Project 2020

Late last year, more or less in secret, I committed to a running goal that far exceeded the span of a single race or training block.

After finding my endurance and strength greatly improved by my Mount Eden Month project – in which I tried to summit Mt Eden each and every day in October – I recognised the utility in increasing my training volume, and gently but unwaveringly jogging through the kinds of aches and niggles that I had always previously taken for the warning signs of injury.

I’m not talking about just powering through genuine physical pain, or ignoring what your body is telling you – there are, of course, many niggles that one should attend to, either through rest or a change in one’s training approach, before they rupture into full-blown injuries.

But as someone who has always erred on the side of caution when it comes to volume, my experience running consistently on achey legs throughout my month of Mt Eden summits taught me a great deal about what constitutes a worrying ache, and what is better classed as tolerable – even desirable – fatigue.

I went on to smash my 50k target of sub-5:30. But more importantly I got a glimpse of the athletic potential lying dormant in me, and how I might bring it to fruition more effectively.

With that in mind, around December-time I committed to my own personal project for the year – Project 2020. The project consists of two goals:

Run or hike 2020 miles in 2020
Climb an average of 2020 metres every month (24240m in the year)

The first goal speaks for itself – running 2020 miles in a calendar year means averaging around 5.5 miles a day (technically I chose an easy year for it – 2020 being a leap year means I have an extra day to achieve my goal!) This is not a crazy amount for me on any given day or in any given week, but the real challenge is of course whether or not I can consistently maintain that kind of ‘manageably demanding’ mileage year-round.

The second part of the challenge is designed to ensure I don’t skimp on climbing too much. It would be very easy to head out on flat, fast runs just to make up the mileage, but by ensuring I hit 2020m a month (on average) I can at least make sure I’m getting some hill work in.

500m a week is not crazy for trail runners, but for road runners I guess-timated it to be a fairly sizeable goal. As it happens, 2020m a month in a year where I’m trying to average 168 miles a month works out at just 12 metres of climbing per mile, or less than 8m per kilometre. So perhaps it isn’t much of a challenge after all…

*3.1 of my miles thus far were run at Greenway Parkrun in Sydney.*

Quarterly Check-in

Seeing as we’re now a quarter of the way through the year, I thought I’d take a moment to reflect upon how it’s been going thus far. I’ve been logging all my data on a colour-coded and automated spreadsheet. You can see that by clicking here, if you’re into that sort of thing and your other half is safely out of the room.

Meanwhile, here are all the numbers that count for our purposes:

Numbers

Projected mileage in first quarter: 505
Actual mileage: 381.8
Percentage of annual goal completed: 18.9%

Projected vert climbed in first quarter: 6060
Actual vert climbed in first quarter: 16022
Percentage of annual goal completed: 66%

Time spent on feet: 98:47

Words

Whilst I’m over 100 miles behind schedule, I’ve essentially gone two thirds of the way towards completing my climbing target for the year.

The reasons for this are, I think, obvious: I spent the first two months of 2020 living in and travelling around New Zealand, a country famed for its almost cartoonishly hilly landscape.

*New Zealand: so hilly it’ll disrupt the space-time continuum.*

I climbed the highest mountain in the North Island, almost reached the summit of the second highest, and completed dozens of other adventure runs and hikes in mountainous places like Queenstown, Tekapo, Great Barrier Island, and Christchurch’s Port Hills. On one single run in Wanaka – the unbeatable Skyline Track – I climbed over 1600m, or 80% of my monthly target in just 22km. This is not to mention dozens of runs in Auckland, where vert is as unavoidable as car exhaust and traffic lights.

*The Skyline Loop Track in Queenstown: A significant amount of climbing was required for the acquisition of this photo.*

All of which meant that in January I climbed 5990m, and in February, a month I spent travelling around the South Island and the Hauraki Gulf, I climbed 7590m, by far and away the most climbing I have ever done in a month – and a short month at that.

Now that I’m back in the UK, by way of Australia and Vietnam, and the amount of climbing I’m doing has decreased. I only climbed around 1960m in March (though I also ran considerably less as I was living out of a backpack for most of it.) I’m a lot more at home on the quiet suburban trails of the southeast, though I certainly hope to get in some mountainous trips later this year.

All in all, then I’m feeling pretty positive about Project 2020. Although I’m behind on mileage, I always anticipated that being the case – this is a long-term goal, and if I continue to train properly and avoid injury I am hopeful for a long summer filled with plenty of running. What with the situation being as it is, there might be a lot more solo adventures on the horizon than I had initially anticipated, but frankly I find that prospect just as exciting as any race-filled calendar.

*A snapshot of some of my local, flat, trails.*

I’ll continue to post back here with updates every few months or so. Meanwhile, I’ll see you out on the trails – at a nice safe distance, of course.