15 Weeks Until the Vienna Marathon

After the holidays and a trip to Finland, this was a pretty low-key week in London for me! Technically this was also the kickoff of a 16-week training block for the Vienna marathon on April 23, i.e. the race is 15 weeks from today! It was a great time to buckle down and refocus on training. Here’s how things went:

Monday: New Year’s Day holiday, which meant Dustin decided to run with me, 7 miles around Regent’s Park and back. Then I completed day 21 of Caroline Girvan’s Iron Strength program on YouTube, which was leg day + 10 min core on Peloton (which is one of my 2023 resolutions, at least 10 min of core every day!)

Tuesday: Back to the office, back to the grind! I ran 7 very easy miles before work.

Wednesday: Rest day from running, about 3 miles of walking between my commute + dog walks. Day 22 of Iron strength after work, which was chest and back.

Thursday: 8 miles before work with some marathon effort in there; not a great run though, my stomach was not having it…not sure why, as I didn’t eat anything strange. Ugh.

Friday: 5 mile run with Ruth in the sunshine! We ran up to the top of Parliament Hill for the views and back.

Later that day we took a coffee break and walked to Redemption Roasters down the road; Dustin waited outside with the dogs (even though it is dog-friendly, wrangling both of them in a crowd can sometimes be tough!) While inside, I recognized Anne-Marie Duff at a nearby table. I recognized her from Bad Sisters on HBO (great show!) but she was also on the British version of Shameless and others. This was my second celebrity sighting in Hampstead (the first was Ricky Gervais on a run with Ruth through the Heath.) I know, I should have probably said hello vs. taken this incognito photo…next time.

Saturday: 14 mile long run, with about 4 miles in the middle with my friend Katy, who is training for London (same day as Vienna.)

It was about 50 degrees, but rainy and windy (but I am not complaining, as I know Minnesota had record-setting snow this week!)

Dustin and I followed the run with a long wander around Hampstead Heath with the pups. After all that time outside in the rain, I crashed on the couch for a little nap, but then rallied for day 23 of Iron Strength, which was glutes and hamstrings (+10 min core), followed by an amazing dinner at Trishna in the Marylebone neighborhood; “upscale Indian food”- very good!

Sunday: Slept in a bit. Eventually Dustin, Ruth, and I made it out for a 5 mile run. In the rain. Again. We had planned to do 7, but Ruth looked pretty miserable in the rain, so we cut it short. I might do a few barre classes on Peloton + 10 min of core of course to keep up with that NY resolution.

Summary: 46 miles of running, 3 strength training sessions, + 10 min daily core on Peloton.

I’m nearing the end of the 30-day Iron Strength program. I’m not sure what I’ll do next, if I’ll repeat the program, try something new, or go back to Peloton for everything. I’m still a digital member and still do core and some other classes on there! The Iron Strength program was kind of intense (for me), so I don’t know how well it will fit into marathon training…I need to figure that out. I did really enjoy it though. It was a nice change. I’m perfectly comfortable putting together my own marathon training plan, but I do sometimes think about having a strength coach to make sure I’m doing the right amount of strength work to complement rather than hurt my running.

Well, that’s a wrap! I’m linking up with Running on the Fly and Confessions of a Mother Runner; check out their blogs to connect with other fitness bloggers for workout ideas and inspiration!

(Visited 206 time, 1 visit today)