Maria's Running Blog

Easy run in NJ on my old running route. I dropped my daughter off at her old school and decided to go for a run there, since our hotel is right on Rt.17, with no easy access to back roads.

I originally planned to do some miles at marathon pace, but as I started, I quickly changed my mind. After 5 days of no running, very late nights, my mother-in-law cooking and a bit more alcohol than needed, everything felt off. I felt like I haven't run in a year, not 5 days. Slow, sluggish, and the hills killed me. I thought I was crawling along, but when I timed few stretches, I was going at 8:30-8:40 pace. I just felt so out of sorts. It's the longest break in running I had since April. Hopefully, I can sneak a few miles in tomorrow and Thursday, and then Friday is all day travel on the plane. Time today 52:30 (8:45 pace).

Finally getting back to normal routine. I felt very slow and sluggish again today. Basically, last 1.5 weeks my training has gone down the drain. I hope I didn't lose too much fitness, although I'm sure I lost some. I missed 2 long runs, and I tried to go long today, but decided to stop after 8 miles in order to not run myself into the ground the first day back. Time 1:11:11 (8:53 pace).

The good news, I didn't gain any weight while in the States, which is no small feat considering all the food my mother-in-law cooked for us and our New Year's party meal. Traditional Russian cuisine is not very healthy.

Ran 6 miles in the rain and wind. I felt a bit better today than yesterday, and my pace was quicker as well. I'm going to repeat the week of 12/25 to get back on schedule. Time 52:36 (8:37 pace).

Yesterday I "officially" registered for the Rotterdam marathon, so there is no turning back now. I have also registered for the Fleet Half on 3/11, so these 2 races are set. Don't know if I'll do any other races or will just train the next 2 months. It seems counter productive to race 5Ks in the marathon buildup,taking up the place of a possible long run (although I do have an option of Friday 5K).

Did 2x10 heel raises after the run.

Ran a hilly loop in Primrose Hill park, pushing the pace on the hills (8). It was a tough run. The wind was crazy today, literally pushing me off the path into the grass at times, probably gusting to 50-60 mph. My adductors and right shin muscle were a little sore to start, and it's quite possible I'll be even more sore tomorrow. Again I felt slow, but overall pace was 8:45, not too bad. I think it's the loss of running economy after the break that makes me feel so slow. I should feel better by next week. Total time 1:03:56 (8:45 pace).

I felt better than expected today. Some quad and hamstring soreness, but pretty mild, really. Ran 6.8mi with 4x100m strides in 57:56 (8:31 pace) and felt decent.

Did 3x10 heel raises afterwards.

Very nice text editing extension, Sasha! Thanks!

Today was rather interesting. It was unbelievably windy again, gusts up to 50 mph. I ran about 3 mi. warmup and started hill repeats in Primrose Hill park. Of course, it so happens that the direction of the hill was right into the wind. The hill was very steep too. So, I was working hard, but moving up very slowly and feeling like I was running on an air pillow (kind of like if you put your hand out the car window while driving fast). After about 30-35 sec.on each repeat my legs would die, but I still tried to concentrate on maintaining good form. I ran about 40 sec.-1 min. up before starting back down again. I could only manage 8 repeats with all this going on, and I couldn't go faster than 8:40 pace! Interestingly, I was not the only one crazy enough to do hill repeats in this wind - there was another runner on the hill next to my hill, doing the same thing. His form looked much better than mine, I think. After I was completely dead, I shuffled home another 1.6 mi. to give me 6mi. for the day. Total time 55:31.

Took it easy today, 6.1mi in 53:21 (8:44 pace). Legs feel tired. I ran in shorts today, partially because it's warm out (55F), but also because I ran out of tights and can't even do laundry, since we don't have hot water - again! Not to mention taking a shower... This building has some problem every few weeks, the one with hot water is the second time in 3 months! But I really hope it gets fixed soon (but given that a weekend is coming, and nothing gets done here on weekends, it may be Monday before we have hot water again).

Did 2x10 heel raises after the run.

Long run, 5 loops around Regents Park. I felt ok, not great, legs a bit heavy from all the miles during the week, this was my 7th run without a day off. Had some GI problems, which always happens when my body doesn't cooperate before I go for a run. Everything got tight around 12 miles, but I guess it's to be expected after the break I had. Time was 2:22:27 (8:47 pace). Not bad, considering GI cramps and pain that slowed me down few times.

Took 2 gels, one PowerGel with 200mg sodium, and then one GU with caffeine. I'm experimenting to see how I react to extra sodium and caffeine. I think sodium definitely helped, because today I got a lot less hand swelling than usual. I can't say I felt the kick from caffeine, though. Maybe because I was already very tired when I took it (around 13.5 miles). Also, GU was very thick, it was a bit hard to swallow. I wore my FuelBelt today with just 2 bottles on the back, and it worked out ok. It's the best thing I found for carrying water on long runs - it doesn't bounce at all, and usually doesn't chafe. The problem is the front bottles interfere with my arm swing, so it's annoying, and I don't use them. Of course, in the summer, 12 oz. of water from the back bottles alone, is not enough for 20 mile runs. But now, when it's around 50F, I can get away with it.

I did hill springing workout today in Primrose Hill Park. Ran 3.1 mi. warmup, did 10x60m hill springing repeats with the jog down recovery and then 3.1 mi. cooldown. Hills were pretty hard, and I could feel my calves and ankles got a good workout at the end. I did half of them on grass, and half on pavement. This is one of the Lydiard inspired workouts, along with hill bounding. It's more of a plyometric exercise than pure running, but it helps in building leg power. We did a lot of bounding (not so much springing) when I was training in Russia, but it wasn't up the hill. It was actually done on the track, and we even had time trials bounding over 100m, where both the time, and the number of strides were counted. Anyway, I had success with these workouts last winter, so I'm hoping they'll work again. Total time 1:10:15.

easy run in the rain. I am pretty sore today after yesterday's hills. Especially my back and even shoulders and arms, from the exaggerated arm motion. This is how weak my upper body is. My calves and hamstrings are a bit sore too, but not as much as my back. I remember I had back pain after doing hill drills last year too. It didn't bother me too much on the run, though. Time 53:08 (8:42 pace).

Did 3x10 heel raises afterwards.

Ran 5.5mi. easy, then 10:00 at half marathon pace (came out to 1.3mi, 7:40 pace), 1.4mi. cool down home. My easy pace today was brisk, 8:25, even though my calves and hamstrings are still somewhat sore. My back is sore too, but getting better. Overall, I felt very good today. It felt good to run faster, and I was pleased that my pace was comparable to 3 weeks ago, before the holiday break. Total time 1:09:09.

Did 3x10 heel raises after the run.

No running today. I simply was scared of getting outside. There are very, very high winds blowing across UK today. The weather service issued high winds and gale advisory, and there were several people killed by falling trees and such. In my area, there was sustained wind of 55 mph with gusts up to 80 mph. My blinds were blowing on windows, and the metal cover in the fireplace was rattling all day from the wind, coming in through some invisible space. Looking out my window, I observed everything flying, lamp posts shaking, and few people outside holding onto fences while walking. I was worried about my daughter, but she made it home from school ok (also holding onto everything she could on the way), and said, "Mom, don't go running today". I already decided not to go at that point. I had another hill workout scheduled, and it would have been just counter productive. So, I took a day off, and will do the workout tomorrow. It's supposed to be much better.

Did my second hill workout of the week. This time, it was bounding instead of springing. I ran about 3.7mi. warmup, and started on the moderate hill, no more than 5%. I counted my strides, and it came to 100 strides in 46-50 sec (Garmin showed 430-450 ft = 130-135m). This was a killer workout. At first, I could do 50-60 strides up the hill before my legs would start faltering, then it became 40 strides, and by my last and 8th repeat, I could only do 25 good powerful strides before I started floating in the lactic sea. My knees refused to go up, the stride length shortened, and my pace would drop sharply. All of that was happening at the same time and came on swiftly after mentioned number of strides. Still, I did all 100 strides each time, although my form was pretty bad by the end, and my legs were numb. I also increased my recovery after 3 repeats from 1min. to about 2min, because I was not recovering enough.

After that lovely exercise, I ran some 2.8mi. cool down. Not only was I trudging at 10min. pace, but my legs were feeling like cotton balls the whole time. Total time 1:12:42.

Ran 6 miles at TMP pace, sandwiched between 5mi. and 3.4mi. easy. I started out feeling great, despite sore hamstrings after the hills yesterday. First 5mi. went by in 42:42 (8:26 pace). Then I picked up the pace by feel to what I thought should be MP. When I looked at Garmin couple of minutes later, it said 7:40 pace!! Talk about pace judgement (but I was also going slightly downhill at that point). So I backed off a bit, and came to 1mi. split of 8:00. It was still faster than my projected MP of 8:13, but it felt very easy, and so I continued. Unfortunately, as the miles accumulated, plus slight uphills into the wind, I found this pace not so easy anymore, but I could still maintain it. I felt comfortable on flats and downhills, and struggled a bit uphills and into the strong wind. The uphills and downhills are very subtle in Regents Park, maybe 0.5-1%, but I could definitely feel them. After 4.5mi my hamstrings got really tight, and my pace slipped a bit. Overall, I ran 6mi. in 48:19 (8:03 avg.). After that I jogged 3.4mi. very easy (9:30 pace) - I was pretty tired, and probably running out of energy too, since I didn't take any gels or even water today. Total time 2:03:18.

I think the lesson I should learn from this run is the one that all marathoners have to learn, many in a painful way - I have to be super conservative with my marathon pace, no matter how easy it feels in the beginning.

very easy recovery run, 45:05 (9:24 pace). I tried to go as slow as possible, but HR stayed mostly 142-143, although the average came out to 131. Felt fine. Went to the London Marathon store to look for Asics DS Trainers, but they didn't have them. When I asked if they have anyting comparable, the girl said she needs to go and look up what category of shoes DS Trainer falls into. At that point I knew it's not a good place to buy shoes (not to mention the prices!), or at least I shouldn't listen to their advice. They did, however, give me a free trial pack of High 5 products, various drinks and a gel, so at least I got something :).

Marathon pace tempo plus some strides today. It was raining when I started, but stopped after about 30 min. or so. The wind, however, bothered me the entire run, steady at 16-20 mph. I did 15min. warmup, 5.04mi in 40:00 (7:56 pace), then about 2mi. cool down. Also did 4x100m strides on the track before turning to run home. Total time 1:12:59, not counting strides. I felt good, although tempo pace was a bit too fast, perhaps. Garmin couldn't get a signal for the longest time, so I started tempo by feel, and after about 2mi. it locked in, and I saw 7:55 average, so I kind of went with it. When I was running into the wind, I just tried to keep the same effort, rather than pace, but I think my breathing was affected anyway.

easy run in 42:00 (8:45 pace). It's chilly today, one of the coldest days so far in London - 36F, chill factor 27F (I know it sounds balmy compared to the temps you guys are running in elsewhere). One of the few times I wore gloves on the run. But - it is sunny and clear, and for once, my Garmin didn't have any trouble picking up the signal.

Did 3x10 heel raises after.

Did 6x800 intervals on the track today with equal time jog in between. We got snow for the first time this winter, and track was snow covered, but melting quickly. It created a slush since it's a cinder track, but didn't affect the traction. I ran 2.6mi. warmup, and started on the intervals. This track is a bit short, so it's very possible I ran slightly under 800m, although I'm not sure by how much. I ran the first one in the outer most lane to try to compensate, but it might have been too much, as Garmin showed 0.52mi for that interval. Of course, GPS is not really accurate on tracks with tight turns, so it can't be completely trusted either. In any case, I ran all the other intervals in 3-4 lane and at least they were consistent and Garmin showed 0.5mi for all of them (except one at 0.49). The splits were:

3:36 (Garmin showed 0.52mi)
3:28 -0.5mi
3.27 -0.5mi
3:26 -0.5mi
3.25-0.49mi
3.24 -0.5mi

The last two were very hard, and I generally was running first lap few seconds faster than the second. I started usually in 1:40-1:42. Then I ran 1.4mi cool down. Total time 1:15:58.

I felt my right arch on the second interval, which is worrisome, so I'm icing it now just in case.

Did progression run today: 5.6mi. easy (8:28 avg. pace), then 10:00 at half-marathon pace (1.3mi, 7:42 pace), and finally 1.5mi. cool down (9:14 avg. pace). The half-marathon pace felt easier today than before, in fact I ran an average 7:36 pace until I hit a slight uphill in the park, and the pace slipped a bit. Total time 1:11:47.

I had to do my long run today due to the family weekend trip to Brussels. I knew there is no way I could take 3 hours to run there, not to mention I wouldn't even know where to go, so I decided to rearrange the workouts a bit this week, giving myself slightly less stressful day yesterday (800s intervals were originally scheduled for yesterday), and just go for it today.

I got inspired by Paul's article to try running with my iPod. I never run with music, I can't stand anything bouncing on me, dangling cords, earphones falling out of my ears and having to readjust all this stuff. But I had to wear FuelBelt with water and gels anyway, so I got my iPod as well, as an experiment. It wasn't going to be an easy run and I figured I could use all the distractrion I can get! Well, in the beginning I did hate it, but after about 5 miles I found a way to tuck the iPod into the FuelBelt so it didn't bounce and the cord was mostly out of the way. Listened to everything from Enigma to Russian rock. I ran around the perimeter of Regents Park with only 2 crossings on 2.75mi. loop, so safety wasn't an issue. I did 6 loops, and the pace was around 8:45 in the beginning, then around 9mi. Garmin lost the signal for a while, but got it back less than a mile later. I took one gel around 9mi. (probably too late), and the second gel around 14mi. I was certainly tired, but my pace actually got a little quicker. Then 2 miles from home iPod ran out of battery! Just when I needed it the most. Oh well... I was glad to be done though. Total time 2:44:04.

Ran variable fartlek today at 3K-10K speed with equal time jog recovery. It was a hard workout, but I felt good. The splits were as follows:

5 min. - 0.68mi (7:19 pace)

3 min - 0.43mi (7:10)

3 min - 0.44mi (6:54)

3 min - 0.44mi (6:58)

1 min - 0.15mi (6:37)

1 min - 0.16mi (6:28)

Total time 1:07:50.

Easy recovery run, 50:21 (8:59 pace). I picked up a cold in Belgium - not realy surprising seeing how I went to crowded public places (tube, train station) immediately after 19 mile run last Friday, when my immune system was probably down. It's not too bad, I have some congestion, mainly at night, but on my runs I can usually breathe better.

Did 40 minutes of marathon tempo, it came to 5.05mi (7:56 pace). It is the same pace as last week, but for some reason it felt a lot easier today. It was really a medium effort, my breathing was steady and my legs were happy to chug along. I tried the shoes I intend to use for the marathon for the first time today - Asics DS Trainers, and they felt great. They are very light and responsive. I have to try them on some long runs with marathon pace segments to make sure they won't give me blisters or any other trouble, but they were great for 9 miles straight out of the box. Maybe the shoes gave me the edge to feel so good today, I don't know. I'd like to think it's the long runs and tempos working, and my fitness maybe is nudging ahead ever so slightly.

After the tempo, did 4x100m strides and jogged home. Then did 3x10 heel raises. Total time 1:15:51 (not counting strides).

I found this race on Feb. 25, in Hyde Park, so I sent my registration yesterday. Today is the deadline, and I'm hoping they got it in time. I didn't run a race since November, so it would be nice to run an 8K. In fact, I don't think I ever raced this distance! I did a few 5 milers, but not 8K (granted, they're close enough).

I was supposed to do mile repeats today, but wasn't up to it mentally. Dealing with some family problems, and my mind was elsewhere (and I felt pretty exhausted running). So just took it easy to try and clear my mind. Total time 45:08.

Long run with the marathon pace segment in the middle. Did 6mi. easy, then 6mi. in 48:00 (8:00 pace), then 5.3mi. easy. I really tried to pace myself properly and not start out too fast on the marathon piece. So I started at 8:05 (still 10 sec. faster than my projected MP) and it felt completely easy. I hardly heard myself breathing. Practiced taking gel at marathon pace. It took some time and extra energy fumbling with water flask, but I was able to do it and not lose my pace at all. After about 3 miles at MP, I noticed my pace dropping and in the end I did 6mi in 48:00. It still felt easy at the end. I planned on doing 16mi. total, but then I felt good enough to extend it a bit. Took 2 gels, at 6.5 mi. and at 12 miles.

My only complaint today were crowded sidewalks especially by the London Zoo. It was a nice day, and people were out with kids, strollers, etc. I had to dodge people like crazy. But overall it was a very good run. I ran in DS Trainers again - no problems. Total time 2:27:24 (8:31 pace).

easy recovery run, time 49:08 (8:57 pace). Total 50.8 miles for the week.

Stride workout: warmup, then 10x30sec. pickups with 2min. jog between, cooldown. I did the strides on the track. I finally found out the exact length of the track I'm running on - it is 387 meters. I knew it was short (not to mention very tight turns), but I know exactly. It makes it a bit hard to know where 400m (or 800, or any other distance) ends as there are no markings at all on this track. They paint them once in a while, but since it's a cinder track, they get erased easily with rain and just people running over the markings. It also confirms my suspicion that Garmin is not accurate on tracks. Today, most of the strides were around 150-160 meters.

Anyway, the strides went well, it seems that the ones where I had to run the curve were slower than the straights, but maybe it's just Garmin errors again, not sure. I felt lactic acid accumulating in legs in the last 10 sec. on the last 3-4 strides. Here are the splits:

Time, min	Distance, ft	Pace, min/mile
0:33	457	6:24
0:30	468	5:49
0:30	482	5:38
0:30	476	5:41
0:30	503	5:25
0:30	485	5:29
0:30	475	5:40
0:31	524	5:15
0:31	491	5:34
0:31	503	5:31

Both quads and hamstring are pretty sore today after yesterday's faster running. I considered just doing an easy run today, but then decided to do marathon tempo, only 4 miles instead of usual 5.

I ran 2.3mi. warmup, then 4mi in 31:57 (7:59 pace) and 2.05mi. cooldown. The tempo pace felt a bit harder than last week, but I attribute it to back to back workouts without enough recovery between yesterday and today. Total time 1:10:09.

Tomorrow is another hard day, I have 6x800m planned, so all the more reasons to take it easier today. We're also supposed to get some snow tomorrow, so it could be a slushy workout.

What a miserable run today! It's been snowing, and nobody cleans the snow here, so it was about an inch of wet snow/slush. Footing was awful, I was sliding and slipping all the way, and my feet were wet and freezing from splashing chunks of snow that were melting into my shoes.

On top of that, I had to do 6x800. Track was out of the question, completely snowed in, so I ran on the roads, trying to pick drier spots. Some of the repeats were a bit uphill, and in combination with bad footing, times were totally off. I did 5, and had enough. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Total time 1:13:50. Here are the splits for 800s:

Time	Rest
3:35	4:11 (looking for better footing)
3:48 (uphill + snow)	4:22
3:31 (finally decent patch of road)	3:30
3:40 (started going uphill at the end)	3:40
3:54 (more uphill and awful footing)

just an easy run in the park. Snow is gone, except in few places, so footing was very decent today. I didn't feel that great - still some soreness from Tuesday, plus I felt sore left adductor, probably due to trying to run hard in the snow yesterday. Time 53:49 (8:49 pace).

Did a long run today. It was one of the toughest runs I've had so far. I decided to teach my body to be more efficient with burning fat for fuel, and so I took only 2 Squeezy gels with me. Squeezy gels have only 65 calories per gel, compared to 100-110 of GU and PowerGel. I started the run 3 hours after my normal breakfast, so I wasn't topped up.

Long story short, I started feeling bad (energy-wise) already at 12 miles, only 1:40 into my run! First 12 miles were 8:36 pace average, but after that Garmin lost the signal, but I could tell I slowed down a lot. I took one gel at 9 miles, and another one at close to 15, but they didn't do much. I was also starving. On top of that, my stomach was cramping, and it started even before I took the gel, so gels were not a problem. I can't really pinpoint waht caused the cramps this time, I did everything I could beforehand to prevent them. I think I'll have to accept them as consequence of my surgery 5 years ago and missing part of the small intestine. I think my GI system just became more sensitive, and all that pounding of running (especially on long runs) is causing the cramps. I worry it can affect me on marathon day, but I'll do all I can and hope for the best.

So, the last 8 miles were pretty miserable, and I was very happy to get this run over with. In the end, my time was 2:55:58, 8:42 average, so I didn't slow down as badly as it seemed, despite the bonking.

very easy recovery run, 36:50 (9:09 pace). Started off feeling stiff and tired, but felt better towards the end. Shorts weather again, 48F. 54 miles for the week.

Did aerobic fartlek today, 5x4' + 1x2' with equal jog recovery. I planned on running ~7:20 pace for 4' intervals, but they ended up faster. In general, I felt strong today, it was a good run. One strange thing happened in the park, though: on one of my faster segments, there was a group of teenagers standing on the path. One of them waited until I was passing them, and executed a karate-style kick that ended inches from my face!! I didn't have time to get scared, but I was startled. But since I was running fast, I just continued, not paying attention to them. Even if they decided to pursue me, I don't think they could run 7:00 pace for very long! But it was one of the stranger incidents that happened to me. Total time 1:09:50. 

Time, min.	Distance, mi.	Pace, min/mi.
4:01	0.55	7:18
4:01	0.56	7:10
4:01	0.57	7:01
4:00	0.55	7:14
4:03	0.57	7:04
2:05	0.31	6:45

Did 40-minute tempo today. I felt the same as last wek, but ran 5 sec/mi faster, 5.07mi (7:54 pace). Afterwards did 4x100m strides and ran home. Total time 1:12:22, not counting strides.

In the evening, we all went to the opera, and not knowing if they had dress code or not, I wore my high heeled boots. My feet were killing me! I can't wear heels at all. Turns out, they don't have dress code, so I suffered for nothing. Hopefully, my feet can recover for tomorrow.

I finally got to doing mile repeats today. My feet were sore due to stupid high heels, as I was afraid they would. Warmed up 2.6mi and ran 3x1mile with equal time jog between. I ran on the non-standard track that is 387m long, so I tried to run extra 45m but it was hard to tell. I also decided to wear HR monitor today just out of curiosity. Here is how it went:

Distance	Time	HR
1.02	7:19	162
1.00	7:05	168
0.99	7:00	170

I felt much harder effort on the second repeat, and on the third I really felt bad the entire time, but the pace stayed the same, and I even was able to accelerate the last 300m. Hard workout, but I felt pretty strong, all things considered. Total time 1:13:03. Again, I had 3 quality days back to back. Tomorrow is just an easy day, finally.

I felt tired today, but it was another shorts day - 54F. Unbelievable! I remember how I struggled with my training last winter, running so much of it on the treadmill due to snow/ice/cold. This winter conditions are so much better, I have no excuse whatsoever to slack off.

Ran very easy, 54:30 (8:56 pace). I hope I recover enough for tomorrow...

Marathon pace run on another shorts running day with temps still in the 50s. I started out feeling not too fresh, not surprising after the whole week of training, and several weeks in a row of over 50 miles. Ran 6 miles easy, took my first gel (I'm starting to take gels at the same intervals I'll be taking them in the marathon, and in Rotterdam, they will have water stops only every 5K - not ideal, but I'll have to live with it.), and started on the marathon tempo. Since I had to run 8 miles at MP, the longest I've ever run it as of yet, I decided to start conservatively (8:10 pace) and see what happens. If I felt good, I would speed up naturally, if not, I could maintain this pace, and still run MP. So, I started at 8:10, and it did not feel particularly easy. My breathing was perfectly fine, but my legs were tired. I assume it's just cumulative fatigue from training. Nevertheless, gradually, my pace dropped, first to 8:06 average, then to 8:01 average, and finally, after 6 miles, to 7:57 average. I was surprised as I did not increase the effort consciously. I took the second gel 6 miles into the MP segment. My legs started to tighten up towards the end, but overall I still felt good. My stomach was cramping again, but not too bad. After I finished MP tempo, though, it cramped up big time, I guess it didn't like change in pace. Jogged home another 3 miles. Total time 2:27:28. Now 17+ miles do not seem so long, after I did 20 last week. Oh, and I ran in DS Trainers again - no problems whatsoever.

Ran 7 miles with 12x0:30 strides at 6:20 pace. I slowed the strides down, because I was running them too fast before, they're supposed to be no faster than 3K pace. Hopefully I will avoid the soreness that I had last time. Total time 1:02:07. MY left ankle started hurting just 15 min. into the run - no clue why. Maybe I landed awkwardly and pulled some tendons? It's the same ankle I sprained very badly 10 years ago.

easy recovery run, total time 45:16. My ankle was fine. I like cut back weeks!

easy run, 53:07. Shorts weather again - yay! 54F and bright sunny skies, very spring-like.

Did Yasso 800s workout on the track in the rain and drizzle - 8x800m with equal time jog recovery. I thought I blew it by running the first one in 3:24 - thought it's too fast and I'm going to pay for it later. To my great surprise I managed to hold this pace or faster over the entire set!! I had to dig deep every time after 5th repeat, but I was able to hold it. Here are the splits:

Repeat	Time
1	3:24
2	3:23
3	3:25
4	3:19
5	3:21
6	3:20
7	3:22
8	3:21

This workout (although done with 10 repeats) is supposed to indicate marathon fitness. i.e if I could hold this pace for 10 repeats, it predicts I can run marathon in 3:24. Of course, the track I'm running on is 387m. long, and although I'm running extra distance I can never be sure it's exactly 800m. Garmin reads 0.5mi but I'm still not sure. Also, according to Greg McMillan this workout predicts about 5 minutes too fast, so it's more like 3:29 for me. Even that may be too aggressive. I don't want to read too much into one workout though, I think my half marathon in 3 weeks will be a better predictor.

Total time 1:28:38. I feel very tired now, but hopefully I'll recover in the next 2 days for my race on Sunday.

both hamstrings sore today after yesterday's workout. Garmin ran out of battery so I had to leave it home to charge. It was actually for the best - I couldn't see my pace and just ran very easy. Total time 54:49 (8:59 pace).

easy 4 miles in Regents Park followed by 4x100m strides on the track. Hamstrings still sore, but definitely better than yesterday. Time 35:34 (8:57 pace). 8K race tomorrow.

In a few words, I'm very disappointed. I thought that the last 6 or so weeks of consistent marathon training and higher mileage raised my fitness across the board, and I should be able to have a good race. But it was not to be. I didn't take any days off this week, because I wanted to keep consistent mileage. Maybe it was a mistake and I should have taken Friday off. Most runs were easy, but I didn't really feel fresh and didn't have a spring in my step. Maybe I haven't fully recovered from my 8x800m workout. On top of that, yesterday, after I ran easy 4 miles, we decided to go explore south London and promptly got lost. We then ended up walking a good 2 hours through not so nice parts of London until we got to some civilization again. My feet were pretty tired, but I have no idea if it played any role today. It's most likely an excuse I'm trying to use to explain my lousy performance today.

easy recovery run. I felt very good and was moving at a good clip in the park, but my left achilles and inner side of the ankle were sore. I don't like this one bit, so I'll have to see what happens tomorrow. Total time: 48:23.

Decided to take a day off and take care of my leg. I'm icing it every 3 hours or so (as much as I remember) and taking 600mg Ibuprofen every 4 hours. I'm paranoid about getting injured, especially with achilles. And especially now, when I really can't afford to get injured! Hopefully, it's just a minor problem.

My leg felt fine, so I decided to start running and see how it feels. If it hurts, I would turn back. Lucky for me, it didn't hurt at all! I was able to put in a good workout and I feel good about it. It was very windy, steady at 20 and gusts up to 43 mph, and the last half a mile I got soaked with a hard rain that's been on and off all day, but at least I was able to run!

I did 6.3mi marathon tempo in 50:00 (7:55 avg). It's faster than before, but I felt I worked a bit too hard. Of course, the wind is definitely to blame, I probably should have slowed down to 8:00 pace, but I was too stubborn, seeing 7:55 on my watch and not willing to back off. After the tempo, did 4x100m strides and ran home. Total time 1:17:04 (without strides).

This week may well become a cutback week, because tomorrow I have two job interviews back to back and chances are I won't run. It's ok though, my key workout is Saturday 20+ miler with 10 at marathon pace. As long as I do it, I should be fine for the week.

Felt very sluggish in the beginning and out of sorts. It happens when I take too many days off. Finally started feeling better by the end. Total time 52:02 (8:31 pace).

Today was one of the hardest long runs I've had. Started with 7.7 mi. easy and the GI troubles started already from 5. So I took a bathroom break and took my first gel. Then started on MP portion. My stomach felt much better, but then Garmin lost the signal only after 0.8 miles at MP! I had no choice but to run by effort. I remembered where I started on the loop, and decided to just run 1:20 at that effort. I might have started a bit too fast, I'm not sure. The last 3 miles were tough. Energy wise I felt okay (took second gel after 6 miles at MP), but quads, calves and hip flexors were all complaining. I'd say the latter miles felt pretty close to the marathon feelings. After about 8.2 mi. Garmin caught the signal again, and I tried to time the last 1.2 mi. Well, the signal laster for less than a mile and then was in and out, so pace was not predictable. On the slight downhill it said I was running 7:40 pace, but on the uphill it went to 8:08 average. But since it was cutting in and out, I can't be sure. I think I ran 10mi. at 8:00 average, but it's an estimation. Afterwards, had to take another bathroom break. It was really hard to start running after that, that's why I never stop in the marathon, tired muscles get very stiff and I'm afraid I won't be able to start running again, if I stop. I wonder if these stops diminish training value of the run.  Anyways, jogged home to make it 21 miles. Total time 3:01:35.

Ridiculous wind today, which made running not very enjoyable. Couldn't get into a rhythm. Did 12x0:30 seconds strides during the run. Still felt some residual fatigue from Saturday's long run. Total time: 58:45 (8:46 pace).

Uploaded the course for my upcoming half marathon next Sunday. Looks a lot hillier than what I read about it.

A very warm day, 54F and sunny! My legs, however, felt sluggish, and I felt slow. Not sure, maybe I'm still recovering from Saturday. Garmin measured 0.4mi. less than usual, must have been in and out again. Time 44:09 (8:49 pace).

Felt better today, finally had some spring in my step. Beautiful day out, around 50F and partly cloudy. However, my Garmin was cutting in and out again, despite clear blue skies. I'm beginning to think something is wrong with it, it hasn't been accurate for at least a week. It's about a year old, so maybe it's time for it to break  - right when the warranty expires, of course! Total time: 53:19 (8:35 pace).

Today I did continious tempo of 4 miles. The plan was to run 7:48 to 7:28 pace. I ran 1.7mi. warmup and sped up to what felt like a good pace. In a few minutes I looked at Garmin - 7:25 pace! But it felt just right, so I kept the same effort. I figured if it's too fast, I will slow down naturally. But I kept feeling good, and the pace stayed around 7:25-7:27. Only in the last 0.5 mile I felt like maybe I was starting to work too hard, but it was too close to the finish to let it slide. Then jogged home 1.4 miles. Total time 58:02 with 4mi. in 29:45 (7:26 pace). For comparison, my 4 mile PR is 29:01 (from 1998).

I am sure this is the fastest tempo run in the last 1.5 years, and possibly my fastest ever. I'm very happy with this workout, but I worry a little if I maybe overdid it before half marathon on Sunday. I hope not, I'll run very easy tomorrow and on Saturday.

very easy recovery run in 48:46 (8:50 pace). Felt fine, but tried to run as easy as possible. If I do anything tomorrow, it'll be a very short run and some strides.

Finally a good race and a PR! The course was 0.1 long, and not only on my Garmin. I asked couple of other runners with Garmins, both 301 and 305, and they also had 13.2 mi. It's a certified course by UK Athletics, but I have to wonder... Maybe 0.1mi. is acceptable margin of error, but it would be nice to have result of 1:41:xx rather than 1:42:xx.

The good:

- weather: absolutely gorgeous day, maybe even a bit too warm - mid 50s, bright blue skies and a lot of sun (which made it feel too warm at times). Miles 8-10 got pretty windy, but the rest was fine.

- course: very enjoyable and scenic through Fleet town center and countryside. Really nice. Not flat, it was constantly rolling up and down, but without steep hills. Even for me, the hills were no problem, and I don't train on hills at all now. Only mile 10 was mostly uphill, the rest were all up and down. I don't know if the net elevation was positive or negative, but it's not a slow course.

- mile markers: clearly visible and mostly accurate. A lot of miles were just a tad long, that's how extra 0.1mi. appeared, but I was able to split all the miles, even 13th one, which is often not signed in races.

The bad:

- water stations: since it was pretty warm, I tried to drink at each station, they were positioned every 3 miles, approximately. BUT - when will race directors get the idea that serving water in stiff plastic cups is a disaster for runners who try to drink without stopping! You can't make a funnel with plastic cups like you can with paper cups (they tend to break), so what happens is that most of the water ends up all over your body rather than your mouth. I tried to do my best, but only managed to get a few ounces out of each cup. Oh well.

 Now for my race. I lined up in front seeing how narrow the starting road was. Even though the race used ChampionChip, I didn't want to fight my way through hundreds of people. There were more than 3000 people running, it's one of the more popular pre-London halfs. The race started, and everybody sprinted ahead. I really had to hold back. Tons of people passed me in the first 200 meters. That's when it was very useful to have Garmin (and it was working, too!). I saw the pace dipping under 7:30, backed off big time, and let them all go. Many of them came back to me later.

My plan was to go out no faster than 7:50-7:55, and then either pick it up half way, or run even and kick the last 3 miles. In reality, I ran around 7:50 for 10 miles and then gradually sped up. The splits are not even because of course undulations, but I was constantly seeing 7:40-7:55 on each mile so it was okay. More importantly, I was completely comfortable the first 10.5 miles, and that was the key. I ran at the right effort. My breathing was pretty quiet, and I had a steady rhythm going. After the long uphill section between miles 9 and 10, I started noticably passing people. A lot of them were slowing down. But I felt strong and in control, although I was working a bit harder now. The wind was slowing me down a bit on these miles. I kept rolling until mile 11, and then, using the road protected from the wind, I sped up. I saw 7:20 on my Garmin, and that's when I knew I was going to have a good race. I passed dozens of people in these last 2 miles, and no one passed me at all until the finish! It was a great feeling. I was working very hard, but I still felt strong. In the last mile, though, I started to struggle, because there was some uphill again, and I could feel my legs getting very heavy. I was afraid I started kicking too soon, and will die a premature death. But I managed to hold the pace, although it was a painful last mile.

Last 100m. were on the grass, I was sprinting like crazy and didn't see the race clock at all (it was on the right side, and I was running on the left). I also didn't see (and didn't care for) a photographer. I can only imagine what kind of photos I will get!

Official results are not out till tomorrow evening, so I have no idea about my place or official time, but my Garmin gave me 1:42:04, and I'm pretty happy with it. It's a PR by 2:30. I hit my target time, even not considering that the course was a bit long. Hopefully, now I'll hit my marathon target as well.

Splits:

Mile	Distance	Time	Pace
1	0.99	7:43	7:49
2	1.00	8:01	8:00
3	1.00	7:43	7:45
4	1.04	8:01	7:45
5	1.02	7:48	7:41
6	1:01	7:59	7:53
7	1.01	7:51	7:49
8	1.01	7:56	7:51
9	1.00	7:51	7:51
10	1.01	7:59	7:55
11	1.00	7:40	7:39
12	1.00	7:20	7:22
13	1.01	7:23	7:19
13.1	0.11	0:42	6:30

Update: found race results here. Looks like I was 10th in F35-39 and 59th woman. Overall gun position 541, gun time 1:42:12. Chip time a second faster than I thought, 1:42:03.

very easy recovery run, 50:21 (8:59 pace). My legs feel pretty dead, with sore quads and left hip flexor, for some reason. Ran very slow, but enjoyed the weather - 63F and sunny! It felt summer-like.

went for an easy hour long run. I felt good after a day off yesterday and the soreness was gone. I ran easy, but maintained a pace at the higher end of my usual easy run pace. That tells me I'm mostly recovered from the race. I'll try marathon tempo tomorrow.

Time 1:01:55 (8:44 pace).

did 50 min. marathon tempo and covered 6.3mi @ 7:56 pace. I felt okay, but was hoping it would feel easier. It wasn't hard, but it wasn't effortless either. Towards the end my legs got tired. Maybe I'm still recovering from last Sunday. Total time 1:14:55.

I had stomach cramps today the whole afternoon, not sure why. I drank Lucozade Energy drink for the first time today, and got cramps about an hour later. Maybe it didn't agree with me. It was carbonated, and had glucose and caffeine. Not drinking it again, that's for sure. Because of cramps, I ran very easy, but my legs actually felt good. Time 45:13 (9:02 pace).

I missed yesterday due to the family trip to Oxford, so I had to run long today. It really wasn't the best day for it - the wind was ridiculous again, steady at 25 mph, gusting to 40. I started off slow and struggling with teh wind a lot. I planned on going 3+ hours, and the thought of circling around Regents Park 7 times wasn't very appealing. I decided to be adventurous and run all the way to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. I took Baker Street to get there (the same Baker street featured in Conan Doyle's works; there is Sherlock Holmes museum and statue there now). It was annoying dealing with many lights, but eventually I got to American Embassy and then Hyde Park. Ran around both parks twice, that gave me 8.6 miles. Still struggling with gusty winds. I had 2 gels with some water, first at 7 miles, and second at 13.5 miles. Thankfully, didn't have much GI trouble and made just one restroom stop. When I got back to Regents Park loop, I noticed that I was feeling pretty good and my pace was picking up. I wasn't planning on it, but I ran last 5.5 miles a lot faster than first 15.5. Even my legs weren't as tired as they usually get. It probably was from having a day off yesterday, but I'll take it! I didn't time this last section because it kind of just happened. When I finished at 21 miles, I still felt pretty good and I could have kept running, although I was, of course, tired. So it was interesting today. Total time 3:04:55 (8:48 pace).

Ran easy recovery today. Legs felt a little beat up, but not terrible. I've felt worse after long runs. I tried to keep the pace slow, but somehow was running 8:30 until Primrose Hill on the way back. Time: 43:25 (8:41 pace). Seems too fast for recovery, but I wasn't forcing it. Maybe I'll pay for it tomorrow.

Easy run with 10x0:30 pickups at 6:30-7:00 pace. I felt good, and my pace was faster than on comparable runs in the past. More importantly, I felt pretty smooth. The weather, however, threw a surprise at me: it wasn't supposed to rain, but around 15 min. into my run, the skies opened up and cold wet snow followed, coupled with terrible wind (AGAIN!) straight into my face.It actually felt sharp, like hail.  I couldn't even see where I was going, so I stopped my pickups until I turned and the snow was coming at an angle. 15 minutes later it was gone, but the wind continued. I was glad I wore my SportHill top, it's really warm. Total time: 52:04 (8:32 pace).

easy run in Regents Park. It was cold again and still windy, although the wind wasn't as strong as few days ago. My hands were freezing though, but it just seemed silly to wear gloves on the first day of Spring! I felt good, but ran slow for some reason, 56:22 (8:56 pace).

After about 5 miles I stopped at the track to do some strides. For some strange reason, I felt fast and decided to time 3rd and 4th.  I got 18sec. for 99m on the 3rd and 17sec. for 90m on the 4th. It's too bad Garmin doesn't register tenths of a second, because 18 could have been 17.6 or 18.4, but was rounded up to 18. But I was shocked by how fast I felt - my turnover was very good, my knee lift was good and I felt real power to my stride. I was spending very little time on the ground and landing on the ball of my foot, like sprinters do :). It was all the more surprising, because I was wearing my heaviest shoes, Asics Nimbus, which are really not conducive to fast running.

On my jog back home I was trying to solve this puzzle why I felt so great doing sprints today, but couldn't come up with any explanation. But it made me think that perhaps I still have a little but of speed left at my advanced age, I just need to focus on bringing it back. Maybe I'll start focusing on 5K again after my marathon and doing more intervals.

 Almost forgot: I watched British Eurosport channel's coverage of Seoul marathon. I was very inspired by Lee Bong-Ju. He ran incredibly gutsy race and never ever gave up. There was a big gap between him and Kirui starting from about 30K, and it grew to about 100 meters.  At that point everyone was already tired, but Lee just held his own, and then somehow found the reserve to close the gap and pass Kirui, who as it turned out, had nothing left and was barely hanging on. When Lee passed him at like, 40K, Kirui gave him this mad look, but couldn't do anything. The gap looked insurmountable, and yet Lee found a way back in. Very very inspiring to watch. Just goes to prove that you should never give up and that your opponent might be hurting more than you are, even if he is in front at the moment. He had screaming and yelling fans all the way to the stadium that helped, I'm sure, but to win in such a way, especially at 36, when people pretty much wrote him off, is really awesome. He also ran the best time in the world this season, I think - 2:08:04.

My spontaneous speed experiment on Wednesday did not go unpunished. Yesterday, almost exactly 24 hours after I ran sprints, my legs started killing me. Both quads and hamstrings. It's hard to believe, but it took only 3x100m at close to full speed (the first one wasn't that fast)!!I haven't done strides in a while, not to mention at full speed, and so that was the result. On top of really sore legs, I just plain got lazy and ended up not running at all. It would have been better to run easy for few miles, I know.

So today, my legs were still very sore, no better than yesterday, but I had to do my speed workout. I planned on at least 8x800m, but got a late start and ran out of time before I had to get home and take my daughter to her swim practice (her regular pool is closed for inspection for 2 weeks, and we have to go to a far away pool that takes an hour to get to!). So I ended up with only 7x800m.

The whole time it just felt very hard, starting from the first one. There was significant wind on one of the straightaways and it seemed to always pick up when it was time for me to start the next repeat! Coupled with very sore legs, it made for really tough workout. I did 7x800m with equal time jog recovery. Splits were all over the place:

Repeat	Time	Comment
1	3:26	hard, stiff legs
2	3:21	a little better
3	3:19	pushed too hard, and I knew it. This repeat broke me.
4	3:21	very hard, surprised at the time, thought it would be slower. Things are going downhill from here.
5	3:27	dying out there, wind a killer
6	3:21	barely hanging in, again surprised at the time. Feeling a little nauseuous afterwards.
7	3:24	done, finally, can barely jog afterwards

Not really pleased with this workout, few weeks ago was a much better, consistent effort (and one more repeat, too).

easy recovery run, 43:49 (8:45 pace). Very strong wind again, and cold. Not a pleasant run, although my legs are almost back to normal.

Today was a disaster. I was supposed to run my last 20 mile run before the taper, but I didn't realize that UK moved the clock one hour forward last night!!! I only noticed it after midday on my laptop, and it took me a while to realize that nothing's wrong with it, it's really a change in time. Because of this, I didn't have time for a 3 hour run anymore - other obligations kicked in, so I had to do a regular easy run. Time 52:18 (8:34 pace). Not happy about this, but will try to do the long run tomorrow.

Finally got out for the first time. This week has been crazy - after months of generally unsuccessful job hunting, I finally got a good contract offer, and at the same time, another company took interest in me. When it rains, it pours. This other company went to great lenghts to persuade me to join them, and I went there 3 days in a row this week for various interviews. They made me an offer too (but for a full time position, not contract), and I had to think really hard, because even though the work isn't very interesting, the location and working culture are great. It would be good for my running, probably, as they hardly have any overtime, it would be 20 min. commute and low stress overall. In the end, however, I chose the contract - it is with great company, the work is more challenging and more in line of where I want to go in my career, and there is potential to get involved in their other projects. But location is on the outskirts of London and it'll take me 1:20 to get there (one way). Not to mention the very possible overtime as is often the case with contracting. With all this I was pretty stressed out, and running went into background. But I'm excited that my "bum" days are over and I'm getting back to work. I have to start next Monday. I do worry how it'll affect my running, having gotten used to running in the middle of the day, sleeping late, etc.

So, today I tried to salvage the week a little by doing marathon tempo. I didn't really feel any effects of 3 missed days, and ran 6.3mi in 50:00 (7:56 pace). Also did 4x100m strides afterwards. I'm concerned that I missed my last long run before the taper, and I was hoping to do it on Monday, but due to the above mentioned developments it never happened. It's too late now, so I'll just run 16-17 miles this weekend and hope I didn't lose much endurance.

It was gloomy and raining, but I had to go running, because this week has been already screwed up enough. As usual, I wasn't bothered by the rain once I started. Time: 48:39 (8:50 pace).

I'm really enjoying longer days since we moved the clock forward. Went out at 6:30PM, and it was still daylight! I didn't take Garmin since it's been acting up so much with low cloud cover and what not. So I wore regular watch and didn't worry about the pace. It was very windy again, but I felt great today, and whenever I would cross check my watch at familiar spots on the course, I could tell I'm running decent pace. Ended up with 52:45 (8:30 pace).

Tough run today. It was very warm, 57F and sunny, but very windy. I got dehydrated as the water I took with me wasn't enough. Took 2 gels, but didn't feel that great and legs were very tired. This run didn't give me any confidence for the marathon in 2 weeks. Time 2:20:04 (8:41 pace).

Ran after work in the complete darkness. There are no lights at all at the Regents Park perimeter, except from passing cars. I didn't like it one bit, the sidewalk is very uneven. While it's not a problem in daylight as I can see all the bumps and have the time to adjust, in the dark I was tripping a lot, especially when I would pick up the pace on strides. It was also pretty cold today, in the 40s again after few really warm days. So, not a great run, but I'm glad I got out. Time 1:02:23 (8:47 pace).

I managed to sneak in a quick run before going to an off-site meeting in Richmond that ran from 2PM to 10PM. I felt good, but it was frustrating that I only had 50 minutes to run. Garmin was out of battery, so I took a regular watch, and I think that I didn't press the start button fully after one of the stops at intersections, because the time was 43:48, which amounts to 7:57 pace. It's quite impossible for me to run that fast on an easy run.

I'm hoping I will be able to run at work at lunch or right after work - I work in a business park in West London, on the outskirts in a rather rural area overall. Business park is nice, with golf course and few lakes, and I even found a map of running routes on its web site, which is encouraging. Even more important, my building has showers on every floor, and lockers (although I think they're too small for a sports bag), so it should be possible to run and have a place to shower and change. I hope to try it out some time soon, when I'm more comfortable at work, and won't feel stressed by going running and not being available for meetings or ad-hoc discussions. But right now it's tough as I feel like my routine is completely broken. And it's a bad timing too, 1.5 weeks before the marathon.

Good news - beginning of a 4 day Easter weekend. I'll have a chance to run every day and try to salvage the week the best I can.

I did tempo intervals today, 3x2000m with 2:30-3:00 jog recovery. The first one felt very easy and comfortable and I even had to hold back a little, time was 9:21. I jogged for 2:30 before starting on the second. It felt a lot harder right from the start, but I made it in 9:19. Jogged for 3:00 before the third one. I really struggled and it felt like I was working way too hard for a threshold pace, maybe even went anaerobic in the end, time was 9:22. I was totally out of breath after that, and decided that the 4th repeat I would slide a lot, so I stopped at three, and just jogged home.

I don't really know what to make of this workout. Times were about the same as in November, only I did 4th repeat then and did slide off the pace a lot. But the sharp increase in perceived effort after the first repeat today tells me my stamina and endurance are not where they should be. Overall, I don't feel good about my running right now, and think that I lost some of the endurance in the last few weeks. Mostly because of inconsistent training and lower mileage. I didn't hit more than 37 mi/week for the last 3 weeks, and this week will be the same. My last 21 mile run was 3 weeks ago. I feel that it's too much of a cutback, and I will pay for it on marathon day. I'm thinking about scaling back my expectations and start the marathon no faster than 8:15-8:20 and hold it for at least 20 miles. If I feel good after that, I can pick it up, but I doubt it will happen. I've never been able to run negative splits in a marathon. My best result was running second half about 1 min. slower than the first.

easy run in Regents Park, 56:18 for 6.3mi (8:56 pace) + 4x100m strides towards the end. Felt okay, but not great. Weather has been beautiful last couple of days, so that's a plus. Lots of people to dodge in the park too, very crowded due to good weather and Easter weekend.

Today was my last marathon paced run before Rotterdam. Plan was to run total of 12 miles, but somewhere out there I miscalculated, and ended up with almost 13. It was very warm, in the 60s, and there were tons of people in the park and on the sidewalks around it. Few times I had to stop dead in my tracks just to navigate through people!

Ran about 4 miles warmup, and started on the tempo segment. Garmin was acting up again, and I really couldn't trust it, it was in and out.First tempo loop at about 8:05 pace, feeling okay, but not in the mood to go faster. At that point, I saw a woman running in fron of me, maybe 30m ahead. She kept very good strong pace, and I tried to keep up with her. At London Zoo, she moved into the road, because it was impossible to run on the sidewalk, and I followed her, even though I am usually terrified to run on the road with the traffic, because I can't see the cars coming from behind. But I was running behind her, and it gave me some peace of mind, not to mention made it easier to run without dodging people. I followed her for the next 3 miles, and my average pace dropped to 7:56. But I could fel that I was working a bit too hard, and the last 0.5 mi. I backed off a little to a more comfortable effort. In the end, I averaged 7:58 pace for 6 miles. Then jogged home around 9:30 pace (more people dodging). By the end, I felt very tired - I also didn't drink or eat anything on this run. Total time 1:47:24.

I'm starting to worry about the weather being too warm for marathon in Rotterdam. As of now, forecast for next Sunday is 61F and sunny.

ran very easy, 48:16 (8:46 pace). I felt surprisingly good after yesterday. Maybe my loss of fitness is at least as much psychological as it is physical. I have only 5 days to go...

Late run after work. Today was the last workout before Rotterdam, low end threshold repeats 4x1000m with 200m jog recovery (about 1:15). Felt a little sluggush at first, but then began feeling better. The effort felt the same, although the pace was getting faster. I did 4:50, 4:40, 4:38 and 4:26. Overall, felt good and recovered quickly in between repeats.

Now just some easy running until the race with possible one more day off (Friday?).

This is probably my last run before the marathon. It felt good and easy, time was 43:29 (8:41 pace). Flying out tonight. My main concern now is not to tire my legs out at the expo tomorrow - I love marathon expos and tend to wander around longer than I should.

Another big concern is the weather. Opposite to Boston, Rotterdam is forecasted to be very warm and sunny, with temps in the 70s, and given 11 AM start, we're bound to run at the peak of it. I've never run a marathon in such warm conditions, although I trained for one in the summer in NJ. Looks like my time goal is going out the window, and my adjusted goal may be to run faster than 3:45 to qualify for London next year (and Boston). They're introducing new drinking system this year, where water cups will have sponge lids on them with 2 cut-outs for drinking. This should allow for less spilling and using the sponge lids as, well...sponges. Sounds interesting, but water stations are only every 3 miles, which may not be enough in the hot weather (although it looks like they are adding 2 more stations - see below).

Today I received the following from Rotterdam marathon:

This is the short version, details to follow when I get back to London. It was very ugly today, temps 77F, but in the sun easily over 80. Running under blazing sun and bright skies. I was boxed in first 3 miles on a narrow road and Erasmus bridge -> slow pace from the start. I also adjusted pace for the weather, half in about 1:52:30. It got really tough after 35km, but at 38 I kind of hit the wall, I think, as I slowed down a lot. It felt like a training long run, not a race. I was ready for at least 3:40. When I was at 39km, organizers announced that the marathon is "stopped" and everyone should just walk to the finish, due to the heat and many people dropping out (14 people were hosptalized). Very upsetting. I decided to keep running and ignore their "order". Not sure if the results will even be counted. Nothing is posted on the website yet, I might have barely qualified for Boston and London, but I also might have just missed it by few seconds. Finish clock said 3:47:xx, but it took me about 2 min. to cross the starting line. It may not even matter, if results are not counted.

UPDATE - 04/16/07 - I do have a time posted, chip time 3:45:45, gun time 3:48:00, 24th in age group. Here are official splits from 5km posts (in Dutch, but self explanatory):

===================

Startnummer F1150

Naam Maria Imas Woonplaats London (GBR) Afstand Fortis Marathon Rotterdam Categorie V35 Totaal plaats 1171 / 4337 Categorie plaats 24 / 114 Snelheid 11,215 km/uur Netto tussentijden (verschil) 5 kilometer 27:22 (27:22) 10 kilometer 53:47 (26:25) 15 kilometer 1:20:05 (26:18) 20 kilometer 1:46:23 (26:18) Halve marathon 1:52:15 25 kilometer 2:12:36 (26:13) 30 kilometer 2:39:07 (26:31) 35 kilometer 3:05:54 (26:47) 40 kilometer 3:33:06 (27:12) Bruto tijd 3:48:00 Netto tijd 3:45:45 ========================= So it looks like I'm okay for BQ, but not good enough for London, has to be <= 3:45:00, although I may check with them to be sure. Full report still to follow, it's too late now (just got back home from the airport).

FULL REPORT - 04/17/07

No running, but lots of walking, as we went to Amsterdam and spent the day there. The weather was still great (for the beach, that is, not the marathon!), so we took a boat tour on the canals. It was beautiful. Lots of walking around the city and going down the stairs (ouch!). It was painful to start walking after sitting, but once I got going, it wasn't too bad.

No running yet, but walked about 30 min. at work, because I had a meeting in another building which is 15 min. away. Quads feel a lot better, only slight soreness remains, mostly in IT bands. This is by far the fastest recovery from the marathon I've had. I think I'll try running tomorrow.

Very easy run, could have gone longer, but decided not to push it. Right IT band still a bit sore as well as left hip and hamstring. Otherwise, I felt pretty good. Didn't look at the watch, just followed whatever pace my body felt like running. It felt like 9:00-9:15 min/mile, but ended up at 32:03 (9:42 pace). I don't remember ever running so slow in the past 1.5 years. Just goes to show how much marathon takes out of you.

With all noticable soreness gone from my legs, I was able to run a bit faster today. Got 42:37 (8:31 pace). Started at about 9:00 pace, but then progressively dropped it. Right hip got tight about 1.5 mi. into the run, but then losened up and I didn't feel it anymore. Right hamstring decided to cramp up at about 4 miles - I never experienced it before, but then also got better. I attribute all of this to post marathon funkiness.

London marathon is tomorrow. There is much hype about it in the press, mostly due to very strong elite field. I really want to watch it, but my daughter is competing in a big swim meet tomorrow in North London, and so I will be there with her the whole day and won't even watch it on TV. I doubt there will be super fast times, as it is too warm again - but better than conditions in Rotterdam. Forecast is 72F and sunny. The start is earlier in the morning than Rotterdam, so perhaps the elites will finish before the real heat begins.

No running today. Spent the entire day (from 7AM to 6:30PM) at the pool watching my daughter swim in Middlesex Development Meet. It was a county-wide meet for those who didn't qualify for county championships held back in February, sort of a consolation meet, but welcome by us, since Lisa didn't have a chance to compete since last December.

She swam 4 events and got all 4 PRs, and even medaled in all events in 14 y.o. age group, 2 silvers and 2 bronzes. So, she (and her coach) were very happy.

She did 100m Ind. Medley - 1:22.74 (silver), 50m freestyle - 33.44 (bronze), 50m butterfly - 36.53 (silver) and 100m back - 1:19.20 (bronze).

Of course, I didn't get to watch London marathon, but now I see that Ryan Hall ran 2:08:24 - absolutely stunning debut. The weather wasn't perfect, although it was better than in Rotterdam, but still too warm, around 68-70F plus the sun. I think times could have been better by 1-2 min. if the weather was ideal.

Ran very easy today, because I think I overdid it on Saturday. Yesterday, my left adductor was sore and I could still feel my right hamstring that cramped up. So I ran very comfortably and ended up with 46:46. Garmin was in and out again and only measured 4.2mi. which is obviously too short. I estimate that I ran 5mi, so 9:21 pace. It's slow, but I have to be patient until I recover fully. I certainly don't want to get injured now.

felt good today, time 32:17 (8:43 pace).

easy run that felt good. Time 1:01:16 (8:52 pace). I think I'm starting to feel better.

Another full day at my daughter's swimming meet. It was all worth it, though - she again got 4 big PRs and 4 "speeding tickets", meaning that she swam all 4 events faster than the "no faster than" qualifying standard for this meet. She won 100m fly and 200 IM outright, was 2nd in 100m. free and 3rd in 200m free. Her 200m free was about 1.5 sec. slower than performance tables indicate for her 100m time - she can use some work on endurance (or speed endurance), something runners all too familiar with.

I think I'm slowly getting back to 100% again. This was a comfortable run and it felt slow at times, but it was the same exact course as I ran on Friday and felt slower, however the time was faster. I ran exactly 1:00:00 (8:41 pace).

I'm going to do one more week of recovery runs, and then start the next cycle.

another short and easy run, 40:44 (9:03 pace). Nothing remarkable, except that it was fairly windy. My goal this week is to not skip days.

I tried to keep it easy today, but the pace stayed around 8:35 most of the time. In the last mile it slowed a bit once I hit Primrose Hill on the way home, and I didn't try to push it. Overall, a very relaxed and enjoyable run. Ended up with 42:15 (8:43 average pace). It will be interesting to see how I run tomorrow.

Easy run, 1:01:22 (8:46 pace). I felt good, trying to re-establish the base with some longer runs this week. I joined this club yesterday, hopefully I'll be able to run some fun races and meet more runners. It's kind of silly to run alone all the time, when there are thousands of runners in central London! They stage some of their own races regularly and you have to be a member to participate, so I'll have more options now. There are also inter club leagues and competitions, even track meets, which unattached runners can't enter.

Next Monday is a bank holiday in UK, so that gives us 3 day weekend. We're going away to Prague very early Saturday morning for some sightseeing and great (and very cheap!) beer. I'm pretty sure I won't run there, but will take my running gear just in case. I always take it to these family trips, but rarely end up running.

With traveling and in-laws visit combined, I didn't run for 5 days. These are not good excuses, but I'm trying to get back on track now. My weakness is getting off the schedule easily when various distractions come up. Not having training partners doesn't help as I'm the only one who has to discipline myself.

I decided to follow Tinman's training system, following Paul and Cody. I want to try it for a few months and see if I improve. I'll focus on some 10Ks in the summer, maybe also 5Ks.

So today I did a Tinman tempo run, but I messed it up. Garmin was cutting in and out due to extremely cloudy and rainy skies, and I was feeling good after 5 days of rest. Without watching my pace, I ran too fast, 4.3mi in 33:10 (7:42 pace). The goal was 8:03 pace. The wind was ridiculous at times, up to 30 mph, then I got tired towards the end, and my legs may feel it tomorrow. It's been a while since I pushed the pace at all, so my legs kind of forgot how to move faster. Good workout overall, though, and I added 3x100m strides at the end. Total time 1:06:22 (8:37 pace).

Very late run today due to staying late at work. On top of that, it's a really nasty evening out here - rain and chilly, only low 50s. But I can't afford to take any more days off, so I got out almost at 9PM. As usual, the weather didn't feel nearly as bad as it looked out the window.

But Regents Park was about to close (it closes at 9) and I wasn't going to take chances going in and being locked up there for the night, so I ran to the track and did a mile there before heading back home. I was a little sore in the adductors, but better than I expected after yesterday. Total time 34:35 (9:36 pace). It was a short run, but better than skipping a day completely.

I'll try to have a better workout tomorrow, although my daughter's school runs an International Food event in the evening, where we somehow ended up in 2 categories, American and Russian. So we need to bring some "specialties". I'll try to sneak out of there in time for a workout (Lisa is leaving early too, since she has her swimming practice).

I did a variation of long run I've never really done before: 1.3 mi. warmup + 3x5km at moderate pace (supposed to be 8:30) with 3' recovery jog or walk + 1.2 mi. cool down.

The first 5K felt very easy, and I ran it in 25:43 (8:16 pace). I still felt good after, so I jogged 3 min. and started on the second one. Felt okay, but not so easy anymore, and ran it in 25:57 (8:21 pace). I felt the need to walk after this one, and after 3 min. started on the third one. Garmin cut out for a while, so the pace was skewed, but finished in 25:50 (8:19 pace). Last mile I was very tired, but was able to hold the pace. After that, just crawled home at 10:00 pace. Total time 1:43. It was a good workout, although my legs are pretty dead now. It was also very windy again, gusts of 20+ mph winds, and there were random strong showers. By the time I was done I was drenched twice.

Legs were very tight and stiff after yesterday. Also, I'm going on 6 hours of sleep for like 7 days in a row, and it's  not enough for me. I had to get up at 6 AM today to go to the airport to meet relatives coming from Moscow, so that didnt' help. Really didn't feel like going out to run, especially given the rain most of the day. But did manage to kick myself out the door, and just put the miles in. Tired and waiting for the run to end. One more week of relatives left...

Total time: 51:48 (9:05 pace), including 4x100m strides.

Felt better than yesterday, but still not a great run. Adductors still a little sore from Saturday. I took it easy and was fine once I warmed up, but freezing the first 2 miles. It's 48F and damp, and it's May.While we had 68F back in April. London weather can be truly bizzarre. Total time: 45:29 (8:55 pace).

Ran CV repeats today, 4x1000m with 1min. jog recovery. Of course, my Garmin ran out of battery so I had to take regular watch. Because my track is 387m long, I cannot be sure I ran exactly 1000m, but at least I ran the same distance every repeat and could compare times. The effort felt right, hard, but manageable. Splits were 4:28, 4:31, 4:30 and 4:25. Did 4x200m strides before repeats. I felt pretty decent overall and am glad I got this workout in. I had to bail out early from work's event (when drinks and dinner were about to start), but I'm glad I did.

I'll miss tomorrow and Thursday due to going to 2 evening shows in a row with my Moscow relatives. This is a busy week.

Just an easy run with 4x100m strides at the end. Felt tired despite 2 days off. Entertaining relatives took some toll. The shows were great (we saw "Phantom of the Opera" and "Stomp"), but I desperately need more sleep! Less than 6 hours a night is not cutting it.

Total time: 56:16 (9:04 pace). On strides, felt really good. 

Did the "Segments" run again, same as last Saturday. My pacing was better than last week, but it didn't feel any easier. Maybe because it was only 17 hours after my run last night.

I ran 3x5km with 3min. walk/jog recovery. The goal was to stay at 8:30 pace for the segments. I ran 26:14 (8:28 pace), 26:08 (8:25 pace) and 26:14 (8:27 pace). I was very tired at the end, not because of pace, but because of duration. I had to focus to keep under 8:30, as my body really wanted to slow down and run more comfortably. I didn't drink anything until after the last 5K, and it didn't help - it was rather warm and I felt dehydrated. Next time I'll carry some water. Did 4x100m strides at the end, and then jogged home very slowly. Legs felt dead.

Total time 1:47:47.

I felt much better today than last Sunday after segments run on Saturday. The weather was beautiful low 60s with light breeze and I enjoyed cruising through the park comfortably.

Total time: 53:35 (8:47 pace).

I felt lazy today and thought about just running easy as I was walking out the door. But then I thought that I have 10K race in 2 weeks, and I don't want to completely embarass myself as it will be my first race trying to score for my new club. So I decided to stick to the plan and do Tinman Tempo run.

Warmed up 1.7mi and started on the tempo. Garmin said I was running 7:50 pace, and I backed off a bit to stay closer to 8:00, but for some reason, my pace kept slipping more and more. Garmin was showing 8:15, and it didn't feel easy! A flood of negative thoughts went through my head - "what's going on?", "why does 8:10 pace feel so hard?", "I must have lost a lot of fitness", "I must have gained weight", and on, and on. I kept pushing the pace though, and finally, after about a mile, I managed to get the pace down to 8:00. From there on, I started feeling decent and got into a good rhythm. By the end of the tempo, I dropped the pace to 7:54 average (39:28 for 5 miles). Ran out of road on my loop and had to finish on the track, which was handy as I needed to do strides after anyway. Did 3x100m strides and jogged home. Finished in the dark, about 9:30PM. Still don't know what happened on that first mile of tempo, maybe Garmin was lagging.

Total time 1:06:53 for 8 miles (8:21 pace avg.), not counting strides.

Legs felt stiff, tight and tired. It's no surprise, really, seeing that it's my 5th day of running in a row at a higher mileage than I was doing since the marathon. I have to go through this re-training curve until I'm comfortable at 45-50 mi/week again.

Based on how my legs felt, I expected a slow trudge, but was surprised to see decent pace. Breathing was fine, but overall not a fun run.

Total time: 53:32 (8:46 pace).

Did warmup to the track, then 4x200m strides at ~6:40 pace, then CV repeats 4x1000m with 1 min. jog recovery between. This time Garmin was working perfectly, and I switched it to metric units so I could measure exactly where 1000m ends. Turns out last week I did run a bit too short, but only by 10-15 m, no more. The goal was 4:36, and my splits were 4:32, 4:31, 4:32, 4:32. I felt pretty good - it was pretty hard effort, but I could maintain it without going overboard.

Afterwards, did 4x100m strides at ~6:20-6:30 pace and jogged home.

I was debating whether to do long run today, or tomorrow since I did CV reps yesterday, and doing segments run today seemed a bit too much. Then I checked the weather forecast and it called for rain starting later today and going ALL day tomorrow. Hmm, I really didn't feel like running in the rain for 2 hours, so I decided to go today but do an easy long run with faster finish if I felt good, rather than segments run.

Feeling good about my compromise, I headed out the door... only to feel the drizzle as soon as I stepped outside! It has been solid overcast all morning, but of course it had to start raining just as I got out. Oh well, I was committed already and it didn't feel too bad. It was actually perfect weather for running - mid 50s, no wind and light drizzle.

Garmin was completely out of it, and understandably so - the skies were grey and visibility was low. It never caught the signal at all, so I had to run only by feel. I was just running easy pace, doing loops around Regents Park. I did 3, and felt decent, so I hit the split and sped up for the 4th loop. I know that one loop is 2.75 miles, and I was wondering what pace I was running. Couldn't tell for sure, but it felt like marathon pace. When I finished, the watch said 22:15. By that time, the rain was coming down steady, no longer a drizzle. I was totally soaked. I spent my 10+ minutes of cooldown trying to calculate the pace on that last loop, but being pretty tired at that point, my math skills were not the greatest (not that they ever are!), so I just concluded I did around 8 min. pace. Now I know it was 8:05 pace - right at my marathon pace. Overall, I'm pretty happy with this run - I'm done with my long run for the week, and I felt very decent for 13+ miles.

Total time: 1:56:25 (8:41 pace).

The forecast was right on, and it's been raining non stop since yesterday. But I found partial clearing and quickly got out to maybe sneak my run in before it starts raining again. I almost succeeded - it was drizzling, but not bad, really.

My legs felt a little tight after yesterday, so I just took it easy, and then finished with 4x100m strides on the track. From all the rain, the cinder surface of the track got very soft, and it felt like running in the sand, my feet were sinking a bit.

Total time: 56:10 (8:54 pace), not counting strides.

Rain, rain and more rain. Third day in a row, and this time I couldn't find an opening when it rained less. Not a fun run, cold, windy and wet. It was just about getting my miles in and getting out of there as soon as I could. Temps only in mid 40s. My hands were freezing, so I tucked them into my sleeves and didn't look at my watch the whole run, which was probably for the best. Just ran easy, except maybe in the end, where I sped up a little just to be done sooner - I was really cold.

Total time: 48:20 (8:52 pace).

Only got 4 hours of sleep last night. I was falling asleep all day at work, especially in one boring meeting. REALLY didn't want to go runnning, but also didn't want to miss a day. So dragged myself outside and did about 5 miles. Felt very sluggish, legs felt like wood. Threw in 4x100m strides in the middle to try to wake up, but it didn't really work. I'm going to bed in about an hour.

Total time: 45:54 (9:16 pace).

CV reps workout at the track. I felt fine, but my times were significantly slower than last week. I first felt it on 4x200m strides in the warmup - I ran 51, 52, 52, 51 and it felt hard! Then I did 4x1000m with 1min. jog recovery and my times were 4:33, 4:38, 4:40, 4:39. It felt hard, and I couldn't hit my goal pace of 4:36 without going anaerobic, which I didn't want to do because it's not the purpose of this workout. It was pretty windy today, but it wasn't just the wind slowing me down. Afterwards, did cooldown, including 4x100m strides at 5K pace.

It is discouraging to run slower times than a week ago for no apparent reason. The only difference I can see this week from previous week is that last week I did this workout after 2 days off, while this week it is my 6th day of running in a row. For me, even 1 day off makes a difference, I seem to accumulate fatigue from all the miles by the end of the week.

In any case, I don't feel particularly optimistic about my upcoming 10K this Sunday. I can't expect anything faster than 47:00 with these kind of times on my CV workout. Maybe I should take off Friday and run short easy run on Saturday to try and get some juice back into my legs.

just a regular easy run, Garmin woke up only mid way, so no pace information, ran by feel. Legs were tired, but cardio was just fine, and by the end, even the legs felt better.

Total time: 53:07 (8:51 pace).

I contacted my club about taking part in some track meets this summer, and they responded very enthusiastically. There are 2 track leagues I can participate in - one South England masters (called veterans here), and another one open. There is usually one scoring runner per team in each event, but it's also possible to run as a non-scoring runner. I had been not careful, and mentioned that I trained with heptathlon group for few years in high school, and the team coordinators jumped on this and told me I'm very likely to do shorter distances (200-800) and javelin and shot! I told them it might be dangerous to let me near javelin, but they were unfazed and said that meets are very low key and a lot of fun. The image of me and javelin or shot puts me into a state of nervous laughter, but it should be fun. I did indeed have some exposure to throws, but it was really no more than that - and 20 years ago. At least they are not asking me to do high jump or discus or pole vault!!

Aside from track meets, there is club championship Grand Prix of 4 races that sounds like fun with cumulative scoring. It looks like I'll be running a lot of middle distances in the next 2 months. Here is my tentative schedule:

June 3 - interclub league10K

June 11 - track meet (1500 most likely or whatever the team needs, 400-800)

June 20 - track meet (3000 or whatever the team needs, 400-800)

June 30 - club championship Grand Prix 1K (road)

July 3 - club championship Grand Prix 3K

July 10 - club championship Grand Prix 1 mile (track)

July 19 - club championship Grand Prix 5K (road)
July 23 - track meet (1500 or whatever the team needs)

July 27 - Last Friday of the Month 5K

 It looks pretty intense. I think I'll have to just run easy between these events to recover and do long run on weekends. But hopefully, I'll gain a bit of speed with this.

easy pre-race run with 4x100m strides. It was very warm today, too warm for running, and I had to dodge crowds and crowds of people and kids that were out in the park. Lots of people were just laying out in the grass in their bathing suits catching the sun. I hope it's not that warm for tomorrow's race.

This 10K course turned out to be exactly the same one I ran in October - Dulwich Park, 3 laps mostly on the outside of the park. I was hoping to at least beat my previous time on the same course (47:08), but it did it to me again! It looks mostly flat, but in reality it is constantly undulating, up and down, so not a very fast course. It was also very warm today, easily 75F and probably warmer in the sun.

There were no markers of any kind, mile or kms, so I could only watch my pace on Garmin - and it wasn't telling a fun story. I started at a good comfortable pace, but by the end of the first lap the average pace was 7:20. It proved to be too fast, apparently. And the same exact thing happened to me in October, I died after the first lap! At the beginning of 2nd lap I started feeling the lead in my legs, and had to slow down. By the end of this lap, the average pace slipped to 7:30, and I was really feeling the heat. And so it went till the end, I couldn't pick up my pace at all, it was just a survival race, and I kept slowing down more, especially on the uphills. I passed a few people, but only because they died even worse than I did. No one passed me, although I fully expected it. On the last lap, my average slipped to 7:40, so I thought I'm going to be around 48:00, but when I finished, I saw 47:06 on my watch. Then I saw that it measured 6.12 miles. Not sure if the course was a bit short, or Garmin lost signal somewhere, but I assume the course was a bit short, and I ran equivalent of 47:45. I almost puked when I was done, then proceeded to drink like a gallon of water and felt better. Really bad time, but that's what I get for not pacing myself right. It's also my first race back after the marathon. Well, as bad as it is, it's a start for the summer season. Hopefully, I can improve on this.

Afterwards, there was a relay that I got recruited into. It was 4x400m on the grass. There were only 3 women's teams from different clubs, and I was given an anchor leg! When it was my turn to run, I was second, and shortly after, the third woman passed me. I decided not to battle with her right away and tucked in right behind her. With 150m to go, I still felt pretty strong and started passing that woman. She sped up as well, and we both passed the woman in first place. Everyone was screaming their lungs off, because it was really close. I ended up in second place, just a half step back from the first. It was a lot of fun, and I felt better than I expected after a 10K. I was surprised I could still run almost all out for 400m. In 5 minutes after I finished I suddenly noticed that my legs were quite wobbly, but it passed after some walking.

With all this going on, it was already 1PM when I was done, so then I realized there was no time for cooldown since I had to get home! So a little short on mileage, but not on fun! Also, it was the cheapest race I ever ran in, it was only 1 GBP! There were no race numbers or registrations either, each club made a list of their runners, and each runner got a tag with a number at the finish, and club captains recorded who got what number. So now, all they have to do is reconcile the tag numbers with times, and we'll have full results. They'll probably publish them online either tonight or tomorrow. There was also tons of food after the race, ironically much better than any "big" UK race I participated in - the hosting club provided all refreshments, and they were good and plentiful.

Legs felt a little tight after the race, but overall I felt surprisingly good and moved along easily. Garmin was out for most of the run, so just ran by feel.

Total time: 53:54 (8:50 pace).

Ran Tinman Tempo today, but it was rather unusual. I ran around Regents Park, and I know it is 2.75 mi. loop. But Garmin was very erratic on my first loop, the average lap pace was jumping wildly and was more of a distraction than help. I knew for sure I could not be running 8:35 pace when I felt like I was running 8:00! But towards the end of the first loop it kind of started showing realistic pace and I saw it drop steadily to 8:08 average. Still I thought I was running faster. Sure enough, Garmin measured first loop at 2.66. I hit the lap button and started on the second loop. Here I saw the other extreme - Garmin was showing 7:20 pace - way too fast, although it was on a slight downhill. Then it got more realistic, but still very fast for this kind of tempo, 7:35. On the last mile, I started feeling tired, and maybe I did push too hard in the beginning, because I did slow down somewhat, but still ran aerobically. Second loop (actually, only 2.3 mi. since I wanted to do 5 miles tempo) was at 7:47 average pace. Very bizzarre, because the effort felt constant throughout but paces were all over the place.

Jogged home with 4x100m strides. When I got home and put 2 loops together, I got 40:00 for 5.1mi - 7:50 average pace. Still too fast.

What makes this run interesting, is that about 2 hours before I headed out, I had a can of RedBull. I never usually drink it, since I don't like all the chemical stuff in it, but today we ran out of all juice, and I didn't want water, so this was the only other choice. While I was drinking it, I realized it's loaded with caffeine and it would be interesting experiment to see how it affects my run. I have to say results are inconclusive, due to Garmin being so unrealiable today, but perhaps I did feel the effects of RedBull, because 7:30 pace felt like 7:55. But again, who knows if it was really 7:30 pace I was running. And who knows how much caffeine stayed in my system 2 hours after I drank it? I need bigger data sample for this experiment.

But it was a good workout, RedBull or not.

Total time 1:07:13 (8:24 avg. pace).

I wanted to do CV reps workout, but got stuck late at work. Only had time for an easy run. I felt good, but few times my right foot bothered me. I felt some twinges at the front of the heel, towards middle of the foot. I'm afraid it could be PF, although I never had it before and don't know how it would feel. The twinges would come and go after few steps, so I have no idea what it is. I felt it on Tuesday as well, and day off yesterday didn't help. It's certainly very minor now, but maybe I should ice and take ibuprofen for a few days just in case.

Did 4x100m strides on the track before jogging home. Average pace was 8:46 until I got on Primrose Hill on the way home. As usual it slowed me down, and the average crept up to 8:57.

Finally got to CV reps today. Ran 2.1mi warmup, then did 4x200m strides. I felt much better on them than last week - had more turnover in my legs and more power in my stride, and the times were faster as well - 49, 48, 50, 49.

Then did 4x1000m with 1' jog recovery. Also did significantly better than last week. I adjusted my goal time to 4:40 after not so great 10K last Sunday, but I actually hit better times: 4:35, 4:35, 4:33, 4:34.

After that, did 4x100m strides. I ran them hard, but they were pretty slow, first in 25 sec, last in 22 sec. Although after the workout it may be not so bad.

Finally, jogged home 1.5mi. Overall I'm pleased with today's times. Training effect of last Sunday's race probably has something to do with it. My right foot bothered me only once, very slightly.

This turned into progression run without me really planning it. It was warm and humid, 75F, but I took Nuun water with me, and it helped (Nuun doesn't have any carbs, just electrolytes).

The first 9.5 miles the pace was steadily dropping from 8:53 to 8:35 avg. with the same effort from me. It would drop on slight downhills, but then it wouldn't climb back on flats or inclines. After about 5 miles, I really started feeling fatigue in my legs - not surprising since my run last night was only 15 hours before. Still, I decided to have faster finish, and ran last 2.5mi in 20:02 (8:00 pace). This was hard, and I sure was glad once it was over. Got to water fountain, refilled my water bottles, and jogged home very slowly, about 9:40 pace. I felt dead.

Total time: 1:54:25 (8:36 pace).

Easy recovery run with 4x100m strides in the middle. I wore my HRM today, and average HR was 141. Total time was 28:57 (not counting strides), 9:39 pace. Slow, but this was a recovery run, so I didn't push the pace at all.

Tomorrow is Southern Veteran AC track meet. I may have to do javelin as a scoring event for the club (Gog help me!), but afterwards I will try to jump into 3000m (unscored). The goal is to break 13:00. I've never ran anything longer than 400m on the outdoor track, so I have no clue what to expect. I'll try to keep all laps at 1:44 and see what I have left in the end.

My biggest worry for now is getting to the track on time. I'll have to leave work no later than 5PM and then rely on a tube line that breaks often, and a bus (in a rush hour!). This track is not in the most convenient location.

This was my first track meet since college! I did javelin throw for the club as a scoring event, and I did ok - I beat my goal of 10m. My first throw was 10.85m, and my second one was 10.65. I didn't do more, because women's 3000m was moved forward by 10min, and I had to hurry. Of course, my upper body has no strength whatsoever, and my result is pathetic, but amazingly, the basics of technique stayed with me, and I was able to recall them after 20 years! I did the running throw with a split step and everything, and all my throws were legal, the javelin landed the right way, and was mostly in a straight line. I definitely scored for the team, just not sure how many points. My right shoulder is already pretty sore though.

Then we started on 3000m. As a non-scoring runner, I was put on the outmost lane, so I had to run a little extra, but it's no big deal. My goal was to run 1:44 per lap, and I did. I timed every lap with Garmin, and stayed at a constant pace. It was a very controlled race for me, I'm thinking I should've pushed it more, and set higher goal for myself than breaking 13:00. I felt great, it was a hard effort, but not super-hard. I started feeling lead in my legs with 900m to go, but it was bearable. I pushed the pace on the 6th lap, the time stayed the same, but I was pushing it - means I was getting tired. On the last lap, I really sped up, and last 100m went all out. Here are the splits (pretty boring, since they're so consistent):

:51, 1:46, 1:45, 1:45, 1:44, 1:45, 1:44, 1:33.

Garmin measured 2.97km, interestingly, and 12:56, but official time is 12:57.1. Now it's officially my first PR in 3000m. Unfortunately, there was no one to run with, I was alone right in the middle of the race, with huge gaps ahead and behind. I got 6th place out of 11 women. It would be easier to push more if I had someone within striking distance. But I liked racing on a track - no hills, no sharp turns, no bad sidewalks and potholes. It's easy to get into the rhythm and stay there. Some may argue it's boring, but not to me - I don't notice surroundings when I run hard anyway. Maybe I just love track, because it reminds me of my years training in Moscow, I don't know.

Conditions were near perfect, mid 60s, cloudy and no wind. A bit too humid, but certainly not too bad. Overall, it was a lot of fun! I'll try to do other meets if I can get to them after work.

Easy recovery run. Didn't feel all that great till about half way through the run, then felt better. My right shoulder and the area around it are sore from javelin yesterday.

Total time: 58:59 (9:03 pace).

I felt good after 2 days off, and decided to try to increase my CV reps. Last few weeks I've been doing 4x1000m with 1' jog rest, and today I thought I would try 5x800m with 0:45 jog rest, and maybe fool my body into doing the 6th repeat. I was hoping it would be easier, but it wasn't. It could have been even harder, especially since I ran repeats a bit too fast. First I did 4x200m strides (49, 51, 47, 48) and started on 800s. I was aiming for 3:40, but I went: 3:35, 3:38, 3:35, 3:37, 3:38. I was struggling on the last one, and that means I was running too fast for this kind of workout. I wasn't able to do the 6th, I barely finished the 5th at that pace. Maybe 45 sec. recovery is too short, but more likely I could've done the 6th, if I wasn't so stubborn and slowed down a little.

Then I did 4x100m strides and jogged home. By that point, I was so tired I was going 11min/mi up the hill (I thought I might as well walk it, but I didn't).

Total time: 1:04 (not counting 4x100m strides).

Ughh, my last few days went really downhill training-wise. We have to look for a new apartment, since ours is up for sale, and so I'm doing lots of walking again exploring new potential neighborhoods for us. We are not too crazy about where we are now, so we'd like to move to a new area. All this walking is making me very tired. Today I also had to do a lot of house cleaning because landlord had some viewings. Of course, none of that would be a problem, if I just ran first thing in the morning before I get tired from everything else! Maybe one day my desire to improve in my running will outweigh my hate of early mornings.

Went for 6 miles and felt tired and sluggish, not to mention dodging of balls, freesbies, scooters and bikes in the park. It was a warm day, and crowds were out in force.

Total time: 53:40 (8:47 pace).

Legs still feeling tired, and I got sore adductors too, not sure why - probably from housework yesterday. Started out not feeling great, not sure whether to run easy or try Tinman Tempo. After 1.5mi I decided that I don't really want to slog at 9:00 pace for an hour, and that maybe I won't feel any worse if I tried some tempo. Well, I did feel worse, but not much, and once I started, I was on a roll and wasn't going to stop until I finished the whole thing. I ran 5 mile tempo, starting at 8:07 avg. pace and ending at 7:59 avg. Total 39:53 for the tempo. First couple of miles were harder than last 3. Legs were really tired by the end, but I made it. Then did 4x100m strides on track with 100m jog. It turned into a pretty good workout after all.

Total time: 1:08:13 (8:25 pace), not counting strides.

Very interesting results this meet. First, it took me nearly 2 hours to get to the track, due to it being on the other end of London from my work and transport links. By the time I changed and got on the track, the meet already started and javelin already had warmup going on. I got to be a scoring runner on it again (I think it's going to be a constant, since no other women in the club seem to know anything about javelin). That meant no warmup running for me at all.  It was a mixed event with men, and there was only 1 other woman. I did ok, improving my PR by 2m compared to last week, and got 12.97m in my best try. The other woman only did about 7m, so I won and scored 6 points for the club. That was pretty cool.

Because of javelin and no warmup at all, I couldn't do 800m (it was at the same time) or 1500m - it was immediately after javelin. I managed to jog about 800m between other events, and decided to do 200m and then 3000m again. So I did 4x50m strides and practiced my low start ONCE. This was the first time since 19 years ago! Most other runners were pure sprinters, in spikes and looking pretty fast, so I thought I'd the last one for sure, but who cares, I just was curious what I can do in 200m all out. There was a drawing for lanes, and I drew lane 6, not a bad lane, actually, as you can see runners ahead and try to catch them. My low start (no blocks though) was okay, but in about 3m runner from lane 5 already passed, followed by most others soon thereafter. It was rather depressing, but I knew it was going to happen. I just ran as hard as I could. After rounding the curve and starting on the second 100, I could feel lactic acid building up in my legs already. I think I was slower on second 100, but can't be sure since I didn't take any splits. I finished third from last, beat the same lady I beat in javelin and a lady in her late 50s or 60s (so I'm not really counting it). Didn't know my time at this point, it would be posted later in the evening. I felt pretty tired after this, and not really in the mood for 3000m, because I still could feel this tightness in my hamstrings.

Then there was maybe 5 min. break and 3000m. My breathing didn't even recover, since I was jogging after 200, not to mention my legs. This was also a mixed race with men, and still being in sprinting mode, I started too fast - :49 first 200 and 1:40 first lap. I started hurting right after the first lap, and had to slow down to 1:45-1:46 laps. The final lap was 1:41 (last week I managed 1:33) and final time was 13:04, 7 sec. worse than last week. I got lapped by countless men, and also 2 women. This race hurt a lot, but I'm sure it was good training coming so close after 200, despite slower result.

Then I went to the posting board and checked my time in 200m. I was hoping that maybe I broke 40sec. Looking at the board, I couldn't believe my eyes. There was my number and my name, in red ink, and the time written across the line - 33.1. I didn't expect that at all. This means I can probably run 100m. in 15.5-16 sec. - much faster than I even run in my strides. So, Sasha, this may answer your question how much your time in real competiton can differ from running on your own, even in time trial. With this spees, my equivalent 5K time should be ~ 19:25, but in fact I cannot break 22:00 even with all the right elements in my training. Perhaps, I'm better in sprints than distance. Or maybe my aerobic capacity is still underdeveloped. But how much more mileage I need to run, because I was already running 45-50 when I ran my 22:05 5K?

Now I want to do 400m to compare to the 200. I suspect, the same pattern will be present as in my competitive years in college - there will be a sharp drop in time in 400 and then maybe from there all other times in longer distances will be equivalent to that 400 time. I should be able to do 400 in 1:10, but I doubt it's the case. I'll have to see. Overall, I had a lot of fun again!

Afterwards, I only had time to cooldown 1 mile before they kicked everyone off the track, it was after 9PM. So far, I learned that with track meets, it's impossible to get good mileage in. I just get there too late, and javelin doesn't give a chance to run (unless you run in small circles in between your tries). I'm thinking of doing few miles early in the morning on the days when I have track meets.

Ooh, the pain... ouch, ouch and more ouch! Every part of my legs hurt, starting from hip flexors and ending in calves. Really, really sore - especially after sitting for a while and then getting up. This is the price I pay for playing around in sprinter's sandbox yesterday! Amazing what 200m can do to you if you're not used to speed. Oh, and my abs and right arm are sore as well - from javelin, although abs might be from sprinting too - who knows.

Had to force myself outside and plodded through a miserable 6 miler where every step hurt. It's gotten a bit better once I warmed up, but the whole run was uncomfortable.

Total time: 55:15 (9:03 pace).

Still very sore, but feeling a bit better. Pace was a little quicker as well, at the same pace as yesterday.

Total time; 53:49 (8:50 pace).

No running today - spent the whole day in an incredibly hot and humid pool for my daughter's swim meet.

She did awesome, so it was all worth it - got 6 PRs again:

100m back - 1:17.74 (a very good time)

50m back - 37.23

100m fly - 1:18.54 (a 4 sec. PR, and she beat her archrival by 2 sec.)

50m fly - 35.43

100 IM - 1:21.5

100m free - 1:12.30

Slowly but surely she is edging towards the County standard, especially in 100 back and IM, only 1 sec. off now!

Just wanted to put in some miles after a 2 day break again. I wanted to run yesterday, but every time I had an opportunity, it was a washout outside, and I kept losing my motivation. Not only it's been raining for like a week already, but it's also cold, only mid 50s. This weather reminds me of some summers in Russia, when I was 12-14 and spent the summer at "dacha" in unheated summer home - it was freezing (although we used electrical heater) and so depressing - I read lots of books in those days. Anyway, the weather is not an excuse, and this is UK after all, but I just couldn't bring myself to go out in that miserable cold steady rain.

It's been raining today as well, but luckily, it cleared up a little in the evening, so I went out and ran 8 miles and some strides. Felt slow and heavy, but the pace was my usual pace. I havent' run long in 2 weeks, and I'm sure it's going to bite me soon.

Total time 1:11:27 (8:49 pace), not counting strides.

Another cold, but at least not rainy, day! This is the second day in a row I was wearing long sleeve shirt on my run, and I was just fine in it, not hot. It's pretty crazy when I think of my runs last summer in heat and humidity of NJ! It's a bit too chilly for my liking, but I'll take it over 100F any time - it's good running weather save the rain. Just went for an easy 6 miler to keep some semblance of volume this week.

Total time: 53:41 (8:47 pace)

Didn't feel like running, but went out anyway at 9PM. I have lots of things going on now, one of which being a new job offer I got. I accepted, but not sure if it's going to be better than my current contract. Potentially could be travel, and the office is 1.5 hours away. But the job sounds a lot more interesting than what I'm doing now. Who knows... also have some problems at home.

So my mind wasn't on my running at all, I planned on doing CV reps, but then just decided to go easy, since I couldn't focus on running. I was on auto pilot, and Garmin didn't pick up the signal, so no info on pace.

Total time: 53:33 (8:46 pace).

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.

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.