33M, 5'7", 55kg | Anchor race: Bath Half Marathon, Sun 14 Mar 2027 | 30-week runway from Mon 17 Aug 2026 | Fixed days: Mon+Tue (buggy, solo dad), Fri (buggy, FitFam long run club), Sun (buggy, Bath Fit Fam family run)
Buggy days now show easy pace + bold actual buggy-adjusted pace. Mobility routine is listed (tap to expand). Strides removed from Tuesday, not safe/practical behind a buggy. Updated 27 Aug 2026: Friday/Sunday distances and the volume table now reflect real Strava data (Fri ~19km typical, not 15km; Sun ~15km typical, not 10km), shown as low–high ranges rather than single numbers. Also flagged: Dan expects to return to work around mid-September, Mon/Tue buggy runs are likely to get harder to fit in from then, with Wed/Thu (nursery days) as possible replacements. His new weekly running pattern isn’t decided yet, so treat the day-by-day template from that point as provisional until it’s revisited. Updated 1 Sep 2026: Quality sessions that mix two efforts (fartlek, hills, strides, progression, tempo/threshold, HM-pace) now show both paces – easy pace for the warm-up/cool-down/recovery portion, plus (in bold) the actual target pace for the hard portion – instead of just one easy-pace number. Added a Moderate/steady zone (3:50–4:10/km) for progression "moderate effort" finishes, which previously had no defined pace. Updated 2 Sep 2026: fartlek surges were wrongly filed under that same Moderate/steady zone – based on Dan running the wk3 fartlek at 5:30/mi on (3:25/km, right on the edge by the last rep) vs 6:30/mi off, surges now use a new Surge (fartlek pickup) zone, 3:20–3:38/km, threshold/interval-adjacent rather than marathon-adjacent. Checked the easy pace zone against a VDOT-based formula from his PBs – it holds up, so left unchanged. Updated 2 Sep 2026 (later): whole pace table rebuilt around a 16:00 5k goal (VDOT ~64.6) rather than current PBs, per Dan’s request – a step ahead of current fitness, not a current-fitness correction. Every fitness-based zone shifted faster: Easy 4:02–4:26/km, Moderate/steady 3:38–3:57/km, Surge 3:10–3:27/km, Threshold 3:24–3:31/km, 10k-effort 3:14–3:21/km, 5k-effort 3:08–3:18/km, HM race-pace 3:27–3:33/km, plus buggy/family variants by the same shift. FitFam club paces (~4:58/km, ~6:00/km) are unchanged – set by the group, not Dan’s fitness. These are goal-ahead-of-fitness paces now, not proven-current paces – worth watching for early fatigue given minimal strength/mobility work.
Distances below are typical - real weeks vary. Since the Bath move, Friday FitFam has run 18–20km (not the 15km originally assumed) and Sunday Bath Fit Fam 12–19km (not 10km) - both corrected here. The Overview tab’s volume table shows a realistic low–high range per week, not just this single typical number.
| Day | Session | Distance | Pace | Time | Intensity |
|---|
Updated 2 Sep 2026: rebuilt around a 16:00 5k goal, not current PBs (see Recent updates above). Originally from actual race times - 10k PB 35:01 (5:38/mile · 3:30/km), Half PB 1:18:39 (6:00/mile · 3:44/km) - more reliable than unverified watch HR zones - now shifted faster by the same method to target a 16:00 5k. Buggy days show two numbers: the underlying easy pace, and (in bold) the pace you'll actually run pushing the buggy. Sessions with a harder component (fartlek, hills, strides, tempo, threshold, HM-pace) now show two numbers the same way: the easy pace for the warm-up/cool-down/recovery portion, and (in bold) the actual target pace for the hard part.
| Zone | min/km | min/mile | Used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easy / recovery | 4:02–4:26 | 6:30–7:08 | Mon, Tue underlying zone; default easy running |
| Buggy-adjusted easy | 4:21–5:04 | 7:00–8:09 | Actual Mon/Tue pace pushing the buggy (+20–40s/km) |
| Family easy (Sun) | 4:07–4:35 | 6:37–7:23 | Underlying zone for the Sunday family run |
| Buggy-adjusted family | 4:26–5:14 | 7:08–8:25 | Actual Sunday pace pushing the buggy |
| FitFam long run (Fri, fast group) | ~4:58 | ~8:00 | Friday club run - slower than your own easy zone on purpose |
| FitFam slow group (Fri, cutback wks) | ~6:00 | ~9:39 | Lighter Friday option, 10km not 15km |
| Moderate / steady | 3:38–3:57 | 5:52–6:22 | Progression-run "moderate effort" segments (continuous, sustained) |
| Surge (fartlek pickup) | 3:10–3:27 | 5:06–5:33 | Fartlek surges (short, repeated pickups - threshold/interval-adjacent, not just "moderate") |
| Threshold / tempo | 3:24–3:31 | 5:29–5:39 | HM-build Thu sessions, some Sat tempo runs |
| 10k-effort (longer reps) | 3:14–3:21 | 5:12–5:24 | Sharpening-phase Thu, building into 5k-effort (e.g. 1200m reps) |
| 5k-effort intervals | 3:08–3:18 | 5:03–5:18 | Sharpening-phase Thu |
| HM race-pace | 3:27–3:33 | 5:33–5:42 | Sat progression runs, HM-build phase |
| Hill sprints | max/near-max, not pace | Full recovery walk-down between reps | |
| Strides | fast/relaxed, not pace | ~15–20s efforts, full recovery jog between | |
| Phase | Weeks | Dates | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0. Fitness check | - | Wed 26 Aug 2026 | Odd Down 5k - fixed, not tapered for |
| 1. Aerobic base | 1–9 | 17 Aug – 18 Oct 2026 | Build volume, varied Thu quality, start mobility routine |
| 2. 5k sharpening | 10–14 | 19 Oct – 22 Nov 2026 | Quality shifts to 5k-pace/VO2max, taper into race week |
| 5k PB attempt - Sat 21 Nov 2026, Five Arches parkrun (skip FitFam that Friday) | |||
| 3. Recovery/maintenance | 15–20 | 23 Nov 2026 – 3 Jan 2027 | Deliberately low-key over Christmas/New Year |
| 4. HM-specific build | 21–28 | 4 Jan – 28 Feb 2027 | Threshold + HM-pace, peak volume |
| 5. Taper | 29–30 | 1 Mar – 14 Mar 2027 | Two-week taper - skip FitFam race week |
| Race - Sun 14 Mar 2027, Bath Half Marathon | |||
| Wk | Week starting | km (typical) | mi (typical) | Phase | Note |
|---|
| Day | Slot |
|---|---|
| FixedMon | Buggy run, easy |
| FixedTue | Buggy run, easy (no strides - not practical behind a buggy) |
| Wed | Rest + mobility routine (tap to expand in This Week) |
| Thu | Quality #1 varies by phase & week, + mobility |
| FixedFri | Long run - FitFam club, buggy (15km fast group / 10km slow group cutback / skipped race weeks) |
| Sat | Quality #2 varies by phase & week |
| FixedSun | Buggy run, short family run - Bath Fit Fam |
Sources: Five Arches course · Five Arches records · Bath Skyline records · Fastest UK parkruns
A mile is 1.60934km. The table runs from full-sprint effort down to Mrs D's easy pace (~11:00/mile), in 10-second-per-km steps, with your own training zones flagged along the way.
1.60934 is close enough to 8/5 that you can do this in your head to within a second or two. Take your pace in seconds:
Easiest anchor to memorise: 5:00/km ≈ 8:00/mile - a clean round-number pair (5×1.6=8 exactly). From there, scale: every 10 sec/km faster or slower shifts the mile pace by about 16 sec in the same direction. E.g. 4:20/km is 40s faster than the anchor, so mile pace ≈ 8:00 − 64s = 6:56 (table says 6:58 - near enough to sanity-check a watch split, not to replace it).
Second anchor worth knowing: Mrs D's 11:00/mile ≈ 6:50/km - so if you're running together and want to check you're not dragging her too fast, 6:50–7:00/km on your watch is roughly her pace.
| min/km | min/mile | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| 2:30 | 4:01 | Sprint / hill-sprint effort |
| 2:40 | 4:17 | |
| 2:50 | 4:34 | |
| 3:00 | 4:50 | |
| 3:10 | 5:06 | |
| 3:20 | 5:22 | Your 5k-effort zone (~3:18–3:28) |
| 3:30 | 5:38 | |
| 3:40 | 5:54 | Threshold & HM race-pace zone (~3:35–3:44) |
| 3:50 | 6:10 | |
| 4:00 | 6:26 | |
| 4:10 | 6:42 | |
| 4:20 | 6:58 | Your easy/recovery zone (4:15–4:40) |
| 4:30 | 7:15 | |
| 4:40 | 7:31 | Buggy-adjusted easy (top end) |
| 4:50 | 7:47 | |
| 5:00 | 8:03 | FitFam long run, fast group (~4:58) |
| 5:10 | 8:19 | |
| 5:20 | 8:35 | Buggy-adjusted easy (bottom end) |
| 5:30 | 8:51 | |
| 5:40 | 9:07 | |
| 5:50 | 9:23 | |
| 6:00 | 9:39 | FitFam slow group / cutback Fridays (~6:00) |
| 6:10 | 9:55 | |
| 6:20 | 10:12 | |
| 6:30 | 10:28 | |
| 6:40 | 10:44 | |
| 6:50 | 11:00 | Wife's easy pace - 11:00/mile |
Table uses the exact factor (1.60934); the mental ×1.6 shortcut can drift a couple of seconds at the extremes - fine for pacing decisions, not for splitting hairs.
Two short sessions most weeks, one on Wednesday (rest day) and one straight after Thursday's quality run, plus a 5 minute fallback for when a full session won't fit. No gym needed, just a mat and some floor space. Each exercise links to a short demo video since some of these will be new to you; if anything feels sharp or painful rather than just working, stop and check with a physio.
If a full session won't fit, this covers the highest-value bit: legs and hips loosened off.
These are general demonstration videos, not medical advice.