You wouldn’t think it looking at the schedule but this is actually the first of the taper weeks. See how you feel as the week goes on. If you feel tired then there is scope to ditch 15-20pts off this plan. Don’t force it. As for Tuesday. You could convert that into miles if you prefer but I think injecting some speed into the legs, having not done it for a while is still a good move. Any problems just shout. Only a few weeks to go now though. Keep up the great work Joe.

142 Points Achieved

MONDAY

18 Points

Did Thursday’s 60 mins easy session, as per my reschedule request, as it’s far easier for me to fit it in today. Struggling physically today, after yesterday’s unpaid work session. Struggling mentally, for the same reason. I absolutely hated having to do that yesterday, while everyone else (it seemed!) was running HHM. At least I’ll be done with that in just a couple of weeks and I’ll get my Sundays back. On a positive note, as I put on Strava, I’m dead happy that my heart rate is now in the low 120’s, when I run at 9:10/20 mins a mile on the flat, which is a really good sign for Grand Union.

Great work Joe and no worries about switching it up. Sorry to hear you struggled yesterday. Totally understandable. All I would say is long term that it could be a benefit (what the f**k is he talking about you ask). Well every year you now do HHM your gratitude will be higher because of the time you missed it and you’ll appreciate it more. That was the case for me yesterday after. I’d only done HHM 3 times in the last 6 years and obviously with the recent injury my gratitude was through the roof.

TUESDAY

42pts | 3K & 800s

42 POINTS

2km WU @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)
2 Mins Recovery

3km @ HM Pace (RPE: 6)
2 Mins Recovery

3 x 800m @ 10K Pace (RPE: 7)
90s recoveries

3 x 800m @ 5K Pace (RPE: 8)
90s recoveries

3km @ HM Pace (RPE: 6)
2 Mins Recovery

2km CD @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

A good session to practice some half marathon pace. Try not to do the 800s too fast and then make sure you hit HM pace in that final 10 mins.

I’ve had a slightly sore left knee today, so I was considering not running today, but walking on it wasn’t making it any worse, so I decided to run. Didn’t quite finish the final 3km, as managed only 2km, but given that I’m not running those kind of effort sessions at the moment, I’m very pleased with that. In horrible conditions too

Decent session that and good to get some speed in those beastly quads of yours. No worries about the missing km, was pretty windy out there as I dashed from my car to the gym 😂 Keep an eye on that knee though as if need be extra rest right now is better than pushing too hard.

WEDNESDAY

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?

14pts | 30 Mins Stair Climber

14 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.

2 Points

Was busy in the evening and didn’t have time in the morning, so I did just the planks and sit ups. More to come on Thursday…

2 exercises is better than 0!

thursday

21 Points

Did the remainder of the upper body exercises and 165 floors on the magic steps

Quality. HR pretty high right there, must have been ramping up the levels. Nice. Slowly getting that S&C done, but that’s cool, better than skipping it.

FRIDAY

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.

I feel like I’m all over the place this week. I had a sore knee for a couple of days, but thankfully that’s now ok. However, I now have a cough! I’ve still got the shit hanging over my head at work and my head just feels scrambled, which I think has reflected in my training over these last few days. Originally wasn’t going to run, due to the cough, then I changed my mind, but didn’t have enough time to do 60 mins hills, so just did 45 mins on the flat. I’ll maybe make some of that up tomorrow morning. Onwards and upwards!

You’re getting stuff done which is the most important thing. 45 mins flat is so much better than nothing. If you can tick stuff on when things are against you, just imagine how easy it will be during those good weeks. Hear to chat if you need to. Stay strong, think what a good place you’re in right now compared to 18 months ago. You got this.

SATURDAY

48 Points

What a difference a day (and the sunshine!) makes. I feel so much better today. Thank you for your feedback yesterday. Really appreciate your positive words and it really helped. I need to stop being so hard on myself! I added some hills and 20 minutes on to today’s run, so as to make up for some of the lost points earlier in the week. Unfortunately, I just won’t have the time to do the leg S&C now, as I’m in London all day today and have unpaid work tomorrow. The really great news is tomorrow is my final Sunday of unpaid work. Very happy with today’s run, although I did the final 3/4 miles slightly too fast, but managed to keep the average HR just about where it should be

Sounds like a really good run and it’s important when having those bad days to know tomorrow can be totally different so really pleased you are feeling so much more positive. Great news about tomorrow as well. Get that ticked off and it frees up some more time and takes away that stress. Definitely bonus points for this one which sneaks you into 95% of the week, given the stuff you’ve been dealing with that’s quality. Week 21 complete and you’re still at 100% of your overall training. That’s superb. And just take a moment, to think “yeah you know what, I am fucking awesome and I’m proud of how hard I’ve worked during this block”. We need that self love from time to time.