This week will see the half way point (at the end)! I hope you’re seeing some benefits, but don’t panic if you’re not, it’s a 10 week plan and for some you might need to get all the way through to see the real benefit of the plan. Last week was a recovery week so you might be surprised at what you can do this week. A recovery week allows your body to do some essential repairs and get ready for more building. This week is a little tough so you’ll be glad of last week, but it’s essential for building some speed into distance runs.

Session 1: Progression Run

80-90 mins and finish the last 20 minutes at your target half marathon pace or faster. Over the next few weeks we’re going to start making fast finishing a habit so that come race day you can get your target time. This session is about encouraging that habit. The first section of this run should be a little slower than your target pace, but not as slow as an easy pace run.

Session 2: Speed Workout

6-8 x 1200 meters at fast pace with a 3 min recovery between reps. Don’t forget to include a warm-up and warm-down. This session is tough because we want to make the effort in the final few reps so that we get the same pace consistently in all reps. You’ll feel like quitting when you get to the last few, so decide at the start how many you want to do and dig deep. If you need to slow the recovery down to a walk then that’s ok. Apart from improving your speed these sessions are also designed to help build your mental strength – you’ll need the ability to dig deep and finish on race day.

Session 3: Easy run

40-60 mins. Nice and easy recovery run, you’ve has a tough week and you’ve got a final tough session coming up.

Session 4: Fast Finish Long Run

1 hr 45 mins to 2 hrs 15 mins. We’re aiming for 12-14 miles for this session but this is not your race. Cruise along at a nice steady pace to start then for the middle section try to hit your target pace and finish fast. So it might be 7 miles easy pace, 4 miles at goal pace then fast for the final 2 miles. Adjust it to suit yourself. You’re aiming for 2-4 miles at target pace in the middle section and 1-2 miles for a fast finish. Remember though, don’t race this run, that’ll come in another 5 weeks, this is about being able to run at target pace when you’ve got a few miles in your legs and also to be able to finish fast. Plan your run and if you’ve got a running watch programme it so you can stick to the plan.

This is a tough week so hang on in there and persevere, it’ll be worth it.