66 days to 21.1 km.

Easy runs are really easy. Most beginner injuries come from running easy days too fast, or from adding a fourth and fifth run before the legs are ready.

The plan adds at most 3 km of running to a week and 2 km to the long run. Do not add more on your own, however good you feel.

Never run through sharp or worsening pain. Take an extra rest day instead.

Missed a run? Skip it. Do not stack two hard days to catch up.

Lost a whole week to illness or travel? Repeat the week before it, then rejoin. Lost two? The plan drops the long run back for you; check the next checkpoint honestly.

Run-walk on long runs from week 3: run 9 min, walk 1. Walking early is what lets you run late.

Sleep is training. Aim for 7 to 8 hours, especially the night before long runs.

Your best continuous effort is a 39:05 5K, which is 7:49 per km. Projected to a half today that is about 3:00 to 3:10, and the cut-off is 3:00.

So the block has to buy 10 to 15 minutes. Four runs a week, a longer long run and December air usually do that for a new runner. The Nov 8 time trial is where we find out.

Easy runs: 8:40–9:15/km, a full minute slower than your 5K pace. Effort leads, the watch only checks. Easy means full sentences.

Long runs: 8:50–9:20/km, walk breaks counted in.

Race rhythm: 8:00–8:20/km on a 9:1 run-walk, about 2:50–2:55. Today that is close to your 5K effort; by December it has to feel steady.

Thursday is where extra energy goes. Weeks 2 to 5 finish with a kilometre by feel; from week 6 it becomes race rhythm. Every other run stays easy, by the talk test.

The pace guide is a ceiling on easy days, not a target. If your easy pace drifts faster while you can still talk in full sentences, that is fitness arriving.

The 7:30s in your log are moving-time paces. They leave out the pauses. A race clock does not.

October is humid. Go by the talk test and expect to be 20 to 40 seconds per km slower than the same effort in December. Start by 6 am and carry water past 45 minutes.

Pune on a December morning is cool. That is worth 15 to 25 seconds per km for free, and it will tempt a fast start.

Monday is the only rest day. Four runs are the plan: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday. Wednesday is the gym and Saturday is the pool.

The gym and the swim carry your extra appetite for work without extra impact. If life takes a day, those are the two to drop, and they never count as missed.

Want more? Add minutes in the pool or a set in the gym. Do not add running: the running grows 3 km a week on purpose.

A run done a day early or a day late still counts for that week.

A missed easy run is released, not rescheduled. The long run is the one to protect.

Sunday's long run never jumps more than 3 km past your longest run of the last four weeks.

In a week with fewer than two other runs, Sunday repeats instead of climbing. The ladder is earned midweek.

Legs in the gym go light from week 8, and race week is upper body and core only.

Three checkpoints decide the race plan: Oct 31 (is the base there), Nov 8 (is the pace there), Nov 29 (is the distance there).

The plan is honest about the cut-off. If the pace is not there by Nov 8, the 10K is the smarter race, and the plan will say so.

Thu to Sat — More carbs than usual, a normal amount of protein, no new foods.

Fri Dec 11 — Rest. Drink water through the day. Pack everything, including shoes you have already worn on long runs. Friday's sleep matters more than Saturday's.

Sat Dec 12 — 2 km shakeout, collect your bib, then feet up. Carb-heavy dinner early: rice, pasta or roti, nothing new or spicy. In bed by 9:30 pm.

Sun Dec 13 — Wake 3 hours before the start. A light breakfast you have eaten before long runs (banana, toast, oats) 2 to 3 hours before. Sip water, a final toilet stop, and get to the start early.

The cut-off — 3:00 for the half, which is 8:31 per km. The plan below finishes in about 2:52. That is 8 minutes of margin for crowds, toilets and a bad patch, so do not spend it at the aid stations.

Run-walk — Run 9 min, walk 1 min, from the first minute. Walk briskly. Do not wait until you are tired.

First 5 km — 8:15–8:20 per km. The cool air will make this feel too easy. That is the point. Let people pass you.

Km 5 to 16 — Settle at 8:05–8:10 per km, still able to talk in short sentences.

Fuel — Water at every aid station. A gel or something sugary at about km 6, 11 and 16.

Last 5 km — If you feel good, run a bit longer between walks. If not, keep the rhythm and finish.

Heat or pain — If you feel dizzy or a sharp pain, walk. A finish matters more than the time.

Nothing new — No new shoes, socks, gels or kit. Race in shoes that have done at least 50 km, including one long run.

before — walk 3 minutes, 10 leg swings each side, then make the first kilometre your easiest.

after — walk 2 minutes and stretch calves, quads and hamstrings.