This week I finally felt ready to start training hard again, to focus on running again and start working towards that ultimate Boston Qualifying goal again. I’ve done a lot of the 20 minute beginner runs on the Peloton app now and am planning on increasing my mileage over the next few weeks to build a more solid base. I am currently running around 10 miles per week, and want to increase that by 5 miles per week up to 30 miles per week. So it makes sense to take a step towards 30 and 45 minute runs going forward.

Weekly Workouts 25th May – 7th June (two weeks worth!)

Monday

20 Minute Intervals Run with Chase Tucker 2.44 miles at 8.10 pace. I find it so much easier to run faster when I’m just following the instructions on the app, without worrying about pace or distance.

Tuesday

20 Minute 90’s Rock Ride with Matt Wilpers plus 5 min post-ride stretch.

Wednesday

5K walk around Dorney Lake with Ellie after work. She also works at a hospital as a Speech and Language Therapist so it was nice to debrief about our days, catch up and chat about blogging, running and her ironman training. Dorney was packed with teenagers, runners, cyclists and even some swimmers. Sadly there was a lot of rubbish, not much social distancing and a lot of badly parked cars!

Thursday

30 minute Climb ride on the Peloton with Alex Toussant. Ashley chose the workout (standard for a brutal workout!) and it was tough but I got a ride PB!

Friday

20 Min Peloton Rock Fun Run with Becs Gentry prepping to interview her for my Cook Eat Run Podcast (her episode will be live on Sunday!)

Saturday

3 miles with Emma in Marlow, followed by coffee and a walk along the River with Ellie. It was so great to go beyond Caversham, Henley and work! Another run/walk – I’m finding using a run/walk strategy a great way to build up my mileage currently without it feeling overwhelming.

Sunday

Unplanned rest day with a migraine

Monday

20 Min Interval run with Selena Salmuela. I set up my app to track pace and distance, although I still need to compare the results with my Garmin distance/pace. But it said I ran 2.26 miles at 8.50 min mile pace.

Tuesday

20 Min HIIT run with Matt Wilpers on Peloton (you can follow me if you have the app, my username is therunnerbeans). 2.4 miles at 8.19 min mile pace.

Wednesday

3.5 miles with Emma in Henley for Global Running Day. With so much going on in the world currently, this global running day became a great platform to raise up the voices of black runners.

That evening I ran a couple of miles with Ellie after work. Our original plan had been to run around Dorney Lake but sadly due to the rubbish left by people over the previous week, they’ve shut it. So instead we ran to Starbucks nearby, (just made it before they closed), then walked back with our coffees.

Thursday

Rest Day

Friday

30 minute Speak Up ride with Tunde Oyeneyin, this was such a powerful ride talking about Black Lives Matter, sharing quotes from influential people as well as from black Peloton staff and community. If you have the Peloton app, I’d recommend you taking this class.

Saturday

45 minute Black History Month Peloton ride with Tunde Oyeneyin and Alex Toussant – a tech company had pledged to donate $100 per rider taking part in the workout at 4PM UK/11AM EST to NAACP Legal Defence and Education Fund. I had originally thought it was a 30 min ride but it pushed me out of my comfort zone to ride for 45 mins.

Sunday

6.5 miles with Emma along the Thames and my longest run since March! I was weirdly nervous going into the run, knowing it was going to be more of an effort than my previous runs. We took a run walk approach, 4 minute run, 1 minute walk for all 6.5ish miles. Emma originally told me we had to run 6 miles as part of the RunAsOne marathon relay from NN Running Team, then about 5.5 miles into the run she admitted that we actually had to run 6.5 miles!

What was your favourite run or workout this week?