Week 5

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.