There are plans. And there is the execution of the plans.

The plan for this week was to get in two small runs and one long run. And the execution of the plan?

I did one small run. Not two.

My Friday got away from me. And my running window disappeared. I didn’t want to run on Saturday because I was doing the long run on Sunday.

Oh well. I’ve been doing two days of training most weeks.

(Don’t do this at home kids… I recommend getting in the extra day of running when you are training for a long distance race.)

But the important part of the week was the long run. And I was planning on doing 22km.

I was also going to use the nine and one technique. Run for nine minutes and walk for one minute. On my previous long runs, I’ve done four and ones. Run for four minutes and walk for one minute.

With the nine and ones, you end up running for an extra five to six minutes every hour. Every little bit adds up.

The last time I ran 22km, my heart rate was divided between zone 4 (hard effort) and zone 5 (maximum effort). I thought I’d try to keep my heart rate in zone 3 (moderate effort) this time.

That was the plan.

The execution of the plan?

As soon as I started running, my heart rate was going into zone 4. And since I was more concerned with increasing my pace a little, I let it stay.

Last week, it was about doing the distance and going slow. But this week, I wanted to increase my pace a little. To something that was faster than last week but still manageable.

So, zone 4 it was.

The run was going well. And I had adjusted to running the nine and ones without issue. But…

As soon as I got to 13km, I could feel my IT band getting unhappy. I switched back to four and ones, which seemed to help. The extra walking eased some of the IT band discomfort.

I finished the 22km. I was six minutes slower than when I ran it a couple of weeks ago.

But it was a good run.

My heart rate was in zone 4 for 67% of the time. And I was in Zone 5 for 16% and zone 3 for 17%. Considering the IT band challenge, I’m happy with the result.

The big race is next Sunday. So, I will do at least one small run this week.

And for race day, I guess I’ll stick to four and ones. I didn’t experience any IT band issues last week when I ran 30km doing the four and ones.

And the goal is to finish the race. It will be 34km, not the usual 30km. I’m not concerned about finishing it within a certain time. It would be nice if I got to the 30km point sooner than last week. But that’s a stretch goal.

This week is about taking it easy and getting ready for next Sunday.