Real fitness comes from consistency, week in week out, and I think that’s where you have been so good in this block. The important thing to remember right now is we are very close to race day. 6 weeks. It’s nothing. So ticking off those sessions right now are crucial. Given we’ll also have a 2 week taper these next few weeks are the last chance to make a difference to what that clock says when you cross the finish line in SDW50 and that should be your motivation. Let’s keep working hard, you got this. Any problems with the schedule just shout.

174 Points Achieved

MONDAY

28 Points

Something just took over me this evening and I felt bloody awesome, so the pace was more like half marathon pace. Hope that’s ok! Felt comfortable and strong and I didn’t feel like I was pushing the pace…it just flowed. Maybe the sun helped!!

Sub 3 marathon pace 😜 I’d rather you be that little bit quicker than off pace. It’s so nice when a run like that flows and comes together so well. Great start to the new week. Couple of bonus pts for the slightly quicker pace.

TUESDAY

18 Points

Took it nice and easy at a recovery pace, after last night’s effort. Sometimes I find it hard to run that slowly, but not today. Felt good

Perfect. That’s smart, especially after yesterday. That’s where I find working to HR now helps, because it seems to slow me down, especially on the days I need to keep it easy (which is every run right now 😂🤦‍♂️)

WEDNESDAY

18pts | 30 Mins Stair Climber

18 POINTS

A great form of cross trainer for us runners. Take a few minutes to warm up at find your stride but then push hard. You can real bang for your buck with just 30 mins on the stair climber. I hit around level 10 when doing these but find the right speed for you that you can maintain, but you find this tough.

12pts | Joe’s S&C

12 POINTS

Crammed a bit more into 1 session here but now you’ve got a lot of good stuff in there. Hopefully it’s ok?

30 Points

And just like that we’re half way through a training week once again. The only thing missing from that was wall sits, which can be done at home later on in the week. That’s the first time that I’ve done the leg exercises with 30 mins on the stair stepper within the same gym session, and it’s fair to say that it’s a tough one, but well worth it.

I find if I do my workout first and finish with the stairs I really feel like I’ve worked hard, and come out the gym feeling stronger. So it’s a great combination. Excellent work Joe. I’ll give you the point now for the Wall Sits as I’m confident you’ll get them done later in the week

thursday

24pts | 60 Mins Run Hills

24 POINTS

60 Mins @ Easy Pace (RPE: 2-5)

60 mins on the flat is quite different to 60 mins on the hills. So it’s important to differentiate between the two and if you do a hilly easy run, to account for that extra training load and how it might impact the rest of your week.

Did not have hills in me this morning, after getting to bed later than the usual the night before. Another 60 mins in the legs. Just the SDW run to go for this week.

No worries. Always important to listen to the body and make that change if need be. Especially with plenty of hills coming up in the last run of the week. Well done Joe.

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

72pts | 240 Mins Run

72 POINTS

240 Mins @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3-8)

All about time on feet. Don’t push the pace early on and ensure you are well hydrated and have fuel to take on at regular intervals.

80 Points

Jeez, that was a tough one. Longer and hillier than I expected it to be. Think I may have made up for not doing hills on Thursday 😂. Not feeling at my best today, so that combined with the heavy cloud made it a not very enjoyable run, but we can’t expect to love them all, and I’m very grateful to have got it done

I think it terms of prep that couldn’t have been much better. In the sense you banked close to 50k, nearly 5 hours on your feet and did the first half of the route. So that will help massively on race day. By which time that part of the course will hopefully feel much better as you should be fresher. Very very impressive work Joe. 3 big weeks banked in a row which is super impressive.