Maria's Running Blog

1 loop of the parks, feeling tired again. I think I found a place for us to move in on 9/16, so no more endless walking to look at apartments. Did 4x100m strides after the run.

2 loops of the parks + 1 loop of Hyde Park. There was a huge women's race here today, 5K. 20,000 participants and Paula Radcliffe was running. I went running in the afternoon and the place was still very crowded. I found only 1 drinking fountain in Kensington Gardens, and I needed more fluid. I guess authorities assume people will buy water from multiple stands, but I hate carrying anything with me :(. Maybe I'll have to, because I certainly suffered from the lack of fluids today. Also, it was a warm day, around 80F (my guess on conversion, it was 24C).

easy run with my GPS working the entire way, for a change. The outer loop of Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens is exactly 4.3mi, as Serpentine Running Club says on their web site. I felt pretty good after the long run yesterday. Time was 41:41 (8:30 pace). It's getting too warm here,supposed to be 27C tomorrow!

Did my first marathon pace run in 2 weeks and had the same result as in my last 2 weeks in NJ - felt really good at a fast pace first 1.5 miles, and then died. I did 4 miles in 31:33 (7:54 pace). The overall pace is the correct pace for me, but it's deceiving, since I started at 7:30 pace and felt great, and then when I hit a slight incline with cobblestone/sand on one corner of the park, it totally broke my rhythm and I couldn't recover after that. I must have slowed down to 8:15-8:20 pace and saw my average creep up to 7:54. I have to start slower on these fast portions, but I feel so good I think I can maintain this pace for the entire 4 miles. Apparently I can't. Total time for the run was 1:16:01. It's also very warm today, 28C and a littel humid, believe it or not! Supposed to be 21C tomorrow. It gets very hot on the tube here, because there is no a/c, I can only imagine how bad it was in July when London had a heat wave!

easy run on a much cooler day. 7.2mi in 1:01:35. I felt ok today, but not super fresh, which is probably normal since I ran 9 miles yesterday. The weather is still gorgeous, it's 20C with a slight breeze and sunny.

Did the same workout as on Wednesday, but with much better results. I started slower and was able to hold a steady 7:40 pace throughout the entire 4 miles, despite having to come to a dead stop in the middle of it and waiting for the green light for 30 sec. or so. 4mi in 30:36 (7:39 pace). Total time 58:29.

Long run - 3 loops of Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens - 1:59:12 (8:49 pace). I felt pretty good and managed to complete my run before sunset, when they close Kensington Gardens.

It was humid today and I didn't take it into account. Started too fast again on the faster portion and had to slow down last 2 miles. Total time 1:07:00, middle 5mi in 39:13 (7:50 pace).

Easy run in Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens. I did 2 loops and then added on on paths in Hyde Park to make sure I get 10 in. I felt pretty good, although it was another humid day. Tonight the skies are supposed to open up and it should rain (heavily!) all day tomorrow. I'll have to see if I can sneak out for a run. Time today was 1:26:48 (8:38 pace). My left quad was bothering me a little today, it's been on and off for the last month. It's strange as all my injuries are usually on my right side, left leg is my "good" leg. I'm not too worried though because it's right in the middle of the quad so not a ligament issue, probably just a mild strain.

I'm back filling on 09/18. Unfortunately, last week and beginning of this week has been very inconsistent due to our move to the new apartment and various appointements that didn't leave more than 2 hour windows. I wasn't super efficient and found myself skipping runs as other things took priority. Really not happy about missing long run.

Total time 59:02, middle 4 mi. in 30:33 (7:39 pace). This was a good steady paced run, but it came after 2 days of rest, so no real accomplishment. Afterwards did 4x100m strides.

First run from my new home. Ran through Primrose Hill towards Regents Park and around the park. This was an exploration run, I tried to measure the perimeter of the park, but I don't think I took the most outer path possible - there are so many paths there. I tried to always stay as far to the right as possible, but I think I missed some. I was looking for a running track, as it is marked on the map, but the first time round, I ran past it and didn't see it. Second time, I found it. It's interesting - a packed gravel track without lane markings. Not a standard track for sure, in fact it looked like a sausage, long and narrow! The infield looked too narrow to me, and I remembered reading somewhere that this track is less than 440 yds, so I decided to measure it. I ran it twice, once in the first lane, and once in the second (approximately, since there are no lanes!). Both times my Garmin showed 0.24mi. Pretty close. I decided to run stride workout since I was at the track anyway. Did 8x30 sec. at a fast, but relaxed pace. I ran the straightaway and barely started to turn when 30sec. were up. Garmin showed 0.1mi on the fastest repeat, so that means the straightaway is almost 160m, and that makes turns very tight, only about 50m - not good for speedwork. There is a real, standard, athletics track in Hampstead Heath, but it's further away and I have to go through busy streets to get there. I'll explore it too soon and see how bad the run there is. It's pretty annoying to stop for lights all the time, but on the other hands I don't want to risk an injury running tight turns. For strides though, Regents Park track is just fine. Strides splits:

0.33 - 491 ft

0.34 - 498 ft

0.33 - 511 ft

0.32 - 520 ft

0.31 - 491 ft

0.31 - 498 ft

0.31 - 504 ft

0.31 - 0.1 mi

Went home back through Primrose Hill. It's also a park, although much smaller than Regents Park. It does have a very steep hill in the middle, and from the top, there are some nice views over London. The main path is way too steep, but there are many on the sides with various degrees of incline, and they would be good for hill workouts.

Another exploration run, this time to Hampstead Heath, another park a little over a mile from my house. I found it okay, althought it was a bit too many street crossings and stopping for cars, but not too bad. The Heath is great for running, it's very large with many paths criss crossing it, including some dirt paths. I ran on the main paved path for fear of getting lost, but in time I'll try others as well. Saw the track there - nice, full regulation track with 8 lanes, but there was a sign that it costs 2.40/day. Not too happy about that. Not sure it's if you want to use their locker rooms, or even if you just want to run on the track. Saw few people, both kids and adults jump the fence, and then saw one gate open as I ran around, so I got in and did one lap. So, I'm not sure about this payment situation. Then ran back home. Couple of times my left glute locked up for about a minute and hurt on every step. This is something new, I never had problems with this before. I hope it's not piriformis or something like that. The pain wasn't shooting down my leg, so I have no clue what it is and why would bother me on a really easy run. Anyway, I backed off the pace and it went away both times. Time was 57:00 (9:11 pace).

Today was the first day of "typical" London weather. Overcast and light rain, and forecast says the same or worse till Monday. Since I didn't run yesterday due to having to sit home all day waiting for BT engineer to come and fix our faulty phone line (turned out, there was nothing wrong with the line, just some idiot in customer service put the wrong apartment number in our address, so they activated phone line in the wrong apartment!!), not running today was out of the question.

I couldn't get a signal on my Garmin, not surprisingly in this weather. So the total distance is estimated. I ran in Regents Park. Once I did a loop of the park, I saw that my Garmin finally kicked in, so I did 0.73mi on the track in 5:07 (7:04 pace). It felt good, around 5K race pace. Then jogged home. By that time it was raining pretty hard, and I got soaked. It didn't bother me much, I can run in the rain as long as my shoes don't fill with water.

Very tough run on Hampstead Heath. Hilly, mostly off road on narrow dirt paths. I managed to get lost a little, so I had to stop couple of times and figure out what direction I need to go. I tried to run some miles at marathon pace, but it was very hard to get into a rhythm due to hills. I did 4.5mi in 37:00 (8:12 pace). Total run time was 1:53:36.

Overcast and light rain today all day. I ran to Regents Park and did 8x(1min on + 1min off) fartlek run on the track, then ran around the park and went home for a total of 8 miles. I ran fast intervals at about 5K race pace and it came to 6:35-6:50 pace on my Garmin. It was a good workout, I really had to push on the last 3 repeats, and I definitely felt anaerobic by that point.

I am planning to run 10K race this Sunday in Hyde Park, just to see where I am. I also picked up UK entry application for London Marathon 2007 and will apply. It's a ballot system (essentially a lottery), so not too many chances to get in, but who knows. I think it would be cool to run London, and it's a fast course. I would like to run around 3:30.

Today was an eventful run, but not in a good way. I started feeling slow and my HR was up (I wore HRM for a change today). Then, about 0.5 mile from the house, I tripped on the concrete tiles that line the sidewalk, and took a spill. Scraped one knee and one elbow pretty good. I probably should've gone home and wash the blood off and put some bandages, but I was already near Primrose Hill, so I just continued on. The knee continued to hurt all the way, my HR was still up despite moving very slowly, and by the time I got home I had a nasty headache on top of all that. One of those days I guess. I hope the knee feels better tomorrow because I have MP workout scheduled. Total time was 56:57 (9:20 pace). Avg. HR 158

Warmed up 15 min. and ran 5mi. in 40:13 (8:02 pace). It was a tough going, don't know why, heavy breathing and just felt hard. This was almost 20 sec/mi slower than I ran just couple of weeks ago in Hyde Park. Afterwards, did 4x100m strides and jogged home. Total time 1:08:20 (excluding strides). Left knee still hurts, and maybe affecting my stride. I am also being paranoid about falling again and slow down on dirt paths when I see roots or rocks sticking out.

easy run in Regents Park, time 35:59 (8:33 pace). Then did 4x100m strides. Still didn't feel all that great on the run, although strides felt good. 10K race tomorrow.