Two Weeks Until the Tromso Marathon & A Weekend in Whitstable

Hello! I’m currently publishing this post on Sunday, June 16, which marks one week to go until the Midnight Sun Marathon in Tromso, Norway. The race will be held next Saturday, June 22 at 8:30 pm Central European Summer time (GMT +2.)

This is my recap of training from two weeks out- here’s how things progressed!

Monday: Rest from running, core and upper body strength at home after work. My sister and her family left London to return to the U.S. early Monday morning.

We ended their visit with a cold swim in the Hampstead mixed ponds. It’s a London must-do (from a local’s perspective!) It was so great to have them here!

Tuesday: Run commute with Tina, 4.5 miles, + our office 5k, for 7.6 miles total. Core after work.

Wednesday: One of my last “sessions” before Tromso: warm-up, 4×6 minute at marathon pace ‘strength’ (10-15 seconds faster than marathon pace), with 2 minute jog in between, 8 miles total. 6 minutes felt short after some of the longer workouts I have had the past few weeks!

I fit in an easy pilates reformer class after work at the studio by my office.

Thursday: Easy 6 mile run with Ruth. We ran down Regent’s Canal and another runner stopped us to tell Ruth she was the most beautiful dog he’d ever seen. Ha! As if her ego isn’t big enough already.

Friday: 10.5 mile “long run”- the taper long run always feel so short! I did the first 5 with my friends Tina and Kate, the second half solo. I wanted to get the run done early as we booked a little weekend getaway with the dogs to Whitstable, a seaside town on the east coast of England in Kent. Since my long run was ‘shorter’, I figured it was easy enough to fit in before work on Friday.

After work, we loaded up a rental car with the pups to head to Whitstable! It was about a 90 minute drive, maybe a bit longer with rush hour traffic. We could have taken the train pretty easily, but with Tilda’s age, we thought it might be nice to have a car (and then we could bring dog beds and all that.)

Upon arrival, we walked along the shore to the Old Neptune for some fish and chips and a beer.

Saturday: Dustin, Ruth (the dog), and I did a 5 mile run along the coast.

The shore is lined with all these colorful fisherman’s huts!

We actually ran right upon the Whitstable parkrun; we didn’t run with them, though we could have, as handsfree leashes (what we usually wear to run with Ruth) are allowed at parkruns outside of London. I need to plan ahead better when we take weekend trips to coordinate with the parkruns!

After the run, we had a delicious breakfast at Farm & Harper, then a long walk with the dogs on the boardwalk.

Eventually we stopped for lunch of oysters and fizz; Whitstable is famous for their oysters!

We explored the Whitstable high street and more, until dinner at Birdie’s. There was also a stop at the Seafarmer’s Dive, a craft brewery.

It was a lovely Whitstable day, though the weather could have been a little better (windy and chilly), but hey, that’s England for you.

Sunday: Another 5 mile run along the coast with Ruth and Dustin

…followed by breakfast at the Windy Corner Store. It started to rain on us and dramatic Ruth tried to hide under the bench!

Then it was time to drive back to London. I think I mentioned that after a year of residency in the U.K., you’re not allowed to drive on your U.S. license anymore. Since we’ve been here for nearly two years, Dustin went through the process to get his U.K. driver’s license a few months ago (which included a theory test and a driving test- he passed both on his first try!) It’s nice that he can now hire a car with no issues. I haven’t decided if I will bother going through the process or not, it depends on whether we decide to stay on past the original 3-year commitment. For now, I’m happy for him to do all the driving!

Summary: 42 miles of running, 1 pilates reformer class, some core and at-home strength

That’s a wrap on the week, just one more week until marathon #45!

Now that Cari has mentioned it on her blog, I’m excited that we will have a blogger meet-up above the arctic circle, ha! She’s running the half marathon and we are hoping to connect either before or after the race.

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!