Maria's Running Blog

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.