Week 19

The most important session in the block. Early morning, flat, or find a local race. Even pacing wins — the first 5 km cost nothing and the last 5 km cost everything.

• Mon11 JanStrength

  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.
• Tue12 JanEasy

  Easy run

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

  Easy 7.5 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 W19R1

  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.

• Wed13 JanEasy

  Easy + strides

  9 km planned· ≈ 1:15–1:19👟 1080v15

  Easy 9 km, then 6 × 20s strides with a full walk back between each. Nothing hard — Sunday is the test that picks your race goal.

  Target 8:10–8:45 /km in Bangkok

  ▸Step by step

  How the session runs

  1:17:00 in total

  1. 7.6 km
     Easy running8:10–8:45 /km1:04:00

     The run itself. Conversational the whole way — the strides come at the end, when you are warm.

  2. 0:20
     Stride 1 of 6by feel

     Wind up over 5 seconds, hold it tall and quick for 10, ease off for 5. Not a sprint.

  3. 1:00
     Walk backby feel

     Walk, do not jog. Breathing completely back to normal before the next one.

  4. 0:20
     Stride 2 of 6by feel
  5. 1:00
     Walk backby feel
  6. 0:20
     Stride 3 of 6by feel
  7. 1:00
     Walk backby feel
  8. 0:20
     Stride 4 of 6by feel
  9. 1:00
     Walk backby feel
  10. 0:20
      Stride 5 of 6by feel
  11. 1:00
      Walk backby feel
  12. 0:20
      Stride 6 of 6by feel
  13. 1:00
      Walk backby feel
  14. 0.6 km
      Easy to finish8:10–8:45 /km5:00

      Jog home slowly. 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 W19R2

  Name this Custom Workout on your Watch

  Copy name

  1. Easy running — 1:04:00, 8:10–8:45/km
  2. 6 × 0:20 @ by feel · 1:00 recovery, by feel
  3. Easy to finish — 5:00, 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 a stride actually is

  A stride is 20 seconds of fast, relaxed running — and it is not a sprint. You wind up smoothly over about five seconds, hold something near your 5 km race speed for ten, then ease off over the last five. It is over before it gets hard, and it costs you almost nothing: after six of them your breathing should be normal within a minute. The point is not fitness. It is to remind your legs how to turn over quickly, because that is the first thing that disappears when every run is slow — and every run of yours is slow by design.

  • Wind up over the first 5 seconds. Never explode from a standing start.
  • "Tall" means running as if a string is pulling up through the top of your head: hips forward, chest open, no folding at the waist and no leaning back.
  • "Smooth" means quick light feet landing under your hips, not long reaching steps out in front. You are chasing a faster cadence, not a longer stride.
  • Shoulders, hands and jaw stay loose. If your face is straining, you are sprinting — back off.
  • Ease down over the last 5 seconds rather than slamming to a stop.
  • Then walk. A "full walk back" means actually walking, about a minute, until your breathing is completely normal again.
  • If one stride feels harder than the one before it, the walk back was too short. These should never leave you out of breath.
  • Do them on flat ground with no traffic, and never on a day your legs feel beaten up.
• Thu14 JanEasy

  Easy run

  7 km planned· ≈ 57–61 min👟 1080v15

  Easy 7 km.

  Target 8:10–8:45 /km in Bangkok

  ▸Watch pace target

  Kyoto W19R3

  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.

• Fri15 JanRest

  Rest

  Four running days this week by design. With every run at 7 km or more, a lighter week means fewer days, not shorter ones.

• Sat16 JanRest

  Rest

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

• Sun17 JanGate

  GATE: Half marathon

  21.1 km planned👟 Rebel v5

  GATE: half marathon time trial or a local race. Even pacing, no heroics in the first 5 km.

  To pass: 2:15:00 or better — average 6:24 /km or quicker for the half marathon

  ▸How to pace it

  • km 1–56:32 /kmclock 32:40

    Eight seconds off target. Discipline here buys the last 6 km.

  • km 6–156:24 /kmclock 1:36:40

    Target pace. Gel at 40 minutes and again at 80.

  • km 16–21.16:16 /kmclock 2:14:53

    If the first 15 km were honest, this is where you take time back.

  The clock starts after the warm-up, on the first timed kilometre. The most important session in the block. Early morning, flat, or find a local race. Even pacing wins — the first 5 km cost nothing and the last 5 km cost everything.