The plan

1. Easy means easy: 6:20-6:50/km, conversational, HR under 150, every single time. These runs exist to add aerobic time — the moment they turn into moderate running they start eating Thursday's session instead of feeding it.
2. Time, not distance. Thirty minutes is thirty minutes whether it is 4.4 km or 5.0. Run the route out-and-back and turn at half time; chasing a distance at lunch is how an easy run becomes a tempo.
3. Never the day before the long run, and never the day after football. Wednesday is the day; Tuesday's easy slot is the other lunchtime run, and Friday is not a lunch-run day in this block.
4. One a week, and never more in this block. Weekly volume is capped at roughly 1.3× the biggest week on record (25.6 km); the half-marathon build in the new year is where more belongs.
5. They are the first thing to drop when tired, sore, or with a niggle open — but they are not optional in the sense the evening recovery jog is. From November they are the week's daylight running.
6. Flat and familiar. Lunchtime is not the moment to explore, and descents are what the knee objects to.

Easy. Terrain doesn't matter, effort does. On a hilly route your raw pace will look slow — that is correct, not a bad day.

Quality. Run quality sessions on the FLATTEST route you have. Your routes now average ~14 m of climb per km — nearly three times your historical average — and goal pace on that terrain is a different, much harder session than the one written.

Long. Hills are welcome here, but CHECK THE DESCENT PROFILE before setting off, not just distance and pace. The week-2 long run carried 21.6 m/km — double what was prescribed — and put its steepest descent (~11%) at 8.9 km, which is where the lateral knee pain started. Steep downhill at the end of a long run is the single worst placement for it. Otherwise judge effort by grade-adjusted pace, not raw pace: on your usual terrain that is 10-15 s/km.

Recovery. Flat and short. Nothing to prove here.

1. Choose exactly one workout from each required slot per week.
2. Choose at most one quality workout per week.
3. Optional recovery run is only added when recovering well.
4. Keep at least one easy or rest day between quality and long sessions when possible.
5. If unusually fatigued or sore, choose the easiest option or rest.
6. Sunday football IS that week's quality session: 60 minutes on a quarter pitch as a winger, 20-30 near-length efforts — that is a repeated-sprint workout by any other name. Never run 400s, strides or a time trial in the same week; if you want a second quality run, make it the tempo or threshold option, which is the one thing football does not train.
7. Swimming counts as the optional recovery session: easy, unmeasured, no impact. It never replaces a required running slot — aerobic fitness in the water does not transfer to running legs.
8. Every week is Tue easy (at lunch on the flat route when the day allows) · Wed lunch run, plus an optional evening swim · Thu quality · Sat long in the morning · Sun evening football. Monday and Friday are off. Nothing runs on Sunday: the day is the game.
9. Run Saturday's long run in the MORNING. Football is Sunday evening, so an early Saturday leaves ~36 hours before 20-30 near-max efforts instead of ~30 — sprinting is where hamstrings go, and the recovery window is the cheapest protection available.
10. Lunch run (Wednesday) is volume, not a session: 30-35 minutes at 6:20-6:50, HR under 150, always easy, one a week, never the day before the long run. Tuesday's easy slot is best run at lunch too — the same flat route, the same cap. From November these two are the only daylight running in the week.

INJURY WEEK. Lateral right knee pain on descent (plus right hip and groin) stopped the week-2 long run at 8.9 km. No running before Wednesday at the earliest, and the first run back is a gate, not a session: 4 km flat, and any return of the same outer-knee sensation ends it on the spot. No descents at all this week — downhill is what provoked it, and flat running is usually tolerable long before hills are. Week 2 still banked 26.4 km, the biggest week on record, so there is nothing to make up.

Down week — absorb the last block. Quality dose drops back to the phase-opening session; volume drops with it.

Threshold phase opens. No benchmark this week — the 23:53 race already cleared the old 24:30 bar, so the quality slot is football (Sunday) and, if the legs are clean, one tempo.

Down week with the one test that matters: the 10K time trial banks sub-50 while half the block is still ahead. The long run is short and there is no lunch run — the TT is the week.

Benchmark week — the 5K time trial (≤ 23:00) is the recommended quality session. Time-trial week: the long run is short on purpose — the test is the week.

Down week — absorb the last block. Quality dose drops back to the phase-opening session; volume drops with it.

Benchmark week — the 5K time trial (≤ 22:30) is the recommended quality session. Time-trial week: the long run is short on purpose — the test is the week.

Goal-attempt window. Nothing is booked — run the 10K attempt whenever this week suits, solo or in any local race. If week 14 said 'not yet', run it at 4:35/km as a stepping stone and roll into a short next block.