Hi everyone,
First of all, thank you so much for the Starbucks gift cards! You all know very well they will get used! You are such an amazing group, as we keep saying. It is a joy to be running with you!
You may have noticed on our training schedule that we’re repeating a 60 minute run over and over again for 5 straight weeks. There is a method to that madness! We are trying to become very comfortable with an hour long run. Hopefully over the next 5 weeks, an hour long run will not be particularly overwhelming or worrisome. This is a fabulous place to be – being able to go out and run for an hour is empowering…. you’ll feel like Superwoman! The same can be said for the Tuesday run. The schedule has you running 45 minutes every Tuesday until late in January. Believe it or not, that 45 minute run will start to feel like a short jaunt. I’m serious!!!
Running over the holidays
Let’s talk about how to train over the holidays….. For those of you in town and able to join the group run, carry on with the 60 minute Thursday run, a 45 minute Tuesday run, and a 35 minute weekend run. If you are not here, it is ideal to still follow that schedule. However, if you are traveling and are not able to follow the normal schedule, try to run 2-3 times a week for 30-45 minutes. As long as nothing is hurting, the pace could be quicker than we normally do but doesn’t have to be. There is nothing wrong with holding a gentle pace and running only 30-45 minutes. If you are not able to run at all, let one of us know. Depending on your circumstances, we may slightly adjust the first 1-2 runs in January for you.
Stacey and Melissa will be here over the break and are happy to run with anyone who is here on the Thursdays. Please let us know if you are here and interested. They will send out an email to confirm the time – it may be a little later like 8:30 or 9 to give you all a little more sleep 🙂
If you’re not here – a little tip that works for me when I need to run on my own: schedule the runs. If you have down on your calendar that you will be running for an hour on Wednesday starting at 9 am, you are much more likely to actually get out there and do it. And it will force you to make time for it instead of thinking, “Sometime in the next two days I will go run.” Make sure you check the weather before making your running appointment with yourself – you don’t want to have it be in the middle of a snowstorm! (Or maybe you do… good excuse to have to skip it??)
This week
For this Tuesday, you should still run with a walk break – perhaps a 20 minute segment and then a 25 minute segment.
For Thursday – our first run with no walk breaks. We know you can do it. YOU know you can do it. You have been running for about an hour for the past couple of weeks. And there will be plenty of red men along the way. We will take it nice and easy and before you know it, we will be back at Starbucks.
The route: Run down to Hyde Park via Lisson Grove/Seymour entering the park near Speaker’s Corner. The group will exit Hyde Park at Brook St. and run across to Regent St. The route turns north to run up to Regents Park then back to Starbucks.