The Bay 2 Bay 30 km run is always a good start into the year. In contrast to the previous 3 years, where I always aimed for a sub 2h 30 min finish, I changed my approach for this year’s race.
Due to the injuries I had in the previous years leading towards the big races (Two Oceans in April and Comrades May/June) I might have overdone it by running too fast too early in the season.
So my aim was a pace of 5:20 min/km and use the race as a nice, faster 30 km training run.
It went extremely well! We were very lucky with the weather, for at least 2 hours we ran either in some mist along the coastline or were covered by clouds and protected from the sun. Therefore the temperatures might have been in the 17 – 21°C without any wind.
Along the route of the 2015 Bay 2 Bay 30 km race; picture courtesy of running.photograph
Just after the half way mark Terry and Shen from my running club came close and we ran together for a while. Shen, while he was chilling, and Terry where slightly faster than the pace I wanted to run, but I stayed with them for a couple of km. On the long steep hill (from km 18 – 20) Suikerbossie I let them go and took it easier.
In the end I finished in 2h 37 min and felt great. For the first time in years I ran this race with my heart rate monitor and was pleased by a 154 bpm average for this race. This is a great foundation for the races ahead.
Congrats to all runners and especially to my wife to had a great race as well!
| Distance | 30 km / 18.6 mi |
| Time | 2 h 37 min |
| Monthly distance (January) | 46.4 km / 28.9 mi |
| Annual distance | 46.4 km / 28.9 mi |
