Maria's Running Blog

Finally got out when the opening in weather looked like it may be few hours without the rain. I almost made it - got soaked only in the last 25 min. of my run. We're in the middle of complete washout here, with showers and downpours happenning randomly. I thought of going to a 5 mile race this morning, but then decided to cancel it, and just put in the miles. I haven't run long in 3 weeks, and my mileage has been pathetic last few weeks.

Felt good on the run, despite high humidity. At least it wasn't hot - mid 60s. Started off at 8:30 pace, and only slowed down a little over entire course. I'm sure quicker pace was due to low mileage in general, and 2 days of rest right before, in particular. All that stored glycogen made 8:30 pace feel like 9:00.

Total time: 1:43:00 (8:35 pace).

The complete washout continues. Last night there was a lightning strike into the tracks on my line, and there were no trains at all from work. I had to go home through Heathrow airport by tube, and it took me 2 hours to get home. Not to mention continuing downpour. No running yesterday.

Today was still lightning and thundering, but it died down by 8PM, so I got out. Decided to do CV repeats workout since I haven't done it in 2 weeks. Ran 2.7mi warmup, 4x200m strides (53, 52, 51, 48), then did 4x1km with 1' jog (4:36, 4:34, 4:33, 4:32). Then did 4x100m strides and 1.3mi cooldown.

I'm happy with my 1km times, because they were not slower than before, and the effort actually felt easier than I remember, and definitely easier than 5x800m with 45 sec. recovery. I'm afraid I'm losing some conditioning with decrease in mileage, but maybe not yet. I'm hoping to put in some miles tomorrow and Thursday. I have an option to run 5K race Thursday night, but not sure if I'll do it. With limited running I'm doing now, maybe it's better to put in the volume rather than run a hard 5K. I'm unlikely to run good time anyway. Friday night my daughter is having a swim meet and is doing 400m IM for the first time, so I'll definitely be there, looks like a planned day off (unless I run early in the morning).

I'm still trying to convince myself to switch to early morning runs, it's the only way to keep consistency in my training. I have to start trying it, it may not be so bad once I get into routine (but of course I need to go to bed on time!). I should look to Lybi for inspiration...

Easy run in the rain. Again. And long sleeves again, too. I felt slow and had GI problems, so only went 5 miles. This "summer" is amazing, especially compared to the heat of US. Wimbledon has the longest delay and cancellations in 25 years.

Total time: 45:52 (8:59 pace).

finally a nice day, upper 60s, blue skies with white clouds rather than grey! No long sleeves today, it was actually too warm in the sun, but I'll take it after the misery of the last 2 weeks. Felt good on the run and did last 3 mi. in 23:42 (7:54 pace). Distance approximate as Garmin decided to cut out in the middle and woke up only on my last tempo mile.

Total time: 1:42:03 (8:26 pace).

Legs felt heavy after yesterday, but I enjoyed another sunny and warm day. Ran 6mi, then did 4x100m strides with 100m jog on the track, and ran home another 1.3mi. Managed to turn my ankle one block away from home, trying to pass a guy with a dog, but doesn't look like I suffered any consequences.

Total time: 1:04:32 for 7.3mi (not counting strides), 8:50 pace.

We found new apartment and have to move in Sept. 1. No more viewings during the week, so maybe my schedule will be a bit more normal now. The new place is only couple of miles away from our current one, but the apartment is much bigger and the area is a lot nicer. We're going to be on the other side of Regents Park, so my running will be only minimally affected. I'll have to find the best way to the park (meaning the least number of street crossings with lights), and then it'll be all the same. It'll be longer to get to the track, by a mile or so, but who cares.

Track meet today. I had to do javelin, 400m and 1500m as a scoring runner since the team was thin tonight.

I won W35 javelin with a 12.04m throw, not my best, but I scored!

Then I ran 400m and was hoping to break 1:20. Again, I surprised myself with 1:15.6, and won W35 again. Interestingly, it was easier to run 400m than 200m few weeks ago. I went anaerobic, but only on the last 100, and it was perfectly manageable - no dead led filling in my legs. I started conservatively, and let one woman in the first lane pass me in the first 100. But with 120 to go I pulled up to her and went by in the last 100, and I had a strong finish.

After about 20 min. there was 1500m. I did poorly there, only doing 6:06. First 300m was 1:13, then 400 in about 1:38 (I pushed stop instead of lap and realized it only ~5 sec. later), next 400 in 1:42 and the last 400 in 1:31. I don't know how to race 1500, and I was too comfortable the first 1100, running almost the same pace as 3000m. 3 of the women I beat in 400m passed me (by a LOT) in 1500m. One, in particular, ran 5:37, and did only 1:19.

So, clearly, speed is not my problem. Looks like I still have weak aerobic capacity. With this kind of 400m speed I should be able to run 5:40 in 1500, but I'm nowhere close. Lots of room for improvement.

Track meet second day in a row. It affects my mileage, but it's so much fun I have no regrets!

There were 2 women's races grouped by predicted times, and I got into the slower race. It turned out there was a big gap between me and the rest of the girls, so I had to run the entire race alone from the front. I got my picture taken few times and a lot of cheers. It was a little embarassing to have my picture taken (probably for the newsletter or club website), when I was running so slow. But I had a good race, regardless - better than yesterdays's 1500m. My splits were 1:35, 1:39, 1:39, 1:32. Again, my 400m speed predicts faster time.

The faster women's race was really fun to watch, with 4 women fighting for the lead all the way. The winner ran around 5:40, I think, and the last woman there ran 6:13. So I would have been dead last in that race, but maybe it would have pushed me to better time. But I feel like I ran according to my current fitness level.

Managed a cool down of 1.2mi, so got in about 4.5 miles - not bad for a track meet.

Just putting in the miles. Didn't feel super fresh, although I wasn't sore either after the mile race yesterday, and I was only a little sore yesterday after the meet on Monday.

Total time: 1:04:04 (9:01 pace).

easy run before leaving for Southampton for Lisa's swim meet. Would have liked to go longer, but that's all the time I had. I'll get the time from Garmin when I get home.

The new picture is from last week's Club Championship 1 mile. This is the 200m mark.

Update: Total time: 1:31:59 (8:45 pace).

No running. Spent hours in very hot and humid pool cheering for my daughter. It was all worth it, though, as she swam 3 PRs out of 4 events, and got 1:16.35 for 100m butterfly - a very respectable time, slashing 2.2 sec. in just 3 weeks. The coaches were surprised, and the Head Coach talked to her about joining Top Squad in September. She is elated beyond words, even though it will mean going to some morning sessions (training twice a day) at 6AM before school! I'm very proud of her, and she deserves all the credit, as she worked incredibly hard all year.

easy run late at night. I'm feeling the effects of reduced mileage. Have to do much better with consistency and overall mileage, get back to at least 40 per week.

Total time: 45:28 (8:56 pace).

easy run, including 4x20 sec. strides (~100m). Felt better than yesterday, despite very strong winds at times. I need one more run tomorrow, and then I'll do the Club Championship 5K on Thursday.

Total time: 1:01:41 (8:41 pace).

easy run plus 4x100m strides on the track. Felt pretty good and was able to generate good turnover on strides.

Total time: 46:35 over 5.3mi (8:45 pace) - I didn't time the strides.

Today I woke up with a stuffy nose. Great, right before the race. The stuffiness went away mostly during the day, but I had a bit of a runny nose and scratchy throat all day. I feel the cold coming on.

But anyway, went to the race and did the warmup. The weather was not bad, although not ideal: about 70F, no wind, cloudy, but very humid. I predicted I would run 22:30 based on my mile race a week ago, so my plan was to run ~4:29 per km. There were km markers and they were in the right places too. The course was completely flat, with very slight inclines and down slopes. Good PR course, 1.5 laps around the park, no sharp turns. I found a woman who ran 6:13 mile last week, and figured I would stay behind her as long as I could (provided I was within my target pace). It didn't quite work out that way, because she slowed after 2km, and I passed her and beat her in the race! I ran pretty even pace, and was able to speed up on last km, but it got really tough the last 1.5km. I was pushing the pace, but I was also slowing down from fatigue, so in the end the pace didn't increase that much.

Splits by kilometers:

1.03km - 4:29 (4:22 pace)

1.01km - 4:26 (4:24 pace)

1.02km - 4:30 (4:25 pace)

992m - 4:22 (4:24 pace)

1.01km - 4:23 (4:21 pace)

Total time: 22:13 for 5.06km.

I'm pretty happy with this race, I did better than expected. It's only 8 sec. slower than my best last year, and with the reduced mileage and all the skipped runs it's not a bad result. Maybe all these short races did help me a little. I'm also happy with my pacing, I didn't kill myself with an unrealistic start, and I had a decent finish. I don't think I could have gone faster today - I was hurting pretty bad the last 1.5km and just fighting to stay on pace.

Ran a good 2 mile cooldown, so got pretty good mileage for the day.

Update: got an SMS on my mobile with official results: 77th overall, 14th woman, 3rd F35-39. Age-graded 68.6% - the highest this year.

My cold is in full swing now. Stuffy/runny nose and scratchy throat continue. I didn't feel all that great during the day, but once I started running I felt ok. Didn't want to focus on pace, and the fact that I forgot to reset Garmin to statute units, helped, because I can't relate well to pace per km. I started at 5:33 min/km, but then progressed to 5:26 by the end. It seemed that after an hour or so, I kind of shifted into another gear - breathing became easier, and pace faster. I did feel fatigue coming on in the last 3 miles, but it didn't affect my pace.

Total time: 1:55:58 (8:46 pace).

just an easy recovery run. Felt fine, except for the new pain in my left leg. It is similar to the pain in my right leg, which I've had for about a year now. But now it's in my "good" leg as well! It hurts on the outside of the knee, and also directly under the knee on the back of the leg. It's a weird thing, and doesn't fit into any of standard running injuries I know. It got better after I warmed up - it hurts most when I start walking after sitting down. I can only guess it's some sort of strain on tendons connecting hamstring and calf, or maybe ITBS. I first felt it in my left leg last Thursday after the 5K. I'm sure running in flats didn't help. I'll ice it tonight, and hope it doesn't get worse, because I'm a scoring runner in tomorrow's track meet, so I can't back down.

Total time: 33:23 (8:57 pace).

Went to the meet in pouring rain. It rained all evening, and it was freezing cold in the wind. Stayed under the covered bleaches, but was still cold. I'm taking 3200mg of Ibuprofen a day, so my legs were perfect - no pains whatsoever.

Did 200m first, warmed up for 0.5 mi, no time for strides - traffic was crazy and it took me almost 2 hours to get to the track, and 200m was the first event. Oh well. I got lane 6. Passed lane 7 within first 10 meters, and was running first. In the last 10m, lane 7 tried to stage a comeback, but I saw her from the corner of my eye, and made one final push. Got 33.5 - not as good as a month ago, but ok. Considering conditions and no one to chase, I'll take it. I won the event, as everyone else was slower. My knee was fine.

Then sat around for 1.5 hours waiting for the relay. I skipped 3000m for fear of aggravating the injury. Had to do another warmup as I was very cold and wet. Ran about 1200m for warmup. I was the anchor leg for the relay, but by the time I got the baton, we were so far behind, there was no way I could bridge it. I did catch up a lot though, but just ran out of distance. We won the meet though, so that was good, and I had fun, despite the dreadful weather.

Test run to see how the knee felt. No Ibuprofen today, so I could feel if the knee started acting up. It turned out that the knee was ok, although I felt couple of twinges in the first mile, but then it went away. I ran some distance on grass parallel to the paved path to minimize impact. But my quads and hamstrings are STILL sore from sprinting on Monday. I'm amazed how 33 sec. of max. speed can cause such soreness! Although this time it's better than a month ago when I raced 200m for the first time - that time I was crippled for a week. Interestingly, Ibuprofen has no effect on muscle soreness, at least for me - I was still feeling it. Maybe I was feeling it less than I would have without Ibuprofen, who knows.

So, it wasn't a comfortable run, but I was glad to get out after 2 days of not running. The weather continues to be the worst in years. The floods are a huge issue now in England with thousands of people displaced and homes destroyed. It reminds me of hurricane Katrina aftermath, although probably not on the same scale. It's been raining again all this week, and today there was a massive storm with violent winds, horizontal rain and it was as dark as nighttime. A lot of my coworkers jumped from their chairs and stood glued to the window - they say they haven't seen anything like this in years and years. But by 5PM it cleared up somewhat and that's when I rushed home and went for a run. I'm so ready for our vacation next week (going to Nice). At least to see some sun this summer and not have to wear a jacket in the middle of July!

In other news, I got London marathon official magazine with the entry form in the mail. I'm debating whether I should apply as "good for age" with my Rotterdam time, and beg them to let me in despite being 45 sec. over the limit. Or I can apply to Boston, for which I qualified legitimately. My main feeling though, especially after my fiasco in Rotterdam, is that I'm really not that interested in running another marathon unless I can run 3:15-3:20. And that can be predicted once I'm able to run the half in 1:30. I can race many halfs and recover in a few days, and not disrupt my flow of training. Marathon tends to destroy my rhythm for many weeks. If I can run half in 1:30 then I at least will have a shot at a decent marathon performance. I think I need to focus on increasing my fitness and bringing my times down in shorter distances, without getting hung up on the marathon.

Total time: 54:40 (8:57 pace).

Long run before heading out to airport. My knee seemed to have held up ok, although I felt it sometimes, but no pain. A very warm day compared to what it has been lately - around 70F and sunny.

Total time: 1:58:14 (8:57 pace).

I'm hoping to run along the beach tomorrow!

Really hot, miserable run. Total time: 56:16.