Maria's Running Blog

Today was the first really cold day since I've been in UK. It was around 45F with some good wind. But, it was absolutely clear and sunny day, perfect for running. I warmed up for 15min, and ran 6 miles tempo, starting at 8:05 pace and ending at 7:54 for average. For the first time since I started doing these tempos couple of months ago, I felt relaxed and first 3 miles really easy. I was dropping the pace without trying and the whole effort felt only moderate, not hard as it usually does. After I finished, I had enough energy for 4x100m strides, which I'm normally too tired to do after tempos. Then jogged home 15min. Ended up doing over 9mi. instead of planned 8.

My usual fast finish progression run. 5 miles easy, then 5 min. at 5K pace + cooldown. My "easy" pace today was 8:20! I think it's a combination of day off and increased fitness. I haven't run my easy runs at this pace since last winter, I think. And I always run faster after a day off. When I got to the track, I ran 1200 in 5:06 (6:49 pace), 6 sec. faster than last week. Splits were faster as well:

400m - 1:39

800m - 3:24

1200m - 5:06

Total time 1:00:55.

I tried today a second pair of new shoes I shipped from US - Asics Nimbus VIII, and they didn't agree with me too well. Especially my left forefoot was pretty sore by the end. It's a shame because it's a great shoe, and they made it lighter in this release. Unfortunately, sometimes they make tiny changes that can really screw it up. I had great success with previous version of Nimbus, so I'm going to give them a try some more. Adidas, on the other hand, fits perfectly!

3mi. warmup, 6 mi. in 47:17 (7:52 pace avg.), 3mi. cooldown. After warmup, sped up to 7:57 pace and ran steady for 4 miles or so, then gradually picked it up last 2 miles to get to 7:52 average. It didn't feel as easy as Wednesday's run, but I started significantly faster and kept the pace, vs. progression I did on Wednesday. Still felt strong and was able to relax and distract myself with some non-running thoughts. After I finished 6 mile segment, I did 4x100m strides on the track in the middle of my cooldown. I was pretty stiff on the first one, but better on others. First stride after running relatively slow for a long time always feels stiff and awkward. Then the body wakes up to faster running. Total time was 1:41:09 (not counting the strides).

4.2mi. warmup, fartlek 10x(1min. fast + 1min. easy), 1.4mi. cooldown. I did fartlek on the track so I could compare the times with last week. Speed on fast segments as recorded by Garmin:

6.39 min/mi., 6:51, 6:40, 6:42, 6:38, 6:41, 6:44, 6:27, 6:26, 5:57. Last three were pretty hard, and my 1' easy kept getting slower and slower, but I kept the same or faster speed in 1' fast. Felt tired on cool down.

easy run, 52:57 (8:49 pace). Didn't feel all that great, a little sluggish.

Forgot to charge my Garmin, and it was low on battery, so I had to run with a regular watch. 15 min. warmup, then 5 miles at AT pace, 4x100m strides and 17 min. cooldown. Without knowing my pace, I had to run by effort and time. I did 40:00 at approx. 8:00 pace. It didn't feel easy, so I hope I didn't run too slow. Total time 1:12:29 (not counting strides).

long run, 4 loops of Regents Park. I felt okay, but not great, and got pretty tired last 3 miles. Total time 2:05:02 (8:55 pace).

Fartlek 5x(3'on + 3' off). The pace was supposed to be ~10K in the beginning and ~5K at the end. I ran 7:29, 7:21, 7:15, 7:09 and 7:11 pace. The 5th repeat was very hard, I started really slow, but then managed to pick up the pace and bring the average down to 7:11. I realized that 3' fartlek is a lot harder than 1'. Then ran about 4mi. cooldown. Very tired, but it was a good workout. Total time 1:24:09.

easy run today. It looked like it was going to rain any second, and sure enough, it did, about half way through my run. It started drizzling, but soon it was coming down steady. I got soaked, but at least it's still very warm - it hasn't dipped below 50F during day time yet. I'm still running in shorts, so I'll take that over freezing my butt in NJ (which I did last year at this time!).

Remembered to wear my HRM today and tried to make sure it wasn't going over 150. Managed average of 141, but I ran slow. Total time 1:01:17 (9:00 pace).

Today was a tough run. My legs were tired and the effort felt hard, even though the pace was the usual. I started at 8:07 pace and then moved down to 7:58 average over the next 4 miles. Then I timed the last mile separately, and it was 7:45. That brought the overall average to 7:55 pace. HR was 162-165, which seems a bit high, but I never wore HRM on this tempo before so I can't compare. Was supposed to do strides after the tempo, but ran out of time and had to just jog home. Total time 1:07:50.

Did tempo intervals today for the first time since last spring. It was very, very hard. I did 4x2000m with 3' recovery jog. I was aiming to start at 9:20 and then try to speed up as I went along.

I started with 9:18 (HR 164), the second one was 9:17 (HR 171) and it was already very hard. I thought maybe I should just do 3 instead of 4. Third one was 9:24 (HR 170), and it was a bit easier, but of course I was slowing down already. There was strong headwind on one of the straightaways which wasn't helping. I was debating if I should do the last one, and eventually decided I'll start and see how it goes. Well, I started and it was going badly, I had no energy, my legs were shot and I was hurting big time. But for some reason, I didn't want to stop, probably because then I would have an incomplete workout. I guess that kept me going, although I was running very slow, 7:41 pace. I finished in 9:35 (HR 168). It was well off the intended pace, but because HR was still pretty high (about 90% of my max), I hope I still got the benefit. I think my threshold is pretty weak, but it's the first such workout in a long time, so maybe it's okay.

I went back to my logs of 7 months ago, and saw that I did similar workout (3x2000m with only 2' rec. jog) in 9:12, 9:18, 9:14. I'm obviously not at that level now.

Started off feeling so-so. The grass loop was very muddy after 2 days of rain, and I was sliding all over the place. I was spending a lot of energy avoiding water filled holes and trying to keep my balance. Couldn't get into a rhythm, so after one loop I decided it's enough. I stayed on paved loop from then on, but I had to run more loops, since it's shorter than the grass one. About 5 miles in, I started feeling better and realized that I felt better if I went a bit faster. Got into a good rhythm and went steady until 9 miles. Then I stopped for water and gel, and continued feeling strong to the end. My average pace dropped to 8:47 (from 8:54) and I ran the last mile at a good clip, I'd say around 8:35 - 8:40. Definitely better run than last week. Total time 2:03:41 (8:47 pace).

No running today. I thought of doing easy 4 miles, but after spending the entire day at my daughter's swim meet I just didn't have the energy.

She did great though, swimming PRs in both 100m freestyle (1:17:41) and 100m back (1:24:19), and I'm very proud of her. She's been working very hard in training, and it is paying off.

Ran fartlek 5x (3' hard + 3' easy) in the rain. It was dry when I started, but started raining only 15 min. into my run, and continued all the way to my cooldown. When I was finishing, it was blue sky and even sun peaking out. Must be my luck.

The speeds were faster than last week, 7:22, 7:16, 6:52, 6:59, 6:58. It felt hard, but manageable. Total time 1:18:35.

Ran with a new friend that I met online. She works in the area and we were able to run at lunch time. It was great to have company as I always run alone! It was an easy run for me, so we talked the whole time, and the pace was slow, but it was very enjoyable. Total time 1:13 (9:11 pace). Afterwards, did 4x100m strides.

Ran 6 miles today, with 3 at a faster pace (23:23, average 7:48 pace). It felt pretty easy, maybe because I did only 3mi. rather than usual 5. But I'm running 5K race on Friday, so I'm taking it a little easier.

easy 4mi. in the park, 37:20. Also did 4x100m strides in about 20 sec. each. It was very windy today, if it continues tomorrow, it will be very hard to run good time in 5K.

Last Friday 5K in Hyde Park. My latest attempt on the quest to break 22:00 failed yet again, but this time I got the closest to it since last May: 22:05.

My plan was to run hard from the start and hope to hang on as long as I can. It was rather windy, but I don't think it was a factor for me as I always ran either in a tight pack, or close behind someone. I didn't feel the wind in the race, but I felt it a lot on the warmup and cooldown.

First km was 4:17 (6:57 pace). HR 155 - pretty low for me at this pace. The next 2km. were 8:45 (7:02 pace), HR up to 172. Then, about 3.5-3.75km the wheels came off and I felt myself slowing down a lot. The legs went pretty numb. I latched onto a woman in front of me and tried to hang on to her, but she pulled away in the last km. Then I managed a pathetic kick in the last 200m and got back to her. She finished one second ahead of me. Last 2km in 9:02 (7:15 pace). HR averaged 177 with the max. of 182. My breathing was like I was having an asthma attack, but my max. HR hit only 182 (it was 186 in May). That's strange, I certainly felt like I gave 100%. Perhaps, lactic acid slowed me down so much that I couldn't use all the reserves of my heart? Of course, back in June it was a lot hotter, so it could've affected the max. HR. Afterwards, I could barely jog very slowly on the cooldown. The whole race felt hard, there was never a time I was running comfortably, unlike my last 10K.

Overall, I'm relatively happy with this time as it seems to be an improvement over my 10K (46:29) a month ago. This race is great for measuring progress because it's held monthly year-round on the same course (which by the way is flat).

It's a small (200 limit) no-frills race, put on by Serpentine RC - no t-shirts, no goody bags, no electronic clock, no water or food. They have staggered start, first group for people going for under 21:00, and then 2 min. later for slower runners. But it's very well marshaled, timed accurately by hand and it costs only 2GBP for club runners, and 4GBP for unattached runners like me. It sells out every single month, so I had to apply 3 weeks before to make sure I get a spot. Probably because it's on Friday lunch hour, and people working in Central London can just sneak out and run it during their lunch. I think I'll try to run it fairly regularly, and hopefully, one day I'll break 22:00.

Of course, now I'm off to Italy for the weekend and there will be no running there - it's frustrating. I put in couple of 50 mile weeks, and then I have a 35 mile week. Doesn't help my fitness, but I have to make some concessions to family. Most weekends are dominated either by my long run, or my races, or my daughter's swim meets and training. My husband is not too happy about all of this.

Back from two days of no running, I started off stiff and tired. We did a lot of walking in Milan, so that may explain fatigue. I felt a little better when I started doing my usual Monday fartlek 5x(3' hard + 3' easy). Paces were a little slower than last week, and Garmin ran wild sometimes, so I'm not sure of whether my data is accurate. I have paces of 7:25, 7:04, 7:08, 6:39, 7:04. Total time 1:18:36.

easy run in the afternoon. It got dark soon after I started, and it was only 4PM! I found myself in fron of the closed gate at one point while was still inside the park. I guess they close some gates after daylight hours. I didn't like the prospect of being locked in, and tracked back to the last open gate I saw, got outside and ran around park perimeter the rest of the way, which added a bit of distance. Even streets were not lit aside from car lights, so that's something to keep in mind when I have to run in the dark. But the weather continues to surprise me, it's still 55F, and I still run in shorts!! It rains almost every day, but I still can find dry pockets and fit my runs in. Total time 1:06:17 (8:51 pace).

Ran 3 mi. warmup, 4mi. tempo and 2 mi. cooldown. Didn't feel the greatest to start, legs were quite heavy and tired. I was wondering how in the world I'm going to run 4mi. at my threshold pace. But then I started on the tempo, and within half mile managed to lock into a comfortably hard pace, which happened to be 7:30-7:32 min/mile. I was surprised as my true threshold pace is supposed to be 7:28 (according to Daniels and McMillan calculator), so adjusted for 30min. duration, it should be 7:38 (LT pace + 10 sec/mile). However, I felt okay and was able to hold this pace until the end, getting 30:12 for 4mi. (7:32 avg.). Total run time 1:15.

very easy recovery run, 38:51. I used to take Thursdays off, but I think I'm going to switch days around, and run recovery on Thursdays and take off Sundays. This coming Sunday Lisa has another swim meet that's going to take all day, so I want to free up the day.