Half Marathon · 1:35:00
Sun 4 Oct · 4:30/km
weeks to go
Next checkpoint: Peak long run and goal-setting checkpoint. Hold 4:44 comfortably → race 1:35. Grind it → race 1:40. — Last 5km @ 4:44/km off 18km (13 Sept – 19 Sept) · in 2 weeks
Sun 2 Aug
Deload week — NO hard tempo. Easy 5–6km in Z2 (135–147 bpm), then 4×20s relaxed strides only if the foot is quiet. Skip the strides at the first sign of foot pain; this week is about easing back in, not testing it.
Mon 27 Jul
Easy 5km. Stay in Z2 (135–147 bpm), conversational pace. Indicative pace ~5:20–5:50/km.
Deload long run — 7km easy in Z2 (135–147 bpm), 5:30–6:00/km. Trimmed from 10km: foot still niggles ~2km, so this is the first cautious rung of the long-run ladder. Run to the FIRST real flare, then bike the rest to finish the aerobic time — no need to grind out the full 7km on the foot. Keep it genuinely easy (HR under 146). Progress distance only once the foot is quiet.
Tue 28 Jul
30–45 min cycling session. Recovery intensity — aim for Peloton HR Zone 1–2. Pick a power zone endurance or recovery ride, not low impact.
30–45 min cycling session. Moderate intensity — aim for Peloton HR Zone 2. Can push into Peloton HR Zone 3 if feeling good.
30–45 min strength session (legs/upper/core rotation).
Work-crunch calendar clarified 2026-08-10; supersedes the FORWARD RISK paragraph of note id 19, which speculated about a Sep 2026 deadline. Correct picture: - Runner works in Audit. The budget deadline suspected behind the W7 (Apr 2026) zero week recurs EARLY 2027, not Sep 2026. W28-W30 (the 16km, 18km peak and taper into the 4 Oct half) are NOT at risk from it. - Runner is in year-end crunch NOW (Aug 2026, spanning W23-W24 onward) and reports managing it. Evidence supports "managing": W23 returned 83% (5/6, both runs, 13km) DURING the crunch, including the 8km long run that broke a three-week 5km ceiling. This is the opposite outcome to W7, where a work squeeze produced 0/6. Treat concurrent work load as a live but currently well-handled factor, not a red flag. WATCH: the long-run ladder steepens through the crunch window - W25 12km, W26 14km. If a week has to shrink, protect the long run and drop cross-training; the long run is the binding constraint on the half, per note id 16. Do not let a compressed week take the ladder rung with it. BANK FOR LATER: an early-2027 budget deadline collides with the FALLBACK sub-20 5K plan (dedicated 8-week build -> Feb/Mar 2027 attempt, per note id 13). It does NOT affect the primary early-Nov 2026 attempt off the half's aerobic peak. Another reason to prioritise the November window.
Claude — Week 24 — 8/10/2026
W7 (Mon 13 - Sun 19 Apr 2026) reconstructed retrospectively on 2026-08-10. This is the only 0/6 week in the plan's first 24 weeks. No contemporaneous note exists - there is a month-long gap in coaching notes between 4 Apr (W5) and 5 May (W10). BEST GUESS, UNCONFIRMED: runner attributes it to a work budget deadline and long hours, with workouts skipped as a result. Runner could find no direct evidence; treat as probable, not established. Supporting fingerprint: all six sessions were scheduled in advance on Sun 12 Apr at 20:37, so the week was planned properly and then abandoned. The 14 Apr threshold session was actively marked "skipped"; the remaining five were left as "planned" and never touched. This is an absence pattern, not an injury pattern - contrast W12 and W14 (back flares), which both generated notes written during the week and still returned 50% compliance. Distinct from the W9 holiday (Mon 27 Apr - Sun 3 May, Jersey), which was known in advance, is recorded in note id 6, and still returned 33% including a parkrun on 2 May. FORWARD RISK: work-crunch is the one disruption class in this block with zero mitigation attached, and unlike the foot or the back it gives advance warning. If a comparable deadline falls in Sep 2026 it lands on W28-W30 - the 16km, 18km peak and taper before the 4 Oct half. Mitigation pattern that already works is the W9 one: when disruption is known in advance, pre-cut the week to 2-3 protected sessions rather than letting it go to zero.
Sub-20 5K · deferred
Targeting a sharpening block after the half (~Nov) · last read 70% (medium), Week 16
Claude — Week 7 — 8/10/2026
8 Aug — 8.02km at 5:50/km, avg HR 145, RPE 5, hot, zero foot pain. Longest run since June and a 60% jump off the 5km ceiling held for three weeks. The 13 min in Z3 is heat drift, not effort drift (RPE 5 at 5:50). This completes the second consecutive clean pain-free week, so the gate set on 22 Jul is met: strides return in W24, threshold work in W25. Foot no longer the limiter — volume is.
Claude — Week 23 — 8/8/2026