Dani Gilbert – 4:16:00 to 4:02:58 Manchester marathon

Dani got in touch after several of her friends pointed her in my direction after working together. Her goal was to run the Manchester marathon with a PB under 4 hours.

Strength was an area Dani identified as a big potential help before we started. After assessing her strength and running style, we added this to Dani’s programme which helped her avoid previous persistent niggles, and run pain-free throughout her training. This was further aided by Dani’s enthusiasm to push on with it, adding more difficult variations and exercises over the months.

Through the speedwork block, Dani ran a 3-minute 10k PB on New Year’s Eve. Half way into the marathon block, Dani ran the Cambridge half marathon, finishing with a 4-minute PB, as well as unofficially improving 10 mile PB within the race.

Two weeks later, with 5 weeks to her marathon, Dani ran a brilliant race at the Wymondham 20 miler, achieving a whopping 51-minute PB.

Unfortunately the marathon was an unusually hot day, with this impacting Dani and meaning missing the sub 4 target, but still running a fantastic 12 minute PB, to finish in 4:02:58.

I loved how Dani was always looking for the next tweak to keep moving forward, and after feeling initially disappointed, bounced back with determination. Running 5 PBs in 6 months, from 10k to the marathon is a fantastic achievement to be very proud of.