8 Weeks Until the Amsterdam Marathon

8 weeks until the Amsterdam marathon, 5 weeks of living in London! Here’s how training (and life) went this week:

Monday: 7 recovery miles before work, 10 min core + 20 min lower body on Peloton after work.

When I run along the Thames path to Regent’s Canal to the east, some parts of the canal pass under tunnels that are a little narrow and sketch, especially when cyclists are coming through the other way. I really don’t want to fall into the water!

Tuesday: A walk with the pups followed by a 3.1 mile run commute with my colleague, and then a 3 mile run commute home. 10 min core on Peloton. I’ve really enjoyed this Tuesday run commute, for the company and for a nice change from the tube.

I use the FastpackHER 20 Ultimate Direction backpack; you can squeeze a lot into that bag, including a laptop, makeup, work clothes + shoes, and a 2nd running outfit for the run home!

Wednesday: 8 easy miles before work, 10 min core + 20 min upper body on Peloton after work.

Thursday: Mid-week long; 9.5 miles with some intervals in there. 10 min core after. Made it to Victoria Park for a bit!

Between dog walking, walking to a quick appointment, and walking to dinner, it was another 10 mile walking day. It snuck up on me!

Friday: Rest day from running! I started the day instead with a longer dog walk before settling in to work from home. The train and tube workers were on strike, so most people worked from home as the buses were the only way to get around (other than walking or taxis/Uber!)

10 min core + 20 min upper body, plus another 9 miles of walking. These two gals get a lot of walks!

Saturday: 17 mile long run- 4.5 solo, then met up with a new friend Katy at Victoria Park, 8.5 miles with her at a slightly faster pace (she’s a 3:05 marathoner but coming back from injury, so ran my moderate pace), 4 miles solo to get home.

After a quick shower, we took both dogs on the tube back to Victoria Park to let them off leash (er- “off lead” as they say here in London!) and they ran around for awhile. We also grabbed lunch and ice cream cones at the Pavilion cafe.

We took the central line out to Victoria Park, which is notoriously quite warm and loud. Matilda wasn’t so sure about it, and hid behind Dustin’s legs.

We brought the dogs back home and then went back out for more exploring, this time taking the tube out to Maida Vale past Regent’s Park and Marylebone to walk along “Little Venice.”

I’ve found a lot of great self-guided walks on this “A Lady in London” blog, so we really just followed her directions!

The canal in this part of London is just gorgeous.

I found my houseboat!

The canal passes by the London zoo, which is pretty neat! Eventually we ended up in Camden at the bustling Camden Market, where we had an early dinner at a Jamaican restaurant. It was another day of 10 miles of walking and over 50,000 steps between the walking and the long run!

Sunday: 6 mile run with Ruth & Dustin along the Thames before heading out for more exploring. We took the overground train out to Greenwich. The Royal Observatory is there (a World Heritage site) where you can stand across the Prime Meridian. East and west hemispheres at the same time!

We then checked out Greenwich market and eventually had our first fish and chips (and mushy peas, of course!) since moving here!

Summary: 54 miles of running, 40 miles of walking!, daily core (mostly), a mix of strength on the Peloton app.

Next weekend is a long weekend for a bank holiday, so we rented a cottage (dog-friendly of course!) in the Cotswolds. If anyone has been there before, please send tips! The Cotswolds is an “AONB” or Area of Natural Beauty, apparently a very British place to visit, with castles and charming villages. Stay tuned for lots of pictures!

In other news, we found a place to live! We will be moving to Hampstead on September 5th. Hampstead is still London, just not central London where we are now, it’s a neighborhood on the NW side. The biggest appeal of Hampstead is that we are right next to Hampstead Health, one of the biggest parks in London. Hampstead is also very dog-friendly. The flat is 3.7 miles from my office, so I can still run commute; otherwise its a quick ride on the Northern line tube to get there. Google Hampstead to get a feeling for what it’s like; the village of Hampstead is really cute and has quite a charming British vibe.

We won’t have views of Tower Bridge every day, but I think we will all be a bit happier in Hampstead.

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!