“How often do you run?” It’s a question my runners ask me a lot. Right now I run a lot more frequently than I ever have. Funny how training for an ultra marathon will do that for you. I’m pretty much recovered from Country to Capital and back up to running five times a week. So I thought I’d answer that question more fully than anyone ever wanted it to be. Here’s what last week looked like.
Monday
Leading my beginners. They’re up to 10 minutes at a time and spreading out more, which means I do more standing in one place and less running. On a Monday I run maybe 1 or 2 miles. I cycle to work and back, 5 miles each way.
Treadmill face
Tuesday
Lunchtime treadmill. I strangely enjoy doing intervals on the treadmill. The hardest part is dragging myself 100m to the gym and getting changed. If I can manage that the rest usually goes quite smoothly. This week I did 3 x 1600m at 5k pace which meant a lot of sweat. Bad news for the guy on the treadmill next to me. He’ll think twice before not choosing one of the 25 other available treadmills next time.
Tuesday evenings I help out with the coaching at a track session with my club, which is why I squeeze in the treadmill at lunch. Sometimes it’s really cold which means I wear 8 layers and think about how hot I was on the treadmill earlier in the day. I cycled to work and cycled to the track, which added on about 14 miles of cycling.
Wednesday
Run to work. It’s 5 miles from my flat to my office. I get to run through central London and along the river before the world has fully woken up. Sometimes I’m early and I treat myself to a coffee and a nice sit down before work starts.
I lead another group of runners on a Wednesday evening. We run to a hill or a 500m loop and I watch on while they do reps. They run lots and I run maybe 1 or 2 miles.
Thursday
Run to work again. Sometimes the same as Wednesdays, sometimes I add on a loop through Regents Park and Hyde Park to make it 8 or 10 miles before work and then feel smug. Last week I just did the 5 miles straight there.
Friday
Yoga. Lunchtimes on Fridays are all about yoga. Mainly for the laying down and closing your eyes bits. I’m very good at them. Anything requiring hamstring flexibility, not so much. I cycled slowly to work and cycled back home as well. It feels like a rest day. It’s not really.
Weekends
I try to run both Saturday and Sunday. Partly because that’s what I’ve been informed ultra runners do, but mainly because I like being able to run in daylight somewhere that isn’t the road between my office and my flat as much as possible. This weekend I ran 6 miles on Saturday (sort of marathon-paced with some hills thrown in) and 14 slow miles along the canal on Sunday.
So how much do I run? The short answer would have been ‘about 30-40 miles per week’. I bet you wish you’d never asked.
Will you ever slow down?
Hey,
Where do you run in London foor the RunCommute? I run from Kingsbury to Oxford Circus. It’s nice to read of another London run-commuter, though I’m not as skilled as you. I’m just an enthusiastic amateur trying to work on my speed (which hurts!)
Hello.
I run from Islington to just behind the Tate Modern. I go via Camden and Holborn and Waterloo Bridge. I used to hate running in the mornings but now I love it.
Laura.
My mileage depends on what I’m training for, but I aim to run at least 3 times a week. The other days I am cross training with cycling, yoga, and barre/strength
I wish I could run- or bike-commute to work. It would make those extra miles so much easier! Unfortunately 18 miles one way through bike-unfriendly side streets is not in the cards. US suburbia is not all it’s cracked up to be.
Just stumbled upon your blog – loving it. I am training for my London Marathon, all my weekday running is commute runs. From Paddington to Bank, 5 miles through Hyde Park. I love this as I dont have to get up early !
Hello. Good luck with your training!
Laura.
I am a beginner runner and looking for ways to add miles. Running to work isn’t an option because it would only be 2 mins. of running, and that’s uphill. Then there is the tons and tons of snow we have and the bitter cold that keeps me from lacing up my shoes. Hoping the weather breaks soon and I can get some running in before work and after.
[…] How much do you run? […]
Just found your blog through bloglovin 🙂 I like your writing voice and appreciate the number of miles you run each week. I have never been a runner (always walking and hiking instead), but have been trying to get myself into it. Strangely I have had intense dreams about running for the last few years and am starting to crave it, so I figure my body is trying to tell me something.