Readiness
Push. Readiness 71, sleep 74 — mid-range, nothing alarming. HRV 98ms is just under your 1-SD floor (~102), but you're day 23/26, late luteal (4 days to period) — this dip is expected progesterone-driven physiology, not a red flag. RHR 46 is high end of your normal (40–50), consistent with late luteal too. Train as planned.
Today's Run
5 km Recovery @ 6:00–6:30/km. Keep this genuinely easy — conversational, nasal-breathing effort. Your last three "easy" runs (Tue LT day aside) have all run 15–20+ bpm hot relative to intent (Thu's "recovery" 5 km came in at 5:10/km, HR 170 — that's threshold effort, not recovery). Today's job is to actually recover before tomorrow's 18 km long run, not add more load. No structure needed — hit Run and go, and if pace wants to creep under 6:00/km, physically slow down.
No lift today — next lift Mon 2026-09-21.
Watch For
1. HR drift on easy days — several recent "easy/recovery" runs have posted HR 150–171. Could be heat, could be accumulating fatigue from a heavy week (LT + fast Thursday). Today's true recovery pace + HR will tell you which.
2. Late-luteal heaviness may make today feel harder than the pace suggests — that's expected, not overtraining. Push through, but genuinely cap effort since tomorrow's long run (18 km) is the priority session.
Nutrition
Late luteal — lean into protein (130 g floor) and carb volume tonight to fuel tomorrow's 18 km long run; hydrate/electrolytes given Houston heat on both runs.