PAUL Whittaker believes working with one of Britain’s great marathon runners will help him reach his potential.

The Southend AC athlete is now getting guidance from Steve Jones who has wins in the London, Chicago and New York marathons on his CV.

And if early evidence is anything to go by, the training schedules he has been setting for Whittaker are paying off.

The 25-year–old stormed to victory in the Brighton 10km on Sunday, running away from the field after a 4m 47s mile just over half way into the race to win in 30m 41s.

After a fifth-placed finish in 2012 and a third-place finish in the same race last year, Whittaker was delighted to claim the victor’s spoils.

“It’s a good race to win, so it felt pretty good,” said Whittaker, who has been working with Jones since he bumped into him at the London Marathon in April.

“I have mixed it around and had different coaches, but I think that’s what you have to do to find out what suits you best.

“I met him at the London Marathon, we had a chat and I asked him for some ideas. He gave me his card and it has gone from there.”

Jones is now based in Bolder, USA, but is in daily touch with Whittaker and the pair have set an aim of bringing down his personal bests across the board, from 5km upwards.

“The main thing he said to me at the start was that I was running too slow in training and there was too much emphasis on mileage,” said Whittaker.

“His training goes back to the days when he was running. It’s not done by the watch, it’s more on effort, trying to replicate race pace.

“Previously I did a lot of half-marathon or tempo type training but it was nothing like what you feel in a race. I’m getting that feeling three times a week in the sessions I’m doing now. I’m smashing myself into the ground but I’m doing it in a controlled way.”

Whittaker has had a busy autumn racing schedule as part of his new plan to try to race much more regularly and expects that to continue through to the spring where he hopes to attack his 10km personal best of 29m 40s in Chichester in February.

“I have realised I need to race more. I’m trying to find a race every other weekend.

“I’m going to run a few cross-countries then hopefully I should be in PB form by the time Chichester comes around.”