Week 9 - Sub-3 on 3 Runs: Return on Investment

Week 9 started a lot better than Week 8.

After the long run the previous weekend I expected the legs to feel a bit battered, but Tuesday’s run turned out to be surprisingly decent. Ten miles at a very easy pace, out in some proper spring sunshine, and the legs actually felt… okay. Not fresh, not bouncing but moving well enough to settle into a rhythm.

I’m putting that recovery down to my latest bit of high-performance kit: Temu sports massage trousers.

All about the budget over here. At this rate I should have called the project Sub-3 on £30 worth of kit when you factor in the Li-ning trainers.

Jokes aside, it was a good way to start the week. A relaxed aerobic run a couple of days after a heavy long run is often where you find out how resilient things are becoming. This one passed the test.

The rest of the week included three bike sessions. One of those was a mini FTP “sense check” stepping gradually through the zones to see if the perceived effort still lined up with where I think my fitness is. It mostly did. Interestingly, the harder efforts actually felt better than the tempo or sweet-spot riding, which is something I’ve noticed before. That middle ground can often feel the most uncomfortable.

Thursday’s run was short but purposeful: a collection of 15-second bursts essentially strides, with plenty of easy jogging in between. Just letting the legs turn over quickly and reminding the body what faster running feels like without carrying fatigue into the weekend.

Those sessions rarely look impressive on paper, but they’re incredibly useful for maintaining coordination and neuromuscular sharpness when you’re only running three times a week.

Sunday’s long run ended up being slightly reduced from what I’d originally planned. Saturday night ran late, Sunday morning was busy, and by the time I got out the door it made more sense to dial it back rather than force the mileage. In the end it came in just under two hours, about an hour and twenty-five minutes steady on my own before finishing the final twenty-five minutes running with the wife.

A nice way to round the week off.

Overall it was a decent week. Nothing spectacular, maybe a little low on volume compared to what I’d initially pencilled in, but solid enough to keep the momentum going.

One thing that crossed my mind quite a bit this week was return on investment in training.

I’ve always been fairly vocal about this. A lot of runners, a lot of plans - push athletes toward volume before they’ve actually maximised what they can get from their current training load. Volume is undeniably one of the strongest predictors of endurance performance. If we could all stack 100-mile weeks on top of 100-mile weeks without consequence, most people would improve significantly.

But most people can’t.

Mechanically, physically, or mentally.

Running huge mileage is stressful on the body and, if we’re honest, it’s pretty boring doing it every day. And you often see runners logging 60, 70, even 80 miles a week without seeing dramatic improvements in performance compared to what they might achieve off slightly less volume but fresher legs and better quality.

For me, the philosophy has always been simple: maximise what you can do with what you currently have.

Get the most out of your current structure first. When that plateaus and it will, then you look at the levers you can pull next. If you immediately jump to high volume, you’ve already used one of the biggest cards you have. The only direction left is more volume or more intensity, both of which carry bigger risks of fatigue and overtraining.

Personally, I’ve often managed to get into pretty decent shape off relatively modest running mileage. And that leaves room to grow later if I need it.

Some athletes thrive on lower mileage with sharper intensity. Others respond better to massive aerobic volume. The key is figuring out what actually moves the needle for you, rather than blindly copying what looks impressive on a spreadsheet.

As this project moves into its final stretch, I do think there’s probably a bit more volume I can nudge into the system. With only three runs a week, the shortest run probably shouldn’t be drifting much below the 60–70 minute mark where possible. That’s not about chasing mileage for the sake of it, it’s about gradually increasing tolerance and fatigue resistance.

But overall, looking back at where this started, the progress is obvious.

There are still a couple of important weeks ahead. The job now is simple: keep pressing the pedal, keep stacking sensible work, and see how much fitness can be built before the next checkpoint arrives.

The direction is still forward.

Si