15 Weeks Until the Dingle Marathon

Hello! I’m still here, just lazy about blogging…

My last post was a recap of the Paris marathon, so its been a little while but I plan to recap my marathon training as usual and re-connect with this great community!

(I did share a very short post about our time in Reims, in case helpful to anyone planning a trip there!)

I’m now building back into training for the Dingle (Ireland) marathon on September 6th. The Dingle marathon is a small race; it goes along the south western coast of the country; its meant to be stunning. Dustin and I plan to turn it into a longer trip to drive the Ring of Kerry and explore a bit more of Ireland (flying into Kerry, flying out of Cork.)

Here’s how training went this past week!

Monday: Monday was a bank holiday, so we had the day off of work. I ran 7 solo miles then went to Pilates at Heartcore, then Dustin and I went to the Hackney rooftop sauna again (with the cold plunge tub). Full healthy day off!

Tuesday: Easy run with friends before work. Then over lunch, I had my first session with a personal trainer at a gym right by my office; my colleague went from zero pull-ups to 10 with this trainer, so I was inspired by her and signed up for some sessions. It was a 45 minute overall assessment, but it was tough and I was sore for 3 days afterwards!

That evening, I joined some friends for an interview with Caroline Darian, daughter of Gisèle Pelicot; not sure how much that court case was covered in the US (the US has its fair share of wild stores these days) but this was a very sad and tragic story. The interview was about an hour long and held at the Royal Geographical Society in Kensington.

Wednesday: This was technically my rest day, but I had a physio appointment around lunch time, so I jogged there as it would take about the same time as the tube; it was 3 miles round trip. The physio appointment was really intense as apparently my body is still very tight after Paris! I need to get back to regular sports massages and maybe yoga…

Saw this cutie in St. James park by the office!

Thursday: 3×10 minutes at marathon effort; I don’t really know what marathon effort is right now, but I try to just go by feel. My friend Tina joined me for the first two sets. 7 miles total. Heartcore pilates after work.

Friday: Fun Friday miles with friends, 6.5 miles.

Saturday: Long run with the Mornington Chasers: a group of us ran to Finsbury Park to do their parkrun, then ran back for 12 miles total. Long walk with Run afterwards.

Sunday: 8 mile run with Ruth in the morning, lovely pub lunch with friends in the afternoon. A perfect London Sunday.

Summary: Just under 50 miles! (49.5, ha!) 1 pilates class, 1 PT session, (personal training- Brits called personal training PT and physical therapy physio!), a few other strength bits at home.

Other fun experiences I’ve missed blogging about here:

Dustin ran a (very challenging) 50k (technically 55k) in Snowdonia (in Wales.) He loved it!

I tagged along for support and hiked Snowdonia once (he ran it multiple times in the ultra.) Gorgeous part of the UK!

My run club had a long run to see some of the public flower displays for the Chelsea flower show. So fun!

Ruth’s 6th birthday: we ran 6 miles with her, showered at my office, and then went to a dog-friendly viewing of the Phoenician Scheme, the new Wes Anderson movie.

She’s been living her best life; we also did “Bark Jacobs” at the Marc Jacobs store, where if you buy a bag, they will paint your dog on the bag for free.

She’s been enjoying the warm weather with nice long walks on the Heath.

Oh we love her so much. She’s spoiled, I know…she is a bit more anxious since we lost Matilda and I look forward to adding a second dog at some point in the future.

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!