The Monthly Milestone (April 2024) - Fuji 5 Lakes Conquered
The Monthly Milestone (April 2024) - Fuji 5 Lakes Conquered
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Greetings to My Readers
Things are still going strong since I started my Substack in August 2023.
Articles are uploaded on Wednesdays at 17:00 JST including monthly milestone posts to give a few updates at the beginning of each month. Articles will generally be archived two weeks after posting.
This month…
In this Monthly Milestone I’m going to be covering the following:
Substack Stats
Monthly Training Stats
Race/Event Results
Reading List (what I’m currently reading (including audiobooks))
Final Thoughts and Hopes for May
Substack Stats
I ended March with 530 subscribers and I am ending April with 583. This was a big jump on last month. Thank you to everyone who decided to come along on this journey.
Monthly Training Stats
Here are my training stats for April alongside the March stats for comparison:
April run total: 266.7 km (Mar: 301.0 km)
April walk total: 92.3 km (Mar: 58.7 km)
April run/walk total: 359.0 km (Mar: 359.7 km)
April elevation total: 2665 m (Mar: 2632 m)
April was a big race month. My goals for the month were to manage my training load to appropriately prepare myself to complete the ultramarathon I set out to do. I did a step down taper where I had a high volume running week followed by progressively lower volume weeks until the race. After the race I tried to regain my mobility through short runs but mostly walking activities. The walking volume was much higher this month than last month but the overall volume was pretty similar in terms of total distance covered and elevation gained.
My karate and iaidō training was somewhat disrupted in April due to external commitments and the dōjō being closed on some of the days. The new school year always disrupts the facilities I use. Also I was unable to move properly at the end of the month and ended up missing some training because of that. I trained as and when I could and did as much as I was able to do.
Race/Event results
I entered 3 parkruns (5 km races) during April.
April 6th : 20:59. 9th overall (3rd in age group) (Instagram pics here)
April 13th : 22:36. 18th overall (2nd in age group) (Instagram pics here)
April 27th: 23:03. 28th overall (3rd in age group) (Instagram pics here)
Last October I mentioned that I would be entering the Challenge Fuji 5 Lakes Ultramarathon. I’m in the process of putting together a race report for this, but just briefly, I managed to complete the 118 km with an official time of 14:37:53. (The time and distance on my watch was slightly different).
Before this run my previous personal best was 70km. I knew that adding another 48 km to my previous personal best would be tough, but I put in the hours training for it and it all paid off.
When I finished my first marathon in 2021 I was pretty messed up after. But every marathon since then has been easier and I’ve recovered a lot quicker. I’m hoping the same thing happens here because right after this ultra I was messed up. I did less than 1000 steps on the 22nd (breaking my streak of doing at least 10,000 steps every day for 546 consecutive days). Even now (more than a week after) I’m still suffering with pain in my legs and as a result I’ve needed to focus on recovery by doing mostly walking with the occasional short run.
Would I do this again? Hell yes.
Reading list
I finished 2 audiobooks in April:
Ciaphas Cain: Death or Glory by Sandy Mitchell
Ciaphas Cain: Duty Calls by Sandy Mitchell
I’m still chipping away at the Ciaphas Cain series. Death or Glory was a really enjoyable tale of Commissar Cain and Jurgen crash landing on a world and finding their way to safety by borrowing ork technology and collecting survivors like a snowball until they are able to turn the tide of the war. Duty calls sees Cain reunited with his inquisitor girlfriend to continue the storyline of a mysterious artifact brought up in Death or Glory (all while tyranids start eating the planet).
Both were great. I’m really enjoying this series.
April ongoing Audiobooks:
Cain’s Last Stand by Sandy Mitchell
I literally just started this book on the last day of the month. Not much to report right now. I’ll report back in the next milestone if I finish it. (I hope I will and I hope I enjoy it).
Final Thoughts and Hopes for May
I’ve brought up this quote a few times in my previous articles but I feel like it’s appropriate to bring it out one more time:
“We can make any obstacle as big or small as we like. It’s all in the way we frame it. Going into Leadville, I expected one long, hard, motherfucking day. But how many inconsequential days had I lived by then? Why not spend one single day doing something I’ll be proud of for the rest of my life?”
―David Goggins (from his book, Never Finished)
I applied for the Challenge Fuji 5 Lakes Ultramarathon (118 km) in October 2023. I was focused on this ultra even before applications opened and applied literally on opening day. This race was the dream. And now I’ve conquered it.
I love that David Goggins quote. I have lived a lot of inconsequential days in my life and I will 100% be proud of completing this ultramarathon for the rest of my life. But with my dream race completed, what’s next? This certainly isn’t the end. As David Goggins also says:
“There is no finish line” - David Goggins
Just like with the first black belt rank in martial arts, 初段 (shodan) is literally the first step. You don’t “complete” martial arts by achieving a grade any more than you “complete” running by going a certain distance. The is more to do. Much more.
For the first time in a very long time I don’t have a race booked. It was my intention to finish this ultramarathon then assess my condition (and mental state) before figuring out what to do next. If I had unlimited time and resources I would definitely be up for doing something like the Tango Ultramarathon (100k) in September or the Iki Ultramarathon (100k) in October. There are a lot of ultras out there that I would love to conquer but I need to almost hold myself back at this point. I’m clearly still on a high after completing this ultra, which is why my mental state is something I wanted to keep an eye on.
One reasonable ultra to look at could be the Hida Takayama Ultra (100k) as a challenge for 2025 (this is in the same series as the ultra I just completed). This one is held in June so putting it on the cards for 2025 sounds like a good idea. (But we’ll see).
My main hopes for this month are to get out of recovery mode and start being able to run properly again. At the beginning of June I’ll be taking part in a training camp for karate and at the end of June there is a prefectural iaidō tournament. So although there are no events planned in May I have plenty to prepare for.
I hope to get my race report out in May and I also hope that by the end of the month I’ll have an idea of which race to enter next. If anyone has any suggestions then please drop them in the comments.
Thank you to all my readers
I hope you had a fantastic April and are ready to get after it during May.
Osu!
Anthony