Weekly Recap: 8 Weeks Until the Cape Town Marathon

This was a much more “normal” week in London for life and training for the Cape Town marathon, after the busy visit with my sister (and the Taylor Swift fun!)

Here’s how things went down this past week:

Monday: Recovery 7 miles after a long run the Sunday before, then Heartcore pilates reformer after work.

Tuesday: Intervals on the cinder track! 6×4 minutes at 10k effort with 2 min jog in between, 7.8 miles total.

The cinder track is outside of Regent’s park, so just about 2 miles from our flat, a perfect warm-up. The reason I go there vs. the actual track in the Heath is because the Parliament track in the Heath doesn’t officially open until 7:30 am, which doesn’t work all that well when I go into the office.

What is “cinder”? Cinder tracks require 3 layers: the first layer is rubble and stone, followed by a layer of coarse cinder, then a fine layer of cinder mixed with clay, black loam, or coal ashes.

It isn’t as “fast” feeling as a synthetic track, like the Parliament track, but hey, it’s free and always open!

After work: Heartcore pilates reformer.

(sunrise over Regent’s canal)

Wednesday: Rest from running! Heartcore pilates reformer after work; three days in a row of pilates is kinda of a lot for me, but I front loaded the week since I wasn’t sure I’d have time to fit in classes later in the week.

Thursday: Run commute to Mayfair to the Roasting Plant Coffee shop where the WMN Run group meets for their Thursday morning run through Hyde Park, then jog to the office to shower, 8.75 miles total, all easy. A bit rainy, so it was a smaller group than usual, but it was really nice.

That evening, Dustin and I went to a comedy show at the SoHo Theatre; anyone watch Derry Girls? I LOVED Derry Girls, and the comedian was Tommy Tiernan, who played the dad on Derry Girls. He has a huge cult following in Ireland, but his type of standup humor wasn’t necessarily for me. It wasn’t terrible, just not one that I’d be quick to return to. Oh well, it was still a nice evening of dinner and comedy! (My favorite comedian that I’ve seen at the Soho Theatre is Catherine Bohart, also Irish, but very funny!)

Friday: Another speed session, and this time I was able to do it on the actual track in the Heath, since I was working from home. Warm-up, 5×1 mile at half marathon pace with 1/4 mile jog recovery in between, 9.2 miles total.

I recently bought a new pair of Saucony Pros; I have the Saucony Elites for races, but its fun to have a super shoe for workouts too- these felt very fresh and bouncy!

I had originally planned to join the WMN run group for the monthly long run, but the forecast was calling for torrential downpours on Saturday morning, so I decided to move my long run to Sunday. Which meant I now wanted to do something social on Friday, so Dustin and I hopped on the double-decker red London bus to Lemonia in Primrose Hill for some Greek food. The last time we ate there, we really enjoyed the vibe and the food, but this time…well, I think we were seated in the kid’s section or something, and it was not enjoyable for two child-free adults. There was so much yelling and then there was a kid who kept ramming her chair into Dustin the whole meal. I know, I know, we don’t know what it’s like since we don’t have kids, but I think we’ll skip Lemonia for awhile for now. Lots of other places to eat in London, though its too bad since we had a memorable meal the last time we were there.

Saturday: A bit of a lie-in on a Saturday and then Dustin and I ran 8 miles together in the rain. I was glad I had opted out of the full long run in the rain; it wasn’t unsafe, it was just quite wet!

We followed up the run with some time in the Heath with the pups- in the rain- for their exercise as well!

Sunday: Church of the Sunday Long Run! I met up with a few Mornington Chasers for a 14 mile long run; we took a route through Notting Hill, where the world famous Carnival was going on- very interesting to see! This was a cutback long run week for me, since I’m racing the Big Half marathon next weekend. (My sister Erin is coming over from the U.S. to run it as well!)

Summary: 55 miles of running and 3 pilates classes.

My sister Erin arrives this Wednesday; she was interested in running the Big Half because its essentially the first half of the London marathon course, backwards, and she doesn’t know that she’ll ever get into London, so she figured this half marathon was a good consolation prize! She’ll get to run over Tower Bridge and experience a lot of the same sites. I’m excited for yet another visitor! Love hosting here in London.

(Dustin and I are both also running the Big Half next Sunday!)

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!