On Thursday, I crossed an interesting in my running, the "1000km for the year" mark. 1000km annually is not a big amount - for context, you can achieve it with just 20km a week and have two weeks to spare. In 2017, my first full year of running I was proud to break 2000km by New Years Eve. But with aspirations of being a 4000km a year runner, the 1000 mark is quite a critical one. In 2023 I crossed it almost right on pace, 1 April, which was a personal record. The years since 2017, 1000km has come up at a wide range of times:
2018 - 30 June
2019 - 6 April
2020 - 22 September
2021 - 27 June
2022 - Did not run 1000km
2023 - 1 April
2024 has so far been a wonderfully smooth start to the running year and on Thursday 21 March, I again crossed the 1000km for the year mark. Of course, it is an empty record if it doesn't confer any actual ability or potential with it. 2023's record did not translate into a faster marathon for me at either Kirikiriroa or North Shore, but the solid year that it was is probably the reason I performed well with my mile PB in December, Coatesville in February and the Hobsonville Point Parkrun.
Since my performance at Coatesville, I have been very solid. I shook off the niggles quickly and stacked three weeks of mileage over 100km and kept working on my speed. The Waterfront Half awaits me in two weeks where I hope to translate this work and training into something symbolic.
I've only done the Waterfront Half once before in 2019 (see here). It remains my Personal Best time for the half marathon distance, 1:29:58. That is a speed of 4:16/km, which though I more or less achieved that at Coatesville, daunts me numerically. Based on my fitness now though, I should be able to beat it by two minutes with an average pace of 4:10/km over 21.1km. It is one of the mentally difficult things about running that you are preparing for something you never do in training. Every peak performance is in effect a leap of faith. If I am to go under 1:28:00, from beginning to end I will need to be right on, or thereabouts, a pace I have not maintained for more than 10km at any time in my life. On my run yesterday, I ran a 3x2mile run - this is where within a long run there are three segments that are specifically faster for 2 miles - and the fastest of the three two mile segments, on the flattest part of the run, was run in just over 4:10 pace, and once it was done, I was pretty done, too. So 4:10/km stands in my mind as a challenge.
The secret sauce though is the taper. It is important for me mentally to think that the run yesterday was (a) a good run; (b) done while my body is still coming down from a fatiguing three big weeks; and that come race day, my body will be fresh and peaking, loaded with adrenalin and with fast people racing alongside me keeping me pegged to the target pace. That was the magic of Coatesville, too. In my head, a 1:30 on that course was not possible till I was on course, disbelieving my pace, and then still somehow managing to keep it going till (almost) the very end.
For perspective of what taper is looking like:
The week starting 26 February: 102km (6 days running)
The week starting 4 March: 114km (6 days running)
Last week: 115km (6 days running)
This week: 92km (5 days running)
Next week: 80km (5 days running)
Race week: 50km (4 days running), prior to the Sunday race day.
Fingers crossed that all works and my body rests well and is ready come 7 April.
