Week 20

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.

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.

1. 2.8 km
   Warm-up8:10–8:45 /km24:00

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

2. 1.7 km
   Threshold 1 of 37:00–7:15 /km12:00

   Comfortably hard. Two or three words at a time, not a conversation.

3. 0.4 km
   Recovery jog8:10–8:45 /km3:00

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

4. 1.7 km
   Threshold 2 of 37:00–7:15 /km12:00
5. 0.4 km
   Recovery jog8:10–8:45 /km3:00
6. 1.7 km
   Threshold 3 of 37:00–7:15 /km12:00
7. 1.9 km
   Cool-down8:10–8:45 /km16:00

   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.

1. Warm-up — 24:00, 8:10–8:45/km
2. 3 × 12:00 @ 7:00–7:15/km · 3:00 recovery, 8:10–8:45/km
3. Cool-down — 16:00, 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.

Run — 8 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.

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.

1. 18 km
   Long, easy7:55–8:25 /km2:27:00

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

2. 12 km
   Marathon pace to finish — last 12 km7:30–7:40 /km1:31:00

   Exactly Kyoto pace. It should feel almost too easy.

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.

1. Long, easy — 2:27:00, 7:55–8:25/km
2. Marathon pace to finish — last 12 km — 1:31:00, 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.