113% and that would normally be classed as “overtraining” it’s only because the targets were soft. Another strong week though and feel like we are making some solid progress now. Well done Lucy

MONDAY

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Half – 27pts – 7k HM Tempo

27 POINTS

Pretty simple Half Marathon session. Just a chance to dial in that race pace again and for 7km it should feel comfortable. Don’t go faster because you can, that’s not the point of this session. Enjoy.

15pts | Circuits

15 POINTS

Always fun to train in a group. Ask for help if unsure on your technique on the exercises.

42 Points
lol we got there in the end. Sorry for all the changes and thanks for the tweaks. Good to do a tempo run on the road rather than the treadmill – so much harder to work to a target pace when you’re not on a dead flat course.
😂 Well done. If you’re route is undulating then change your targets. So what I do when I race and train like this is have an average target pace. Let’s say 4:30 per km for a half. If the first km is uphill and I hit 4:50 I then know I’m 20 seconds off target, so when I get a downhill, I’ll look to make up some of that lost time, rather than try and then stick to 4:30 on the downhills. And if the route is hilly, you can probably add time onto your half marathon target pace as well. You can never make up lost time uphills on the downhills. So things to consider going forward. Or alternative just focus on keeping the RPE around 6, you’ll soon know if this creeps up to 8 or 9/10 and you can ease back, especially uphill. Brilliant start to the week though with some serious points banked.

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!”

WEDNESDAY

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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.

18 Points
Treadmill. 60 mins @ 6 mins per km for the duration. IDK if my watch is buggered or if my cardiovascular fitness is getting a lot better but heart rate is slower it seems.
Well done Lucy. HR does tend to vary from one person to the next and we are putting complete faith in the device being accurate. I’ve not used an external device yet, but I know they tend to be much more accurate. But well done for getting this one complete.

thursday

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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!”

FRIDAY

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48pts | 2 x 30 Mins @ Marathon Pace

48 POINTS

30 Mins @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)
30 Mins @ Marathon Pace (RPE: 4)
30 Mins @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)
30 Mins @ Marathon Pace (RPE: 5)

Another good variation to the 2 hour easy run. Marathon pace should feel fairly comfortable but you’ll need to focus on good form to run at this speed with a low RPE.

48 Points
Never really practiced marathon pace before, this felt weird! Not helped by a pretty hilly course 🤦🏻‍♀️. Next time a similar run comes up on the plan I’ll find somewhere flatter so I can get a feel for what 5:30 / 5:40 feels like. But otherwise all good! Yay for long runs!
Yeah it’s a slightly odd one because I feel like eventually you’ve got a quick marathon in there, hence why I’m sure you’ve put 5:30/km rather than 5:41 (sub 4). So it should feel very controlled and almost helps slow down the easy pace too. I think these sessions really come into their own when your marathon target comes down a bit, but hopefully that will be the case once we tick off Brighton. Also a good way just to break up a 2 hour run. Well done Lucy.

SATURDAY

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12pts | Lucy’s S&C

12 POINTS

See how you fair with this session for now and we can always make some changes. It’s a strong all round workout that covers all fundamental movement patterns along with all the key muscle groups. If there is any area you feel is particularly weak and needs work I can add different exercises in. I like to keep the S&C simple and those that have stuck to their routines and not made continual changes have made real progress.

12 Points
16kg goblet squat and heels elevated to work quads a bit more ✅
Well done Lucy, you’re not the first to mention about raising the heels slightly for the squats. I may have to try this myself at some point.

SUNDAY

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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!”

15 Points
52 mins easy run
Fine! 😉😂 On a serious note, glad the foot is behaving itself and you can get that 4th run in. Today was the first time I went to the gym and thought “I wish I was running 😥🎻” So I do get it. Well done Lucy.