Week ending 26 jul 2026
On track for 2:42-2:44 with 2:40 upside indicated but unconfirmed. The limiter is specificity, not fitness: zero marathon-pace exposure this week.
- runs
- 7
- distance
- 105.7 km
- time
- 8h 21m
- elevation
- 774 m
| day | session | km | time | pace | hr | load |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mon 20 jul | Jog | 8.8 | 43:42 | 4:59 | 132 | 130 |
4:59/km, flat, HR Z1 throughout | ||||||
| tue 21 jul | 200's + 1k's + 400's | 13.1 | 1:01:33 | 4:42 | 156 | 224 |
200s at 2:55-3:00/km; 1ks at 3:24 / 3:25 / 3:26 with HR 176-178; 400s at 3:25 / 3:15 / 3:15. 5.0 km of work, all reps completed. | ||||||
| wed 22 jul | Herdsman | 21.3 | 1:48:50 | 5:07 | 140 | 317 |
5:07/km, HR 140 avg. Morning half of a double. | ||||||
| wed 22 jul | 4x2k threshold | 12.3 | 52:16 | 4:16 | 159 | 221 |
3:40 / 3:33 / 3:38 / 3:37 per km, 60s recoveries, 8 km of work at 3:37/km average. HR 169 to 175 across the set, max 183. Second session of the day off 21.3 km easy. | ||||||
| fri 24 jul | Upper Zone 2 | 10.3 | 53:16 | 5:11 | 131 | 175 |
5:10/km, 156 m vert, HR 131 avg. Sat between two rest days. | ||||||
| sun 26 jul | Long run | 39.1 | 2:56:38 | 4:31 | 158 | 663 |
39.1 km in 2:56:38, 4:31/km, 356 m vert. First 16.4 km at 4:23/km for HR 159.6; final 22.7 km at 4:36/km for HR 157.4 with the bulk of the climbing. Longest run of the block, no discrete goal-pace blocks, finished clean. | ||||||
| sun 26 jul | Run home from the station | 0.8 | 4:20 | 5:14 | 161 | 12 |
829 m at 5:14/km, uphill, HR still elevated from the long run | ||||||
good
- 4x2k threshold averaged 3:37/km (3:40 / 3:33 / 3:38 / 3:37) off 60s recoveries, run as the second session of a double after 21.3 km easy that morning. HR climbed 169 to 175 and topped out at 183. Eight kilometres at 6s/km faster than goal pace, on tired legs, with heart rate still inside the calibrated marathon band.
- 39.1 km long run, the longest of the block, in 2:56:38 (4:31/km) with 356 m of climb. First 16.4 km at 4:23/km for an average HR of 159.6; final 22.7 km at 4:36/km for 157.4 with 289 m of the vert. Heart rate fell as the run went on. Essentially no aerobic decoupling over three hours.
- Interval session held its shape end to end: 4x200m at 2:55-3:00/km, 3x1k at 3:24 / 3:25 / 3:26 (HR 176-178, max 188), 3x400m at 3:25 / 3:15 / 3:15. Every rep completed, no fade across the 1k set.
note
- Distribution: roughly 51% of weekly volume easy or recovery, 37% the long run sitting in Z3, 12% at threshold or faster. Every standalone easy run landed at the recovery end (4:59, 5:07, 5:10/km) rather than in the easy band, so the aerobic base work this week was genuinely easy.
- No run this week fell in either marathon-relevant pace band. Nothing at goal pace (3:43-3:50) and nothing at steady (3:55-4:08). Quality was threshold and VO2 only; the long run was unstructured endurance. Marathon-pace-specific work was absent for the first time in the block.
- Load sequencing: the two push-off-heavy sessions landed on consecutive days. Tuesday's reps (200s, 1ks, 400s) then Wednesday's double, 21.3 km easy in the morning and the threshold set at lunch, making Wednesday a 33.5 km day. Both FHL tendinopathy and the left hamstring are provoked by the speed end, so consecutive placement concentrates the shared risk. Thursday and Saturday were full rest days.
watch
- The 2:40 marker is still not demonstrated. It requires a fast-end goal-pace effort on rested legs at HR at or below 176 with no FHL or hamstring response, and that specific data point has now been absent for two straight weeks. Wednesday's threshold is supportive but is not the same thing: faster than goal pace, intermittent, and run on fatigued legs. Aerobic proxies are strong; the specific confirmation is missing.
- Long-run specificity did not advance. Two weeks ago the long run carried 3x4k at marathon effort; this week's 39 km was continuous endurance with no discrete goal-pace blocks. Worth tracking whether goal pace returns to the long run and whether it lands later and more continuously.
- No symptoms reported from either standing niggle. Nothing was cut short: all interval reps completed, threshold 4/4, and the 39 km finished clean. Tolerance is inferred from completion rather than directly reported, so treat it as awareness-or-below rather than confirmed silent.
- Volume ran 105.7 km across 7 runs on 5 run-days, the second consecutive week below the typical 116 km / 8 runs, but concentrated into larger single days (33.5 km Wednesday, 40.0 km Sunday). Worth noting next week whether frequency rebuilds or this concentration is the shape of the peak phase.