102 km in, and the dangerous question

Back and shoulders at 5AM, then an easy run later in the morning. The back held up completely — no complaint, no tightness, nothing. Just a smooth, comfortable 5.62 km with strategic walks, the kind where you finish and think: I could have kept going.

And that’s exactly where the dangerous question arrived.

At what point do I start increasing my daily distance?

It feels reasonable. I’ve just crossed 100 km total. The runs feel comfortable. The legs are recovering well. The engine is clearly building. Surely it’s time to ask for more?

Here’s what I’ve learned to do with that feeling: sit with it, examine it, and then put it back in the drawer for later.

Because “it feels easy, so I should do more” is the single most seductive trap in running — and it’s the one that catches the improving runner, not the struggling one. The struggling runner rests because they have to. The improving runner has to choose to rest, deliberately, even when the body says go. That choice is harder, and it matters more.

My daily 5 km isn’t failing me. It’s building a foundation I can’t fully see yet — one that’s logged 19 runs, crossed 100 km, and accumulated over eleven hours on feet. That eleven hours is quietly the most meaningful stat on my page: Comrades has a 12-hour cutoff, and I’ve already spent nearly a full race day’s worth of time in motion, in pieces, over six weeks. The body is learning to move and recover. That’s the whole point.

The right lever to pull isn’t my daily distance. It’s Saturday’s long run — and it’s already moving, already nudging toward 10 km. That’s where the growth belongs right now. The daily runs stay patient. The long run does the climbing. Everything else follows naturally.

So no, I’m not increasing the daily distance yet. Not because I can’t. Because I know better than to spend the “wanting more” feeling too early.

There’s eleven months of road ahead. I’m going to need it.