The Around the Bay race is only two weeks away!

My weekly running got kiboshed because I was expecting to do a run on my treadmill, but the treadmill is not happy. It’s out of commission at the moment.

And let’s face it, I’m not following the “Motivation follows action” motto. I should have prepared for my runs the night before.

I got in one run during the week.

My important run was today, though.

I was hoping to run 26km. Maybe 28km if I was feeling up to it.

I was going to stick with my “run for four minutes and walk for one minute” strategy. The purpose of today’s run was to do the distance. How fast I ran it was inconsequential.

Last week, I intended to run at a slower pace. I didn’t mention it in my previous post, but I was trying to keep my heart rate within Zone 2.

The zones are based on your age, not your fitness:

• Zone 1 is easy/recovery effort (50% to 60% of your max heart rate).
• Zone 2 is slight aerobic/easy effort (60% to 70% of your max heart rate).
• Zone 3 is tempo/moderate effort (70% to 80% of your max rate).
• Zone 4 is hard effort (80% to 90% of your max heart rate).
• Zone 5 is Maximum effort (90% to 100% of your max heart rate).

I clarify this because, as I said, I intended to keep my heart rate within Zone 2 last week. But I wasn’t watching my heart rate. So, I had a big surprise when I looked at my heart rate stats after the run.

I spent Zero time in Zone 2 last week. And I only spent 4% of my run in Zone 3. I spent 54% of my run in Zone 4 and 42% of my run in Zone 5!

So, I was running faster or with more effort last week than I had intended.

I decided this week that I would try to stay in Zone 3, instead of Zone 2. Zone 2 is too difficult for me to do unless I’m walking. It might improve if I can train more.

Before I started the run, I decided that I would go for 28km. That would be 6km more than last week and would at least make me feel like I was making some progress.

Then I thought, 30 kilometers is only 2 additional kilometers. Why not go for the gusto and see if I could do the whole run?

As stated before, The Around the Bay race is a 30km road race. But this year it will be 34km because of a change in venue.

There will be markers for both the 30km point and the 34km point. Both time results will be registered.

I’m happy to say that I completed it. I ran 30 kilometers.

It took me 5 hours and 9 minutes. Which is slightly over the 5-hour limit for the race, but I should be going faster on race day.

In terms of my zones, it was hard to stay in Zone 3 after running more than 2 hours. It’s easier to stay in Zone 3 at the beginning of the run. Your heart works harder after you’ve been running for a couple of hours.

So, I kept slipping into Zone 4. Even when I was walking!

But then I decided to try to stay below Zone 5, if possible.

In the end, I was only in Zone 5 for 8% of the time. I was in Zone 3 for 41% and Zone 4 for 49% of the time. I even managed be in Zone 2 for 2%, which was an improvement over last week.

Now, I only have one week left for training.

I will try to get in two small runs during the week. And a big run on the weekend.

My big run next week will only be 22km. But I will try running it at a slightly faster pace than before.

And instead of doing my “four and ones”, I might try running for nine minutes and then walking for one minute. That’s the type of running I usually do on race day.

One more week of prep and then the big race!