Return test · 4 km flat easy

Find out whether the leg is ready, at the smallest possible cost

Time~27m

Distance4.0 km

DifficultyEasy

Wednesday at the earliest — 72 hours minimum from Sunday. Genuinely flat: the valley floor, not the usual rolling route. 6:15/km or slower; pace is irrelevant here. The rule is binary — the first hint of the same lateral knee pain and you walk home, no negotiating with it. Pain-free earns the next run. Pain means rest and a physio call, not a second attempt.

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

Calibrated by your 5K best effort (23:55 on 08-27, measured by Strava): easy 6:12–6:52 · long 6:02–6:37 /km — trust these over the printed bands.

Ground you knowwithin reach of 4.0 km

4.0 km · rolling, 12 m/km

steepest descent −14 m in km 4 · run once · best 6:14/km

3.8 km · flat, 4 m/km

steepest descent −8 m in km 1 · run once · best 5:47/km

3.6 km · rolling, 12 m/km

steepest descent −23 m in km 2 · run 2× · best 4:50/km

5.0 km · rolling, 10 m/km

steepest descent −7 m in km 5 · run once · best 4:48/km

Instructions

Read

1Walk 5 minutes first. If anything aches while walking, don't run.

Easy

24 km flat, easy6:15–7:00 /km

Read

3Stop at the first sign of the lateral knee pain. Walking home is a pass, not a failure.