Week 9 was finally a real down week — unlike the previous one, which included racing the Luang Prabang Half Marathon and ended up being more of a “down five days” than a true recovery phase. This week, I actually backed things off, let the legs settle, and tried to absorb the work from the first half of the block.
A few smart decisions (and one skipped long run) should hopefully pay off heading into the biggest week of the entire plan.
The race organisers released the shirt and medal designs. I think it looks great; it gives a similar vibe to the 2025 Chicago Marathon singlet design. There is also a towel with the same design for the top 50 male and female finishers, so everything going according to plan, I expect to get one of those too.
Monday – Rest / Reset
Very standard Monday. Legs were feeling decent, and with a proper down week ahead, it felt right to keep things quiet.
Tuesday – 45 min Easy
The plan gave me a 30–60 minute range. All block long, my unwritten rule has been:
If there’s a range, I always run the top end.
So normally this would have meant 60 minutes.
But it is a down week, and there are only four scheduled runs. To keep my routine consistent, I’ll still add a fifth run on the weekend, so the “missing” 15 minutes will naturally end up as 30–45 minutes of extra running later.
So today I deliberately went shorter.
- Duration: 45 minutes
- Distance: 7.9 km
- Pace: 5:41/km
- Heart Rate: 139 bpm
Wednesday – 90 min Easy (Hot + Humid Grind)
After teasing with some cooler weather, the heat and humidity were back this monring. Super humid and warm again — 23°C and 96% humidity.
- Duration: 90 minutes
- Distance: 15.72 km
- Heart Rate: 144 bpm
Nothing to prove today. Just cruising at an honest, relaxed effort. had my ride-along friend today, which always makes it go quicker
Thursday – Session: 2 × (5 km of 1 min On / 1 min Off)
Had to hike some of the climbs because they were genuinely too steep to run. On the way back down, I could feel my quads getting smashed. A tough little run, definitely more work than the numbers suggest and not the prescribed easy run. I had hoped to head up the valley to the trails, but river crossings deterred me and forced me back out along the access road.
I changed the routine today and ran straight out the front gate instead of driving down to the paved river path. That meant wearing the New Balance 880s instead of the super-shoes — and honestly, they felt great.
The dirt trail along the river is uneven and soft in places, so I don’t wear my workout shoes on this route. That meant I had my daily trainers on for the session. I’ve been concerned about wearing my super shooes too much during marathon training. 2 sessions and a long run in super shoes means sometimes doing 50km out of 80km in super shoes each week, so I decided to leave them on the shelf this week. It felt surprisingly good, more responsive and better ground feel, I felt like I was pushing off the ground rather than against the soft foam of the SC Elites. Running straight out the door saves a lot of time compared to driving to and from the runftront path
Session:
2 sets of 5 km structured as 1 minute fast / 1 minute float.
- Duration: 51 minutes
- Distance: 9.93 km
- Heart Rate: 149 bpm
I was hitting 3:50/km to 3:40/km surprisingly easily and closed out with some 3:20/km reps
Notes
Felt sharp without forcing it. Exactly what a down-week workout should be.
Saturday – 40 min Easy (Oudomxay Hills Beatdown)
We were up in Oudomxay, and the terrain was wild — big climbs, big drops, and gradients that make easy running very difficult
- Duration: 40 minutes
- Distance: 6.8 km
- Elevation Gain: ~200 m
- Pace: 5:52/km (including hiking)
Sunday – Scheduled 20 km Easy → Skipped
I actually woke up early, got dressed, and went through the whole pre-run routine… and then pulled the pin. Legs were still beat up from Saturday’s hills, and the idea of running 20 km on that terrain, getting 600m of elevation, didn’t feel smart. That’s 3 weeks’ worth of elevation in a single run based on my usual training
This is supposed to be a recovery week. Forcing a long run on tired legs would have dug a hole heading into the peak weeks.
Plus, we had a busy day planned with the family, so I took the extra rest day.
Not ideal to skip a long run — but in this context?
I’m justifying it to myself and hoping that it was the smart thing to do, and pays off this week
Weekly Summary
A real down week at last. Lower volume, one sharp but controlled session, a hilly adventure run, and one deliberate rest day to protect the coming peak block. Not feeling fresh also makes me wonder if some of that is down to running the thrusday session in my daily trainers.
The goal now is to hit next week fresh — because the biggest long run of the entire plan is coming up, and everything points towards that being one of the key sessions of this marathon block.
Total Runs: 4
Distance: 40 km