Maria's Running Blog

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.