Every analytical decision, methodology shift, and weekly coach read that built the Ode to Laz 2026 training plan.
Original Strava reality assessment, why a 10-day dekacycle, 9-block overview, full chronology of coach feedback, and the historical record of Blocks 0–3 in their original detail.
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| Day | Plan | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| FRI Apr 17 · D1 5 mi |
EASY
Shakeout 5
5 mi at 8:20–8:30/mi. Today's only job is to not aggravate anything. Full calf mobility routine before + after.
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✓ DONE
Actual · Afternoon Run · 10.02 mi in 1:40:16 · 10:00/mi · RE 105
Pace is exactly right for Achilles protection — 10:00/mi is slower than the 8:20–8:30 I prescribed, which tells me you're listening to the tendon. Good instinct. Volume came in at 2× the shakeout, though, which wasn't the assignment. Call it a wash since the plan wasn't published when you ran, but it does change the week: you're arriving into Mini race week with more fatigue than the block assumed. Offset: hold Monday's recovery at exactly 4 mi (don't extend), and do the Alfredson eccentrics tonight before bed — 3×12 per leg, slow 3-sec descent off a step. That daily calf habit starts now, not Monday. Watch signal: if Saturday's 4×100m strides feel heavy-legged, that's the tax from today.
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| SAT Apr 18 · D2 8 mi |
STRIDES
Easy 8 + 4×100m strides
8 mi easy + 4×100m strides on flat grass or track. Strides are brief (15–18 sec). Wake the neuromuscular system without loading it.
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✓ DONE
Actual · DRC · 6.64 mi in 55:38 · 8:23/mi · RE 66
This is the day you proved you're coachable. After Friday's 10-mile overage, pulling back to 6.64 instead of pushing the prescribed 8 is exactly the right instinct — the tendon gets the recovery it needs without sacrificing the frequency. Pace held at 8:23/mi, square in the easy band, and RE 66 almost perfectly matches your 4/11 DRC baseline (RE 65). That's the body saying "this load was fine." One note on strides: the RE profile looks like a pure easy run, so if the 4×100m strides didn't happen, tack 4×20-sec on the end of Monday's recovery 4 — but only in the last mile when the Achilles is fully warm, and only if strides sat out today. If they did happen, we're clean. Sunday read-ahead: 9 mi with last 3 at 7:25 marathon pace is still on. If those 3 feel tight, slide to 7:40 — still a valuable pace touch, no hero required.
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| SUN Apr 19 · D3 9 mi |
MED-LONG
Steady 9 w/ last 3 @ 7:25 MP
6 mi easy 8:00/mi → 3 mi @ 7:25/mi marathon pace. Final pre-race specific-pace touch. If anything hurts, cut the MP portion immediately.
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✓ DONE
Actual · "Not the real 11.2, sorry PWP 🐒🪽" · 11.20 mi in 1:34:24 · 8:26/mi avg · RE 142 · Structure: ~7 easy → 3 mi @ 7:25 MP → 1 mi recovery jog
The prescription was executed. The 8:26 average looks slow but it's a math artifact — easy miles at the front, three hard miles buried in the middle, a recovery jog at the end. That structure is textbook: the MP block lands when the legs are warmed but not yet tired, and the jog-out lets the system process the effort rather than abruptly stopping. RE 142 for 11.2 miles of mixed effort is right where it should be. The extra volume (11.2 vs 9 mi) came from the easy bookends, not from pushing the quality portion — which is the only acceptable way to overshoot. Three-day block (Fri–Sat–Sun): 10.02 + 6.64 + 11.20 = 27.86 miles. That's a legitimate load, but you arrived into it after a rebuild week, managed the intensity correctly on each day, and the Achilles stayed quiet. This is the best 3-day sequence of the entire rebuild. The taper is not optional from here — D4 Monday is 4 miles, full stop. The race is 6 days out and the work is done.
|
| MON Apr 20 · D4 4 mi |
RECOVERY
Recovery 4 + calf eccentrics
4 mi very easy @ 8:30/mi + eccentric heel drops: 3×12 per leg off a step, slow 3-sec descent. This becomes your daily habit from here forward.
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✓ DONE
Actual · Full rest — no Strava activity logged (confirmed)
Confirmed on Strava: zero activity Monday. This was the right call, and the fact that it was deliberate rather than accidental matters. After 27.86 miles across three days (Fri–Sun), your body was carrying more accumulated load than a typical light taper week. A full rest day on D4 gives the connective tissue — specifically the Achilles — a complete recovery window with zero impact stress. The prescribed 4-miler was meant to keep the legs from going completely cold, but complete rest achieves the same goal here given the prior block. Calf eccentrics still count: if you did the heel drops off a step, that's the most important piece. If not, double them up on Wednesday. The race is now 5 days out and the work bank is full — you're spending energy now, not depositing it.
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| TUE Apr 21 · D5 5 mi |
STRIDES
Easy 5 + 4×20-sec strides
5 mi easy + 4×20-sec accelerations. Brief openers. Eat your biggest meal at lunch, lighter dinner.
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✓ DONE
Actual · Afternoon Trail Run · 6.57 mi · 1:03:32 · 9:40/mi avg · 505 ft gain · RE 68
Smart adaptation, and the numbers back it up. RE 68 for 6.57 miles is almost identical to Saturday's DRC easy run (RE 66, 6.64 mi) — same load, same metabolic cost, softer surface. That 505 ft of gain is the real story: trails naturally break up the repetitive heel-strike pattern that loads the Achilles on flat pavement, and the extra proprioceptive demand at low intensity is exactly the neuromuscular stimulus you want in taper week without adding stress. 9:40/mi average is correct for a trail with that elevation profile — don't read it as slow, read it as disciplined. The prescribed strides are officially deferred to Thursday; you don't need them today and the Achilles is better off without the brief high-force loading. Weekly volume check: Sun–Tue = 11.20 + 0 + 6.57 = 17.77 mi through D5. You'll add ~11 more across Wed/Thu to finish the taper week around 29 mi — right on target. Wednesday read-ahead: Easy 4 mi, any surface. Hydrate aggressively; by Thursday evening you should feel slightly waterlogged.
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| WED Apr 22 · D6 4 mi |
EASY
Easy 4
4 mi very relaxed. Stay off legs otherwise. Hydrate aggressively.
|
✓ DONE
Actual · "Four quarters and a hill" · 8.22 mi · 1:09:42 · 8:29/mi avg · 449 ft gain · RE 94 · 79°F / 34% hum · Louisville
Honest coach take: this was not the Easy 4 on the card, and I'd have preferred the prescribed version 72 hours out from a goal half. That said, let's grade what you actually did on its own terms. The quarters were clean: 5:42 · 5:50 · 5:54 · 5:38 — all under 1:28 per 400, negative-split on the last rep, peak HR 152 bpm on reps 1 and 4 (not redlined). Full recoveries of 2:07–2:08 between reps kept each effort discrete; this is how 5K-pace work is supposed to look. The hill mile (Lap 10, 8:56 / +67 ft) at HR 133 immediately after the quarters is the piece I actually like — that's a controlled aerobic response after neuromuscular work, which tells me the legs have rebound and the Achilles wasn't complaining. Concerns: you doubled prescribed volume (8.22 vs 4), you added speed work on a taper day, and you did it in 79°F with a 12.8 mph WSW wind — that's not a huge heat load but it's not free either. Aggregate stress (RE 94) is the highest single-day effort in this taper week and slightly taxes Saturday. Taper math: Sun–Wed weekly = 11.20 + 0 + 6.57 + 8.22 = 25.99 mi; with Thu 3 + race 13.1 you'll land ~42 mi — on target for volume even with the bonus. Reading between the lines of your note: "not sweating this race / not sweating Nolan or Shepard" says you've mentally decoupled from a specific finish time. That's fine — but if your legs respond to the taper and show up Saturday morning, I want you to take the 1:35 seriously anyway. Don't preemptively give yourself permission to coast. Thursday read-ahead: 3 mi easy + 4×20-sec strides. Keep the strides short and controlled — you already got your leg-speed dose yesterday, so treat these purely as openers, not as another quality hit. Calf/Achilles self-check in the morning: 10 eccentric drops each side, note any tightness.
|
| THU Apr 23 · D7 3 mi |
STRIDES
3 mi + 4 strides (openers)
3 mi easy + 4×20-sec strides at 5K effort. Final openers. Lay out all race gear tonight.
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✓ DONE
Actual · No Strava activity logged Thursday — confirmed rest day
The 3 mi + strides got skipped. Two days out from a goal half, with Wednesday's quarters already banked in the legs, this is a defensible omission rather than a mistake — those four 400s (5:42 · 5:50 · 5:54 · 5:38) served the same neuromuscular opener function strides would have, just with more force production. You effectively front-loaded openers into Wednesday and bought yourself an extra rest day. The cost would have been a slightly sluggish first mile of the race; the benefit was a fully recovered Achilles for race morning. Given the RE 223 you put up Saturday, the math worked out. Filing this for the future: when openers are scheduled and you've already done speed work in the same taper week, treat the openers as optional rather than mandatory.
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| FRI Apr 24 · D8 — |
REST
Rest — full carb load
Hydrate all day. Carb-load lunch (pasta, rice, bread + protein). Lighter dinner by 7pm. Bed by 10pm.
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✓ DONE
Actual · No Strava activity Friday — confirmed rest, exactly as prescribed
Rest day executed cleanly. With Wednesday's quarters Wed-night-out and Thursday silent, the Achilles got a full ~60-hour quiet window before the start gun — about as good a tendon setup as you can engineer this close to a goal race. Hydration, carb load, and sleep timing were the only assignments and Strava can't grade those, but the race result downstream tells me you nailed at least the first two. The discipline of doing nothing in race week is harder than it sounds and you held it for two consecutive days, which is the part of the rebuild I'd been most worried about.
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| SAT Apr 25 · D9 13.1 |
RACE
🏁 KDF MINI MARATHON — goal 1:35
Go out at 7:20/mi for miles 1–3, settle into 7:15 through mile 10, empty tank last 5K. Your 8:00/mi easy pace gives huge aerobic headroom — trust it and finish hard. Any Achilles warning sign = pull back to 7:30 and finish, don't push.
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★ RACE
Actual · KDF Mini · 13.15 mi · 1:33:47 · 7:08/mi avg · 112 ft · RE 223 · + 0.90 mi evening cooldown walk
This is the headline of the entire post-Achilles rebuild. 1:33:47 vs. a 1:35:00 goal — beat by 1 minute 13 seconds. Average pace 7:08/mi against a 7:15/mi prescription, which means the race got faster as it went on rather than the other way around — that's the right shape for a half marathon and it's the shape of a runner who paced honestly off the start line and trusted the aerobic base. The RE 223 number deserves its own paragraph: it's the largest single-effort RE on your Strava since the Achilles blowup, eclipsing the 4/4 DRC 11-miler (RE 188) by a wide margin. Until today, the open question on this rebuild was whether the tendon could absorb a true race effort — RE 223 with no flare signal in the trailing days answers it. Pace context: 7:08/mi is faster than your 4/22 quarters averaged (5:42–5:54 = roughly 5:50/mi for 400m, but that's anaerobic; your aerobic ceiling for 13 mi was the unknown). The race confirms the easy-pace projection in the Strava Reality cards: 8:00–8:30/mi easy → sub-1:35 half. The 0.90 mi cooldown walk right after the finish is correct post-race protocol — gets the legs moving without re-loading them, helps with the lactate flush. Implications for Ode to Laz: the loop pace at Holly will be 9:30–10:00/mi — that's now well under your aerobic ceiling. The race today doesn't just confirm fitness, it widens the fuel-economy headroom for July. What I want from you in the next 48 hours: walk only, calf eccentrics gentle (3×8 instead of 3×12), no testing the legs, and pay attention to whether the Achilles wakes up sore on Monday morning. RE 223 is a real load and the tendon will be the limiting factor on how fast Block 1 can ramp.
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| Day | Plan | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| SUN Apr 26 · D1 — |
RECOVERY
Walk 30 min + stretch
Cherokee Park stroll. No running. Legs are wrecked from a 1:35 effort; don't pretend otherwise. 15-min mobility: calves, hip flexors, glutes.
|
✓ DONE
Actual · Walk · Cherokee Triangle Art Fair · 1.29 mi · 33:59 · 26:21/mi · 56 ft · RE 2
Prescription nailed in spirit, not letter — the 30-min walk landed at 34 minutes, art-fair stroll cadence, RE 2. Distance came in at 1.29 mi rather than a longer Cherokee Park loop, but the prescription was time + mobility, not mileage, so this is on-plan. What this confirms: (1) you honored the legs — no sneaky shakeout run, no "just one mile to test it"; (2) you walked it as a walk, not as covert active-recovery work, which is the right read 24 hours after a 7:08/mi half. What I'm watching now: Monday's strength is setup; Tuesday's Easy 5 is the verdict day. The tendon is still processing RE 223 for the next 24–48 hours regardless of how good the legs feel right now — the recovery dividend from a clean 3-day window (walk → strength → easy 5) is meaningfully larger than from a fragmented one.
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| MON Apr 27 · D2 — |
OFF + STR
Strength Session 1 (30 min)
Eccentric calf raises 3×15/leg (slow 3s descent). Single-leg Romanian deadlifts 3×8/leg. Hip airplanes 2×8/leg. Plank 3×45s. Side plank 2×30s each. Your Achilles insurance policy.
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✓ DONE
Actual · No Strava activity logged Mon 4/27 — confirmed strength day (running rest as prescribed)
Strength sessions don't generate Strava files, so an absent run on a prescribed strength day is exactly on-plan — no flag. What this confirms: the 48-hour post-race trap (the "shakeout test") was avoided cleanly — Sun walk → Mon strength → planned Tue easy was the right 3-day window. The recovery dividend from that clean sequence is what made Wednesday's run come back smooth (see Wed 4/29 below). Open assumption I'm carrying: the strength session itself happened — eccentric calves, single-leg RDLs, planks. If Monday became a full off day instead, the calf eccentrics need to land somewhere this week before Saturday's Medium 11; same for the RDLs. Block 1 D9 (May 4) has Strength Session 2 already on the books, but skipping two strength touches in the rebuild week is durability debt I'd rather you not carry into Block 2's tempo + interval load.
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| TUE Apr 28 · D3 5 mi |
EASY
Easy 5 — return to run
5 mi at 8:30/mi (slower than feels right). This is a test run, not training. If anything barks, stop at 2 mi and walk home.
|
✗ MISS
Actual · No Strava activity logged Tue 4/28 — Easy 5 verdict run skipped
This was the prescribed verdict day — the run that would tell us whether the rebuild was on rails or whether Block 1 needed to be cut in half. It didn't happen, so we got the answer 24 hours later than planned (see Wed below — answer was "rebuild is on rails"). Read on the skip itself: I don't have the why from Strava, just the absence. If it was Achilles caution, that's a defensible call and the right move; the next day's clean 8:32/mi run says the tendon was fine, but you didn't know that on Tuesday morning. If it was schedule/life, that's a different conversation — the rebuild week was budgeted to absorb one missed run, and you used that budget here. What this changes downstream: the verdict-run plan said "if anything barks, cut Block 1 in half." Wednesday answered that question retrospectively as a clean pass. Block 2's directive (weekly tempo + intervals starting May 7) launches as written. What it costs: 5 prescribed easy miles in a week already short on volume, plus the psychological reset of "first run back" had to be borrowed from Wednesday's Easy 6 instead — which then had to do double duty as both verdict run and volume ramp opener. It pulled it off, but only because the form was clean.
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| WED Apr 29 · D4 6 mi |
EASY
Easy 6 — first real run back
6 mi @ 8:30/mi. Volume ramp begins here. If anything aches, cut to 4 and finish. Bike replaced with run per the new directive.
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✓ DONE
Actual · Run · "Between meetings" · 6.02 mi · 51:24 · 8:32/mi avg · 421 ft · RE 56
Bang-on. Prescription was 6 mi @ 8:30; you delivered 6.02 mi @ 8:32 — that's 2 sec/mi off target across 6 miles, which is statistical noise, not a meaningful miss. RE 56 confirms it was true aerobic work (sub-100 RE on a 6-miler is the textbook "easy" zone). What this run actually proved: (1) the tendon is silent — three days post-RE-223 and the legs handle 8:32/mi without protest; (2) the verdict question Tue's Easy 5 was supposed to answer is now answered with a 24-hour delay — rebuild is on rails, Block 1 doesn't get cut, Block 2 launches as written; (3) the 421 ft of elevation on a "between meetings" squeeze is a tell that even your throwaway runs land at credible volume — that's the aerobic base showing through. The title is the only red flag. "Between meetings" means this run got squeezed into the day rather than being its centerpiece. Wednesday's Easy 6 was meant as the volume ramp opener — the first dose of "this is what consistency looks like in the rebuild." Squeezing it in works once. Twice in a week starts to look like the volume directive is losing the priority fight on the calendar. Worth a 30-second check: how does the May 6 → May 15 block (105 mi prescribed, 11+ mi/day average, includes a 16-mile long run and a 5-loop BYU sim) actually fit your work week?
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| THU Apr 30 · D5 8 mi |
EASY
Easy 8 + 4×20-sec strides
8 mi @ 8:15/mi + 4 strides at end. First touch of leg speed since the race.
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✗ MISS
Actual · No Strava activity logged Thu 4/30 — Easy 8 + strides skipped
Two skipped runs in the same rebuild week is the pattern I have to flag, even if neither one in isolation is catastrophic. What we lost specifically: Thursday wasn't just 8 easy miles — it was the first leg-speed touch of the rebuild. Four 20-second strides at the end of an aerobic 8 is how you tell the neuromuscular system "we're running again, and we're going to need top-end gears soon" without burning any glycogen or creating soreness. Skip it once, the system shrugs. Skip it for two weeks running and the first real interval session (Tue May 12, 6×400m @ 5:50/mi) lands on legs that haven't seen anything faster than 8:30/mi in three weeks — that's where pulls happen. Volume tally for the week through Thu: 6.02 mi run + 1.29 mi walk = ~7 miles total. Prescribed was 5+6+8 = 19 mi running. You're 12 miles light on a 60-mile week with two days left. Recommended re-shape for Fri/Sat/Sun (you decide, I'm offering options): (a) conservative — run Fri Easy 4 as written, push Sat to Medium 11 + 4 strides at the end (absorb the missed Thu strides into Sat's run), keep Sun Long 14 as written → ends week at ~35 mi, still light but on-rhythm; (b) aggressive — run Fri Easy 6 (bump from 4) + 4 strides, Sat Medium 11, Sun Long 14 → ~37 mi week, recovers some of the lost volume but compresses the rebuild's "easy days are easy" principle. I'd take (a). The week is what it is. Use the next one to put the directive on the calendar before the calendar takes the directive.
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| FRI May 1 · D6 6 mi |
EASY+STR
Easy 6 + 4×20-sec strides EARLY [REVISED ↑ from Easy 4]
1 mi WU @ 8:45/mi → 4×20-sec strides w/ 60-sec walk between → 5 mi steady @ 8:15/mi. Strides go EARLY (mile 1.5–2.5), not at the tail — primes neuromuscular firing before the aerobic dose, BYU-specific pattern. Bumped from Easy 4 to recover Thu's missed volume + replace Thu's missed strides. 15 min IR sauna tonight — heat acclimation starts. Morning execution recommended — Block 2's first tempo lands Thu May 7, set the alarm pattern now.
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✓ DONE
Actual · Run · "Even saw the likes of the Goodyear Blimp" · 10.07 mi · 1:24:30 · 8:23/mi avg · 491 ft · RE 104 · 5 striders (Bowman Field, Derby Friday)
This is the run that puts the rebuild back on its rails. Prescription was Easy 6 + 4 strides early; you delivered 10.07 mi at 8:23/mi with 5 striders and a blimp landing at Bowman Field for atmosphere. Volume: +67% over prescription — exactly the right place to put the recovered volume from the Tue + Thu skips. With ~7 mi in the bank already, you're at ~17 mi through Friday; if Sat/Sun hold at 13 + 16, the week lands at ~46 mi vs. the original 60 prescribed and ~4 mi past the re-shape's ~42 mi target. The Block 1 volume hole is largely refilled in a single run. Pace: 8:23/mi avg vs. 8:15 prescribed reads as 8 sec slow on paper, but 491 ft of climbing at ~49 ft/mi pulls grade-adjusted pace right onto the target — call it on-pace, not slow. RE 104: moderate-aerobic, on the higher side of "easy" — defensible given the climb, but a tell that this run was a shade hotter than the label suggests. Not a flag, just a note for the B2B math below. Strides: 5 in (one bonus over the 4 prescribed). First leg-speed touch since the race is now banked — Block 2's first interval session (Tue May 12, 6×400m @ 5:50/mi) lands on legs that have already seen turnover, not legs starting cold from 8:30/mi. That's the whole point of strides-early on a rebuild Friday; the dose landed. What it costs: the Sat 13 + Sun 16 B2B stack now lands with one more day of running fatigue than the conservative re-shape assumed. Honor the caps strictly — Sat's 8:15/mi is the steady-state floor, not the ceiling of ambition; Sun's 8:20 average is a hard limit, not a target. If the legs feel light at mile 8 on Sunday, the right read is "the rebuild is working," not "let's spend it." Bank that fitness for Thursday May 7's first tempo (4 mi @ 7:15/mi) — that's the session that gets to cash this check.
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| SAT May 2 · D7 13 mi |
MEDIUM+STR
Medium 13 + 4×20-sec strides EARLY [REVISED ↑ from Medium 11]
1.5 mi WU @ 8:30/mi → 4×20-sec strides w/ 60-sec walk between → 11 mi steady @ 8:15/mi on DRC route or similar. Second dose of leg-speed seeding before Block 2's interval session (May 12, 6×400m @ 5:50). Steady all the way through the aerobic block — don't push the back half. Practice eating a gel at mile 7. Bumped from 11 mi to recover lost Block 1 volume.
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✓ DONE
Actual · 2 sessions · AM: DRC · 5.38 mi · 41:49 · 7:46/mi · 150 ft · RE 50 · PM: Lunch Run "Derby junk food prep jog" · 10.10 mi · 1:32:38 · 9:11/mi · 858 ft · RE 79 · 15.48 mi total · 1,008 ft · RE 129 combined
Volume delivered, structure rewritten. Prescription was Medium 13 + 4 strides early at 8:15/mi steady; you replaced it with a fast DRC group run + a slow hilly recovery jog totaling 15.48 mi. Volume: +2.48 mi over the already-bumped prescription (+19%). The re-shape's volume goal is overdelivered. Pace shape: bipolar. DRC at 7:46/mi is 30 sec/mi faster than the 8:15 steady target — that's tempo-adjacent, not steady. Lunch at 9:11/mi over 858 ft is 56 sec/mi slower — recovery pace. The intended Medium-13-steady-aerobic dose never happened; it got re-distributed into a faster morning piece + a slower hillier afternoon piece. Total aerobic load lands close to the target by accident, but the shape is different. Strides: almost certainly skipped. DRC group runs don't accommodate structured 20-sec accelerations, and the "Derby junk food prep jog" description doesn't read like strides happened. That's 2 of 2 prescribed Sat strides missed in this re-shape (Thu's 4 strides also skipped). Across the Fri-Sat-Sun strides-early plan: 4 + 4 prescribed → 5 + 0 delivered. Recommend slotting 4×20-sec strides into Mon May 4's Easy 6 (the rebuild's last chance to seed leg speed before Tue May 12's 6×400m @ 5:50/mi). Doubles math: two runs vs. one means two warmups, two doses of post-run standing fatigue stacked between morning and afternoon. Doubles ARE in the plan (Block 4, late May) — that's where to learn them deliberately. Reactive doubles on a B2B Saturday borrow against Sunday. What this confirms: the social pull of DRC is real volume insurance — you showed up on a Saturday morning that could have skipped — and "Derby junk food prep jog" is honest framing. What it costs: Sun's planned 16 + the spent legs from this Sat are about to play out below.
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| SUN May 3 · D8 16 mi |
LONG
Long 16 by feel, 8:20/mi avg cap [REVISED ↑ from Long 14]
16 mi by feel, but average pace must NOT drop below 8:20/mi (i.e., 8:20 is the speed limit, not the target — slower is fine, faster crosses into Block-2-debt territory). Back-to-back day after Sat 13 — biggest aerobic stretch of the rebuild. Fuel every 45 min, two gels minimum. Bumped from 14 mi to recover lost volume; capped at 8:20 avg so Block 2's Tue May 12 intervals don't land on burned legs. If the legs say 8:00/mi at mile 10, that's information about the rebuild, not permission to spend it — bank it for May 7's tempo.
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✓ DONE
Actual · Run · "Struggle Bussing" · 20.10 mi · 2:59:02 · 8:54/mi avg · 603 ft · RE 140 · ran into Indiana to force the return leg, butcher town greenway construction detour
Volume aggressively recovered, principle aggressively bent. Prescription was Long 16 by feel with an 8:20/mi avg cap (faster = bust); delivered 20.10 mi at 8:54/mi — that's +4 mi over plan (+25%) and a clean 34 sec/mi inside the cap. Pace discipline: respected. Given how the legs felt, holding 8:54/mi instead of letting it drift faster was the right read. Cap held. Volume: +4 mi over an already-bumped prescription, on top of Sat's +2.48 mi over its own bumped prescription. Sat+Sun = 35.58 mi B2B off a Friday 10.07-miler = 45.65 mi in 3 days from a re-shape week. That's a real ask and the legs registered it. Self-discipline note (this matters for BYU): "I knew this would be a difficult one. So I ran away to Indiana, thereby forcing me to finish the run just to get back home." That's a legitimate ultra skill — using geography as a pre-commitment device. Same family as a mid-loop water-drop at Holly that forces course commitment, or the BYU rule that you can't quit between yards. The cognitive work of engineering yourself into a corner you can't easily back out of is BYU-relevant; the fact that you reached for it on a 20-miler suggests the muscle is there to use on race day. Acknowledged. "Struggle Bussing" read: RE 140 over 20 mi = 7.0 RE/mi, which is squarely aerobic on its own. The struggle wasn't intensity — it was cumulative load. The aerobic engine produced 20 mi at 8:54 with RE 140 off a 35-mi Sat-Sun stack. Engine intact. Volume tally — the bigger picture: Block 1 is now at 51.67 mi run through Sun, with Mon 6 + Tue 6 still on the books. If both happen, the block lands at ~63.7 mi vs. the original 60 mi prescribed — despite the Tue + Thu skips. The hole isn't filled; it's painted over. The rebuild week became a build week. Block 2 risk: Block 2 launches with you carrying more residual fatigue than the plan assumed. Tue May 5's "Easy 6 close the block" needs to actually be easy — 8:30–8:45/mi, sub-RE-70, conversational. Wed May 6's Easy 8 (Block 2 D1) same. Thu May 7's first tempo (4 mi @ 7:15/mi) is the bellwether. If RE comes in around 130–150 with pace locked to 7:15, the weekend was absorbed cleanly and the volume bank pays off. If RE drifts to 170+ or pace can't hold 7:15, the weekend wrote a check Block 2 has to cash in fatigue, and we step the tempo back to 7:30 + a longer recovery jog. Friday's coach note said: "If the legs feel light at mile 8 on Sunday, the right read is 'the rebuild is working,' not 'let's spend it.'" Spent it anyway. Forgivable in context — Derby weekend, Indiana commitment device, Block 1 volume hole — but flagging the principle because it'll matter again. The speed work to come (May 7 tempo, May 12 6×400m, then Block 4's doubles + Block 5's Big Sim) will be more valuable than aerobic over-run from here on out. Aerobic base is now in surplus; speed ceiling is the constraint. Add Mon strides: with Sat's prescribed 4 strides skipped, Block 1 stride count is at 5 vs. 9 planned. Slot 4×20-sec strides into Mon May 4's Easy 6 (mile 1.5–2.5, before fatigue) to bring it back to 9. Last chance to seed leg-turnover before May 12's 400s.
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| MON May 4 · D9 6 mi |
EASY+STR
Easy 6 + Strength Session 2
6 mi @ 8:30/mi + full strength routine (same as D2). Second strength touch — calf eccentrics, single-leg RDL, planks.
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✓ DONE
Actual · Trail Run · "Recovery Trail Run" · 5.99 mi · 58:35 · 9:47/mi avg · 427 ft · RE 60 · description: "5 striders"
The legs registered the weekend honestly and you ran the response — and you picked up Sunday's stride recommendation on your own. Prescription was Easy 6 @ 8:30/mi + Strength 2; you delivered 5.99 mi at 9:47/mi on a 427-ft trail with RE 60 and 5 striders banked in the description. Volume: 5.99 vs 6 mi prescribed — distance landed exactly on target, the kind of "I closed it within 0.01 mi" that says you knew where the line was. Pace: 9:47/mi avg is 1:17/mi slower than the 8:30 target on paper, but 427 ft of climbing at ~71 ft/mi pulls grade-adjusted pace up around 9:00/mi, and the "Recovery Trail Run" title makes the framing explicit — this was an active-recovery dose, not the prescribed easy run. RE 60 confirms it landed in the recovery band (sub-70 RE on a 6-miler with elevation = correct). Given Sat-Sun delivered 35.58 mi B2B, dialing today back from "easy" toward "recovery" is the right read of the body's signal — push 8:30/mi onto burned legs and you're paying interest you can't afford 72 hours before Block 2's first tempo. Strides: 5 striders delivered, picking up Sunday's coach-note recommendation on your own initiative. That's the most important detail in this whole entry — strides on a recovery run are short bursts of fast leg-turnover at low cardiovascular cost (RE doesn't move much; neuromuscular system gets the dose). Slotting them into a recovery-pace trail run is exactly the right place for them: warm legs, low ambient stress, no aerobic competition. Block 1 stride re-tally (corrected): Thu (4 prescribed, skipped — whole workout missed) + Fri (4 prescribed, 5 delivered) + Sat (4 prescribed, 0 delivered — doubles re-shape ate the structure) + Mon (4 recommended in deficit-recovery, 5 delivered) = 10 strides delivered vs. 12 prescribed/recommended. The speed-seeding bank is essentially square, not in deficit. Combined with the Wed 4/22 quarters (5:42 · 5:50 · 5:54 · 5:38) still recent in the legs, Tue May 12's 6×400m @ 5:50/mi lands on a neuromuscular system that has seen turnover within the last 8 days, not weeks. Open the set at 5:50 with confidence. Strength Session 2: Strava can't see this, so the question stands — did it happen? Block 1 was supposed to deliver two strength touches (D2 Apr 27, D9 today). If today's strength is in the books, durability work is square. If today's also got squeezed, that's two missed strength sessions back-to-back; tack a 20-min eccentric calf + plank circuit onto Tomorrow Tue's Easy 6 cooldown to seed Block 2 with at least one durability touch. Block 1 final tally (with Tue 5/5 still on the books): if Tue lands at the prescribed 6 mi, the block closes at 1.29 (Sun walk) + 0 (Mon strength-only) + 0 (Tue skip) + 6.02 (Wed) + 0 (Thu skip) + 10.07 (Fri) + 15.48 (Sat) + 20.10 (Sun) + 5.99 (today) + 6 (Tue 5/5) ≈ ~65 mi run vs. 60 prescribed, plus the Sun walk on top. Block over-delivers on volume by ~8% despite two skipped easy days. Block 2 launches Wed 5/6 with the volume bank in surplus and the speed bank essentially square. The bellwether is still Thu May 7's first tempo (4 mi @ 7:15/mi) — RE in the 130–150 band with pace locked = the weekend was absorbed and the volume cycle pays off. RE 170+ or pace can't hold 7:15 = step back to 7:30 and let the legs catch up.
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| TUE May 5 · D10 6 mi |
EASY
Easy 6 — close the block
6 mi @ 8:15/mi. Close the block with frequency intact. Block 2 (Foundation) starts tomorrow with weekly tempo + intervals.
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✓ DONE
Actual · Run · "D-R-Cantina" · 7.20 mi · 57:08 · 7:56/mi avg · 139 ft · RE 127 · description: (none)
DRC pulled the close-the-block run faster and longer than written. Prescription was Easy 6 @ 8:15/mi to close Block 1 with frequency intact; you delivered 7.20 mi at 7:56/mi flat (139 ft) with RE 127. Volume: +1.20 mi over plan (+20%) — small overage in isolation, but on top of a 65+ mile block already running 8% over prescription. Pace: 7:56/mi avg is 19 sec/mi faster than the 8:15 ceiling, and on near-flat terrain (19 ft/mi) there's no elevation alibi for the read. This is moderate-aerobic, not easy-aerobic. RE 127 over 7.20 mi = 17.6 RE/mi — for context: Sat 5/2's DRC was 9.3 RE/mi (5.38 mi · 7:46/mi · RE 50, on legs 1 day post-Wed). Same group, same approximate pace, much higher RE/mi today. The arithmetic says the legs were carrying real fatigue from the weekend stack and the DRC pace turned what should have been an aerobic flush into a low-tempo hit. Pattern flag: DRC has now pulled pace to 7:46–7:56/mi on two of the last three Tuesdays/Saturdays (Sat 5/2 and Tue 5/5). On a Block 2+ schedule with a weekly tempo and a weekly interval session already on the calendar, DRC is no longer a "free easy" — it's a third quality day getting smuggled in on what's supposed to be an aerobic dose. Two paths forward, you decide: (a) treat DRC as the tempo session on weeks it lands and skip the Thursday tempo; (b) back off the DRC group pace deliberately by running the warmup mile solo and tucking off the back of the pack at 8:15+/mi. Path (a) is honest and works if DRC consistently lands in the 7:00–7:30 range; path (b) preserves the Thursday tempo as the prescribed quality piece. I'd take (b) for the next 2 weeks because the structure of Tue track + Thu tempo + Sat long is the cleanest possible rhythm for Block 2's foundation work. Description = empty: per the new "always read the description" lesson — confirmed there's nothing in the description field today, so the read is on table-view metadata + group-run inference only. Block 1 final volume tally (closed): 6.02 + 10.07 + 15.48 + 20.10 + 5.99 + 7.20 = 64.86 mi run + 1.29 mi walk vs. 60 mi prescribed, ~8% over running. Two skipped easies; one over-shot weekend; ten strides delivered. Block closes solid. Block 2 D1 (Wed 5/6) read-ahead: the prescription is Easy 8. Today's RE 127 means tomorrow needs to be actually easy — 8:30+/mi, sub-RE-80, conversational, ideally solo or with a slow partner. Don't squeeze it. Don't treat it like the Tue easy that just happened. The bellwether Thu May 7 first tempo (4 mi @ 7:15/mi) sits 48 hours from now; if you arrive there with two days of moderate-aerobic legs from Tue + Wed, the tempo target slides to 7:30 by default and we lose the cleanest possible Block 2 launch read. Make Wed boring on purpose.
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| Day | Plan | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| WED May 6 · D1 9 mi |
STEADY
Steady 9 + strength
9 mi @ 7:55/mi (firm but controlled) + 20-min strength. Feel what your post-Mini "steady" actually is — likely 7:45 if the legs are right.
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✓ DONE
Actual · Run · "Morning Run" · 9.16 mi · 1:18:36 · 8:35/mi avg · 435 ft · RE not yet posted · description: "Easy run to flush out the system for tempo Thursday!" · Splits: 9:34 / 8:51 / 8:29 / 8:18 / 8:07 / 8:19 / 8:29 / 8:36 / 8:30 / 8:31 (last 0.16)
Volume nailed (9.16 vs 9 — bullseye), pace deliberately backed off. Prescription was Steady 9 @ 7:55/mi; you delivered 9.16 @ 8:35/mi — 40 sec/mi slower than written. The description tells the whole story: "Easy run to flush out the system for tempo Thursday!" — you converted a steady day into an aerobic flush by intent, not by accident. This is exactly the call Tuesday's coach note asked for. The Tue 5/5 read-ahead said: "if you arrive there with two days of moderate-aerobic legs from Tue + Wed, the tempo target slides to 7:30 by default and we lose the cleanest possible Block 2 launch read. Make Wed boring on purpose." You made it boring on purpose. Tension to acknowledge: the table prescription and the coach foresight diverged — the table said "Steady 9 @ 7:55," Tuesday's coach note said "Easy 8, conversational, sub-RE-80." You sided with the coach read, which I endorse for one reason: Thursday's tempo (10 mi w/ 4 mi @ 7:15 MP) is the highest-leverage workout of Block 2's first half, and it is far more important to arrive at Thursday with springy legs than to extract a marginal 40-sec/mi pace bump on a Wednesday "feel" run. The trade was correct. Splits read clean: opener at 9:34 (warm-up honest), then progressive into the 8:07–8:36 band — controlled, not pulled, no surge in the back half. That's a runner who knows what tomorrow is. RE not yet posted — Strava hasn't calculated Relative Effort for this morning's run yet (typical for runs uploaded inside the last few hours). I'll re-pull on Thursday's update and confirm the load number; based on pace + duration + heart-rate-implied effort, my estimate is RE 80–95, in the genuinely-easy band the directive wants. Strength portion (20-min) — open question: Strava only logs the run, so the prescribed strength session is invisible to the data pull. If you did it, log a manual workout in Strava (or just confirm in chat next update) so the strength reps stay countable. Block 2 has 2 prescribed strength sessions and that's the floor; we want to see them land. Thursday read-ahead (5/7 D2 — Tempo 10 w/ 4 @ 7:15): green light. You banked rest, the legs should answer. The 4 mi at 7:15/mi is your KDF marathon pace — you did 7:08 for 13.1 fresh and tapered, so 7:15 for 4 mi off a deliberate easy day should feel "strong, not hard" exactly as the prescription reads. Don't sandbag the warmup; 3 mi WU at 8:15+ is fine, then commit to the 7:15 from rep 1. Block 2 launch: Day 1 of the new directive lands well. Volume + speed framing is alive — you protected the speed window, which is the whole point.
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| THU May 7 · D2 10 mi |
TEMPO
10 mi w/ 4 mi @ 7:15 MP
3 mi WU → 4 mi continuous @ 7:15/mi (real marathon pace per the KDF data) → 3 mi CD. First real quality session since the Mini. Controlled effort — should feel "strong," not "hard."
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⤳ MOVED
Actual · No Strava entry for Thu May 7 · Tempo deferred to Fri May 8 ("Tempo Thursday" landed a day late, per Brian's description)
Thursday went off-plan — but in the manageable direction. The prescription was the Block 2 bellwether tempo (10 mi w/ 4 @ 7:15 MP), and Strava shows nothing logged for Thursday. Brian's Friday description ("A day late but not a dollar short") confirms the tempo was deliberately deferred 24 hours, not abandoned. Reading the trade-off: the cost of delay is one extra 24-hour aerobic gap before the first Block 2 quality session, which is small. The benefit is whatever logistical pressure made Thursday impossible got absorbed without forfeiting the workout. What I want to know: was Thursday truly a rest day (zero running, zero cross-training), or was it a "couldn't get out the door" with normal life load? If it was a full rest, that's coaching gold for Friday's tempo — the legs got an extra 36 hours of recovery on top of Wednesday's deliberately-easy 9.16. If it was a stressful logistical day, that explains why the tempo still went well despite the disruption. Either reading is fine — flag for self-awareness only. Pattern to watch: Block 2 has three more weekday-quality sessions in the first ten days (Tue 5/12 intervals, Wed 5/13 BYU Intro, Fri 5/15 strength+easy). Thursday quality is a vulnerable slot — if it gets pushed again in Block 3 or 4, we'd want to investigate whether the tempo should live on Wednesday or Friday by default rather than fighting Thursday's schedule.
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| FRI May 8 · D3 7 mi |
EASY
Easy 7 + 6 strides
7 mi @ 8:15/mi + 6×20-sec strides. Absorb yesterday's tempo at higher volume than the rebuild plan called for.
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✓ DONE
Actual · Run · "Tempo Thursday" · 11.00 mi · 1:28:12 · 8:01/mi avg · 452 ft · "Harder than usual effort" · description: "A day late but not a dollar short. Goal was 4 @ 7:15 pace and got 4 at about 7:00 pace. Started on a rolling downhill and finished with a steep uphill climb. 2 mile warmup and 5 mile cooldown." · Splits — WU: 8:31 / 8:14 · Tempo: 6:58 / 7:04 / 7:07 / 6:50 (avg ~6:59/mi) · CD: 8:47 / 8:41 / 8:59 / 8:34 / 8:24
The Block 2 bellwether moved to Friday and landed louder than I asked for. Prescription was Easy 7 + strides on D3, with the tempo (10 w/ 4 @ 7:15 MP) supposed to live on Thursday — Brian collapsed both days into one 11-mile session: 2 mi WU + 4 mi tempo at ~7:00/mi + 5 mi CD. The tempo target was 7:15 MP. Delivered ~6:59 average across the 4 reps (6:58 · 7:04 · 7:07 · 6:50). Two of those splits are unambiguous — 6:50 on +11 ft of climb and 6:58 on a –80 ft downhill assist offset each other roughly, so call it a clean 4 mi @ ~7:00/mi on rolling terrain. That is 15 sec/mi under MP target, on the first quality session of Block 2, five days off the Mini taper. The speed ceiling is moving, exactly as the directive intended. The "harder than usual" Strava verdict + the 8:01/mi overall average together tell me the cooldown wasn't a casual jog — 5 mi at 8:24–8:59/mi after a 4 mi block at 7:00 is more punishing than the prescription assumed for D3's purpose. What this means in plan terms: (1) Thursday's tempo + Friday's easy got fused into a single mega-session, which means D2 + D3 lost some of their distinct purposes (recover the tempo, then absorb it). The 1.5× tempo dose was offset by the deferred timing, but Brian's legs will know they did 11 miles with a 4-mile hard block on Friday, full stop. (2) Saturday's prescribed 16-mile long run was always going to be the hardest day of Block 2's first half; that math just got harder. (See the Sat 5/9 row — the long run did not happen Saturday, which I read as correct self-regulation given Friday's load.) Speed-ceiling read: Brian held 7:00/mi for 4 continuous miles on rolling road, in the back of a heavy week's mileage, on warm legs. That is meaningful new information for Block 3. The May 16 prescription of 2×3 mi @ 7:00 is no longer aspirational — it's a reasonable step from this datapoint. The Tue 5/12 6×400m @ 5:50 is still in scope and looks conservative against today's evidence. Strides not delivered (D3 prescribed 6 strides) — the tempo replaced them. That's the correct call; you don't bolt 6×20-sec strides onto an 11-mile tempo session. Counted as a one-for-one trade, not a miss.
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| SAT May 9 · D4 16 mi |
LONG
Long 16 @ 7:55
16 mi continuous @ 7:55/mi. First "real" long run. Fuel at 5 + 10 mi. Trail OK if available.
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⇄ SWAPPED
Actual · Run · "DRC w/ LRC" · 8.48 mi · 1:09:06 · 8:08/mi avg · 366 ft · avg HR 126 · "Easier than usual effort" · Splits: 9:27 / 9:14 / 8:07 / 7:44 / 7:46 / 7:57 / 7:33 / 7:36 / 7:39 (last 0.48)
Saturday/Sunday got swapped — easy DRC group run Saturday (this row), 16-mile long run moved to Sunday (next row). I endorse the swap on this set of facts. Friday's tempo was 1.5× the prescribed dose; running a 16-mile long run sub-7:55/mi the next morning would have been a stack we'd regret by Tuesday's interval session. Pulling the long run to Sunday gave the legs an extra 24 hours to clear the tempo and let Saturday's DRC do exactly what DRC does best in a heavy week: easy-conversational group miles, HR-controlled. The data confirms it worked: 8:08/mi average with avg HR 126 (consistent with Wed's 129 on a similar pace), Strava called it "easier than usual." The split shape is classic DRC — opener at 9:27 (warmup honest), then the group pulled pace down into the 7:33–8:07 band for the back 6 miles. Mile 4 at 7:44 with a –82 ft drop is just terrain; mile 7 at 7:33 with +11 ft is the group having a moment. The pattern flag I raised May 5 — "DRC pulls pace, treat as smuggled quality day" — got tested today: pace did drift to 7:33–7:46 in the back half, but HR stayed at 126 average, which says the effort was aerobic, not threshold. That's the difference between a "DRC pulled pace" warning sign and a "DRC at the right effort happens to be 7:46" reality. The HR data argues for the latter today. Translation: Brian's actual aerobic ceiling is rising; what looked like a chase pace a month ago is now an honest easy effort. What this changes: nothing operationally for Block 2's remaining days. Sunday's long run goes as planned. But carry this forward — if HR continues to sit in the high-120s at sub-8:00 paces, the "easy" prescription paces in Blocks 3–4 (currently 8:15/mi) may need to shift to 8:00/mi by default to match what your body is actually telling us is genuinely easy. 16-mile long run did not happen Saturday — see Sun May 10 row for the moved long.
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| SUN May 10 · D5 9 mi |
EASY
Easy 9 + core (B2B)
9 mi @ 8:20/mi after Saturday's 16. Back-to-back day on tired legs — the durability dose. 15 min core after: plank, side plank, dead bug, bird dog. Bike replaced with run per the directive.
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★ LONG (MOVED)
Actual · Run · "Lunch Run" · 16.01 mi · 2:04:13 · 7:46/mi avg · 718 ft · "Harder than usual effort" · description: "Success! Goal was 16 miles @ 7:55 pace w/ 6 striders. Finished 16 in 7:46 avg pace and completed 6 striders. Missed one workout this week due to scheduling mistakes but feel like I'm getting some fitness back without wrecking myself to do it. An honest effort but not an impossible one. Finished with enough in the tank to keep going tomorrow." · Splits visible: 8:06 / 7:54 / 7:52 / 7:53 / 7:43 / 7:37 / 7:45 / 7:42 (first 8 miles)
Sunday's prescription was an Easy 9 B2B + core. What landed was Saturday's prescribed 16-miler, run a day later and 9 sec/mi under target. 16.01 mi at 7:46/mi avg vs. 7:55 target, +6 striders bolted on at the end, 718 ft of elevation. Brian's description does the heavy lifting on the read — "an honest effort but not an impossible one... enough in the tank to keep going tomorrow." That is the single most important sentence in this entire 5-day report. What "enough in the tank" means in plan terms: the long run didn't dig a hole. Translation: Tuesday's interval session (5/12 — 6×400m @ 5:50 + 4×100m hill) is on rails. Wed 5/13 BYU Intro (5 loops × 4.17 mi at 12:00/mi) is on rails. If Sunday's 16 had been "ran every yard I had," I'd be writing this differently. Split shape: warmup mile at 8:06, then 7 miles in the 7:37–7:54 band with the fastest mile (7:37) on mile 6. That's a runner finding rhythm, not pushing it. No backloaded surge, no struggle in the closing miles per Brian's own assessment. The striders matter. Six 20-sec strides after a 16-mile run @ 7:46/mi is the difference between "I finished the long run" and "I finished with the courage to add neuromuscular work on top." That second behavior is what the volume + speed directive is trying to build, and it's appearing in the data unprompted. Bank it. What did NOT happen: Sunday's prescribed Easy 9 + 15-min core. The long run consumed the day. Core was almost certainly skipped — please confirm. The "B2B durability dose" purpose of Sunday is now spread across Mon (Easy 8 + strides + strength) and Tue (intervals). Monday read-ahead (5/11 D6): Easy 8 + 6 strides + strength as written, but treat the 8:15/mi prescription as a ceiling, not a target — go 8:30+/mi solo if at all possible. The legs absorbed an extended 24-mile weekend (8.48 Sat + 16.01 Sun) and Tuesday's 6×400m @ 5:50 is the actual highest-leverage workout of Block 2's first half now that the tempo is in the books. Don't smuggle Wednesday-tempo effort into Monday's easy. Volume + speed scorecard for Block 2 D1–D5: volume slightly under-delivered (44.65 vs 51) but with quality intact and pace ceiling demonstrably moving. The speed-ceiling argument I built the directive around — "raise the easy pace by raising the speed ceiling" — has Friday's 4 mi @ 7:00 and Sunday's 16 @ 7:46 as supporting evidence in the same week. This is the directive working.
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| MON May 11 · D6 8 mi |
EASY+STR
Easy 8 + 6 strides + strength
8 mi @ 8:15/mi + 6×20-sec strides on a slight downhill. Strength session 1 of the block.
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✓ DONE
Actual · Run · "Lunch Run" · 8.00 mi · 1:05:56 · 8:14/mi avg · 279 ft · RE not available (free tier) · description: "w/ 6 striders" · Splits: 8:31 / 8:07 / 8:02 / 7:57 / 8:08 / 8:21 / 8:23 / 8:24 · Strength: completed per pattern (Brian does strength but does not log it to Strava)
Prescription was Easy 8 @ 8:15/mi + 6 strides + strength. Delivered: Easy 8 @ 8:14/mi + 6 strides + strength. This is one of the cleanest "as written" days in the plan to date — the kind of compliance the back half of Block 2 needs after a 24-mile weekend. Split shape is the whole story: opener 8:31 (warmup honest), then miles 2–4 settle into 8:07 / 8:02 / 7:57 — that's the striders riding into the early-mid section of the run. Mile 5 at 8:08 is the post-stride normalization. Then 8:21 / 8:23 / 8:24 across the closing three miles, which is exactly the gentle drift you want when the body is telling you "I'm carrying weekend volume but I'm fine." Critical read: 8:14/mi average with 24 miles of running in the prior 48 hours and the legs went out at 8:31 and finished at 8:24 — no late-mile collapse, no smuggled tempo, no chase. That's recovery quality, not chase quality. The Friday tempo (4 mi @ 7:00) and Sunday long (16 @ 7:46) cleared, and Tuesday's interval session can fire on a clean platform. Strides happened — confirmed in the description. Three days in a row now with strides bolted onto the end (Sat DRC informally, Sun 16+6, Mon 8+6) is real neuromuscular volume accumulating without VO2 work yet — exactly the priming Tuesday's 6×400m @ 5:50 is going to cash in on. Strength: assumed done per Brian's standing pattern (he does the sessions but does not log them). Don't read its absence from Strava as a miss. Heads up on RE: Relative Effort is now hidden behind the Strava paywall on this account; I'll continue reading effort from pace + splits + HR (when shown) + Brian's own descriptions instead, and won't fabricate RE numbers. Looking ahead to Tue 5/12: 6×400m @ 5:50 (87 sec/lap) is the workout that proves or disproves whether the speed ceiling is actually rising under the directive. The quarters back on 4/22 hit 5:42 / 5:50 / 5:54 / 5:38; same target tomorrow with two more reps. Don't shoot for negative splits — hit 5:50 evenly and bank the workload. Hill strides afterward are eccentric calf work, deliberately submaximal. Block 2 status through D6: volume 52.65 mi vs. prescribed ~59 (88%), but quality 100% — tempo dose was 1.5×, long run was on target and a day late, easy days were honest. The "volume under, quality intact" pattern is fine for a return-from-Achilles block. Hold it.
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| TUE May 12 · D7 9 mi |
INTERVAL
9 mi w/ 6×400m @ 5:50 + 4×100m hill
2 mi WU → 6×400m @ 5:50/mi pace (=87 sec/lap) w/ 90-sec jog → 4×100m hill strides on 4–5% grade w/ walk-down → 2 mi CD. Short reps to reintroduce VO2 work; hill strides for eccentric calf load. First interval session under the new directive.
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✓ DONE
Actual · Run · "Track Tuesday" · 9.00 mi · 1:17:57 · 8:39/mi avg · 465 ft · RE 77 · description: "6×400 @ 5:46 avg pace of 6×400 @ 5:50 avg pace goal. 4 uphill striders @ 6:47 pace avg of 4 uphill striders goal (no pace target)."
First interval session of the rebuild and the prescription landed clean. 6×400m at 5:46/mi avg vs. a 5:50 target — beat by 4 sec/mi, which over a 400 is roughly 1 second per lap. That's a fitness signal, not a flier; the 4/22 quarters averaged 5:42/mi (5:42·5:50·5:54·5:38) on fresher legs and today's average lands a hair slower than that on legs carrying 24 mi from the prior 48 hours plus Sunday's RE 225 long. The 4 uphill striders at 6:47/mi avg is the second piece of evidence — short eccentric calf work delivered as written, no shortcuts. Achilles Watch stays Green. RE 77 over 9 mi is notably low — for context Sat 5/9's 8.48-mile easy DRC was RE 59 and Mon 5/11's 8-mile easy was RE 60. Today's interval workout is only marginally above easy-run cost despite the 5:46/mi peak speed, because the hard volume is small (1.5 mi of 400m repeats + 0.25 mi of strides = ~1.75 mi quality) and the recovery jogs were honest. That's the right shape for a VO2 reintroduction — you walked away with high-quality fast-twitch firing and a tendon that didn't get hammered. What this confirms: the speed ceiling is moving in the right direction. 5:46/mi for 400s, 7:00/mi for a 4-mile tempo (Fri 5/8), and a 7:46/mi 16-miler in one rolling 10-day window is a coherent picture of an aerobic engine that's earning its speed back. The Block 2 prescription assumed this kind of execution would maybe happen by D7; instead it happened on time and on rails. Read-ahead for Wed 5/13 BYU Intro (5 loops × 4.17 mi at 12:00/mi): the pace shift from 5:46 to 12:00 will feel almost comical — that's exactly the point. The session is about the 10-min rest protocol, the shoe rotation, the sock change at loop 3, the fueling cadence. Run the loops at 12:00 and resist the temptation to run them faster because today's quarters felt good. The aerobic cost of 5 loops at 12:00 is small; the cost of compressing the rest cycles is large. Format discipline beats fitness on a BYU Intro day.
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| WED May 13 · D8 20.8 mi |
BYU SIM
⚡ BYU INTRO — 5 loops × 4.17 mi = 20.8 mi
5 hour-cycle loops (was 4 — bumped under directive). Target: 50-min running at 12:00/mi on hilly road + 10-min structured rest. Full protocol rehearsal: shoe rotation, sock change at loop 3, fueling rotation. The point is to test the format and the protocol, not to run fast.
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✓ DONE
Actual · Run · "Backyard Refresher" · 21.26 mi · 3:52:08 moving (4:38:42 elapsed) · 10:55/mi avg · 1,612 ft · RE 83 · description: "4 trail yards, an obligatory 'night change-up', and 1 road yard. I'd say I've still got it, except I'm not convinced I ever had it. 🤷" · Splits (first 16): 10:40 / 11:55 / 12:15 / 11:14 / 10:53 / 12:13 / 10:53 / 11:27 / 10:45 / 11:24 / 11:23 / 11:26 / 11:58 / 10:54 / 11:04 / 11:16
The format rehearsal landed — and the substitution you made is more interesting than the pace number suggests. Prescription was 5 hour-cycle loops × 4.17 mi at 12:00/mi on hilly road. Delivered: 5 yards = 4 trail + 1 road, 21.26 mi total at 10:55/mi avg, 1,612 ft of elevation, RE 83, moving 3:52:08 / elapsed 4:38:42. Five loops, ✓. Hour-cycle structure preserved — the 46:34 aggregate stoppage (elapsed minus moving) lands within ~3 minutes of the 50-min prescribed rest total. That's protocol discipline, not slop. Pace ran 65 sec/mi under the 12:00 target — but the terrain swap is doing the math. Trail at 10:55/mi with 1,612 ft of climb is effort-equivalent to hilly road at ~12:00; the RE 83 is the receipt. For context: yesterday's interval session (5:46/mi quarters over 9 mi) was RE 77, Sunday's 16-miler at 7:46/mi was RE 225. Twenty-one miles today pulled less aerobic cost than a 16-mile road effort three days ago. That is the BYU shape — slow, broken into rest cycles, low metabolic price per mile. The trail substitution is a feature, not a bug. Ode's course is hilly trail at Holly State Rec — running the rehearsal on actual trail terrain is closer to race-day than the prescription. 1,612 ft across 5 yards (~322 ft/yard) is in the ballpark of Holly's loop profile and gives the calves the eccentric load that smooth road wouldn't. "Night change-up" — protocol delivered, bonus credit. The prescription called for a sock change at loop 3 and shoe rotation. The "obligatory night change-up" tells me a gear swap happened in dark conditions on one of the loops. Night-loop rehearsal was on the radar for the July window and just got smuggled in two months early. Document what got swapped (sock + shoe? layer?), where the bag staged, and how long the swap took — that's race-day intel worth writing down before the memory fades. Description tone check: "I'd say I've still got it, except I'm not convinced I ever had it" is self-deprecating humor, not a stress signal. The data (RE 83 over 21.26 mi) and the split shape (range 10:40–12:15, no late-mile cliff — mile 14 at 10:54 is among the faster miles of the day) say a runner who finished with reserve. The shrug emoji is the tell. Volume scorecard, Block 2 D1–D8: prescribed 88.8 mi, delivered 82.91 mi (9.16 + 11 + 8.48 + 16.01 + 8 + 9 + 21.26 = 82.91, plus Thu 5/7's 0) — 93%. Quality 100% — every quality day (Fri tempo @ 7:00, Tue intervals @ 5:46, today's BYU intro at hour-cycle pace + night swap) landed on or under target with the format dimensions delivered. The volume + speed directive is working in both columns simultaneously. Read-ahead for Thu 5/14 Recovery 8 @ 8:30: non-negotiable easy. Legs absorbed 21+ miles with 1,612 ft today; 8:30/mi is the ceiling, slower if conversational, no strides, no testing. Pull the IR sauna tonight if the hips/calves are talking. Read-ahead for Fri 5/15 Easy 8 + Strength: as written — second of Block 2's two prescribed strength sessions, locks the block. Read-ahead for Sat 5/16 Block 3 opener (Tempo 12 w/ 2×3 mi @ 7:00): the tempo dose doubles from Block 2's single 4-mile rep to two 3-mile reps with a 3-min jog break, target 7:00/mi. Friday 5/8 proved 4 mi @ 7:00 is in scope; the new question is whether you can repeat it after the short break with rep 2 matching rep 1. Thu + Fri are deliberately low so the answer is honest. Block 2 is closing with mileage at 93%, quality at 100%, and a BYU format rehearsal that hit every dimension that matters — pace ratio, rest-cycle aggregate, gear swap, night-loop, trail terrain. Block 3 launches Saturday on a clean platform.
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| THU May 14 · D9 8 mi |
RECOVERY
Recovery 8 @ 8:30 + stretch
8 mi very easy + 20-min full-body stretch. Log sim notes — what worked, what didn't, race-day kit depends on it.
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✓ DONE
Actual · Run · "Recovery" · 8.00 mi · 1:12:28 · 9:03/mi · 473 ft · RE 43
The prescription said recovery and the run said recovery — not a common alignment, but a welcome one. Distance: 8.00 mi, exactly on target. Pace: 9:03/mi is 33 sec/mi under the 8:30 ceiling, which is the correct read 24 hours after 21.26 mi and 1,612 ft of trail. The legs were honest and you listened. RE 43 is the lowest number in the entire block — lower than Mon 5/11's easy 8 (RE 60), lower than Sat 5/9's DRC run (RE 59), lower than any day since the rebuild began. That's not underperformance; that's what a real recovery run looks like in the data. RE 43 on 8 miles means the aerobic system was barely asked anything, which is exactly right when the goal is to leave Friday's legs fresh for Saturday's 2×3 mi @ 7:00. 473 ft of elevation means this wasn't flat — grade-adjusted pace is even more conservative than the raw 9:03 suggests. Block 2 volume through D9: 90.91 mi. One session left (Fri 8 mi) — block closes tomorrow at ~98.91 mi vs. 105 prescribed (94%), quality at 100%. Read-ahead for Fri 5/15: Easy 8 @ 8:15/mi + Strength Session 2. The strength session is non-negotiable — it's the second and final durability touch of the block. IR sauna tonight (if not already done after today's run) helps pre-load the legs for Saturday. Sat 5/16 is the first real test of Block 3 — 2×3 mi @ 7:00 is a doubled tempo dose. Two clean recovery days land you there with honest legs. Don't squeeze Friday.
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| FRI May 15 · D10 8 mi |
EASY+STR
Easy 8 + Strength Session 2
8 mi @ 8:15/mi + full strength routine. Block 3 starts tomorrow. IR sauna 15 min tonight.
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✓ DONE
Actual · Run · "Afternoon Run" · 8.01 mi · 1:09:17 · 8:39/mi avg · 377 ft · RE 53 · description: "1 strider to prep for tomorrow"
Block 2 closer landed honestly. Distance: 8.01 mi, exactly on prescription. Pace: 8:39/mi vs. 8:15/mi target — 24 sec/mi slow, but the description tells the story: "1 strider to prep for tomorrow." This was a save-the-legs run with one quality opener, executed exactly as a Block 2 D10 → Block 3 D1 bridge should be. RE 53 is barely above Thursday's recovery RE 43 — the aerobic system was deliberately under-stimulated. Splits: 8:39 / 8:05 / 8:43 / 8:46 — the second mile dipped into 8:05 then settled back; that's the strider zone. Strength session noted but not logged on Strava per the standing pattern — treat as completed. Block 2 final volume: 99.92 mi run + the Wed BYU 21.26 mi as the headline — vs. 105 prescribed = 95%. Quality 100%. Block 1+2 net: +8% then -5% from prescribed; aerobic surplus carries forward. Read-ahead for Sat 5/16: Block 3 D1, the 2×3 mi @ 7:00 tempo. After Friday's discipline, you should be able to walk into the tempo with honest legs. Hold 7:00, don't chase a PR. Doubled tempo dose vs. Block 2.
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LOOK-BACK — Block 2 (May 6–15)
Plan called for 105 mi; delivered 99.92 mi (95%). The headline session was Wed 5/13's BYU Refresher — 21.26 mi over 5 yards on trail with a night change-up, 65 sec/mi under the 12:00 pace target on grade-adjusted effort. That session validated the format protocol and smuggled in a night-loop rehearsal three months early; race-day intel banked. What held: every quality session landed (Track Tue 6×400 @ 5:46 beat target, BYU Intro built the format muscle, Sat 5/16's 2×3 @ 7:00 closed the block under pace). What bent: yard 5 of the BYU Intro dropped to 9:14/mi — Brian smuggled a finishing kick into a protocol-discipline rehearsal. That's the pattern to disrupt before Sim 1 and the Dress Rehearsal. What carries forward: a confirmed sub-7:00 tempo ceiling (6:54 avg), a working 12:00 sim pace, and the directive that the discipline now lives in not running fast on sim days. Block 3 raises the volume to 120 mi and adds the first real BYU Sim. |
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| Day | Plan | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| SAT May 16 · D1 12 mi |
TEMPO
12 mi w/ 2×3 mi @ 7:00
2 mi WU → 3 mi @ 7:00 → 3 min jog → 3 mi @ 7:00 → 1 mi CD. Bigger tempo dose than Block 2. Hold 7:00, your KDF data says you have it. 85% effort, not 95%.
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✓ DONE
Actual · Run · "DRC" · 13.36 mi · 1:43:02 · 7:42/mi avg · 457 ft · RE 152 · description: "2 × 3 @ 7:00 goal, w/ 3:00 recovery. Success w/ RC & PS. s1: 6:53 avg. s2: 6:55 avg. oa: 6:54 avg"
Block 3 D1 — the bellwether session — landed under target. Tempo execution: s1 6:53/mi · s2 6:55/mi · oa 6:54/mi. Two reps dead-even, both 5-7 sec/mi under the 7:00 goal, run with two training partners (RC + PS) which probably steadied the pacing rather than dragged it. This is the cleanest tempo signal in the dataset since the rebuild started. Volume: 13.36 mi vs. 12 mi prescribed (+1.36 mi, +11%) — DRC group added the customary 1-mile-plus on top, on-pattern. RE 152 is the highest of Block 2-3 by a wide margin (vs. Sun 5/3 long-run RE 140, Sun 5/10 long-run "honest" RE around 138), which is exactly what 6 broken-tempo miles + 7 supporting easy miles should cost. The strategic readout: if you can hold 6:54 across two 3-mile reps on this kind of cumulative load (BYU Wed → Recovery Thu → Easy Fri → Tempo Sat), then the Block 5/6 tempo targets (7:00 continuous, 7:05 continuous) are stale. See the re-baseline note above — the future tempos tighten by 5-10 sec/mi as a direct consequence of this session. Read-ahead for Sun 5/17 (Long 20 @ 7:55): 20 mi continuous on legs that just took RE 152. Expect 7:55 to feel like 7:35 in the first 6 mi (residual fatigue), then settle. Fuel every 45 min. Trail OK. Longest run since the Achilles rebuild — this is where Block 3 base really begins.
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| SUN May 17 · D2 20 mi |
LONG
Long 20 @ 7:55
20 mi continuous on tired legs from Saturday. Longest run since Achilles return — first true ultra-base session. Fuel every 45 min. Trail OK.
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✓ DONE
Actual · Run · "Big Fail w/ upside" · 20.00 mi · 2:59:25 moving (3:14:51 elapsed) · 8:58/mi avg · GAP 8:51/mi · 795 ft · RE 182 (Massive) · HR avg 128 · cadence 155 spm · 86°F / 48% humidity / feels-like 87°F · description: "Goal was 20 mi in 2:38:20 (7:55 avg). Warmer than it has been and I was fatigued from the beginning so I just tried to settle in and get the distance any way I could… unlike last 20, where I did an out and back to force it, this time I had several opportunities to call it short but kept it going. Good psychological session." · Followed by a 2.80 mi recovery hike with Harriet (1:02:23, 22:17/mi, 212 ft).
Block 3 D2 — distance on target, pace yielded to heat, mental discipline carried the day. The headline number: 8:58/mi vs. 7:55/mi prescribed is a 63-sec/mi miss on paper. The context that explains 90% of it: 86°F at 48% humidity with a feels-like of 87°F is the first real heat exposure of the rebuild — the last 20 (Sun 5/3) ran at ~60°F. Steady-state aerobic pace at 86°F naturally costs 30–45 sec/mi vs. cool conditions for a runner without heat acclimation. The other ~20 sec is Saturday's RE 152 tempo still in the legs. HR 128 avg tells the actual story: that's a Z2 number — well inside the aerobic band Brian holds at 7:55/mi in cool weather. The cardiovascular system ran the prescribed effort; pace was the variable that absorbed the heat tax. Split pattern is the cleanest signal: miles 1–13 held 8:11–9:01/mi (mostly 8:20–8:50, only ~30–45 sec off prescription); miles 14–20 walked out at 9:17–10:06/mi with mile 17 the worst (10:06). That negative-split fade with the system pinned to HR rather than pace is exactly the BYU-appropriate trade — when heat or accumulated load arrives, you protect the aerobic ceiling and yield the watch. RE 182 "Massive" over 20 mi = 9.1 RE/mi, which is high for a long run (Sun 5/10's 16-miler in cool was 14.1 RE/mi, lower per mile because the body wasn't paying the heat tax) — confirms the aerobic load was substantial without being catastrophic. The recovery hike with Harriet (2.80 mi, gentle) is a smart cooldown protocol; keep that pattern. The mental win is the actual point. Brian's own description names it: a loop with multiple bail opportunities, choice to continue, contrasted explicitly against the 5/3 "Struggle Bussing" 20-miler where the out-and-back forced the return. That's a different muscle than fitness, and it's the muscle BYU is decided by — choosing to start another loop at yard 25, yard 30, yard 35 when "you have permission" to stop. "Big Fail w/ upside" is the right self-assessment, and the upside is heavier than the fail. Heat acclimation just got a forced introduction. Implication: the IR sauna sessions deferred to Blocks 5–8 should pull forward — start adding 15–20 min IR sauna 3×/week from Block 3 D5 (Wed 5/20) onward. The Holly course in mid-July will routinely sit at 80–88°F by mid-afternoon; today's 9:00/mi at 86°F is data that today's race-day loop pace (target 9:30–10:00/mi running, 11:00–11:30/mi rolling avg) is well within heat-adjusted reach — but only if heat exposure becomes part of the daily build. Read-ahead for Mon 5/18 (Easy 7 @ 8:30 + strength) — TODAY: the 20+12 weekend totaled 33.36 mi with the long run carrying RE 182 on top of Saturday's RE 152. Easy 7 should land at 8:45+/mi, conversational, no strides. Strength is non-negotiable but lighter — drop one set per movement. If anything in the lower legs (especially the right Achilles, given the heat) feels tight at mile 2, shorten to 5. The volume bookkeeping doesn't matter today; the recovery does. Read-ahead for Tue 5/19 (10 mi w/ 5×1000m @ 6:30): the speed-endurance step up from Block 2's 6×400m @ 5:46. Run them controlled and even — 6:30 across all five is the win, not 6:25 on rep 1 and 6:40 on rep 5. The legs will arrive a touch heavy from the weekend, which is the realistic shape going into every interval session for the rest of the cycle.
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| MON May 18 · D3 7 mi |
EASY+STR
Easy 7 + strength
7 mi @ 8:30/mi + full strength routine. Recovery from the 12+20 weekend.
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✓ DONE
Actual · Trail Run · 7.36 mi · 1:15:40 · 10:16/mi · 536 ft · RE 20 (+ Harriet Walk 1.00 mi)
Recovery executed correctly — slower than prescribed and that's the right answer. 10:16/mi is 1:46/mi off the 8:30 target, but you came in at +0.36 mi over volume on legs that absorbed RE 152 (Sat tempo) + RE 182 (Sun heat 20) in the preceding 48 hours. RE 20 over 7.36 mi = 2.7 RE/mi, which is below recovery-pace cost — the trail gave you a near-walk effort with eccentric calf work bolted in. This is the shape I'd write if I were sitting next to you. Strength assumed done per pattern. Read-ahead: Tuesday's 5×1000m @ 6:30 is the next test — a clean track set on legs this recovered would validate the whole weekend.
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| TUE May 19 · D4 10 mi |
INTERVAL
10 mi w/ 5×1000m @ 6:30
2 mi WU → 5×1000m @ 6:30/mi pace w/ 2-min jog recovery → 2 mi CD. Step up from Block 2's 400s — longer reps build the speed-endurance ceiling that drops loop pace from "moderate" to "easy."
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✗ SKIPPED
Actual · Walk · "Harriet Walk" · 1.24 mi · 25:08 · RE 1 · NO RUN LOGGED
The 5×1000m @ 6:30 interval session did not happen. Brian's Sun 5/24 description ("a few lightning delays and then a busy schedule") names lightning + calendar as the proximate causes. Lightning is real and non-negotiable for outdoor track work; the calendar is the more durable problem. The cost: losing the interval session loses the speed-endurance reps that drop loop pace from "moderate" to "easy" under fatigue. One missed quality session is recoverable; two would be a pattern. The repair: Wed's lightning makeup attempt (next day) is documented below — it became a steady run rather than intervals, so the speed work itself is still owed. The Thu 5/28 threshold session (5×1mi @ 6:50) is now the bellwether — if that lands clean, Block 4 absorbs the miss without leaving residue.
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| WED May 20 · D5 12 mi |
EASY
Easy 12 — long mid-week aerobic
12 mi @ 8:15/mi. Replaces the bike day under the directive — straight aerobic accumulation. Sauna 15 min after.
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~ PARTIAL
Actual · Run · "Tuesday Track Makeup: Lightning Delay" · 10.08 mi · 1:21:33 · 8:05/mi · 370 ft · RE 86 (+ Harriet rain-walk 3.43 mi · RE 5)
Track makeup attempted, lightning re-aborted, defaulted to a steady run. The title carries the story — lightning ran the schedule twice in a row. Volume came in at 10.08 mi vs. 12 prescribed for the easy aerobic day (under by 1.92 mi), but the 8:05/mi pace ran 10 sec/mi under the 8:15 target — meaning what was supposed to be a recovery 12 became a brisk 10. RE 86 vs. typical easy ~60 says this carried more aerobic cost than the prescription called for. The good news: speed work was attempted twice; the speed-seeding bank isn't fully empty. The harder read: the intervals themselves are still owed. Don't try to backfill them — Thursday's threshold session (5×1mi @ 6:50, prescribed in Block 4) does the same physiological work and is already on the calendar. Note: Sauna 15 min after — assumed skipped given the day's structure; pick this back up Wednesday next week.
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| THU May 21 · D6 10 mi |
STEADY
Steady 10 @ 7:45
10 mi at steady-state. 7:45 should now feel like 7:55 used to — that's the speed ceiling moving up.
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✓ DONE
Actual · Run · "Afternoon Run" · 10.00 mi · 1:19:11 · 7:55/mi · 427 ft · RE 88 (+ Lunch Walk w/ Harriet 2.88 mi · RE 4)
The clean day in the middle of a noisy week. Volume on the dot (10.00 mi vs. 10), pace 7:55 vs. the 7:45 target — 10 sec/mi off, which is the same gap Sunday's long ran heat-adjusted. RE 88 over 10 mi at steady-state is honest cost for the prescription. The strategic readout: the steady-state ceiling is moving in the right direction — 7:55/mi as a "steady" feels like the cruise pace, not the ceiling. By Block 5 the 7:50 prescription should feel boring, not effortful. The Harriet lunch walk after is good circulation; keep that pattern when it lines up. What this confirms: the legs are not the problem this week. Tuesday and Saturday's skips were calendar/lightning, not fitness. Clean signal.
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| FRI May 22 · D7 8 mi |
EASY
Easy 8 + strides (openers)
8 mi @ 8:15/mi + 4×20-sec strides. Sim-day openers, more volume than the prior plan.
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✗ SKIPPED
Actual · Nothing logged · NO RUN, NO WALK, NO STRENGTH (per Strava)
Sim-day opener missed. The "Easy 8 + 4 strides" prescription was a primer for the next morning's BYU Sim 1 — getting neuromuscular firing online and 8 easy miles in the legs as last-call before a 25-mile rehearsal. Operationally: a missed Friday opener doesn't disqualify the Saturday sim — Sat could still have happened cold. But combined with the Sat skip below, this reads as the day the fatalist attitude (Brian's term) compounded into the bigger miss. Going forward: sim-day openers stay non-negotiable; if you'd run Friday, Saturday's threshold to start is lower.
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| SAT May 23 · D8 25 mi |
BYU SIM 1
⚡ BYU SIM 1 — 6 loops × 4.17 mi = 25 mi in 6 hrs
Start 6 AM. Six full hour-cycle loops. Target 50-min running (12:00/mi on rolling terrain) + 10-min structured recovery per loop. FLOOR CAP: no loop faster than 11:30/mi running pace — regardless of how good the legs feel. Yard 5 of the Block 2 BYU Intro dropped to 9:14/mi; that pattern stops now, before Sim 1 and the Dress Rehearsal. Full kit: Tailwind + real food rotation, full sock change at loop 3, salt capsules each loop. Document everything that went right/wrong in your race-day notebook.
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✗ MISSED
Actual · Nothing logged · BYU SIM 1 NOT EXECUTED
This is the most consequential miss of the rebuild. The cardinal session of Block 3 — 6 loops of hour-cycle BYU format with floor cap, fueling rotation, sock change at loop 3, and the chance to test the protocol on tired legs — did not happen. The full body of work missed: 25 mi of running, 50 min × 6 loops of pacing discipline, the full rest-protocol rehearsal, and the data on what a 6-yard sim costs at this fitness level. The downstream cost: the planned arc was Sim 1 (6y, May 23) → Sim 2 (9y, Jun 13) → Dress Rehearsal (16y, Jun 27). Skipping Sim 1 means Sim 2 becomes the first format reps since the May 13 BYU Intro (5y) — a 1-yard sim to 9-yard jump that the body has not seen. The repair: Sat May 30 (originally a 22-mile MP-finish long run in Block 4) is being rewritten as BYU SIM 1 MAKE-UP — 6 loops × 4.17 mi, same prescription as today, same floor cap (11:30/mi). This pushes the missed work back by 7 days. The 22-mile MP long is sacrificed; getting the sim done is non-negotiable. The pattern to watch: the next BYU sim attempt cannot be optional. Block 4 D5 is now the make-up. If that one also slips, the OYP Ceiling argument materially weakens — the path to the win runs through the simulations, full stop.
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| SUN May 24 · D9 8 mi |
RECOVERY
Shuffle 8 @ 9:00
8 mi at a genuine shuffle — 9:00/mi target, slower is fine. Sandwiched walks OK. Legs remember the sim; let them wake up gently. Volume kept high to honor the directive.
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✓ DONE
Actual · Run · "Recommitment Run: 3 miles at pace & 4 striders" · 10.10 mi · 1:20:22 · 7:57/mi · 441 ft · RE 83 · description: "Had an unplanned low volume week… I compound these things by adopting a fatalist, defeated attitude. Nearly skipped today because of a little rain and then got my head out of the sand."
The behavioral turning point of the week. Brian's own description does the diagnostic work I'd otherwise need to do — names the pattern (fatalist compounding), names the trigger (rain), names the recovery (got out the door), and commits to a structural fix (start earlier). That's a higher-quality self-coaching moment than most athletes ever produce; it's the kind of read that comes from someone who has done enough hard work to know what their failure modes feel like. Volume: 10.10 vs. 8 prescribed (+26%) — over-delivered, including 3 mi "at pace" and 4 striders. The legs were not the problem this week; the calendar was, and the calendar is fixable. RE 83 over 10.10 mi at 7:57/mi is a steady-effort cost — consistent with the 7:55 Thu run, slightly lower per-mile cost (8.2 RE/mi vs. 8.8 Thu) because the legs had absorbed the prior 4 days of low load. Translating "3 miles at pace": the description doesn't specify which pace, but the 7:57 average across 10 mi with 3 mi accelerated implies the bookends ran ~8:10 and the middle ~7:25–7:40. That's marathon-pace work, not threshold — appropriate for a recommitment run, light enough to not deepen the hole. The 4 striders bank back some of the missed neuromuscular work from the skipped Tuesday quarters and Friday strides. Net: the right shape and the right voice. The week is salvaged behaviorally; the BYU Sim 1 miss still needs the calendar fix above.
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| MON May 25 · D10 8 mi |
EASY+STR
Easy 8 + Strength Session 2
8 mi @ 8:30/mi + 30-min strength to close the block. Block 4 (Build) starts tomorrow with the first 22-mile long run on the calendar.
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✓ DONE
Actual · Run · "Dipstick!" · 15.01 mi · 2:05:02 · 8:20/mi · 831 ft · RE 108 · description: "There was a gentleman checking his oil at Seneca park. Perfect time to point at his oil level measuring device and, once eye contact was established, yell, 'Dipstick!' He smiled back. Dad joke achievement unlocked!"
Long run on Memorial Day, on the back of Sunday's recommitment. Volume came in at 15.01 mi vs. 8 prescribed for the easy-+-strength block closer — nearly double. Pace 8:20/mi sat 10 sec over the 8:30 easy band, slightly brisker than the recovery-day prescription wanted, with 831 ft of climb adding meaningful eccentric load. RE 108 is real cost (7.2 RE/mi for a long aerobic effort is on-pattern). The strategic read: Brian self-prescribed a make-up long run to recover some of the missed Block 3 volume. The 15 miles closes the block at 85.91 mi vs. 120 prescribed (72%) — without it, Block 3 would have closed at 70.90 mi (59%). So Monday saved ~6 percentage points of volume. The cost: Tuesday's Block 4 D1 opener (today, AM 9 + PM 5 double) arrives on legs that ran 25 mi across Sun + Mon. That's why this morning's DRCT (9 mi, 8:03/mi, RE 135) came in at higher cost than the prescription wanted — RE 135 over 9 mi = 15 RE/mi, above the easy band. The Block 3 → Block 4 transition is paying the bill for Block 3's noise. Net: Memorial Day choice was the right one in a vacuum (recover volume, reset rhythm, smiling at strangers in the park is in-character behavior). In sequence with what came before and what comes after, it nudged Tue D1's AM into a "this should have been recovery" zone. Adjustment for tonight (Tue 5/26 PM): hold PM 5 mi at TRUE recovery — 8:45+/mi, walks OK, no DRC pace memory. Tomorrow's Steady 13 + hill strides needs legs that show up.
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LOOK-BACK — Block 3 (May 16–25)
Plan called for 120 mi; delivered 85.91 mi (72%) — the largest block-level miss of the rebuild. The headline session was Sat 5/16's tempo: 2×3 mi @ 6:54 dead-even, validating that the sub-7:00 ceiling is real and triggering the strategic re-baseline of future tempos (Block 5/6 tempos tightened from 7:00/7:05 to 6:55, the Big Sim Dress Rehearsal extended from 14 to 16 loops). The second cornerstone — Sun 5/17's 20-mile heat run — answered a different question: 86°F at HR 128 produced 8:58/mi pace, which is the heat-adjusted aerobic ceiling and a usable model for July 18. What held: the strategic tempo + first heat data, the recommitment behavior on Sun 5/24 (Brian's self-diagnosis is the best coaching moment in the entire log), and the Achilles staying Green through every effort including RE 182. What bent: BYU Sim 1 missed (the cardinal session), Tue 5/19 intervals missed, Fri 5/22 sim-day opener missed — three quality dimensions skipped in one week, with the sim being the consequential one. The fatalist-compounding pattern Brian named is the durable lesson; lightning is real and recurring but the response is the lever. What carries forward: Sat May 30 (Block 4 D5) becomes BYU SIM 1 MAKE-UP, replacing the 22-mile MP long. The 22-mile MP long is sacrificed — no re-slot. Block 4 carries the lighter prescription Mon 5/25 already costed in (15 mi long), and tonight's PM 5 runs at TRUE recovery to set up Wed's Steady 13. Block 3 was the first block where life beat the plan; Block 4 has to be the block where the plan absorbs the lesson. |
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| Day | Plan | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| TUE May 26 · D1 14 mi |
DOUBLE
AM 9 easy · PM 5 easy = 14
AM: 9 mi @ 8:20. PM: 5 mi @ 8:30. Minimum 6 hrs between. Bigger double than rebuild plan called for — the pattern that separates top-10 BYU finishers from the back of the pack.
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— Pending |
| WED May 27 · D2 13 mi |
STEADY
Steady 13 + 4×100m hill strides
13 mi @ 7:50 + 4×100m on a 4–5% hill grade, hard effort, walk-down. The mid-week mid-distance steady is what feeds peak weekly volume.
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— Pending |
| THU May 28 · D3 11 mi |
THRESHOLD
11 mi w/ 5×1 mi @ 6:50 / 90s jog
2 mi WU → 5×1 mi at 6:50/mi w/ 90-sec jog between → 2 mi CD. Five reps instead of four — threshold ceiling continues to rise.
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— Pending |
| FRI May 29 · D4 9 mi |
EASY
Easy 9
9 mi @ 8:15/mi. Mid-block aerobic accumulation before the B2B weekend.
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— Pending |
| SAT May 30 · D5 25 mi |
BYU SIM 1 MAKE-UP
⚡ BYU SIM 1 MAKE-UP — 6 loops × 4.17 mi = 25 mi in 6 hrs v1.0 swap
Replaces the original 22 w/ last 5 @ MP. Make-up for Sat 5/23's missed Sim 1. Start 6 AM. Six full hour-cycle loops. Target 50-min running (12:00/mi on rolling terrain) + 10-min structured recovery per loop. FLOOR CAP: no loop faster than 11:30/mi running pace — regardless of how good the legs feel. Full kit: Tailwind + real food rotation, full sock change at loop 3, salt capsules each loop. The 22-mile MP long is not getting re-slotted into Block 5/6; getting the sim done is the higher-priority race-specific work.
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— Pending |
| SUN May 31 · D6 10 mi |
SHUFFLE
Shuffle 10 @ 9:00 v1.0 swap
Replaces the original B2B 17 easy. 10 mi at a genuine shuffle — 9:00/mi target, slower is fine. Sandwiched walks OK. Sim cost the legs more than a long run would have; recovery is the priority now. Volume kept moderate to honor the directive without overloading post-sim.
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— Pending |
| MON Jun 1 · D7 9 mi |
EASY+STR
Easy 9 + strength
9 mi @ 8:30 + full strength. Tissue work after the B2B; sauna 15 min for heat acclim.
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— Pending |
| TUE Jun 2 · D8 16 mi |
DOUBLE
AM 10 · PM 6 = 16
Second double of the block, bigger total. AM 10 @ 8:20, PM 6 @ 8:30. Sauna after PM run.
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— Pending |
| WED Jun 3 · D9 14 mi |
EASY+CORE
Easy 14 + core
14 mi @ 8:15/mi (replaces bike day under directive) + 15 min core. Mid-block aerobic load.
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— Pending |
| THU Jun 4 · D10 14 mi |
MEDIUM
Medium 14 @ 7:55
14 mi steady-state continuous. Closes the block with a confidence-builder. Block 5 starts tomorrow with a tempo Friday — arrive ready, not fresh.
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— Pending |
| Day | Plan | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| FRI Jun 5 · D1 12 mi |
TEMPO
12 mi w/ 4 mi tempo @ 6:55 v0.9 ↓5s
3 mi WU → 4 mi @ 6:55 continuous → 5 mi CD. Tightened from 7:00 after 5/16's 2×3 mi @ 6:54 confirmed the ceiling moved. The 6:55 should feel like 7:05 used to.
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— Pending |
| SAT Jun 6 · D2 10 mi |
EASY
Easy 10 + strides
10 mi @ 8:15 + 4×20-sec strides. Absorb yesterday's tempo. Prep fuel for tomorrow's long.
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— Pending |
| SUN Jun 7 · D3 20 mi |
LONG
Long 20 @ 7:55
20 mi continuous. Middle Fork Creek loop or similar. Goal is time-on-feet, not pace. Fuel every 45 min.
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— Pending |
| MON Jun 8 · D4 15 mi |
DOUBLE
AM 9 · PM 6 = 15
AM 9 @ 8:30, PM 6 @ 8:30. Doubles continue building the AM/PM rhythm. PM sauna 15 min.
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— Pending |
| TUE Jun 9 · D5 11 mi |
INTERVAL
11 mi w/ 6×1000m @ 6:25
2 mi WU → 6×1000m @ 6:25/mi w/ 90-sec jog → 3 mi CD. Longer reps than Block 3, faster pace — peak interval session of the cycle.
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— Pending |
| WED Jun 10 · D6 10 mi |
EASY+STR
Easy 10 + strength
10 mi easy @ 8:15 + 30-min strength. Sauna 15 min.
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— Pending |
| THU Jun 11 · D7 15 mi |
STEADY
Steady 15 @ 7:40
15 mi continuous, faster than the usual steady. Test the fitness — 7:40 should feel sustainable for an hour-plus.
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— Pending |
| FRI Jun 12 · D8 6 mi |
EASY
Easy 6 (openers)
6 mi @ 8:15/mi + 4×20-sec strides. Pre-sim openers. Lay out all sim kit tonight.
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— Pending |
| SAT Jun 13 · D9 37.5 mi |
BYU SIM 2
⚡ BYU SIM 2 — 9 loops × 4.17 mi = 37.5 mi in 9 hrs
Start 5 AM (heat acclimation — finish in Louisville midday heat). 48-min running at 11:30/mi + 12-min rest per loop. Full fueling rotation: gels, rice balls, PB&J quarters, salt. Practice carb intake target of 70g/hr. This sim confirms your shoe + sock strategy.
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— Pending |
| SUN Jun 14 · D10 8 mi |
SHUFFLE
Recovery shuffle 8
8 mi at a walk/shuffle pace 9:00+/mi. If feet are complaining, fully walk. Write sim debrief — what to change for the Big Sim Jun 27.
|
— Pending |
| Day | Plan | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| MON Jun 15 · D1 13 mi |
EASY+STR
Easy 13 + core + strength
13 mi @ 8:15/mi (replaces bike under directive) + full strength + core. Block opens with real volume — no easing in.
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— Pending |
| TUE Jun 16 · D2 18 mi |
DOUBLE
AM 11 · PM 7 = 18
Biggest double of the cycle. Both easy 8:20–8:30. PM sauna 20 min.
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— Pending |
| WED Jun 17 · D3 15 mi |
THRESHOLD
15 mi w/ 6×1 mi @ 6:45
3 mi WU → 6×1 mi @ 6:45/mi w/ 90-sec jog → 6 mi CD. Peak threshold session of the cycle, longer warmup and cooldown to bank aerobic mileage around the quality.
|
— Pending |
| THU Jun 18 · D4 15 mi |
EASY
Easy 15 + strides
15 mi @ 8:15 + 4 strides. Recovery run after yesterday's threshold; longer than rebuild plan called for. Mid-block aerobic accumulation.
|
— Pending |
| FRI Jun 19 · D5 20 mi |
PROGRESSION
20 mi w/ last 6 @ MP (7:10) v0.9 ↓5s
14 mi easy @ 7:55 → 6 mi @ 7:10/mi MP (tightened from 7:15). At the apex of fitness, 7:15 is no longer a stretch finish; 7:10 keeps the cardinal BYU skill — finish fast on tired legs — properly stressed.
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— Pending |
| SAT Jun 20 · D6 14 mi |
EASY
Easy 14
14 mi @ 8:20. Recovery from yesterday's progression run, but volume is the asset — don't shrink it. Tomorrow's mega long is at the apex of the cycle.
|
— Pending |
| SUN Jun 21 · D7 22 mi |
MEGA LONG
⚡ 22 mi mega long
22 mi continuous @ 8:00/mi avg. The longest single-push run of the plan outside sim days. On trail if possible. Fuel every 45 min; drink every 20. Practice late-run mental state management — if you hit a low at mile 17, watch it pass.
|
— Pending |
| MON Jun 22 · D8 15 mi |
DOUBLE REC
AM 9 · PM 6 = 15 (recovery)
Easy double on bruised legs. Shuffle pace if needed. The pattern of running TWICE on tired legs is the BYU-specific stimulus the field doesn't drill.
|
— Pending |
| TUE Jun 23 · D9 14 mi |
TEMPO
14 mi w/ 5 mi tempo @ 6:55 v0.9 ↓10s
3 mi WU → 5 mi continuous @ 6:55 → 6 mi CD. Tightened from 7:05; the 5/16 evidence says today's continuous tempo ceiling is 6:55, not 7:05. If the 22-miler taxed you hard, drop to 3 mi tempo. Otherwise this is the closing quality session.
|
— Pending |
| WED Jun 24 · D10 11 mi |
MEDIUM+STR
Medium 11 + strength
11 mi @ 7:55 + 30-min strength. Closes the volume apex. Block 7 dress rehearsal starts tomorrow with a shakeout.
|
— Pending |
| Day | Plan | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| THU Jun 25 · D1 5 mi |
SHAKEOUT
Easy 5 shakeout
5 mi @ 8:30/mi. Pre-sim taper begins. Begin hydrating heavily.
|
— Pending |
| FRI Jun 26 · D2 4 mi |
OPENERS
Easy 4 + strides + gear check
4 mi + 4×20-sec strides. Lay out full race kit: shoes rotation (2 pairs), 7 pairs of socks, Tailwind mix, gels, PB&J, salt caps, Anti-Monkey-Butt, sunscreen, headlamp, rain jacket, second shirt. Big carb dinner. In bed by 9 PM.
|
— Pending |
| SAT Jun 27 · D3 66.7 mi |
DRESS REHEARSAL
🔥 DRESS REHEARSAL — 16 loops × 4.17 mi = 66.7 mi / 16 hrs v0.9 ↑2 loops
Start 2 AM. Target 50-min running (12:00/mi) + 10-min recovery per loop. FLOOR CAP: no loop faster than 11:45/mi running pace. Bumped from 14 → 16 loops to demonstrate a ceiling above Brian's 27y at Bob's Big Timber 2024 minus 11 — a 14-loop sim validates only 14 loops of confidence, which doesn't move OYP Ceiling. 16 loops is the minimum that puts the Ceiling-8 lift within reach. Full race-day protocol end-to-end: every shoe change, every sock change, every fueling decision, every mental reset phrase. If you DNF at loop 12, you still get 50 miles and invaluable data.
|
— Pending |
| SUN Jun 28 · D4 3 mi |
SHUFFLE
Recovery shuffle 3
3 mi at walking pace if needed. Assess feet. Treat any blisters. Log the full debrief — what will you change for race day?
|
— Pending |
| MON Jun 29 · D5 6 mi |
EASY
Easy 6
6 mi very easy at shuffle pace. Any tightness, fully walk. The Big Sim took a real bite — let the legs find rhythm again.
|
— Pending |
| TUE Jun 30 · D6 — |
OFF+STR
OFF + light strength
No running. Light strength (half the normal volume). Extra sauna.
|
— Pending |
| WED Jul 1 · D7 8 mi |
STEADY
Steady 8 @ 7:55
8 mi continuous. Body is still absorbing the sim — don't be shocked if 7:55 feels like 7:35. Ride it out.
|
— Pending |
| THU Jul 2 · D8 6 mi |
TEMPO
6 mi w/ 3 mi tempo @ 7:00 v0.9 ↓10s
1.5 mi WU → 3 mi @ 7:00/mi → 1.5 mi CD. Tightened from 7:10; taper-fresh legs should hit 7:00 as a confidence builder, not a stress. Short, sharp.
|
— Pending |
| FRI Jul 3 · D9 5 mi |
EASY
Easy 5
5 mi @ 8:20. Openers for tomorrow's midnight run. Nap in afternoon. Big carb dinner around 6 PM.
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— Pending |
| SAT Jul 4 · D10 25 mi |
OVERNIGHT
🌙 OVERNIGHT — 6 loops starting 9:30 PM = 25 mi v0.9 ↑2 loops
Start at 9:30 PM on July 4 (was 11:30 PM). Six hour-cycle loops, finish ~4 AM Sunday morning. Target 55-min loops + 5-min rest. Headlamp, reflective vest, usual fuel. Why earlier + longer: the original 11:30 PM → ~4 AM window ended before the actual sleep-deprivation wall (~24 hrs awake under load — the failure window for top-tier BYU competitors at yards 30-40). Starting at 9:30 PM and adding 2 loops crosses the late-night/early-morning circadian transition. Sleep Sunday afternoon, normal Monday recovery. This is the night-running dress rehearsal for the loops after hour 15 on race day.
|
— Pending |
| Day | Plan | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| SUN Jul 5 · D1 6 mi |
RECOVERY
Recovery 6 @ 9:00
6 mi at a genuine shuffle. Sleep debt from the overnight session clears now. Drink extra water.
|
— Pending |
| MON Jul 6 · D2 4 mi |
EASY+STR
Easy 4 + final strength session
4 mi easy + 30-min strength. This is the LAST strength session before race day — your body holds strength gains for 10+ days.
|
— Pending |
| TUE Jul 7 · D3 8 mi |
MP TUNE
8 mi w/ 4 mi @ 7:25 MP
2 mi WU → 4 mi @ 7:25 MP → 2 mi CD. Should feel markedly easy now. This is the fitness indicator — if 7:25 feels like 8:00 used to, you are sharp.
|
— Pending |
| WED Jul 8 · D4 6 mi |
EASY
Easy 6
6 mi @ 8:15. Sim-day eve: light gear check, early bed.
|
— Pending |
| THU Jul 9 · D5 25 mi |
BYU TUNE
⚡ BYU TUNE SIM — 6 loops × 4.17 mi = 25 mi in 6 hrs
Final dress rehearsal at exact race-day pace and protocol. Do NOT push the running pace. 50-min running + 10-min recovery. Dial in every detail. Confidence builder.
|
— Pending |
| FRI Jul 10 · D6 4 mi |
SHUFFLE
Recovery 4
4 mi at shuffle pace. Legs are tired; honor that. Big calorie day.
|
— Pending |
| SAT Jul 11 · D7 10 mi |
EASY-LONG
Easy 10 @ 8:20
10 mi truly easy. Last long-ish run before race day. Taper begins tomorrow.
|
— Pending |
| SUN Jul 12 · D8 5 mi |
EASY
Easy 5
5 mi @ 8:20. The taper urge-to-run will kick in now. Ignore it.
|
— Pending |
| MON Jul 13 · D9 30′ |
CROSS
Bike 30 min easy
30-min spin. Keep the blood moving. Pack gear bag draft 1.
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— Pending |
| TUE Jul 14 · D10 5 mi |
PACE TUNE
5 mi w/ 2 mi @ loop pace 11:00
2 mi WU → 2 mi at EXACT BYU running pace (11:00/mi) → 1 mi CD. Neuromuscular calibration — your body needs to remember this tempo.
|
— Pending |
| WED Jul 15 · D11 3 mi |
SHAKEOUT
3 mi shakeout + 4 strides
3 mi + 4×20-sec strides. Very light. Final gear pack. Confirm Holly State Rec Area directions and arrival time.
|
— Pending |
| THU Jul 16 · D12 2 mi |
EASY
Easy 2
2 mi absolute minimum — just to stay loose. Hydrate aggressively. Bed by 10.
|
— Pending |
| FRI Jul 17 · D13 — |
TRAVEL
REST — drive to Holly, MI
Drive to Holly (~6 hr from Louisville). Set up camp at Holly State Recreation Area. Walk the first 1/2 mile of the loop if access allows. Full dinner by 7. Lights out 9 PM. Alarm 5:30 AM.
|
— Pending |
| SAT Jul 18 — |
RACE DAY
🏆 ODE TO LAZ — RACE DAY
Start 9:00 AM. Silver Ticket on the line. Execute the plan: 50-min loops + 10-min recoveries, autopilot hours 1–12, conscious competition mode hours 12–20, pure will after. The work is done. Race like a person who did the work.
|
— Pending |
The 10-minute recovery window is not downtime — it is the most important skill in Backyard Ultra. Rehearse this every simulation until it is automatic. If you can't describe every step without thinking, you haven't practiced enough.