Nicky Waller – 3:38:38 to 3:19:45 to 3:13:49 to 3:01:22 London marathon

London 2025 would be Nicky’s third marathon working together, and he’d run a PB in both previous marathons.

Nicky had already taken 19 minutes off from his pre-coaching PB to Manchester, then a further 6 minutes in Valencia despite a virus hampering his performance.

Although we knew the Valencia time wasn’t a fair reflection, many things would be changing for Nicky, so we set sensible targets which accounted for this. A change to working shifts, including nights, was the biggest factor to work around, ensuring good recovery and continued small changes in training.

As ever, Nicky worked diligently on his training, easing back on the rare occasion it was needed, but pushing on and looking for the opportunities to progress when it was the right time.

As race week approached and we saw temperatures in the low 20s, Nicky had the wise suggestion to shift from 3hr to 3:05 target time. We knew that starting more gradually would be the safer option, and also potentially allow Nicky to progress his pace and run a more enjoyable race after all his hard training and fundraising work.

I’ve rarely seen such a beautifully executed plan. Going out in 1:32:07 to half way, Nicky stormed through the second half in 1:29:15, finishing in a superb 3:01:22.

Having taken a sensible plan and backed it up with determination and excellent fuelling, Nicky earned himself a brilliant 12-minute PB despite the conditions.