Definitely ramping it up right now with 2 good midweek sessions and the long run. Anything over 140pts is working at a really decent level. Any problems let me know.

140 Points Target

136 Points Achieved

Not the best of weeks, I struggled with the extra load a bit. Mainly getting in my own head more than physically. I messed up pacing Lindsey too as I suggested 21mins when we definitely should have gone 22.
That one will sit with me for a while.
Still next week I’m going to hit the reset button and try and wipe this week out.

I’m pleased to hear you are mending well and am looking forward to having you back out with us.

I think for me what matters the most, is when we look back at the end of a plan and see how often we hit that 95% target for the week. When we do that in 10-12 weeks you won’t even think twice about this, other that it was a good strong week of training. If there is any blame on Saturday it has to fall with the runner to be honest. The communication of the target has to come from them in a one to one pacing scenario. So don’t blame yourself at all. It’s just one of those things. It could have been a lot worse, it could have been a goal race after 20 weeks of training. The fact you stepped in to help shows your character.

MONDAY

15 Points

Feeling good from XC no real tightness. Could we maybe switch up tomorrow’s session? I’m just going through the maths of doing it in lane 6 and it’s horribly complicated. I’m not sure I’ll have space to write it all on my hand. I think of I was running it on the seafront it would be ok as I could use the parkrun markers. Also I work in miles so maths gets messy in KM

That’s a great sign so soon after XC. I’ve tweaked tomorrows session. Looks a good one now and first chance to test the HM pace. At this stage of the plan don’t worry if you’re not hitting that 6:04 target that is needed for sub 80 mins. Plenty of time to work on that.

TUESDAY

28pts | 12 Mins & 2 Mins

28 POINTS

10 Mins WU @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

12 Mins @ HM Pace (RPE: 6)
2 Mins Recovery

5 x 2 Mins @ 5K Pace (RPE: 8)
60 Second Recoveries

12 Mins @ HM Pace (RPE: 6)

10 Mins CD @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

A good speed session to practice some half marathon pace!

28 Points

Mentally I wasn’t ready for this today. Poor night’s sleep and work annoyances. Still positive side the first 12min was spot on 1:30 per lap (6:05 pace). I changed the 2 mins to 400s as I wasn’t feeling it and ran them at about 1:26. The the last rep the heart rate was high and my breathing was really struggling after six laps (should have been 8). So I stopped there. Probably could have pushed the last two but I felt it was too much for me at the time. On another note, Lindsey has requested my pacing services for parkrun and obviously I would like to do this. What are your thoughts?

No worries and to be honest smart to ease back slightly. You cover the pts with the longer WU & CD so nothing lost. Sounds like you were working hard which is the most important thing. Great work Paul. Will message about parkrun.

WEDNESDAY

15 Points

Bit of an issue with the shoulder again. Owing to work again but should be ok as it’s a decent gap for my next s&c

Sorry to hear that, if need be just make a few tweaks. The Shoulder press and the tricep dips the obvious ones that will cause it problems. Leaving them out for a few weeks to allow the shoulder to heal is a decent idea if need be. Well done though Paul.

thursday

36pts | 5K On/Off

36 POINTS

2km WU @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

1km @ 10k Pace (RPE: 7)
1km @ Marathon Pace (RPE: 5)
x 5

2km CD @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

A good opportunity to run 10k with half of the session at goal pace. The other half will be around marathon pace. This will build confidence and get you used to running at your goal race pace.

36 Points

Swapped the watch to KM for this (didn’t manage to swap the mile alerts though). Just one of those sessions, pretty much all into wind and I couldn’t find the pace at all so went on effort level and that was pretty high. Normally I would have run this better but I needed to go to Halfords and get some pedals after losing one last night and riding home with one. Not the easiest of rides I have had. Still session completed. We go again Saturday

How can you ride a bike with one pedal 🤷‍♂️😂 As you say, job done, we move on and go again Saturday. Ticking over nicely and I need to create some more sessions based on miles as I know it can be a pain making the switch. Well done Paul. Hopefully see you down there Saturday.

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

12pts | 40 Mins Run

12 POINTS

The biggest mistake we can make with these recovery runs is running too fast. This will mean when our harder sessions come round we are still fatigued and not able to put enough effort in to make the necessary gains.

12 Points

A little disappointed that Lindsey struggled and we didn’t get her a pb. But 21 was pushing it and 22 would have been a better goal really. Still it was very windy out. Nice to see you and Jax out too. Hopefully the recovery is going well

To be honest. Running 22:52 in those conditions, only 15 seconds off her parkrun PB shows how close to her best is. I still think that’s some achievement and had it been calm she probably could have PB’d I reckon. Thanks for helping her out. Today was better, but still not right. Got another 3 weeks of the same and then hoping I’ll be good to go for the end of the year. Need to be better with my recover to be honest (icing and massage). But keeping super active and will hit 130 training pts this week. Thanks for asking.

SUNDAY

Works Xmas curry last night so this was always going to be a struggle. Got on ok but left it at 11 miles. Achilles was tight to start but fine after a few mins. Training readiness: I thought it was just me but Conal mentioned it earlier. Does it mean how ready you feel to train that day/session so for me today would be 20% Or is it more of how much of the session you complete. So today I was due 2hrs and only done 1hr 40min so would be 70% ish?

I can imagine there was quite a lot still swirling around in there 🍛🍻 And no worries for coming up a bit short, totally understandable. I’m just glad the weather was nice otherwise it would have been a real slog. You’ve nailed the Training Readiness. Exactly what you said. When you wake up, how ready are you to train. The plans are created on the assumption we feel the same each week, but clearly that’s not going to be the case. So if there comes a time where you’re stuck down under 50% each time you leave feedback I might ease back on the training, but you did that yourself here which is fine.