6 Weeks Until the Amsterdam Marathon

6 weeks until the Amsterdam marathon, which will be my 40th full marathon! Can’t wait.

Here’s how training went this past week:

Monday: We were still in the Cotswolds, which meant some adventurous trail running!

(If you missed it, I shared a travel post about our long weekend in the Cotswolds, catch up HERE.)

We followed the Cotswold Way, which is a 102-mile walking trail.

We covered 6 miles of it, but it was quite difficult, particularly because it passed right through some pastures, both cattle and sheep, and we had Ruth with us, who was beyond herself with excitement.

When we got back to our temp housing in London, I went down to the gym for 10 min core and 30 min of lower body. It felt so great to do some strength training after a few days off!

Tuesday: Back in London! I ran 8 easy miles before work. 10 min core + 20 min of lower body after work on Peloton. I took a Rebecca Kennedy class with a lot of chest work- it was a burner! (Thanks Deb for the recommendation). I was sore the next day from that one.

Wednesday: 9.3 mile run with some intervals in there; for some reason, my workout didn’t load from the VDOT02 software to my Garmin, which usually is automatic, and of course it was a complicated workout that was really hard to keep track of in my head. I did my best; definitely not perfect!

I had a surprise run-in with my new friend Katy at Victoria Park and we made plans for her to join me for part of my 20 miler on Saturday. Yay!

After work, I took the pups for a quick walk before we walked to Shoreditch for dinner at a restaurant called “Rochelle Canteen.” It’s popped up on several lists of best places to eat in London, so I was excited to try it. Shoreditch is a very busy youthful area, but the restaurant was tucked into this private garden where you had to be buzzed in. The food was a bit funky, not expensive, but very good.

Thursday: Decided to sleep in a little bit after a later dinner and use Thursday as my rest day from running. I took the dogs for a 2 mile walk instead and then hit the gym for 10 min core + 30 min of upper body (a few Tunde classes on Peloton!) before starting my wfh day.

Friday: 8 mile run with Ruth to the east to the canal. We were treated to a lovely sunrise!

We also ran into Dustin on the way back, who snapped this pic.

Instead of strength after the run, I actually did core + stretching on the Peloton app. I need to stretch more…

Saturday: First 20 miler since before Boston. First 20 miler in London!

It was a tough one but I got it done. 4 miles solo, 9 with Katy in Hyde Park/Kensington Garden, and then 7 more solo.

I didn’t have music or a podcast on the solo miles (my headphones were dead) and it got pretty hot, so it was a struggle. The crowds coming back through Westminster were extra challenging too, but I covered the mileage and stuck with it. Not my best 20 miler! Hopefully the next one feels stronger.

After the 20 miler, we walked to the Maltby Street Market to grab some lunch. Its a bit less touristy than the Borough Market (which is also very close). It was lovely!

After lunch, we decided to do the Tower Bridge tour. It is our last weekend living right next to the bridge (we move on Monday to Hampstead), so this was our final weekend to do it easily.

If you’re in London, the Tower Bridge tour is an easy add-on after visiting the Tower of London (they’re right by each other.) It’s £10/ticket and you can walk right up, (no need to pre-book.) You walk up a million stairs (perfect after a 20 miler, ha!), get the views from the top and the views through glass floor, and learn about the history of building the bridge. You can also visit the engine rooms and see other proposals for the bridge design. It was probably less than an hour overall, but I’m glad we did it.

I still don’t fully understand why Tower Bridge is a draw bridge for big boats to pass under, yet there are a dozen other bridges right to the west on the Thames that aren’t draw bridges- how do the boats go any further down the Thames? It doesn’t make sense…Millennium bridge, Southwark bridge, Jubilee bridge- they are all right there and there’s no way the boats can pass under those. Anyone have the explanation? Liz?

After the Tower Bridge tour, we took the dogs for a long walk towards Wapping (east), stopping at a cute little pub called Captain Kidd with a great patio overlooking the Thames.

Later that night, we tubed out to SoHo for dinner at a Sri Lankan restaurant, Hoppers (another restaurant that has shown up on several lists), which was delicious. We explored SoHo a little bit after dinner- it was quite the happening place! Great people watching. So much going on. I might be a little too old though to be hanging out in SoHo on a Saturday night!

Sunday: The Big Half, a huge half marathon, is going on today right by our temporary flat; it actually looks like a really fun race so we’ll have to look into it for next year! We plan to head out soon for a 5-6 miler with Ruth, but the crowds are kind of nuts right now. No other big plans for today as we have to get our stuff together to move tomorrow.

Summary: 56 miles of running, attempt at daily core, random strength on Peloton.

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!