Week 15

Not a race. The whole test is whether the last 10 km holds together, so the first 20 km must be genuinely easy. Full race kit, race breakfast, a gel every 40 minutes.

• Mon14 DecStrength

  Gym — legs

  Leg press, seated leg curl, seated leg extension, hip abduction, hip adduction, calf raise on the leg press and plank. About 55 minutes. No run today.

  ▸Show Gym: legs

  Gym — legs

  7 exercises · 55 min

  Monday, on its own, with no run before or after it. At Osaka your heart rate averaged 144 against a zone 2 ceiling of 146, and you still lost 32 minutes in the second half. The engine was never the problem. The legs stopped absorbing landings, and no amount of extra running fixes that. This is the session that does.

  1. 1

     Leg press

     3 × 82 min rest

     Feet hip width in the middle of the platform. Lower until your knees reach about 90°, keeping your lower back pressed into the pad — if it peels off, you have gone too deep. Three seconds down, push up through the whole foot, and stop just short of locking the knees.

     Quads and glutes under real load — the muscles that absorb every landing, and the ones that gave out after 30 km twice.

  2. 2

     Seated leg curl

     3 × 1090s rest

     Sit back against the pad and bring the lap pad down snug on top of your thighs. Set the roller just above your heels, behind the lower leg. Pull your heels down and back under the seat as far as they go, pause for one second, then let them back up over three seconds. Keep your back on the pad — if your hips slide forward, the weight is too heavy.

     Hamstrings, which pull the leg through every stride and are what cramps when the quads hand over the work late in a race.

  3. 3

     Seated leg extension

     3 × 1090s rest

     Sit back with your knees in line with the machine's pivot and the pad on the front of your ankles, just above the feet. Straighten both legs until they are level with the seat and squeeze for one second, then lower over three seconds. Hold the handles and keep your hips down — no swinging, and if you need momentum, drop the weight.

     The front of the thigh, and the tendon below the kneecap that takes a pounding on every downhill — Kyoto has them.

  4. 4

     Hip abduction

     3 × 1560s rest

     Pads on the outside of the knees. Sit tall, push the knees apart as far as they go, hold for one second, and let them come back over two. Do not let the weight stack slam between reps.

     The side of the hip — the muscle that stops your pelvis dropping on each stride, which by 30 km is what turns into the shuffle.

  5. 5

     Hip adduction

     3 × 1560s rest

     Pads on the inside of the knees, starting at a stretch that feels comfortable, not extreme. Squeeze the knees together, hold for one second, open back out over two. Sit tall throughout.

     The inner thigh, which balances the abductors and keeps the knee tracking straight when you are tired.

  6. 6

     Calf raise on the leg press

     3 × 1260s rest

     Same machine as the leg press, with a lighter weight. Put the balls of your feet on the lower edge of the platform, knees almost straight and never locked. Press up over one second, hold at the top, then lower over three until you feel the stretch below the calf. Your knees do not move — only your ankles.

     Calves and achilles — your push-off, and the first thing to cramp at 35 km.

  7. 7

     Plank

     3 × 45 seconds45s rest

     Elbows directly under your shoulders, hips level with your shoulders, ribs pulled down, glutes squeezed. The moment your hips sag or your lower back arches, the set is over.

     A trunk that does not collapse late in a race, which is when your form goes.

  • Warm up for 5–10 minutes on a bike or a brisk incline walk. Not a run — the whole point of Monday is that there is no run.
  • Weeks 3 and 4: learn the machines. Use a weight you could lift 15 times and do the listed reps. Soreness from new movements is real, and Tuesday is still a run.
  • From week 5: pick a weight where the last rep of each set is hard but clean, with about two more left in you. When all three sets feel that way, go up one step on the stack next week.
  • Three seconds on the way down, every rep. The lowering is where the strength comes from.
  • If your legs are still sore on Wednesday, you went too heavy for Wednesday's session. Drop a step, not the day.
  • Tuesday's easy run will feel heavy the day after. That is expected, and why Tuesday is easy.
• Tue15 DecEasy

  Easy run

  9 km planned· ≈ 1:14–1:19👟 1080v15

  Easy 9 km. The day after the gym, so the legs will feel heavy — hold the pace band and let them loosen.

  Target 8:10–8:45 /km in Bangkok

  ▸Watch pace target

  Kyoto W15R1

  Name this on your Watch

  Copy name

  Run — 9 km @ 8:10–8:45/km

  No reps here — set a Pace Zone alert for this band on an Outdoor Run (or a single-block Custom Workout named with this) so the Watch buzzes if you drift outside it. That is what keeps an easy day easy.

• Wed16 DecVO2

  VO2 reps

  10 km planned· ≈ 1:17–1:23👟 Rebel v5

  Easy 10 km including 5 × 3 minutes at VO2 pace, 2 minutes jog between. Hard but controlled. Keep it honest — Sunday is the gate that matters this week.

  Target 8:10–8:45 easy · 6:25–6:40 reps /km in Bangkok

  ▸Step by step

  How the session runs

  1:20:00 in total

  1. 4 km
     Warm-up8:10–8:45 /km34:00

     Easy and unhurried. Arriving at the first rep already warm is what makes the first rep honest.

  2. 0.5 km
     VO2 / 5k reps 1 of 56:25–6:40 /km3:00

     Hard but controlled. The last rep should match the first.

  3. 0.2 km
     Recovery jog8:10–8:45 /km2:00

     Keep jogging, however slowly. The recovery is easy running, not a rest.

  4. 0.5 km
     VO2 / 5k reps 2 of 56:25–6:40 /km3:00
  5. 0.2 km
     Recovery jog8:10–8:45 /km2:00
  6. 0.5 km
     VO2 / 5k reps 3 of 56:25–6:40 /km3:00
  7. 0.2 km
     Recovery jog8:10–8:45 /km2:00
  8. 0.5 km
     VO2 / 5k reps 4 of 56:25–6:40 /km3:00
  9. 0.2 km
     Recovery jog8:10–8:45 /km2:00
  10. 0.5 km
      VO2 / 5k reps 5 of 56:25–6:40 /km3:00
  11. 2.7 km
      Cool-down8:10–8:45 /km23:00

      Slow. Let the heart rate come down before you stop.

  Paces are the Bangkok-heat bands. The same efforts in Kyoto cool will come out 20 to 35 seconds per kilometre quicker on their own.

  Kyoto W15R2

  Name this Custom Workout on your Watch

  Copy name

  1. Warm-up — 34:00, 8:10–8:45/km
  2. 5 × 3:00 @ 6:25–6:40/km · 2:00 recovery, 8:10–8:45/km
  3. Cool-down — 23:00, 8:10–8:45/km

  Apple Watch has no file import for custom workouts. Build it as a Custom Workout on the Watch or Fitness app — Warm-up, then a Repeat block, then Cool-down — and paste this name in as its title.

  What these hard reps are for

  Three minutes at close to 5 km race effort — hard, but controlled rather than all-out. These do not make you a faster marathon runner directly; they raise the ceiling so that marathon pace becomes a smaller percentage of what you are capable of. They sit late in the block, when the aerobic work is already done.

  • Controlled, not maximal. Aim to run the last rep exactly as fast as the first — if rep one is your fastest, the session is already wrong.
  • Breathing is heavy and talking is out of the question, but you are not falling apart.
  • Take the full recovery jog. Cutting it short does not make the session better, it makes it a different and worse session.
  • These are the only runs in the block where stopping early is the right call if the pace collapses.
• Thu17 DecEasy

  Easy run

  7.5 km planned· ≈ 1:01–1:06👟 1080v15

  Easy 7.5 km.

  Target 8:10–8:45 /km in Bangkok

  ▸Watch pace target

  Kyoto W15R3

  Name this on your Watch

  Copy name

  Run — 7.5 km @ 8:10–8:45/km

  No reps here — set a Pace Zone alert for this band on an Outdoor Run (or a single-block Custom Workout named with this) so the Watch buzzes if you drift outside it. That is what keeps an easy day easy.

• Fri18 DecEasy

  Easy run

  7 km planned· ≈ 57–61 min👟 1080v15

  Easy 7 km. The shortest run of the week — tomorrow is rest and Sunday is the session that matters.

  Target 8:10–8:45 /km in Bangkok

  ▸Watch pace target

  Kyoto W15R4

  Name this on your Watch

  Copy name

  Run — 7 km @ 8:10–8:45/km

  No reps here — set a Pace Zone alert for this band on an Outdoor Run (or a single-block Custom Workout named with this) so the Watch buzzes if you drift outside it. That is what keeps an easy day easy.

• Sat19 DecRest

  Rest

  Full rest before the long run. Eat properly and sleep.

• Sun20 DecLong

  Long run 30 km

  30 km planned· ≈ 3:53–4:05👟 Superblast 3

  GATE: 30 km with the last 10 km at marathon pace. Full race kit, full fuelling plan.

  Target 7:55–8:25 easy · 7:30–7:40 reps /km in Bangkok

  To pass: hold 7:30–7:40/km to the end

  ▸How to pace it

  • km 1–108:10–8:20 /kmclock ~1:22

    Slower than feels right. Conversational the whole way.

  • km 11–208:00–8:10 /kmclock ~2:43

    Still easy. First gel at 40 minutes, second at 80.

  • km 21–257:35 /kmclock ~3:21

    Marathon pace begins. It should feel almost too easy at first.

  • km 26–307:30–7:35 /kmclock ~3:59

    The real test. Holding this to 30 km is the whole point of the block.

  Not a race. The whole test is whether the last 10 km holds together, so the first 20 km must be genuinely easy. Full race kit, race breakfast, a gel every 40 minutes.

  How the session runs

  3:59:10 in total

  1. 20 km
     Long, easy7:55–8:25 /km2:43:20

     Steady and boring — the adaptation up to here is the duration, not the pace.

  2. 10 km
     Marathon pace to finish — last 10 km7:30–7:40 /km1:15:50

     Exactly Kyoto pace. It should feel almost too easy. Full race kit, full fuelling plan.

  Paces are the Bangkok-heat bands. The same efforts in Kyoto cool will come out 20 to 35 seconds per kilometre quicker on their own.

  Kyoto W15R5

  Name this Custom Workout on your Watch

  Copy name

  1. Long, easy — 2:43:20, 7:55–8:25/km
  2. Marathon pace to finish — last 10 km — 1:15:50, 7:30–7:40/km

  Apple Watch has no file import for custom workouts. Build it as a Custom Workout on the Watch or Fitness app — Warm-up, then a Repeat block, then Cool-down — and paste this name in as its title.