2025 review - Believe that the training will pay off

For a number of years now I have ran seven days a week most weeks. Very roughly following:

  • Monday = 10k easy
  • Tuesday = Effort (either intervals or tempo)
  • Wednesday = 10k easy
  • Thursday = Effort (either intervals or tempo)
  • Friday = 8k extra easy
  • Sat + Sun = either parkrun + long run OR 5k easy + race day
A typical week is 74-80km per week.

For someone who has ran competitively for less than 10 years... My theory (hope!) is that if you put consistent effort in, and run smart having recovery days, then your times slowly get better. 
(My first sub-20 parkrun was 2016, my first proper race 2018)

However, by the middle of this year I ran a couple of races well off the pace. May, June and July were not good months for running. Two examples below.

The first was Riverside parkrun - a run I have done many times before and in the 12 months prior had kept all of the splits below 3:30km to put in times in the low 17s. However, the run below, was relatively poor. In particularly km4 which at 3:49 was 20s slower than where I'd recently been over the same split.

4-5 weeks later I ran the Durham 10k - and had a stinker of a second half. km6 to km9 are relatively flat and instead of being sub 3:40/km pace I was really struggling to go sub-4:00/km. Very disappointing and deflating.


I had excuses such as not being fresh from a previous race or the temperature being hot and humid. But also in my mind was that these were poor excuses and I was worried that I'd peaked in 2024 and I'd never see another PB again.

However, by the end of September there was hope that the form was back doing Riverside parkrun in 17:06 with splits all below 3:30/km and then in October being about 10s off a PB at Jarrow 10k on a day with stiff wind from the south (35:53 off an average of 3:35/km).

My training hadn't changed throughout the months, so by believing in the training, having cooler temperatures and resting a little smarter before races I felt confident I could get another PB if the conditions were good at either Heaton 10k and/or Brampton 10miler.

...and as it turned out - I got PBs at both races.

For Heaton 10k I knew I needed 3:33/km for a PB, so didn't get distracted by other runners and just made sure I hit half way just below that pace. So 17:34 at half way was comfortably under the 17:45 I needed - and even better, I felt good. I managed to maintain the same pace for the second half of the race coming in 32s under my previous PB. The conditions were ideal (slight breeze from south cancelling out the slope) - but I felt on really good form.

The following week was Brampton 10miler. My 10mile PB was probably my softest PB, and again conditions were great. I set an ambitious target of hitting a 36:00 10k then hanging on - and I did better than just 'hanging on'. I managed to maintain the ambitious pace for the full race with 5k splits of 18:04 || 17:53 || 18:06 to get a time in the 57minutes which was a full two minute PB.

So, coming into 2026 now, I'll believe in the training again - let's see if there are any more PBs out there. :)

PS: Three final thoughts (when doing recovery day running - I do analyse things a lot in my head)
  1. I didn't do any marathons in 2025 - not having to do the really big training blocks of 110km+ per week and feel permanently knackered did help hit those 10k and 10miler PBs I am sure) - maybe five marathons is enough for me.
  2. I don't think those PBs would have came if I hadn't trained as consistently - running around 360 out of 365 days really gives consistency.
  3. ...and finally, I think I did rest better leading up to races in the second half of this year. So for a Sunday race, I'd put in a Wednesday session (say 6x1km intervals or 10km tempo effort) - then 10km easy on Thursday, 8km easy on Friday, 5km easy on Saturday - and then feel really fresh on race day.

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