Calorie range was wide — 1,655 kcal Monday (a low day after Sunday rest) up to 3,020 kcal Wednesday. The Monday number is the one to flag: a 10 km easy run on 1,655 kcal puts you ~600 kcal in the hole and likely undermines Tuesday's tempo session.
Protein averaged 190g per day with a peak of 279g on Thursday's hills day — strong support for the strength block. Saturday's long run was fuelled at 2,676 kcal with 173g protein, appropriate for a 2h40 effort.
Hydration is the gap. Logged water intake averaged ~580g/day across the week, with five of seven days under 500g. Even accounting for water in food and untracked beverages, that's lean for a 7+ hour training week with a 2h40 long run. Consider adding a tracked logging habit for water — or default to a litre per session as a floor.
Zero alcohol, zero caffeine all seven days.
Every prescribed session executed: tempo Tuesday, hills Thursday, long run Saturday, two strength sessions. First week of the build with both strength sessions in the bank. Bodyweight templates worked exactly as designed — no gym, no excuses, sessions completed.
Six runs, average HR 151 across the week. The tempo Tuesday hit max 171 (Z3 working), then settled back into Z2 for the rest of the week. Saturday's 25 km at HR 151 over 2h40 means you finished with reserves — that's exactly the controlled aerobic effort BASE phase is built around. You're running the prescription, not the legs.
68.8 km against 50 to 55 km target — third consecutive week ~25% over plan. Vert came in at 1,734m against an 800m target, more than double, with Thursday's 740m hills session leading the way. The good news: HR was controlled, sessions were completed, no compensation injuries. The watch-out: BUILD 1 (Weeks 5 to 8) is going to layer on tempo + progression work, and the body is going to need this deload to absorb everything that came in during the BASE block.
Week 4 is the BASE deload. Plan target: 35 to 40 km, 1.5h long run, 400m vert, 2x strength. Volume cuts ~40% off Week 3, vert cuts ~75%, but strength stays intact. No tempo this week — let the legs absorb the quality from Week 3. Still travelling, so all strength is bodyweight (FatDog-BW-Wed and FatDog-BW-Fri). The job is to arrive at BUILD 1 fresh.
Base (Weeks 1 to 4): Re-establish aerobic base, introduce 2x strength per week, moderate volume ramp. Deload at Week 4.
Build 1 (Weeks 5 to 8): Increase run volume, introduce tempo and progression runs, vertical progression. Deload at Week 8.
Build 2 / Peak (Weeks 9 to 12): Highest volume and vert. Longest training runs (7 to 8 hours). Strength at maintenance. Deload at Week 12.
Specificity (Weeks 13 to 15): Mountain-specific long efforts, back-to-back weekends, race simulation. Strength tapers to 1x.
Taper (Weeks 16 to 17): Volume cut, maintain sharpness. Strength drops to 0x at Week 17.
Race Week (Week 18): August 7 to 9, 2026. Manning Park. 120 miles. 29,000 feet vertical.