Yay, January is finally over! We are in the great, short (though a day longer than normal) month of February. Spring is on its way!
Here’s how training went for the Barcelona marathon, which is in 6 weeks.
(But first, I did post a recap of our trip to Zermatt if you’re interested. Read it HERE.)
Monday: 7 miles before work, easy recovery run.
Tuesday: Run commute with Tina, 4.5 miles, then an office run around the Serpentine in Hyde Park, 4.5 miles. 9 miles on the day.
Wednesday: I had to host a call at 7 am, but after it was done, I was able to step away and fit in my track workout. Warm-up, 6x800m with 1 min jog/walk in between, then 8x400m hard with 45 jog/walk in between, cool-down to 10 miles total. I zipped back home and logged back in.
That evening, I took a Heartcore pilates class at the Hampstead studio.
Thursday: Rest from running, I took a Pilates class at the studio at the end of our road after work.
Friday: 5 miles with Tina and Tilly from the Mornington Chasers, and then another 4 with Ruth to jog to get some bagels, 9 miles on the morning. The bagel shop allows dogs inside and Ruth was a good little girl waiting in line!
Saturday: A LONG long run! 21 mile loop of London, solo. Lots of podcasts. I didn’t mind it. London keeps it interesting! I saw a lot of the city on this run.
Dustin had actually been back in Minneapolis for the past week- he picked a great week to go there as it was 50F/10C! Quite warm for January.
He was working while there, but had time to connect with friends and family. But that did mean I was on my own with dog duty (of course, lots of help from our trusted Rover dog walkers.) Just not quite as much time to fit in strength training around all the dog walks, but I was happy to get in two Pilates classes and daily core work.
His flight landed around 7 am on Saturday morning; he was back at our flat by 8 am, right as I was leaving for my long run.
That afternoon, we watched the Olympic trials in Orlando (on Peacock); so much fun to watch! What a race. Man, it looked hot for a marathon: 70F/21C and full sun with a 10 am start. I would melt! But it was very exciting as Dakotah Lindwurm from Minnesota is going to the Olympics in Paris!
Sunday: I met up with a few friends to jog to Regent’s Park for the Regent’s Park 10k, did the race at a moderately hard pace (8:08 min/mile average- faster than goal marathon pace, but felt controlled) and then jogged home for 11+ miles. I ran to the race with one group (2.2 miles), did the race with them (6.2 miles), and then jogged back with a different group and took a longer route (3 miles), hence the longer route back home. It’s so great to have some running friends in the neighborhood. It has taken some time but I feel like I’m building a community here (of course, I still miss my Minneapolis friends!)
Summary: Almost 70 miles of running- that’s a lot, even for me!
It was my biggest week for Barcelona training, and biggest week in quite some time. This next week, I’m going to pull back a bit on mileage and focus more on quality over quantity. This week was quantity over quality for sure, though I did have the track workout and today’s 10k, but everything else was very easy paced.
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!
It’s great that you were able to fit in all those miles in spite of being a single dog mom this week! I love how you’ve made a community of running friends in London!
I’m trying my best to build a community!
Whoa. That’s a lot of miles. And you still have 6 weeks.
I bet it would be fun to take a running tour of London for a long run.
I ran a 20k race in Paris. A great tour.
Well, 2-3 weeks will be the taper. And somehow the mileage caught up with me quickly!
Ruth is so cute! I used to love to listen to podcasts on my long runs. It made the runs go by pretty quickly! You had a solid week of running!
Ruth is a cutie- and she knows it, ha!
It sounds like a great week. That sky is stunning!
Yes, 21 miles would show you a lot of the city!
Any chance you’ll see any Olympic events in Paris?
We tried the lottery for tickets and by the time we had the opportunity, it was very picked over and very expensive. I’m bummed!
Congrats on a huge week of running! It’s great you’ve made so many running friends. Ruth is adorable behaving in that bagel shop!
Ruth was trying her best to be rewarded with a treat, ha!
Dang. I cannot comprehend 70 mile in a WEEK…that’s more than my January miles, LOL. You’re lucky your body likes that kind of mileage. Your long run around London sounds fun (despite the distance, hah!).
The long run tour was fun!
Wow that’s a lot of miles in one week! That is my monthly mileage right now LOL. I notice you are doing more Pilates-I’ve been doing some more of the Peloton Pilates. Do you notice a difference?
I haven’t noticed a difference physically in my appearance…but I do think its helping my running and injury prevention (I hope!) I have a very speedy running friend here who swears by it, so I have been pretty consistent since after the Dublin marathon.
Yes, I listen to lots of podcasts on my long runs as well! I actually lost my headphones, discovered it the night before my long run, so i stopped at Walmart on my way to the trail to get new headphones. I COULD have done the run without headphones, but it would have felt kind of lonely.
i like the photo of Ruth- looks like she’s getting excited about bagels!
Wow you ran a lot of miles last week. I like how you slipped away from work for a “short” (10 mile) workout : )
Well, I work plenty of hours, so a little break for a run in between in all is not a big deal 🙂 I made sure to put in plenty of time at the ol’ computer.
Yay for getting in lots of runs even with all you have going on – nice job! I listen to e-books sometimes during my runs. But if it’s very dark out, I try to keep it headphone free so I pay more attention to my surroundings. Beautiful pics – that sky is amazing!
Agree about no headphones in the dark- that’s usually my plan as well!
That was a big Saturday/Sunday stack of miles! Well done! Great job on the workouts this week.
It was an ultra stack, ha!
HUGE week for you! So exciting! I bet you oculd run forever through London (or any similar city). There must be so much to see!
Sounds like you had it all under control while Dustin was gone!