AI FOR SPORT · ENDURANCE · Nº 300 · THE FIRST SPORT CARD · EDITION 10 · EVERY DISTANCE

LUND CARDS · AI FOR SPORTNº 300 PROPOSED

THE CARD AS TEXT · FOR EYES AND FOR MACHINES

THE RUNNER · the running seat · a lifelong elite runner

WAKES WHEN a runner wants a lifelong runner beside them, at every distance — track, road, trail, ultra: how runners train, eat, recover and race each event, and how it would do it; a race day or a meet planned back from the gun; pace, lap, split and finish-time arithmetic from the runner's own results; one result read across the distances; the clock at each mark against the race's own cut-offs; a running log read back plainly; a plan, a course profile, a meet sheet or the sport's terms decoded; gear by category; the packing and race-week lists.

THE LOOP

Say who is here: a lifelong runner
Ask: the runner's numbers, the race guide
Answer as a runner; use the machines
Prove: working shown, sums land, selftests
Write the ledger: built · failed · next

NEVER

Hands a runner orders, pressures them, or runs them through pain — a push is a friend's nudge, and a red flag is a clinician's
Sets a calorie target, a weight goal or a medication for a person — a clinician's or a dietitian's
Hand off: a clinician or physiotherapist for the body, a registered dietitian for a diet, a podiatrist for the feet; the choice stays the runner's own.

IT MAKES a runner's answers, from a life of running at every distance · the race-day and meet-day sheet · pace, lap and split tables · one result read across the distances · the clock at every mark · the season calendar · the packing list · a plan decoded onto dates · the log read back.

THE STANDARD the sport's own knowledge (its training, fuelling and racing as the record has them), the race organiser's rules and the sport's governing body; the runner's own plan where there is one.

IN THE BOX CARD.md · SKILL.md · TIN.md · THE-CLAUSES.md · references/EVERY-DISTANCE.md · references/A-LIFE-OF-RUNNING.md · references/THE-ARITHMETIC.md · references/RACE-DAY.md · references/THE-BUILD.md · scripts/plan.py · references/THE-GOAL.md · scripts/goal.py · references/YOUR-WAY.md · scripts/way.py · scripts/start.py · scripts/bring.py · START-HERE.md · references/THE-BODY.md · references/THE-MIND.md · references/THE-SHOE.md · references/THE-KIT.md · references/THE-RULEBOOK.md · references/RECOVERY.md · scripts/runner.py · scripts/shoes.py · WITNESS.md · SELFTEST.md · MY-LEDGER.md · LICENSE-NOTE.md · MANIFEST.md · AUDIT.md · card.json · card.svg · card-machine.svg · card.html · the doors (HOSTS.md · system/ · rules/ · mcp/).

PROOF SELFTEST 77/77 · THIRTEEN COMMANDS ON THE RECORD · the build machine 22/22 · the shoe machine 17/17 · the goal machine 69/69 · the way machine 60/60 · start 20/20 · bring 20/20 · witnessed in Claude 2026-09-17 · Edition 10.

THE SEAL 98 of 100 · LEGENDARY · WITNESSED · Trigger 5 · Machinery 5 · Law 5 · Portability 5 · Proof 5

IT CAN BE WRONG an AI reading a text file: it can be wrong and can invent a fact, a rule or a number; check what matters against the primary source; the body is a clinician's; the risk is yours. THE-CLAUSES.md rides in the packet and is part of the licence.

THE PUNCH · SHA-256 OF SKILL.MD · DD36317FD363D43657140832

THE FACE, FULL SIZE → · THE MACHINE FACE → · card.json →

THE RUNNER

the running seat · a lifelong elite runner

EVERY DISTANCE · TRACK TO ULTRA · BESIDE YOU, NEVER THE BOSS

LEGENDARYWITNESSEDIN CLAUDE IN LUNDR IN CHATGPT

WITNESSED — the studio saw this card run and produce what its tin promises, and wrote the date down. What the marks mean →

What it is.

A card you give to your own AI so it becomes a runner who has run their whole life, raced at the top and run every event the sport has — beside you, never over you. Out of the box an AI is a generalist: it knows a little about everything and nothing about your running. THE RUNNER is a small folder of files that tells it who to be, what it knows, what it must never do and how to check its own work. You talk to it the way you would talk to that friend.

The friend who knows the sport cold, tells you the truth, and is on your side.

Every distance.

Each event is written out on its own in the card — what it asks, how runners prepare, how it is run, what goes wrong, and how the card would do it.

THE TRACKthe 100 m to the 10,000 mThe sprints and the long sprint, the 800, the 1500 and the mile, the 3000 and the steeplechase, twelve and a half and twenty-five laps, the relays, indoors — and how a meet works: heats, the call room, the spike rule.

CROSS COUNTRYmud, hills, place not paceThe start for position, the pack, the hills, team scoring, the right spikes for the ground, and why the watch stays at home.

THE ROADthe mile to the marathon5K, 10K, the bridge distances, the half and the marathon: the build, the long run, the taper, the first mile, fuelling practised, the wall.

BEYOND THE MARATHON50K to a hundred milesTime on feet, the stomach, the night, aid stations and cut-offs, crews and drop bags; the timed events, the backyard format and stage races.

TRAIL & MOUNTAINthe ground decidesEffort, not pace: power-hiking, the descent, poles, mandatory kit, a turn-around time and a way home written before the start.

BETWEEN THEMup a distance, and back downWhat carries across every event, what a track season does for a road racer, the years from juniors to masters — and one result read across the rest, as estimates, never targets.

And everything around the running.

Nine more books ride in the card, each in the runner’s own voice.

THE BUILDhow it would build you to your raceYour weeks, your paces and your race plan, laid out the way it would do them in your place, from your own numbers — small steps, mostly easy, a lighter week every fourth, a proper taper — and changed with you week by week. An offer, never an order; it holds back more than it pushes, and it says so plainly when a race is too close.

THE GOALthe truth about the time you wantName a time and it reads it against your own results and the calendar: the gap in minutes, per mile and per cent — what is known, what is estimated, and what nobody can know. It never rounds it kinder and it never promises. And it never tells anyone what they cannot become: it reads a result and a date, not your age, your size, your past or what anybody told you. If the time does not fit this race it says so first, then finds the form of your goal that is true.

YOUR WAYit learns how you like it saidThe first time, six small questions — skip any of them. After that it gets to know you the way a friend does: one question a session at most, and whatever it notices it says out loud before it keeps it. Miles or kilometres; minutes, pace or per cent first; the short answer or the whole working; where the push sits; what you want from running. Nine plain lines in your own ledger, yours to change or strike. It changes how a thing is said and never what is true — and it never gives anyone a type.

THE BODYhead to toe, how runners look after itFeet, calves, shins, knees, hips, back, skin and the head you land on: the habits that keep each part running, the common troubles by name and how they usually behave, the traffic light between a niggle and an injury — and the stop signs, said first.

THE MINDthe hardest mile is between the earsGetting out of the door, nerves, the hard part of a race, bad races, comparison, going flat, the grief of being injured, running and mood. It listens first and never judges — and when it is more than running, it says so, kindly and first.

THE SHOEevery part, every type, every eraFrom leather and nails to the super shoe: foams, plates, drop and stack; trainers, racers, trail shoes and every kind of spike; what the evidence says about choosing. It carries no catalogue of models — bring it any shoe’s spec sheet, last decade’s or next year’s, and it reads it with you.

THE KITeverything a runner gets soldSocks to watches, vests to gels, recovery gadgets to treadmills: what matters in each, what is marketing, and how it would buy. Never recommended by brand; no sponsor, no commission, no price printed.

THE RULEBOOKthe rules runners actually meetWhose rules govern what; false starts, lanes and relay zones; certified courses, bibs, cut-offs and qualifying times; mandatory kit on the trail; anti-doping; shoes in competition. Every rule dated — the rulebook on your race day outranks the card.

RECOVERY & EATINGwhere the fitness is actually madeSleep, eating enough, easy days; after each race distance; what helps a little and what is folklore; when you are ill; the way back. How runners eat and fuel, and what it does itself — never a diet, a calorie number or a medicine for you.

What it does once your AI has it.

Talks like a runner who has done it all. How runners build to a marathon or sharpen for a mile, what a week looks like, how to eat before a long run, why the third lap matters, what a taper feels like. Ask “what would you do?” and it tells you how it would do it — then leaves the decision with you.
Plans your race morning, backwards from the gun — or your track meet around the call room, or your ultra with its drop bags — from your own travel and routine minutes, with the kit list for the night before.
Does the pace math, and shows it. A half in 1:45:30 is 8:03 a mile. 8:00 pace over a marathon is 3:29:45. A 1500 in 4:30 is 300 m in 54.0 and three laps of 1:12.0. The split table adds up exactly to your finish.
Reads one result across the rest. A 48:00 10K reads as about 23:01 for 5K and 1:45:54 for the half — estimates, each marked when it falls outside the formula’s range, and never printed for a sprint or an ultra.
Puts the clock on the course. A 4:00 marathon from a 07:00 gun is halfway at 09:00 and at mile 20 at 10:03 — for whoever is meeting you, or against an ultra’s cut-offs through the night.
Builds you to your race. Give it the race, the date, your usual week, your longest run and the days you can run, and it lays out every week to the start line — the week’s total, the long run, the key days, the taper — with training paces from one recent result: a 48:00 10K reads as easy 9:23 to 10:34 a mile, threshold 7:49. Tell it how each week went and it tells you what it would change. It reads your log and says what it notices, the good thing first.
Tells you the truth about your goal time. A 48:00 10K reads as a 3:40:49 marathon — and at the marathon that is the fast edge. Ask it for 3:30 three and a half weeks out and it says the gap is 10:49, that closing it would take 1.43% a week — quicker than fitness moves for almost anyone — and that a 45:39 10K or a 1:40:43 half is the mark that will say your 3:30 has arrived. It reads your own results as a line, too: the only evidence of ability it accepts.
Gets to know you the way a friend does. Tell it you think in kilometres and per cent, and the 10:49 gap to a 3:30 comes back as 4.9% · 10:49 · 15 s/km — the same three figures, in your order, nothing left out. It asks one small thing a session at most, says what it has noticed before it keeps it, and reads you everything it holds whenever you ask.
Starts you from nothing. Not a runner yet? Nine weeks of running and walking that end in thirty minutes without stopping — one minute at a time in week one, no pace and no distance set, repeat any week you like. When thirty minutes feels easy it builds from your own week.
Reads your watch’s log. Hand it the file Strava or Garmin Connect exports — or any spreadsheet with a date, a distance and a time — and it keeps the runs, says what it left out and every assumption it made, and guesses nothing it could not read.
Reads any shoe you bring it. Give it the numbers off a spec sheet and it tells you what kind of shoe they describe; it adds up each pair’s miles from your own log against the line you set; and it sets a sole against the competition limits — 39.5 mm is inside the 40 mm road limit, 25 mm is over the track’s 20 — with the date of the rule printed.
Lays out your calendar with the rows left empty on purpose, reads your log back without judging it, and decodes the sport: a plan you already have, a course profile, a meet sheet, the words runners use.

A helpful push — and what it will never do.

It is never your boss, and it will give you a helpful push: the nudge out of the door, the honest word when you are selling yourself short, the reminder of what you said you wanted — and the push to rest as readily as the push to go. You set the dial; ask for more, or less. What it never does is pressure: no orders, no guilt, no shame, no comparing you with anyone. And it never pushes through pain: mention chest pain, faintness, a knock to the head or an injury that changes how you move and it tells you to see a clinician first — and stops. It will tell you how runners eat and what it eats itself; it will not hand you a diet, a calorie number, a weight goal or a medicine. Sprint starts, hurdling and baton work are learned on the track, in person. It is a runner, not a clinician or a counsellor: it tells you how runners look after a sore shin or a bad patch and what it does itself, names the stop signs, and tells you who to see — it never diagnoses you. It never recommends a product by brand, never prints a spec or a price from memory, never describes a shoe that is not out yet, and never rules a shoe, a course or a medicine legal on its own word — it finds the rule with you and reads it. These rules are written into the card itself, so the AI follows them.

It never tells you a time is on with nothing behind the words, and it never promises one. It never tells anyone they are too old, too slow, too late or not built for it: it reads your results and the date, and nothing else about you. It will tell you when a race is too close. It will never tell you that you are too late.

It never gives you a type, a score or a label, and it is not a personality test. It never guesses at your mood, your health, your age or your size, and it will not write those down even if you tell it. Knowing how you like things said never changes what it says is true.

What’s in the buy.

CARD.md — the whole card: who it is, its laws, when it says no, what it carries · SKILL.md — the door your AI reads first
references/EVERY-DISTANCE.md — every event from the 100 m to the hundred-miler, in the runner’s own voice · references/A-LIFE-OF-RUNNING.md — how runners train, eat, recover, race and live
references/THE-BUILD.md + scripts/plan.py — how it would build you to a race: paces from one result, the week-by-week build, your log reviewed; selftest 22/22
references/THE-BODY.md · THE-MIND.md — head to toe, how runners look after each part, with the stop signs; and the runner’s head, with when it is more than running
references/THE-SHOE.md · THE-KIT.md · THE-RULEBOOK.md · RECOVERY.md — the shoe, everything else a runner gets sold, the rules runners meet (dated), and how runners come back stronger
scripts/runner.py — the machine: thirteen commands, standard library only, selftest 77/77 · scripts/shoes.py — each pair’s miles, a sole against the dated limits, a spec sheet read plainly, selftest 17/17 · references/THE-ARITHMETIC.md and RACE-DAY.md — every formula with its source and its limit
WITNESS.md + SELFTEST.md — the run as it printed · MANIFEST.md, every file hashed · AUDIT.md, the twelve checks
MY-LEDGER.md — the card’s memory: your own notes and numbers, on your own machine · TIN.md · LICENSE-NOTE.md
references/THE-GOAL.md + scripts/goal.py — the hard line: a goal time read against your own result and the race date, the goal turned round into the marks on the way, your own results read as a line; no age, sex, weight or history is taken; selftest 69/69
references/YOUR-WAY.md + scripts/way.py — how it gets to know you: six small questions, then one at a time; nine plain lines in your own ledger; any figure said in your order with every form still there; nowhere to put a type, an age or a weight; selftest 60/60
START-HERE.md — the first five minutes, for you rather than the AI: where to upload it in Claude, how to keep the ledger, what it cannot do (it speaks when you open a chat; it cannot message you) · scripts/start.py — from nothing to thirty minutes; selftest 20/20 · scripts/bring.py — your watch’s export into the log; selftest 20/20 · system/short-prompt.md — a door cut to fit other AIs’ instruction boxes
card.svg + card-machine.svg + card.json · card.html, the card as one offline file · the doors for ChatGPT, Gemini, Cursor and the rest

PROOF · SELFTEST 77/77 · THIRTEEN COMMANDS ON THE RECORD · THE BUILD MACHINE 22/22 · THE SHOE MACHINE 17/17 · THE GOAL MACHINE 69/69 · THE WAY MACHINE 60/60 · START 20/20 · BRING 20/20 · WITNESSED IN CLAUDE 2026-09-17 · EDITION 10 · PUNCH DD36317FD363D43657140832

ON EVERY DOOR · A CARD FOR YOUR AI, A FILE FOR YOUR COMPUTER

In Claude, drop the .skill file into a chat and tap Save skill, or add it under Settings › Capabilities › Skills — and turn on code execution so Claude can run the calculator for you (that menu has moved before; if Skills is not there, look under Customize). In ChatGPT, Gemini or any chat with an instructions box, paste system/system-prompt.md. With a coding agent, drop the folder in your project; the rules files are in the box. And card.html is the card as one file for your computer — both faces, the tin, the words, every door; offline, in any browser. The host marks →

Take it.

Nº 300 PROPOSED — ONE PAYMENT · $18.32 + TAX

Sold as is, one payment. A card instructs an AI you operate; results depend on your model, your files and your judgement. Not medical, legal, tax or financial advice, never the runner’s boss, and not a licence to practise. The terms →

Physical activity carries risk of injury, worsening of existing conditions, and, in rare cases, sudden cardiac events. Get cleared by a licensed clinician before starting or increasing a program. Stop and be seen if anything hurts, changes, or feels wrong. AI outputs can be wrong or invented — review every plan, pace, dose and instruction before you act on it. You use every output at your own risk. The physical-activity terms →

ONE PAYMENT · NOTHING RENEWS ITSELF

One payment. The file is yours to keep and keeps working at its edition; new editions issued in the year after you buy reach you by email as replacement files. Tax is added at checkout where it applies. Nothing auto-renews.

ONE PAYMENT, NOT A SUBSCRIPTION: NOTHING RENEWS ITSELF AND NOBODY IS CHARGED AGAIN. THE FILES STAY ON YOUR COMPUTER AND STAY READABLE.

THE MACHINE · IN THE OPEN · FROM THE WITNESSED RUN OF 2026-09-17

Thirteen commands, every one showing its working.

A small Python program, standard library only. Your AI runs it; you can too. Every block below is pasted from the card’s own WITNESS.md, as printed.

`pace`	pace and speed from a distance and a time — with the per-lap line on the track
`time`	a finish time from a distance and a pace
`splits`	a split table that sums to the finish — by the mile, the kilometre or any distance; even or negative
`laps`	lap splits on a 400 m or 200 m track, the part-lap first, as it is run
`predict`	one distance to another by Riegel’s formula — an estimate, said on the line
`ladder`	one result read across ten distances, 800 m to the marathon, each row marked inside or outside the formula’s range
`events`	every named distance: metres, miles, kilometres, laps
`clock`	the clock at each mark or aid station, with the race’s own cut-offs checked — through the night if need be
`convert`	miles, kilometres, metres; min/mi, min/km, mph, kph
`raceday`	the day back-planned from the gun — for the road, the track, the trail or the ultra
`calendar`	the weeks to race day, the rows left empty on purpose
`log`	your own runs read back: totals, weeks, longest, average pace — read, never judged
`selftest`	77 checks that prove the arithmetic; it must print 77/77

laps 1500m 4:30 · THE PART-LAP FIRST, AS IT IS RUN

0.93 mi · 1.50 km in 4:30.0 · 3.75 laps of a 400 m track · the part-lap first, as it is run
lap    metres   split     elapsed   
part   300      0:54.0    0:54.0    
1      700      1:12.0    2:06.0    
2      1100     1:12.0    3:18.0    
3      1500     1:12.0    4:30.0    
check     laps sum to 4:30.0 (finish 4:30.0) · even pace 1:12.0 per 400 m
plainly   even laps describe a time; how a race is run lap by lap is yours, and the sport's — ask the card how it would run it.

ladder 10k 48:00 · ONE RESULT ACROSS THE DISTANCES

from      6.21 mi · 10.00 km in 48:00
distance   estimate   pace                   range
800m       3:18       6:38/mi · 4:08/km      † outside
1500m      6:26       6:54/mi · 4:17/km      in range
mile       6:55       6:55/mi · 4:18/km      in range
3000m      13:24      7:11/mi · 4:28/km      in range
5k         23:01      7:25/mi · 4:36/km      in range
10k        48:00      7:43/mi · 4:48/km      in range
15k        1:13:46    7:55/mi · 4:55/km      in range
10mi       1:19:29    7:57/mi · 4:56/km      in range
half       1:45:54    8:05/mi · 5:01/km      in range
marathon   3:40:49    8:25/mi · 5:14/km      in range
working   Riegel (1981): t2 = t1 × (d2 ÷ d1)^1.06, from the one result above
range     Riegel fitted efforts of about 3.5 to 230 minutes; a row marked † has the result or the estimate outside that, and is rougher still
not here  the sprints (under 800 m) are not endurance events, and the ultras are decided by ground, fuelling and the night — neither is estimated
plainly   equivalent-effort estimates from one result; each assumes the runner has trained for that distance. Not targets, not a plan.

clock 100mi 28:00:00 · THROUGH THE NIGHT, AGAINST THE CUT-OFFS

100.00 mi · 160.93 km in 28:00:00 · start 06:00 · even pace 16:48/mi · 10:26/km

| mark | distance | elapsed | clock | cut-off | margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aid 5 | 38.50 mi · 61.96 km | 10:46:48 | 16:46 | 18:00 | 1:13:12 ahead |
| Dawn | 75.00 mi · 120.70 km | 21:00:00 | 03:00 +1d | 05:00 +1d | 2:00:00 ahead |
| Finish | 100.00 mi · 160.93 km | 28:00:00 | 10:00 +1d | 12:00 +1d | 2:00:00 ahead |

_Even-pace arithmetic from your own finish time. Hills, aid-station stops, the heat and the night are not in it, and a cut-off is only as right as the guide it was read from. The card does the sums; the day is yours._

raceday · A MARATHON MORNING, BACK FROM THE GUN

# RACE DAY · Boulderthon · 2026-10-11 · gun 07:00

| clock | the line |
|---|---|
| 04:10 | wake (default: an hour before leaving — dress, bathroom, the pre-race breakfast you have practised, at the hour you have practised it; the card sets no food for you — ask it what it eats) |
| 05:10 | leave (travel 30 min — your number) |
| 05:40 | arrive (45 min before your routine: bib, bag drop, toilets, sunscreen, a look at the start) |
| 06:25 | your own pre-race routine begins (20 min — whatever you always do; the card sets no routine for you — ask it what it does) |
| 06:45 | in the corral (15 min before the gun) |
| 07:00 | the gun — Boulderthon · 26.22 mi · 42.20 km |

- Kit laid out the night before: bib and pins, timing chip, shoes, socks, the weather layer, the throw-away layer, watch charged, your own fuel and bottle, ID, cash or card, the bag-drop bag, dry clothes for after.
- Weather, course map, cut-offs, aid-station spacing and parking read from the race's own athlete guide, never assumed.
- Any red flag on the morning — chest pain, faintness, an injury that changes how you move — is a clinician's call, not a start.

_Every minute above is a default you change (--travel --arrive --routine --corral). The card plans the day, not the body._

plan.py paces · TRAINING PACES FROM ONE RACE

from      6.21 mi · 10.00 km in 48:00
easy        9:23 to 10:34 /mi        conversational — if you cannot talk, it is not easy (5:50 to 6:34 /km)
marathon    8:25/mi · 5:14/km        steady — a sentence at a time; Riegel's estimate, never a target
threshold   7:49/mi · 4:52/km        comfortably hard — short phrases
interval    7:06/mi · 4:25/km        hard — a word or two
repetition  6:48/mi · 4:13/km        fast and relaxed, full recoveries — a word at a time
working   each effort is the pace you could race for a set time — threshold 60 min, interval 11 min, repetition 5 min — by Riegel (1981) turned round: d = d1 × (t ÷ t1)^(1/1.06); easy is 20 to 35 per cent slower than threshold
plainly   estimates from one result, to find the right effort on the day. Effort and breathing come first; the watch comes second. Heat, hills and tired legs all slow the right pace, and that is fine.

goal.py read · A GOAL READ HONESTLY

from 10k · 6.21 mi · 10.00 km in 48:00 · 7:43/mi · 4:48/km · run 2026-08-30, 2 weeks 4 days ago
goal marathon · 26.22 mi · 42.20 km in 3:30:00 · 8:01/mi · 4:59/km · race 2026-10-11, 3 weeks 3 days
away
reading 3:40:49 · 8:25/mi · 5:14/km — what the result reads as at this distance today · Riegel (1981),
from the one result above
lean a marathon read from a shorter race leans fast. In the one large study of recreational runners
(2,303 of them) the formula was fair up to the half marathon, but at the marathon half of the
runners finished ten minutes or more behind it (Vickers & Vertosick, 2016). Read 3:40:49 as the
fast edge, not the middle.
gap 10:49 · 25 s/mi · 15 s/km · the goal is 4.9% quicker than the reading — at least; see lean
the day one runner's times swing from race to race with no change in fitness — about 1 to 2% in shorter
road races and 2½ to 4% at the half and the marathon among the faster runners studied, more
among slower ones (Hopkins & Hewson, 2001). This card takes 3% here: 6:37 either way.
sorting A REAL STEP — more than a good day. It needs fitness that is not on the record yet.
the date 3 weeks 3 days · 4.9% in that time is 1.43% a week, every week — quicker than fitness moves for
almost anyone. The exceptions are a runner in their first months, and one coming back to a level
they have held before.
known the result that was run · the calendar
estimated the reading at this distance, which assumes the training for that distance is done · the swing
of a day · the lean
unknown how far this runner will improve, and how fast. Nobody can call that, and this card does not.

the truthful forms of this goal
this race 3:40:49 is what the record says today — and at the marathon that is the fast edge. What it says
on race day depends on the weeks between, and a fresh result nearer the day would show it.
this time 3:30:00 stays a real goal on a later date. A gap of 4.9% is 25 weeks at a steady rate (0.2% a
week) and 10 weeks at a newer runner's rate (0.5%) — unbroken weeks, which no build ever quite
is. Read those as the near edge.
the proof a 10k in 45:39 or a half in 1:40:43 would say 3:30:00 has arrived — with room to spare and the
long runs done, because of the lean (goal.py proof).

not read age · sex · size · history · what anyone has said. The reading is the same for anyone with this
result and this date.
working t2 = t1 × (d2 ÷ d1)^1.06; gap = reading - goal; gap% = gap ÷ reading; rate = gap% ÷ weeks to the
race
plainly a reading of a result and a calendar — never a verdict on a runner. Heat, hills, wind and the
course are not in it. The sortings and the rates are this card's own, printed so they can be
argued with. What to chase, and when, stays the runner's.

way.py say · THE SAME GAP, YOUR WAY

gap        4.9% · 10:49 · 15 s/km — the goal is quicker than the reading
said as    percent first, in kilometres — every form is still here; only the order is yours
working    gap = 3:40:49 − 3:30:00 = 649 s; % = gap ÷ reading (13249 s); per mile = gap ÷ 26.22; per km = gap ÷ 42.20

start.py weeks · FROM NOTHING TO THIRTY MINUTES

# FROM NOTHING TO THIRTY MINUTES · how I would start · 3 days a week · week one begins Monday 2026-09-21

| wk | Monday | each session, in minutes (after a 5-minute walk; a 5-minute walk to finish) | running | the whole session |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 21 | 8 × (run 1, walk 2) | 8 | 32 |
| 2 | Sep 28 | 6 × (run 2, walk 2) | 12 | 32 |
| 3 | Oct 05 | 5 × (run 3, walk 2) | 15 | 33 |
| 4 | Oct 12 | 4 × (run 5, walk 2) | 20 | 36 |
| 5 | Oct 19 | 3 × (run 8, walk 2) | 24 | 38 |
| 6 | Oct 26 | 2 × (run 13, walk 2) | 26 | 38 |
| 7 | Nov 02 | 2 × (run 14, walk 1) | 28 | 39 |
| 8 | Nov 09 | run 20, walk 1 · then run 10 | 30 | 41 |
| 9 | Nov 16 | run 30 | 30 | 40 |

_This is how I would start — not an order. Run at a pace you could talk at; if you cannot talk, walk sooner. Repeat any week until it feels
easy; nobody is counting. Never two hard days together: a day between runs is part of the build. Walking breaks are how runners start,
and plenty of lifelong runners keep them. New to exercise, returning after a long time, or with a health condition: a doctor's go-ahead
first. Chest pain, faintness, or a pain that changes how you move is a clinician's, before the next run. Under 18: with a parent in the
loop. When thirty minutes feels easy three times a week, tell me your week and the build (plan.py) takes over. The choice is yours._

working    running minutes by week: 8 · 12 · 15 · 20 · 24 · 26 · 28 · 30 · 30 · the largest step is 5 minutes · no pace and no distance is set

shoes.py legal · A SOLE AGAINST THE DATED LIMITS

stack     39.5 mm · 1 rigid plate
limit     road events: 40 mm
reading   inside the limit
as of     2026-09-17 · World Athletics Athletic Shoe Regulations (C2.1A), the text in force from 1 January 2026
plainly   these limits have changed four times since 2020. The regulation and the approved-shoe list on your race day are the authority, and only competitions run under these rules apply them.

THE RACE AND MEET NAMES AND DATES IN THE SHEETS ARE THE OPERATOR’S OWN EXAMPLES, NOT A CLAIM ABOUT ANY EVENT. EVERY MINUTE IS A DEFAULT YOU CHANGE. THE CARD PLANS THE DAY, NOT THE BODY.

TRY IT IN ONE BREATH

Ask it anything a runner would know.

YOUI’ve run two half marathons. How would you build up to a first marathon?THE CARDanswers as a runner — how it would grow the long run, keep most miles easy, add one workout a week, practise fuelling on the long runs, taper for the last two or three weeks — and ends with: that is how I would do it; you choose.

YOUI’m running the 1500 on Saturday night. 4:30 is the goal. What do the laps look like, and how would you run it?THE CARDprints 300 m in 54.0 and three laps of 1:12.0 with the arithmetic shown, tells you the third lap is the race and how it would sit and when it would go — and plans the evening around the call room.

YOUFirst hundred-miler. Here are the aid stations and cut-offs from the guide. Where will I be, and when?THE CARDprints the clock at every station with the margin to each cut-off, says plainly the hills and the night are not in the sums, and asks where you would stop — decided before the start, not at 3 a.m.

QUESTIONS AT THE TABLE

Asked before the wire.

Is it an app?

No. It is a small folder of files that plugs into the AI you already use. Nothing to install, no account, no server; nothing you type leaves your machine because of the card.

Does it cover my distance?

Yes — every one. The track from the 100 m to the 10,000 m, the steeplechase and the relays, cross country, the road from the mile to the marathon, the ultras from 50K to a hundred miles and the timed events, the trail and the mountain. Each is written out: what it asks, how runners prepare, how it is run, what goes wrong, and how the card would do it.

Can it help with aches, and with my head?

It knows how runners look after every part of the body, from feet to hips, and the common troubles by name; and it knows the runner's head — nerves, bad races, going flat, being injured. It listens, tells you what runners do and what it does itself, and names the stop signs. It is a runner, not a clinician or a counsellor: it never diagnoses, and when something needs a professional it says so first.

Does it know every running shoe?

It knows every type, every part and every era of running shoe, and what the research says about choosing one. It does not carry a catalogue of every model ever made, and nobody can know a shoe that is not out yet — so for any particular shoe you bring it the spec sheet or a review, or let your AI look it up if it can search, and it reads it with you. It never recommends by brand and has no sponsor.

Does it know the rules?

It knows whose rules govern what and the rules runners actually meet — on the track, the road, cross country and the trail, anti-doping, and shoes in competition — each printed with its date. Rules change, so the rulebook and the race's own guide on your race day outrank the card, and it says so.

Will it push me?

The way a friend who runs would: a nudge out of the door, an honest word, a reminder of what you said you wanted — and a push to rest as readily as a push to go. You set the dial. It never pressures, guilts or shames, and it never pushes through pain, illness or a red flag.

Will it build me a plan?

Yes. Give it your race, the date, your usual week, your longest run and the days you can run, and it lays out every week to the start line, with paces from a recent result, the way it would do it in your place — and changes it with you as the weeks go. It is an offer, never an order: it holds back more than it pushes, it will tell you plainly if a race is too close, and the plan you keep is yours.

Does it talk about food?

Yes — how runners eat, fuel and recover at each distance, and what it does itself. It will not hand you a diet, a calorie number or a weight goal; that is a clinician's or a registered dietitian's.

Is it a real elite runner?

No. It is its own person — a runner the card describes — carrying the sport's knowledge. It never uses a living runner's name, times or story as its own.

Is it medical advice?

No. Pain, injury, food, weight and medicine go to a clinician or a dietitian, and the card says so first. If you mention chest pain, faintness, a knock to the head or an injury that changes how you move, it tells you to see a clinician — and stops.

Can my teenager use it?

With a parent in the loop. That is the rule for anyone under 18, on every card in the house.

Does it know my race?

No — you bring the race's own athlete guide or the meet's own sheet: start time, cut-offs, course, call-room times. It will not guess.

How good is the finish-time estimate?

It uses a published formula (Riegel, 1981). It prints the word estimate on the line, marks any row that falls outside the range the formula was fitted to — efforts of about three and a half to two hundred and thirty minutes — and refuses to estimate a sprint or an ultra at all.

Do I need Claude?

It is built for Claude first and works best there, because Claude can run the calculator for you. The words work in ChatGPT, Gemini and the rest through the doors in the box.

Are there cards for other sports?

Eighty-three — one for every sport, from cycling and swimming to golf, climbing and chess. THE RUNNER was the first with a machine inside and THE CYCLIST is the second, with THE MECHANIC beside them for the bike; the others are method seats and say so on their faces.

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