Observing a day

It's ANZAC day, which I do observe chiefly in my thoughts although very occasionally at a dawn service. This year I observe it in my usual way with a run with 45 days to go to the Kirikiri Marathon. Statutory holidays are interesting "islands" within a training block, like a little island in a river. A normal week would have its usual pattern of training, which for me usually is a rest day on Mondays, Tuesday to Thursday with a range of runs, Friday with a run if I'm in peak week, then two long runs of different lengths on the weekend. Workdays have a capping effect on distance and effort, with 15km being the maximum unless waking up super-early or leaving home late. But the "mid-week" medium-long run is really useful and fortunately that is what statutory holidays like ANZAC day can bring.

My ANZAC day running last year was a fizzer. The year had started pretty much the same as this year with consistent strong running and I had great hopes. But on the 22 April 2023, I ran with my friend Aaron J and he introduced me to a route called the Concrete Monster, which ascends steeply into the Waitākere hills. He is a natural runner of the kind that I'll never be - and when running with him I'm always trailing a bit behind and usually running faster than I would normally. The run itself is something I'm still pretty proud of, but the next day my quad was tight and sore and it took time to figure out that it was just a tight knot and not an injury. ANZAC day was thus a quite day at home in a week that I should be beginning my peak period of training.

It's 45 days to go to the Kirikiriroa Marathon so basically there are three weeks of "peak" training to go and then three weeks of taper. In 2023, Kirikiriroa was my sixth official marathon but my first since 2019, and the first time I had run that particular event. Training had been solid up to the Concrete Monster, but that quad issue, then an ankle niggle a few weeks later compromised the peak weeks. In the end I ran 3:34. I'd felt like a million dollars for 30km and then re-experienced "the Wall" that all marathon runners know so well with a struggle home in the last 12.2km. My target had been 3:28-3:30 but I shot well over.

If my recent hamstring issue was a reminder of anything it is that strength and conditioning are always going to be useful not just for the race, but more importantly for managing my way through the peak weeks without issue. None of the niggles in the last year and a half have been injuries fortunately but every niggle that requires days of rest and recovery takes away the momentum.

My run today was a confidence booster. 24km with 10km at what I hope will be my marathon pace of 4:30/km. If I can achieve this, I'll have a sub 3:10 marathon PB and a foundation to look at the benchmark 3 hour mark on a flatter, faster route. Even without the coming weeks, training calculators with my recent Waterfront and Parkrun performances, I should already be at 3:10 fitness, so I think aiming for it would become a conservative goal and give me the chance to check myself after the last hills and push the time lower if I feel I can.

I have the opportunity to put another half marathon race into my schedule as a time trial three weeks before the marathon. It's the Huntly Half, a famously fast run, which I haven't done before. It can be done and returned from in a morning and, provided the peak weeks go well, will be a great barometer for what I should be able to achieve in Kirikiriroa. I am pretty confident I should be able to better my Waterfront time if all things are smooth with training if I did it. I would aim for 1:26-1:27.

Anyway, just have to do the strength and conditioning, avoid rakes and uneven pavement, Covid, cyclonic weather conditions etc. and hope for the best!