It might shock you, but I didn’t do any running while I was on my trip to BC.

I know. Crazy.

But then when we got back, I had the sobering realization that the Around the Bay road race was only four weeks away.

And I had only run 16km as my longest distance. The Around the Bay race is 30km — although it’s going to be 34km this year because of a change in venue.

So, I had to get moving this week.

And more importantly, I had to get in a long run this weekend. At least 20km.

The tricky thing is that I’m behind in my training. So, I need to move forward, but at the same time, I have to be careful.

It’s very easy to get injured by pushing yourself too much.

I ended up only doing one run (8km) during the week. So, I was determined to get that 20km long run in.

I came across a good motto to follow: Motivation follows Action.

You’ve got to take action before you can feel the motivation. Waiting for motivation first only leads to procrastination.

I knew that it was more important to complete the distance than to worry about how long it will take.

I use the Run/Walk method when I’m running long distances. My favourite ratio is to run for 9 minutes and walk for 1 minutes.

It’s easy to remember. If I look at my watch and the time shows a nine (0:29, 0:39, etc.), then I know to walk.

No complicated math.

But for this run, I decided to break it down and do 4 and 1’s. So, at the four minute mark or the nine minute mark, I would walk for a a minute. It would encourage me to go slower and hopefully reduce some of my pain.

Also, I stretched before the run and after the run.

When I was getting to the halfway point, I decided to add an extra kilometer before turning back. So, I ran out 11km and back 11km.

After running 22km, my muscles were sore. But the nice thing is that they weren’t as sore as they were when I ran 16km. I think running 4 and 1’s helped.

The big test is to see how they feel tomorrow.

Next week, I’m hoping to run 26 to 28km for my long run. We’ll see how that goes.