Weekly Recap(s): 5 and 4 weeks until the Tromso Marathon!

Once again, I am catching up on a missed weekly recap! Here’s my recap of training for the Tromso marathon for the past two weeks- only 4 weeks out now, almost to the taper!

Week of May 20 through the 26:
Monday: Rest from running post Hackney half the day before, Caroline Girvan dead bug and 20 min upper body
Tuesday: Run commute + office run, 7.75 miles total
Wednesday: 3×15 min at marathon pace with 3 min jog recoveries, 10.75 miles
Thursday: My friend Tina and I ran to Mayfair to meet up with the WMN Run group; they did a lap of Hyde Park, after which we ran to the office for 9 miles total. Great morning! Fun group of ladies.

They recently changed their meeting spot (used to be by London Bridge, but now its Mayfair at Roasting Plant Coffee, a charming little coffee shop.)

Friday: I took the full day off from work to fit in my 20-mile-long run. All solo- it was a long one! I did a big loop of London, down the canal to Victoria Park to the River Thames and then up to St. James Park and back north via Regent’s.

I was supposed to finish with the last 3 miles at marathon pace, which was difficult to do after 17 miles!  I planned it so I would be at Regent’s for the end, which meant less stop lights and whatnot. Right when I got to Regent’s Park, there was a helicopter rescue happening- an ambulance was meeting the helicopter to take a patient to another hospital (assumedly a specialty hospital, since there were plenty of other ones nearby in central London.) It was interesting to watch, though I did stand around for quite awhile before starting the 3 miles at marathon pace, which gave me a good amount of recovery.

That evening, we flew to Lisbon, Portugal for the long weekend- and for Taylor Swift! “It’s been a long time coming.” I bought these tickets forever ago, and it was finally time for the show!

We arrived in Lisbon quite late and checked into our hotel (the Vintage Lisbon, a cute boutique hotel in the Principale Real neighborhood.)

Saturday: We were up relatively early to do a short exploratory run in Lisbon, finishing with 5.2 miles, then a shower and a walk to the Alfama neighbourhood for a food tour.

We booked it through Treasures of Lisboa and I would highly recommend. The guide was so lovely and personable. She really made it a great tour. It included 5 different stops at various restaurants for different traditional Portuguese bites (and drinks.) Really fun!

A  lot of the people on the tour were Americans who had gone to night 1 of the Taylor concert; apparently there were a lot of issues with lines and getting into the stadium on night 1. We were a little worried after hearing their horror stories; we did not want to wait in line for hours! But whatever challenges the stadium had the night before were solved for Saturday’s concert, and it was smooth sailing. We didn’t wait in line at all! You had to pour any liquids into their provided big plastic cups, but they even let you bring in wine or other drinks into the stadium! And there were no rules about clear purses, even though I had brought one just in case.

And the Eras tour? Lived up to the hype in every day. We had floor tickets, but we didn’t push our way to the front, but rather stayed in a nice spot where we could see, dance, run to the bathrooms or grab drinks as needed. It was perfect!

Sunday:  Well, my voice was hoarse from all the singing and I was actually sore from all the dancing! I also suddenly had a cold, which was annoying, but I guess between the 20 miler and the concert, I may have pushed my body a bit too much…fortunately, it was a rest day, though we did walk plenty of miles throughout Lisbon to see as much as we could, including a tram trip out to Belem, which was fun. We missed Sintra, which I know is highly recommended, but maybe we’ll be back. The primary reason for the visit was Taylor, but I felt like we still squeezed a fair amount of touring of the city.

Summary: 54 miles of running, 1 Pilates class

Week of May 27 through June 2:
Monday: Early uber back to the airport for our flight back to London. I don’t love running post-flight, as my legs always feel so heavy. But its probably good for me. Anyways, Dustin and I ran together when back in Hampstead, 6.5 miles. I followed up the run with a Heartcore pilates class. I was tired after all that! I’m not 22 anymore, that’s for sure!

Tuesday: A very easy recovery run, 7 miles. Early to bed to try to catch up on the sleep I lost over the weekend!

Wednesday: A big session before work: warm-up, 3×20 minutes at marathon pace with a 6 minute jog in between, cool-down for 13.1 miles before work. Eeks! As my friend Tilly said, “Crikey, 21km on a weekday!” It was a lot, and I don’t usually fuel at all for weekday runs, but I could have really used a gel and some fluids for this one. I will remember that for the next long session!

After work, I had to zip home to meet a dog trainer at the Heath with Ruth; she has a few challenging behaviors, such as stealing food from picnickers at the Heath, which is highly embarrassing and doesn’t go over well with those people! So I want to figure out if we could fix this. This trainer comes highly recommended by a few friends.

Thursday:  Run commute with Tina, then an office run on a Thursday; it was the day that worked best for the group, so I missed the WMN run group’s Thursday run, but I sort of “lead” the office run so I don’t like to miss it. 8.6 miles total.

Friday: Another long run on a Friday morning! I had 3 miles easy, 10 miles at marathon pace, 3 easy for 16 miles total. My friend Tina joined me for the first 6 or so, but then I was on my own, and 10 at marathon pace was tough!

I also fit in a Heartcore pilates class after work.

The reason I did my long run on Friday was because my sister Emily, her two kids, and husband were arriving from Ohio on Saturday morning. I needed to get the longer one out of the way so I would be here when they arrive.

They are staying with us until Monday, when they are driving to various locations in England to explore, and then they will be back in London next weekend to spend more time with us again. This works well, as we don’t have to take any time off of work but can still fully commit to being their tour guides for London!

Saturday: 6.2 mile run with Ruth on the trails in the Heath before my sister and fam arrived. Lots of walking around London the rest of the day!

Sunday: I’m hoping to show my sister Regent’s Park with a 7 mile run together. That’s the plan!

Summary: I should be around 60 miles, depending on how far I run with my sister Sunday and two Pilates classes. One more big week of training before the taper!

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!