Week ending 27 sep 2026
A down week in volume with the intensity relocated: the first continuous 5 km at 3:46.8/km, run at 182 average heart rate. Read alongside the two preceding weeks, the top end is open and the aerobic base is excellent; what is still missing is unbroken running at 3:30/km.
- runs
- 6
- distance
- 74.5 km
- time
- 6h 20m
- elevation
- 401 m
| day | session | km | time | pace | hr | load |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mon 21 sep | Weight training | 35:38 | ||||
36 minutes. No exercise detail recorded in the source. | ||||||
| tue 22 sep | 10 km continuous progression | 13.6 | 57:17 | 4:12 | 164 | 84 e |
2 km warm up, then 10 km unbroken descending 4:20 / 4:13 / 4:02 / 4:01 / 3:54 / 3:50 / 3:48 / 3:47 / 3:47 / 3:42. Heart rate 155 rising to 182.3 on km 9, max 185. Last 5 km averaged 3:46.8/km. Longest continuous fast block on record. | ||||||
| wed 23 sep | Herdsman easy plus time ladder | 21.4 | 1:41:51 | 4:45 | 157 | 137 e |
12.7 km easy at 4:41/km, then a time ladder 4-3-2-1-2-3-4 minutes off 60 s floats at 3:39 / 3:43 / 3:40 / 3:41 / 3:41 / 3:49 / 3:46 per km. Reps, not continuous. Fastest 1 km of the week at 3:38. | ||||||
| thu 24 sep | Rottnest stroller commute | 6.2 | 31:39 | 5:08 | ||
Stroller-pushed. Pace externally constrained, not a fitness reading. | ||||||
| fri 25 sep | Rottnest stroller commute | 12.1 | 1:03:17 | 5:14 | ||
Stroller-pushed again, 163 m of gain into wind. Pace externally constrained. | ||||||
| sun 27 sep | 8 km plus 4 x 2 km tempo | 21.1 | 1:30:35 | 4:17 | 167 | 137 e |
1 km warm up, 8 km continuous at 4:09/km, 2 km float, then 2 km blocks at 4:11 / 4:09.5 / 4:09 / 4:10 off floats of 200 m or less. Heart rate 166 on the 8 km block rising to 175 on the last two blocks, max 180. No pace decay across 16 km of work. | ||||||
good
- Tuesday was a genuinely continuous 10 km progression, 4:20 down to 3:42/km with no floats, closing 5 km at 3:46.8/km. That is the longest unbroken stretch of fast running anywhere in the record.
- Heart rate averaged 181.5 and 182.3 across kilometres 8 and 9 of that progression, max 185, on flat ground. Sustained as a two-kilometre average rather than touched as a peak, it is the most convincing top-end reading yet, and it sits 5 bpm above the average held for the whole HBF half.
- Sunday held 8 km continuous at 4:09/km then four more 2 km blocks at 4:09 to 4:11 off floats of 200 m or less, heart rate drifting 166 to 175 with no pace decay across 16 km of work.
- Both dormant sites stayed silent through three hard sessions in six days, including an interval ladder the day after a progression run — and through the 101.5 km week before it.
note
- Nothing this week went under 3:42/km; fastest single kilometre was 3:38 inside Wednesday's ladder. That is slower than the two preceding weeks, which carried 1 km repeats at 3:26 to 3:30 and 400s at 3:27. This was a down week, not a plateau.
- Sunday's session sits in the pacing stream rather than the 10 km stream. With a 3-hour marathon pacing commitment on 11 October, work at 4:09 to 4:16 per km is directly specific to that job; the midweek progression and ladder are the 10 km work. Both streams are running in parallel.
- 182 bpm at 3:47/km is a two-sided reading. It proves the ceiling is liftable, and it also means the current cost of 3:47 is near maximal for a tired, warm, unrested effort.
- Volume across the four weeks post-marathon: 43.7, 84.5, 101.5, 74.5 km. A steep ramp, symptom-free throughout.
- Strength continued, 36 minutes on Monday, two days clear of the week's first hard run. No exercise detail is recorded in the source.
- Thursday and Friday were stroller-pushed commutes on Rottnest. Pace there is set by the stroller and the island, not by intent, and is not a fitness reading.
watch
- Continuity remains the open thread. Across three weeks the longest unbroken block at or under 3:30/km is one kilometre; at or under 3:42/km it is 2.16 km; at or under 3:47/km it is now 5 km. The shape is filling in from the slow end.
- Heart rate is no longer the constraint. 189 appeared on 10 September in 600 m repeats, 185 twice more, and 182 as a two-kilometre average here. The question has changed from whether the top end is reachable to what pace it buys.
- Saturday was blank ahead of Sunday's session. Reason unknown; likely a rest day before a long effort.
correction
- An earlier version of this week's entry stated that Tuesday's 182 bpm was the first heart rate above 180 produced at speed rather than on a hill, and that the recent session shapes were marathon-shaped rather than 10 km-shaped. Both were wrong. The weeks ending 13 and 20 September had not been reviewed when that was written; they contain 1 km repeats at 3:26 to 3:30, 600s reaching 189 bpm, 400s at 3:27, and 8-minute blocks at 3:42. Corrected 27 September once those weeks were logged.