The Monthly Milestone (March 2025)
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Greetings to My Readers
March is already over. Time really does fly.
As I mentioned in my previous milestone posts, I started my Substack in August 2023. Where possible I am still going to try to upload weekly in 2025 on Wednesdays at 17:00 JST. These posts serve as update posts to keep myself accountable with my training and to also give an update to those who are following me.
Milestones will stay up but for the rest of my articles they will generally be archived after one month. After they are archived they will be accessible to my paid subscribers. Free subscribers can read everything I post for free as it comes out.
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 April
Substack Stats
I ended February with 743 subscribers and I am ending March with 747. A small uptick in subscribers. Welcome aboard to my new followers.
Monthly Training Stats
Here are my training stats for March alongside the February stats for comparison:
March run total: 330.4 km (January : 313.9 km)
March walk total: 48.7 km (January : 44.0 km)
March run/walk total: 379.2 km (January : 357.9 km)
March elevation total: 2,130 m (January : 2,660 m )
March is a much easier month to deal with than February due to having a few extra days to play with. I started the month at reduced training volume but still kept an average of more than 10 km a day for the entire month.
Race/Event results
I entered 5 parkruns (5 km races) during March:
March 1st: 21:04. 8th overall (1st in age group) (Instagram pics here)
March 8th: 31:49. Tail walker (Instagram pics here)
March 15th: 20:51. 8th overall (3rd in age group) (Instagram pics here)
March 22nd: 19:07. 2nd overall (1st in age group) (Instagram pics here) PB!
March 29th: 19:26. 4th overall (1st in age group) (Instagram pics here)
This was a good month for parkruns. I managed to get two sub-20 parkruns and even managed to get a new personal best (PB). A combination of the weather being a bit more favorable, a new set of shoes, and the result of training seems to be working out for me and allowing me to get some quicker times.
In addition to getting a new personal best for my 5K time I also managed to get a new PB on my marathon time. I ran the Shizuoka Marathon with an official net time of 3:15:43, despite having some problems with my shoes early on. A full race report for that can be found below:
As usual I have been attending the Enoshima Dash events on Sundays. One of the runs was incredibly cold and rainy (with a poor turn out) but the other events in the month had us back with large groups running barefoot on the beach.
Karate and iaidō are now also back in full swing. No special events to report on.
Reading list
I finished 1 audiobook in March:
The Crimson King by Graham McNeill
I started this audiobook last month but it took a while to get through (mostly due to me running without headphones). This is Book 44 of the Horus Heresy that focused on the rebuilding of the soul of Magnus the Red after it was broken into pieces during the burning of Prospero. If that means nothing to you, don’t worry about it. As a 40K fan, I enjoyed it.
I had one audiobook ongoing in March:
Under the Breaking Sky: Blind Fear by Nick Clausen
This audiobook randomly came to my hands in a sale. For one credit I managed to get hold of the entire “Under the Breaking Sky” series (8 books). This is a story about an anomaly in the sky that appears and turns people into blind, zombie like creatures. The format is a bit different to the usual zombie story. It is very well written and would have me on the edge of my seat if I was sitting down while listening. Looking forward to getting deeper into the series.
Final Thoughts and Hopes for April
At the end of March I hit my third consecutive 30-day run streak. By the end of March I’d run 975 kilometers over the year so I am well over 10 km a day. There’s going to be some disruption to this in April but I hope to at least keep the average going for as long as I can this year.
As I mentioned last month, I have the Nobeyama Ultramarathon (100 km) in May, but before that I have a special event called the 矢倉沢往還 (Yagurazawa ōkan) in April. This one is my first 100 mile run from Hibiya Park in Tokyo to Numazu in Shizuoka.
To prepare for this I’m going to do a full week of running in the first week of April then back off a bit in the second. My post next week is going to be an explanation of the course and when I am physically able to do so I will write up a full race report.
I’ve never run 100 miles before so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do this or what my condition will be like after. Watch this space for more details.
April is a bit of an odd month in Japan. It’s the very start of the new fiscal year, the seasons/temperature changes a lot, and many people end up making big changes to their lives. It ends up leaving a lot of complex feelings. But the flowers are blooming and there are a lot of positive things to be positive about. So focus on the good things and keep pushing forward.
Thank you to all my readers
I hope you had a fantastic March and are ready to get after it during April.
Osu!
Anthony