Hello from London! This is my weekly recap of training for my next marathon, which will be the Vienna marathon on April 23rd.
It was a very rainy week in London (that’s the norm for winter here!) but it was usually warm enough for shorts still, which is a treat for this Minnesota transplant. Here’s how training went this past week!
Monday: Easy 7 miles before work. Day 24 of Iron Strength/ full body/ after work + core.
Tuesday: Run commute to the office, then a social 5k with a colleague, in the rain of course! I was proud of us for still showing up. 7.2 miles total.
Wednesday: WFH day so I was able to run a little later after sunrise. 8 miles complete with some moderate miles in the middle.
It was a treat to have the sun out!
I took the pups to Hampstead Heath over lunch. Still muddy, but not raining!
Thursday: Another run commute! I had to be at the office by 7 am and the Northern line that I take to work doesn’t actually start until 6 am, so it just seemed easier in my head to run commute, even though it was raining again and I hadn’t planned well (I often leave a coat and shoes at the office the day before, but this time I had to carry it all in my backpack which was very heavy! It was a slower run for me with the backpack (over 10 min/miles) and I kept it as short as possible, with just 4.2 miles.
After work I completed day 25 of Iron Strength/ shoulders.
Friday: 7 miles before work, a lap of Regent’s Park and a surprise run-in with Dustin.
It was warm enough that the zebras were out for breakfast as well at the London Zoo (in Regent’s Park.)
After work, I did day 28 of Iron Strength, which was glutes. I did this one a little out of order as the next one was meant to be leg day, but I didn’t want to do leg day before the long run. Glutes seemed okay though (it was a lot of band work and hip thrusters.)
Saturday: 16 rainy miles with Dustin. We ran down Regent’s Canal all the way to Victoria Park (which I used to run to from our temporary apartment when we first arrived here.) The canal route was a nice change from our normal routes around the parks (though I love the parks!)
More rain, more rainy walks! This picture captures winter in London with two vizslas pretty well. Ha!
Sunday: I’m about to head out for a Sunday family run with Dustin and Ruth, and then I’m sure we’ll spend some more time exercising the pups at the Heath. So much of our weekends are spent outside with the dogs, but I love it.
Summary: 55 miles of running, 3 strength sessions, daily core on Peloton
Originally our Sunday was going to include a half marathon at Richmond Park (which you might know from the show Ted Lasso on Apple +!) However, we found out that the overground train that would take us to Richmond would be closed for the weekend for construction. This meant we would have to take various trains AND buses to get to Richmond and it would take at least 1.5 hours…so 3 hours round-trip for a half marathon. That just seemed to far to me, so we decided to just eat the cost and not do the race.
How far would you travel in the morning the day of a race? I am willing to travel quite far- as far as Antarctica, haha! But I only have travelled far when I’m staying in town the night before and only for a full marathon. The idea of 3 hours of travel time on top of the actual race felt like too much, though I regretted the decision a little bit when the weather was better on Sunday than Saturday!
Well, that’s a wrap! I’m linking up with Running on the Fly and Confessions of a Mother Runner; check out their blogs to connect with other fitness bloggers for workout ideas and inspiration!
So much rain! The pups look adorable in the red rain slickers. Do you miss the snow?
You put that sunk cost fallacy to the test by deciding to skip your half marathon. I did that this weekend with a work outing–I decided to eat the cost of the ticket after weighing all the pros and cons. Sounds like you made the right decision!
I got my fill of the snow in Finland, and we are heading to the Alps next week to snowboard again. I prefer rain and no broken bones, to be honest 🙂
Your pups look adorns in their ran gear! I would not go that far the morning of a race too stressful and too much siting. How do you like iron strength compared to Peloton workouts?
I have enjoyed Iron Strength as a structured program- I need to check out some of the Peloton programs though, I have not yet done that, which is probably what is missing for me.
I’m impressed by all your running in the rain — but maybe that’s part of living in London! I think ~1 hour is my maximum race morning drive.
If its not raining, its not London winter (I think, ha!) But I prefer rain to stressing about broken bones, coming from a woman who broke her leg twice running on the snow/ice.
The picture of Ruth and Matilda in their raincoats sitting on the statue steps is the cutest thing ever! So cute, I had to stop reading and show the picture to my hubby. 🙂
Could you have taken an Uber to the race start so it wouldn’t take so long to get there? I’m assuming it wasn’t a good option or you would have done that. LOL
Aww, that’s so nice Debbie! That picture is from Regent’s Park.
That’s actually a good thought, we might have been able to uber, though often driving in London takes longer than the train! Depends on where you’re going, but we only briefly considered it but were already kind of in the mindset that we’d try a race in Richmond later when the overground was working again!
Oh yes, the rain can be soul sucking there but like you said, you don’t have the polar temps to contend with or the ice. I got a super long raincoat when we lived there and it go SO much use. Sorry you had to bail on the race but I doubt I’d be traveling that far either. Love the pic of the doggies!
When we arrived in July, it was so sunny and dry, I thought the rain was an exaggeration, but now i know this is what winter is like!
So much rain!! As much as I detest snow (in large quantities and frequencies, that is), I think I’d actually pick snow over rain, LOL. But, it’s your reality right now and you are making the best of it. Most of my half marathons have at least an hour commute to get to, so an extra 30 minutes probably wouldn’t be a deal-breaker for me, but an overnight stay at a hotel would be a great option (though there would be increased expenses with that venture, LOL).
I have to disagree, coming from someone who broke her leg twice on snow/ice. I’ll take the rain as tough as it can be sometimes!
We probably could have made the Richmond race work…next time for sure, I don’t like DNF’ing things I registered for unless its an injury or sickness!
While I loathe the rain, I do love the girls in their sweet rain jackets. Three hours on a train??? Before a race??? Nah. Not for me!
Well, it was 3 hours round trip, but complicated with two trains and a bus. I was worried we would miss something along the way and end up missing the race! We’ll make it to Richmond another time when the overground is open.
Yes, I would definitely hesitate to travel that far for a half marathon. Unless of course that was my big A race- but it wasn’t for you, so I can see why you didn’t go.
Oof- all that rain (and gray skies) would be hard for me. But you’re used to Minnesota winters so you’re probably just fine!
Yeah, we weren’t all that into this particular race, though I did feel guilty for bailing. especially when the weather was so much nicer on Sunday than Saturday!
I appreciate the sun when its there, but I don’t mind the rain as long as its above freezing! Minnesota winters are cold, but they actually have a lot of sunshine.
So you also have a lot of rain over there. It’s been crazy here and now we’ll get frost instead. Sigh…
That’s too bad about the half marathon but I understand it. If the travel is too much trouble it’s just too stressful and you want to enjoy the race too!
Nice work running this week in the rain!
I suppose most of the UK is rainy during the winter, right?
We’ll make it out to Richmond for another race, I’m sure! Its really not that far as long as the normal trains are working.
The 1.5 hours after wouldn’t bother me as much because there isn’t the stress of missing the start, but agree it’s a little far for a Half. I’m spoiled rotten since most of my races are in Central Park, but I’d probably go with up to an hour for races like the NYC Half or other “Special” ones.
SO proud in the muddy but not raining pic.
There are races that we can jog to here- those are much easier to get excited about, ha! But being cold and wet on the train for a long time (plus a bus or two) seemed overwhelmingly complicated post-half. Ha!
yes, its lovely that most of your races are close in NYC!
You had a great week of workouts! I can’t remember if you have mentioned this, but is your husband running the marathon too? I don’t mind running in the rain as long as it isn’t cold. And I prefer that to snow.
Yep, Dustin is running Vienna as well. He hopes to break 3 hours again, which he has done a few times, but was 3:01 at Amsterdam. But he ran that 3:01 with a lot of his long runs with me, so he doesn’t stress too much about the slower pace on long runs (though, this weekend he’s doing his own thing with some marathon pace in there.)
Nice recap! I have to admit that I have travelled quite a bit for half marathons: twice to Manitowoc, WI (5 hours), three times to Waterloo, IA (4 hours), and once to Madeline Island (4 hours). Primary motivator was course/weather combo, not that it ever worked out in my favor!
Wait, 5 hours the day of the race?? In the morning? That’s impressive! I don’t think it was the sheer time, but the combination of trains and buses that stressed me out a bit and I was worried it would be a bust.
I have drove 2 hours in the morning for a full marathon, but if I had to to take public transportation it might be a different story because we wouldn’t have our car for storage of our post-race stuff.
I just realized our marathon races are on the same day (but I ran 20 less miles than you this past week!). Great job on your workouts!
I would prefer to have snow over the rain, but I’m in the majority I’m sure! We’re still waiting for some snow here. I don’t think we’ll get any more this season. Sad!
2 hours is a long drive the morning of a marathon! But you’re totally right, if we had our own car it might not have seemed so overwhelming, but we hadn’t Richmond before and I was worried we would miss a bus or train since it was a bit confusing.
I take rain over snow every day! But I think most commenters here have actually agreed with you and they like the snow more. Don’t move to London!
Too much rain!! Good for you for getting out there anyway! At least no ice or snow.
For an important race, I don’t like the stress of a long trip the morning of… I once drove 1.5 hrs for a half and almost missed it due to traffic.
Though once I drove 2.5h for a 5k but it was to meet up with 2 bloggers.
Agree, no ice. That’s all I need to feel safe running. Rain is tough, but not dangerous!
Oh, how stressful that you almost missed a race after such a long drive! That’s what I was worried about…a bus wouldn’t come and we’d miss it all entirely.
Oh Bandit would not at all be a fan of that rain. He’s getting quite picky in his old age.
That’s too bad about the half! I’m so sorry. I probably would’ve opted out too.
I don’t think our dogs LOVE the rain, but they are adjusting to it alright, especially if it means play time off lead at the park!
Ugh! So sorry to hear about all the rain there this week, BUT that photo of both vizslas with their raincoats was so cute!
I probably would have also skipped the half marathon. Not only because of the travel time, but also the extra stress of having to take multiple modes of transportation.
Thanks Kim! They don’t seem to mind the rain jackets as I think they keep them warmer and pretty dry!
Totally agree, it was the stress of multiple modes of transport and never having made our way out there before. We’ll take the time to go to Richmond park when we aren’t going for a race so we are more confident in the route.
OMG! How adorable are Ruth and Matilda in their raincoats! Coming from Botswana, which has little to no rain, I was shocked by all the rain when I studied in the UK. I wish there was some in-between space! But so glad you just keep showing up and you’re not letting the rain hold you back!
I have travelled about an hour or two the morning of the race, but it is a lot. Most times, I would drive in the night before so it’s an easier (and less stressful) morning.
Haha thanks Shathiso! I don’t think I knew that you studied in the UK. Where?
The winters are very rainy here but I’m trying my best to embrace it!
Traveling the night before is a great idea.
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