This was supposed to be another build week towards Ahmedabad. Instead, it became a useful reminder that marathon plans are written in Excel, Garmin and Runalyze — but the body retains veto power.
The week finished at 49.1 km of running , plus one strength/other session. On paper, considerably lighter than planned. In reality, there was plenty going on.
Tuesday was the familiar hill day: warm-up followed by 7.4 km aerobic running and 8 × 45-second hill repeats. The legs felt normal and the effort was conversational, although my HR monitor once again decided that Bluetooth connectivity was an optional feature.
Later that day, however, there was some effusion around the right knee.
Wednesday therefore became a proper recovery day: 10 km at 7:47/km, average HR only 116 bpm. The swelling appeared to be subsiding, which was encouraging.
Thursday was the week’s best workout.
After the warm-up and 3 km steady running, I ran 3 × 6 minutes at threshold effort. I wasn’t chasing the watch; I ran by feel. The three repetitions came out remarkably consistently at approximately 4:42, 4:40 and 4:40/km, despite the latter two involving uphill sections and one annoying traffic interruption.
That session was another small confirmation that something is moving in the right direction. A few weeks ago I was working with shorter threshold repetitions. Now I can hold roughly 4:40–4:45/km for six minutes repeatedly without the pace falling apart.
Fitness, apparently, was improving.
The knee had other opinions.
Saturday: The Sensible DNF
Saturday was supposed to be long-run day.
I warmed up for 1.2 km, started the run and covered 7 km in 40:17 — 5:44/km, average HR around 74%, cadence 172 spm. Aerobically, nothing alarming.
But the knee hurt.
So I stopped.
No “maybe another kilometre.”
No “let’s see if it warms up.”
No marathon-runner mathematics where pain × stupidity somehow equals resilience.
Just stop.
I walked another 1.2 km and called it a day.
Sunday was complete rest from running.
There is an interesting contradiction in this week’s data.
Cardiovascularly, I am getting fitter. Mechanically, I need to be careful.
The Thursday threshold session was probably one of my better quality sessions of this block. Tuesday’s hill repetitions also showed good speed and mechanics. Yet the knee developed effusion after Tuesday and pain became sufficient by Saturday to terminate the run.
