It’s been six months since I stopped working full-time for a charity and started working for myself full-time. It’s gone really quickly, I can’t really believe it’s June already.

There’s no such thing as a typical week for me as it depends a lot on what clients I’ve got booked in and what writing projects I’ve got on. But I try as much as possible to keep to a routine.

Having a routine helps me fit everything in and make sure nothing gets missed – that I have time for my own training, and that my runners get theirs on time. But I also have some flexibility so that, like yesterday, when the weather forecast says it’s going to be sunny in the morning but rain in the afternoon, I head out to run in the morning.

Anyway, here’s what I did last week, in case you’re interested. Last week was more busy with work, and less busy with training. I’d just got back from holiday and had quite a bit of admin to catch up on but, as I’m still building up post-Edinburgh, less running.

Monday

An early start to the week with a 7am coaching session with runner. Early mornings are good because they mean double breakfast days – I eat at 6am and again when I get home about 8:30.

After catching up on Twitter while I have my second breakfast, it’s time to tackle the mountain of emails and general admin that stacked up while I was away. And also put on a few loads of holiday washing.

I send out training for the week to my online coaching clients. My running groups start up this week too, so I email any recent sign-ups to tell them where to meet, etc.

I have a early dinner and cycle to my running club track night to lead the session and get back about 9pm. Just time for a cup of Redbush before bed.

Tuesday

Another early start – this time for a 6:30am one-to-one coaching session with a runner I haven’t seen since her marathon in May. It’s good to catch up.

Today I start working on training plans for Autumn marathon and half marathon season. I got quite a few requests while I was away and I can generally write one or two in a day, depending on how complicated they are.

I head out for a run – 4 miles with some strides – and pick up a birthday card for my sister while I’m out.

I have a couple of hours downtime in the afternoon. At first I used to work through and feel like I had to be doing something all the time – a hangover of working a 9-5 and coaching in the evening. But now I realise that a 6:30am start and finishing at 8pm in the evening means I need to take some time off in the afternoon.

I head out for the first running group of a new session in the evening and meet some new faces as well as catching up with some familiar ones.

Wednesday

After two early starts I get up later today. And then take my tea and porridge back to bed to catch up on the news and some emails.

I go to the gym for the first time since Edinburgh and ease myself back in to some strength work – lighter load and fewer reps that I’d done before.

I work on some training plans and get jealous of the races runners are doing: Athens Marathon, Amsterdam Marathon, Budapest, Barbados half!

In the evening I have two running groups on Hampstead Heath back-to-back – an Improvers group with some returning runners and a beginners group. It’s a lovely night to be running up on the Heath. I ride home in just a t-shirt as it’s still warm and get in about 9:30.

Thursday

It’s the day of the big vote! I start my run at the Polling Station and run round the park stopping to watch all the baby ducks.

The afternoon is full of writing training plans and watching the weather. For only the second time ever I cancel a session – it’s due to thunder and rain and I can’t put my beginners through that in week one so we reschedule for Saturday morning.

Friday

I wake up to news of the vote to leave and feel confused. So I take an impromptu day off. I suspect most of the country (at least 48%) will be sat at their desks not being very productive too.

I have a sports massage in the morning and then head into town to record a podcast interview (coming soon!). I meet Phil for lunch and then go to buy a new phone – mine has been randomly dying for about 6 months and it’s not ideal when you’re meeting clients in the middle of the park at 7am.

I’m meeting my friends Cat, Laura and Josie in the evening for lunch so I save myself a trip on the tube by staying in town, wandering round some shops and then sitting in the park reading my book.

Later we drink beers and curry…

Saturday

I’m up early (for me on a Saturday anyway) to go to parkrun in Finsbury Park. I run 21:46 which I’m happy with and then have coffee with a friend. At 10:30 I meet my beginner runners for their rescheduled Thursday session.

After I head to the supermarket (exciting!) then out for another curry with friends in the evening.

Sunday

And so it’s my only full day off this week. I spend it painting the lounge and building Ikea furniture. So taking it easy right. I was supposed to go to the gym but that doesn’t happen.

In the afternoon, my online coaching clients email me about how their training has gone that week, ready for me to send out their training the next day. And so it all starts again.