T minus 6 days

And in the blink of an eye, I have arrived six days out from my first marathon for 2024, the Kirikiriroa Marathon, which has organically become my "A" race. For the non-athletes out there, an "A race" is the main target race that your training is geared to peak you for, but that is not to say it is the only race that is amongst your training. Huntly Half was a "B race" for me, a race that was to be an indicator of progress. There are even races that you could regard as "C races", which are half-workout / half- race. Coatesville Half for me was a clear C race. Waterfront was intended to be a B race, but due to the niggle turned into a C race. All the parkruns are C races for me because I haven't been specifically training for them, either. So despite I've been making pleasing personal bests in the 5km and half marathon in the first half of the year, none of those are with distance specific training with them as an A race target. I say it has organically become an A race because the scheduled formed around it late last year despite having booked it much earlier.

Last year was my first time running the Kirikiriroa course and I did it with a 3:28-3:30 target. However, my lead-in was pestered by niggles and then I paced it poorly and ended with 3:34. Looking back, the goal was probably about right: my 10km time trial indicated a 3:29 time, and a half marathon time trial indicated a 3:23 time. Looking back at the paces on race day, I did all the same silly mistakes. My pace for the first third was actually as if I were aiming for a 3:14 finish. I slowed down in the middle phases but was still on track for a 3:25 time at the 30km mark (but as I was slowing it was not going to be likely). All of that shows that I had gone out far too fast, well beyond even what the most optimistic target required. Suddenly I'm not as disappointed by my actual 3:34, though I was in a world of pain for the last 12 km, as I did hold on to a vaguely acceptable time after the earlier stupidity. 

This time round my Huntly Half effort indicates I should be able to run a 3:04 marathon which, based on my history, is almost unimaginably fast. It would be an 18 minute improvement on my personal best. But I feel like I've made a breakthrough in my running this year and things have been smoother than any other lead-in. Bearing in mind that Huntly was flat and Kirikiriroa has about 400m of ascents, I'll be strictly targeting 3:10 and if all goes well till the final 2.2km (after the last grinding slope) to make a clean finish below that. If things are more challenging, 3:15 would also be a pleasing B goal, which is still a 7 minute improvement on my best ever. 

Those are all the training factors for success but external factors are looking quite good. So far, the extended weather forecast is for a warmer morning than the frosty start last year. Also, last year I was a bit stressed and overworked during that period of the race, whereas this year with a new Senior Teacher, and just one school to manage, I am feeling less distracted. 

One final external factor is that I bought a new pair of carbon-plated racing shoes, also known as "super shoes". As mentioned before, these are de rigeur in racing these days. I found a sale pair of Saucony Endorphin Pro 3, which had recently been superseded by version 4 so the 3's were prime for the picking. I had only run 5km races and two half marathons (Coatesville and Waterfront) with my old pair of Saucony Endorphin Pro 2's so this would be my first marathon in super shoes. What effect could this have? Well, it could mean that my target pace will be easier to maintain and if I need to ramp up pace toward the end, it may not be as daunting as in normal training shoes. We'll see though.

Overall, for this last week of taper, I'm hoping just to feel fresh and able on the start line. My body, aside from a returning tightness in my right hamstring, feels great. My calf issue of a few weeks ago is all gone. I started my training with tight Achilles but there is no sign of them either. And the hip flexor discomfort I usually get at the later stages of a marathon haven't been evident in my training. This week will just being keeping everything pretty light, with lots of sleep and good nutrition. I have also decided to not have alcohol in this period, too, which will help with the resting and lowering any inflammation in my body. So all the controllable factors are in favour of a good run.