2025 Retrospective

04 Nov, 2025

I have finished my final proper race for the year (I might do a parkrun or two before the new year) and want to take some time to reflect on the year.

In 2024 I ran the Great Scottish Run 10k aiming to meet or beat my PB of 39:54 set back in 2016. I had managed to break 20 mins again in my local hilly parkrun so I had high expectations but poor race prep and not being as fit as I thought meant I failed significantly, doing something like 42:50 (with a pee break at 5k).

I was so annoyed with myself with this result that I decided to take the next year very seriously, decided I'd do the Half Marathon the following year and that I'd do BOTH 10ks sub 40mins, and even do 80mins for the whole distance.

I made a number of changes to my life:

• Bought a GPS watch to replace my Casio
• Started running 5-6 days a week instead of 3¹
• Increased weekly distance from like 25ks to 60 and up
• Bought the Pfitzinger and Daniels books

I split my year into two sections, a faster 5-10k portion in the first half, and a half marathon focused section with my max weekly distance of around 95ks.

5-10k Races

I completed the following races:

• Up and Running Pollok 10k (4th in 37:54)
• Up and Running Bellahouston 5k (1st in 17:58)
• Shettleston 10k (82nd in 37:29 - very hot day)
• Dunblane Road Race 12k (8th in 45:58)
• Mens 10k (32nd in 36:48)
• 3k On The Green (lowered time from 10:18 down to 09:59)
• Lowered my parkrun PB to 17:47 at Pollok Parkrun
• Formula Run (post half marathon 5k) setting new PB of 17:16

Great Scottish Run Half Marathon

I had initially planned to complete the Pfitzinger schedule 2 half marathon plan. I'm sure it is a good plan but I was finding that the easy running wasn't really doing anything for me then I'd be destroyed by the long LT intervals. I think partly I was running these intervals too fast, but as they were the only fast running in the plan I got myself into a strange spot where I felt fresh all week only to fail to complete my only workout. I decided to jump ship early to the Daniels Alien plan, which has a two week structure of 3 workouts:

I found this structure more manageable and I found the workouts more interesting. I missed zero sessions in the run up to the race, and was able to complete 60mins of M-pace work without feeling particularly tired. I went into the race feeling well prepared.

The race itself was very hard, I missed the target of 80mins doing 81:23 for 230th out of the non-elite race. At 15k I was close to the target, with all the hills behind me I was hoping to raise the pace to hit my target time but inevitably I started to feel really fatigued at this point and I started to slow, losing 12 seconds/km in the final 3km. I did complete my B goal of completing both 10ks in a sub 40min time.

I felt like the first half of the event I was jogging and then in the second half I was too tired to really run. In particular I felt the lack of preparation for the back half of the race. In retrospect I do not feel the training I did was quite right for the event, I did lots of hard training and did improve my fitness but the training did not build to a logical point of preparation for the event.

2026

I am constrained by work and family so I cannot massively increase my mileage or number of events for 2026 so my calendar should hopefully look pretty similar and I intend to run mostly the same races. One change I am making is moving from the Daniels/Pfitzinger style training to the Full Spectrum training approach outlined by John J Davis. I like the look of this system as I believe it will better prepare me for the specificity of the events I am working towards, while being more realistic in terms of my current fitness as many of the workout paces can be calculated from a recent 5k instead of a lifetime best like I tend to do when I use the VDOT system. These plans follow a "funnel" of workouts that gain in specificity the closer the event gets with the intention of providing endurance and speed support for the target race pace. At the very least it should be more obvious to me if I am on target to reach my goals.

I will use his 16 week 10k plan (slightly modified to avoid doubles and reduce mileage) to peak for the Shettleston 10k, and use that fitness peak to compete in the dumbarton 12k and mens 10k. I will then take a break before using a modified version of his half marathon plan to prepare for the Great Scottish Run Half Marathon.

My time goals for 2026 are in line with a VDOT score of 63 (currently 59):

• 5k: 16:20
• 10k: 33:55
• HM: sub 75

I know from this year that I'm unlikely to increase my speed significantly from the last 10k before the HM so whatever 10k pace I've achieved before the HM training will likely be the pace I can sustain for the HM after training.

One other significant change for 2026 is that I joined a running club. I need to learn how to balance the club's sessions with the training I want to do, sometimes they line up but at other times they can be in tension. The club does allow me access to a better quality track (with floodlights!) than I normally have access to which I expect to help my speed work, especially over winter.

Finally the main advantage I hope to bring to 2026 is the accumulation of more training from this year which I think on balance was very successful. My winter training mileage and higher starting fitness should allow me to build on my gains from 2025 and hopefully make 2026 a more competitive racing year.