Another great week. I’m actually proud of what you’ve all achieved this week. The Pier to Pier was an obvious highlight. What I would say to those not involved, who may feel like it’s a bit of a grind right now, the rewards are coming.

Those who took part in today’s race are proof of that. So to the rest of you, your time is coming. I know it’s cheesy, but it needs to be said.

I’m delighted at the percentage of sessions that are being completed. Apart from the odd missed alarm call (no names), I’d say the success rate is around the 95% mark which is testament to your hard work and commitment.

It’s been a bit of a slog, but the races are coming and that’s when you really get to see the benefit of these training plans.

As for the Pier to Pier. I’m delighted with the results from the 5 runners who took part. Much of the pre talk tactics was about correct pacing and respecting the distance. It was evident a lot of runners went off too quickly and paid the price. But that wasn’t the case with our small team.

Will Withecombe came home in tied 3rd place in a superb time of 1:43. That’s an average of 4:01 per km or 6:30 a mile. For 26 miles! Wow!

Darren Barzee has been working his way back from injury and proved me completely wrong by smashing his target pace to run 1:53, only a few minutes off his PB from 4 years ago. Watch out for big things from Darren this year.

I listened to the coach and adopting a sensible pacing strategy. Keeping it steady for 20k and picking up the pace with 6k to go. You don’t have to go full throttle every race. This for me was an excellent training run. I’ve got a big week ahead and I knew if I pushed too hard I wouldn’t recover in time.

I managed 2:14. I’d only ever ran this race once before and that was in 2019 in a time of 2:46. That improvement is simply down to smart training. I don’t even feel like I’ve worked super hard. I’ve just kept the consistency and the times have improved as a consequence.

Jo Lambourne completed her third Pier to Pier. The previous 2 were 2:32 and 2:30. She knocked 8 minutes off her previous best time, coming home in 2:22, a massive improvement.

Jo French who has been so consistent over the past 6 months since working to a training plan ran such a good race. She smashed her previous best time by 13 minutes, coming home in 2:37.

Thank you to Hastings Runners 💚🖤, the Marshalls, and the supporters. Well done to all you that completed a full training week. That’s just as admirable. As I’ve said already, your time will come.

This weeks runs are on the site. Please schedule them in and don’t forget to leave feedback, even if it’s only a few words. Knowing the effort level and enjoyment rating really helps me set the right sessions going forward. Look out for more improvements to the site in the next few weeks and I’m half way through my Level 3 coaching course.

One final point. A few of us have entered Paddock Wood Half Marathon and will likely be travelling up together on the day. For those training towards Hastings Half it would act as a good training run 2 weeks out. Let me know if you fancy it, I can check the plan and hopefully we can arrange to all go up together.