Which part of marathon training do you currently understand the least? 1️⃣ Choosing the right training plan 2️⃣ Knowing what pace to run at 3️⃣ Building the long run 4️⃣ Fuelling properly 5️⃣ Strength training 6️⃣ Moving sessions when life gets in the way 7️⃣ Returning after illness, injury or a missed week 8️⃣ Tapering and preparing for race day There’s plenty of information available about marathon training. The difficult part is often knowing what applies to you, what matters most and how all the pieces fit together. Comment with the number, or tell me what else you’re struggling to understand. I’ll use the answers to shape the coaching content I share in here over the next few weeks. 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️

Do you: A) Pick up exactly where you stopped? B) Jump ahead to the current week? C) Try to squeeze the missed sessions in? D) Ease back in and adjust the plan? The answer is usually D. You haven’t ruined your marathon preparation, but you also shouldn’t pretend the break didn’t happen. Once you’re ready to run again: ✅ Start with an easier week ✅ Re-establish consistency before intensity ✅ Don’t try to “catch up” missed mileage ✅ Adjust your next few weeks around your current fitness ✅ Look at the bigger picture before changing everything Ten missed days rarely destroy a marathon build. Trying to recover those ten days in one week might. This is where following a plan blindly can cause problems. A plan gives you the sessions, but it can’t automatically tell you how to respond when illness, work, family, or a niggle gets in the way. That’s one of the reasons I created The Marathon Toolkit—to give runners the plans, masterclasses and resources needed to understand their training, rather than simply ticking off sessions. What would you have chosen: A, B, C or D? 👇

Before planning another week, take five minutes to look honestly at the one you’ve just completed. Answer these three questions: 1. What went well? (What should you continue doing next week?) 2. What didn’t go to plan? (Was it a one-off, or is something in your training genuinely not working?) 3. What is one adjustment you’ll make? (Keep it specific and realistic) You don’t need to overhaul everything because you missed a run or had a difficult session. Most progress comes from making small course corrections before small problems become big ones. Share your answers below, or simply tell us the one thing you’re going to do differently next week. 👇