Maria's Running Blog

easy run, except the last 10min. at half-marathon pace (7:49 pace). Very hot again, but felt a bit better than the first time.

Total time: 57:26

I'm back home form France, so I'm going to make just one entry and fill in the mileage for other days.

The vacation was fantastic, first taste of summer after dismal weather in London. We traveled all over French Riviera (by train) and spent some time in Monte Carlo, Cannes, Cap Ferrat and of course, Nice where we stayed. It meant spending at least 5 hours hiking very steep and hilly terrain that is over there! Lots of climbing and descending stairs leading to different street levels and sights. My legs were toast every day, and I got a nasty blister even in my most comfortable walking sneakers.

I was indeed able to run on Promenade des Anglais along the beach. It was crowded, but it is also very wide, so there is enough room for bikers, rollerbladers, runners and people just strolling along. One thing I did not consider, is that the promenade had absolutely no shade, all running happens directly under the sun. Ugh, that was tough. Not being acclimated to anything over 65F after London, I suffered badly in the heat. Of course, it would help if I ran earlier in the day, but I wanted to sleep in after going to bed at 2AM every night. So I didn't run nearly as much as I needed to, but just enough to maintain some basic fitness. I did only 3 runs, no longer than 6.5 mi. each, and I was absolutely drenched in sweat and feeling terrible on each one. Interestingly, I saw many runners at the same hot time of the day that I ran (around 11AM), but they all were going pretty slow. Only one guy was running at a good clip, but he also had a Camelback, which I'm sure was helping him. Lots of bikers too (there is a special biking lane on the promenade), including one in the team uniform of Astana, the Kazakh team that withdrew from Tour de France following positive doping test by Winokurov. I don't know any riders, so I didn't recognize who it was, just the team colors.

Total time: 45:02

did my usual 6 mile route. Felt out of sorts, lots of little aches and pains - my typical state when I'm running as sporadically as I have been recently. At least the weather is nice, 60s and a little breeze.

Total time: 53:47 (8:49 pace).

Only got out at 8:30PM so the park was closing in the dark. Ran 2 outer loops, second one in almost complete darkness. I'm amazed that Westminster council doesn't put more street lights on the sidewalk around Regents Park. One time I almost collided with another runner, because I was on my tempo portion of the run and we didn't see each other till the last second. And it didn't help that both of us were wearing black t-shirts.

Felt much better today than yesterday, ran easy for about 5 mi, then ran 10min. at half-marathon effort (1.3mi, 7:44 pace). After that, jogged home 1.4mi.

Total time: 1:08:34 (8:47 pace).

Threshold run today. Did 2.4mi warmup, then went straight into the tempo. The goal was to average 7:40-7:42 pace, considering that my true threshold is about 7:31 and making adjustment for the duration of the tempo (per Daniels). Decided to take splits every mile rather than just look at average pace over the entire segment. Interesting results:

mile 1 - 7:48 - felt bad, no rhythm, also had some subtle uphill

mile 2 - 7:30 - the easiest mile of the whole tempo, also with some subtle downhill. Felt great and in good rhythm.

mile 3 - 7:40 - not so easy anymore, caught some of the same uphill as on mile 1. Started to struggle towards the end.

mile 3.5 - 3:46 (7:36 pace) - struggling, but hanging in there, and some of the downhill from mile 2 helped.

Afterwards, legs were dead, and I shuffled home 1.2 mi. at about 9:45 pace. Overall, though, it was a good workout. I feel pretty tired now, but it's no wonder - I ran more miles in 3 days than the whole of last week!

Total time: 58:44 (8:16 pace).

I was pretty tired today. Probably should have taken a day off, but I wanted to keep my mileage somewhat decent this week, so I went out. My legs were dead, and I just trudged along at whatever pace my body felt like. Ran portions of the run on grass, and it felt nicer than the road, for a change.

Total time: 55:42 (9:10 pace).

Tough run today. My legs were still tired from all the running I did this week, and I also had GI troubles. After mile 4, I made a detour inside the park and checked 2 different restrooms, and both were locked! Arrgghh!! How can they not keep at least one opened when it is still daylight, the weather is nice, and there are literally hundreds of people in the park?

Anyway, nothing else to do, but continue on. I am known for having run more than one marathon needing a bathroom the entire time (not that I enjoy it!). Then, at about 8 miles, I got really hungry, so I just couldn't wait to get home. I planned to do 13 mi. originally, but decided to cut it a bit short seeing how crappy I was feeling. Pace was slow, but I didn't care, and I think overall I got decent time on my feet. When I finally got home and took my shoes off, I was surprised to see one of my socks covered in blood - apparently, I managed to get a blister that burst. I did feel something in that foot, but with all the other uncomfortable things going on, didn't pay much attention. But these things always look worse than they really are. So, it was just one of those adventuruos runs, and not in a good sense.

Total time: 1:46:27 (9:04 pace).

First day at my new job. Long day, got home only about 8 with bad stomach pains. I was very hungry, so I ate and felt better. But by the time my stomach settled down a bit, it was already after 9. So there went my run.

The commute is awful - min. 1:30 with tube, train and shuttle bus involved. 3 hours a day down the drain. But I like the job, and maybe I will be able to spend 2 days a week at a customer site, depending of course, where the customer will be! I'll also have to do some travel to Germany to the company's headquarters.

Left work half hour earlier, and stomach felt better today, so I managed to get out around 8PM. The plan was to do 6x800m with equal or near equal time recovery. It was pouring rain and getting dark, but I got to the track and started the workout. It was one of the hardest workouts I had in a long time. I felt slow already on the warmup, 9:24 pace, that's very slow for me on the warmup. The trend just continued on. Plus, the cinder track was very soft from the rain, and my shoes felt like they weighed one pound each (they probably did!). On the last two I was dying big time, and called it quits after 5. I don't know if these were the reasons for slow times, but they were:

800m time	Rest	Comment
3:30	3:03	hard, but ok
3:36	3:05	hard, but still ok
3:45	3:38	very hard and much slower, decided to take more recovery
3:42	3:43	dying last 100m, extremely hard
3:41		again dying last 100m, and first lap was 7:45 pace, ouch! Really dying, so decided to stop.

I haven't run 800s for a long time, maybe I need to build to 7-8 repeats gradually. I also probably should have taken more recovery from the beginning. Oh well, I'm not going to dwell on this workout too much. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better conditions, although the forecast says "rain/wind".

My last workout before leaving for US. It was a strange run, I never had anything like that happen to me before. The plan was to do 3x2000m with 2-3' recovery jog. Target times for 2000s were 9:30-9:12. I started the first one, and felt terrible, heavy legs, a lot of effort, but slow pace. Only managed 9:51 and was tired already! Decided to give myself 3' recovery. On the second one, I decided not to look at Garmin so as to not get more depressed about the slow time.Only looked at it at mid-way, and was shocked to see that I was running much faster than the first repeat, about 7:25 pace. Finished it in 9:21, feeling much better than before. Agan jogged 3', and started on the last repeat. Felt even better than on the second, and ran 9:13, feeling pretty strong. This is very strange, usually these workouts at threshold are very hard for me, and I never run 2nd and 3rd repeat faster than the first. I'm puzzled, but on the other hand, with all the crazy training I've been doing and NOT doing, maybe I shouldn't be surprised. In the end, I was happy how the workout turned around, despite some really bad stomach cramps at the end.

Ran on the treadmill in the hotel. I substituted hill repeats for hill repeats on the treadmill. I did 10 x (1' hard @ 5% and 8 mph + 1' easy @ 1% and 6 mph). All the pace and incline changes kept me from getting bored as I had to watch the time closely, and account for acceleration/decceleration of the treadmill. It was a hard workout. The room was air conditioned, but I was soaked regardless. According to Jack Daniels, 5% and 8 mph are equivalent to 6:11 pace, but I don't know, it seems too fast.

This was my first run after essentially 2 weeks of no running (2 runs in 2 weeks). Needless to say, I felt lethargic and very slow. My legs felt like jelly. I almost didn't look at Garmin the entire way, partially because it was dark, and partially because I knew I wouldn't see anything good. My only wish now is to get back to the same level I was 2 weeks ago by Sept. 9, when I have my 10K.

Total time: 47:21 (9:17 pace).

Did progression run today, where my last 10 min. were supposed to be at half marathon pace. I ran it by feel since I have no idea what my half marathon pace is right now, being so out of shape. I got 1.3mi @7:54 pace, not that bad, really. Overall, I felt better than yesterday despite some soreness in my legs and having slept only 5 hours last night.

I'm glad I could get out for a run, because things are crazy stressful now. We're moving on Saturday, and until today, nothing was packed. We made big progress today, but still about half of the stuff remains unpacked. At the same time, I'm taking a training class at work, and tomorrow I have 1 hour long certification exam. I have no time to study for it, so whatever happens, happens.

Total time: 55:45 (8:42 pace).

Did my run despite being extremely stressed about the move. I ran about 6 miles and the time was somewhere around 53 min, but I don't remember exactly, have to check my watch. Now (after the move) we have no internet connection at the new apartment yet, so I have to write at work for now, and of course I don't have my running watch with me!