29 30 March 3 April Running Info

 
 

Hi Everyone,

We’ve made it to spring break! If you’re in London this week we’ll plan to meet at Barclays at 8:30 and decide our route on the day. The plan is to maintain fitness by doing 6-mile runs. If you’re unable to run this week because you’re in the middle of the jungle or the ocean, you’ll still be fine for the race. Any type of cross training (2-3 sessions over the week) will be a bonus. If you’re really pushing for your best time during the half marathon, you may want to use the runs this week to practice your race pace or faster. One option would be to run your race pace less 30-60 seconds. That will be a good work out!

Looking ahead, our first official day back after the break will be next Wednesday 8 April. The plan that day will depend on how much you’ve been able to run over the break. If you’ve been able to run over the break, we’ll plan to do the 8-mile Hyde Park loop. If you’re just back to running, you may want to do a shorter route. If you have been running and are really pushing for your best time, you may want to do a longer run, maybe to Kew Gardens or another route of your choice.  

Padua Photo Book

A gigantic THANK YOU to Amy Grace for offering to compile a photo book for those attending the Padua race. Please get your answers to Amy ASAP. She says she may make up answers for anyone she doesn’t hear from – you’ve been warned!  You can send your answers to our gmail account – [email protected].

 

Padua Health Form and Run Card

The race director has reemphasized that you must have a completed health form and run card in order to run in Padua.  If you’re trying to find the run card in your inbox, you’re looking for an email from “[email protected]” with the subject “Ecco la tua Runcard.” Attached to the email should be a PDF file with a photo of the run card with your name and birth date on it. Also the link to the health form is on the WRW website on the half marathon page, if you need another copy.

Keep running,

Jane

30 March – 3 April Running Info

Sunday, March 29, 2015

 

21 23 27 March Running Info

Hi Everyone,

We’ve made it to our longest training run of the season – 11 miles to Kew Gardens!  I hope the photo above inspires you. Once again our route takes us to a beautiful part of London as we run along the Thames. Don’t forget your Oyster card, water and gels. This is a perfect run to try out a water belt or anything else you expect to wear or use during the race. Please take a minute to read the route and especially note the directions for entering and exiting the Thames path.  (If you are away and can’t run on Monday we do have some groups who are planning to do the run either next week or the week after.  Just let me know and I can link you up with a group.)

Good Luck Racers!

Good luck to Amy Grace, Vicky Timbers, Lisa Noel, Meg Stone and her daughter Alex and Shan Mercer and her husband Jamie who are running the Richmond Half Marathon on Sunday.  This will be the main race for Vicky, Meg and Amy because in Padua they will be leading the women in the Beginner Group. (Thank you!) We hope you all have a great race!

Padua – New directions for health form

When you fax or email the health form to the race directors, please also send in a copy of the Runcard or your Runcard confirmation. We’ve had a few women who sent in the health form and then got an email saying that they needed a Runcard when they had already bought one. It seems like the info systems in the race office are not amazing.  Basically if you send in both forms together it will save you from going back and forth with the race office about the Runcard as well. If you have already sent in the health form, you’re probably all set but make sure you have a copy of the Runcard with you at the race expo in Padua.

Hats for Sale

We have extra Padua hats for sale, only £10. Would you like a second hat just in case something happens to the first one? One maybe one for your husband, kids, friends?  If you want one, just tell me or Chris Roberts.  Thanks!

Keep running,

Jane

ROUTES

CONDITIONING LONG RUN  Kew

Monday 23 March

Bring your Oyster or contactless card!

 

You’ll be feeling exhilarated as we do our 11 mile run to the cute ‘village’ of Kew.  We start out the normal way running to Hyde Park.  Once in the Park, we’ll turn to the left and run down the main walkway as we regularly do, to parallel Park Lane.  At the end of the walk, turn right to follow the main cross route in the park—beware of the bike lane!  When this ends at West Carriage Drive, cross the road at the crossing and continue on the pathway towards the bottom right corner of Hyde/Kensington Park.  We’ll run out of the Park at the Broadwalk, turning right onto Kensington High Street and continue for about two miles until we reach the Hammersmith Tube gyratory.  Run counter clockwise towards the left, ending up on Queen Caroline Street which gets you to St. Paul’s Church green.  Run along the Green to the right, heading to and crossing over Hammersmith Bridge. Exit Hammersmith Bridge Road to your left and run under it onto the Thames footpath.  Now it’s time to enjoy the view as we run along the Thames for almost four miles—it’s beautiful!  We will exit at the Kew Bridge, see photo below:


Run UNDER the bridge and then turn left, past a couple of tiny shops.  It looks like you need to walk through a parking lot until you see the stone steps leading to the top of the bridge.  

 

At the top of the steps turn right towards town (not back over the river) and run along this road [Kew Road] for about a third of a mile until you reach a 3-way intersection.  Here there are two options.  Option 1 is on the route map but option 2 may be easier to remember.  (I’ve gotten slightly lost in Kew village before so I’m hoping this might help.)  The distance is the same.

Option 1 – At the 3-way intersection, veer left on Mortlake Road, then shortly thereafter turn right on Cumberland Road, which will merge into Kew Gardens Road. You’ll do a turn to the left onto Station Approach [follow the Kew Gardens Station signs].  There is a Starbucks around the small bend where we’ll all meet up to congratulate ourselves on such a great run! 

Option 2 – At the 3-way intersection, veer right and follow Kew Road along the boundary wall to Kew Gardens until you reach the first main pedestrian entrance to Kew Gardens, the Victoria Gate.  Across from Victoria Gate, is Lichfield Road (it is only sign posted on the left-hand corner).  Follow Lichfield Road straight into Kew village.  Starbucks is on the left where we’ll all meet up to congratulate ourselves on such a great run! 


 

TEMPO (or not) RUN  The Wall

Wednesday 25 March

 

Today we all run to The Wall but it is YOUR CHOICE as to whether you run it ‘steady’ or resume your tempo training by doing Fartlek ‘speed intervals.’  If you choose to do interval sprints, try to pick areas that are less crowded before you turn on your super speed for intermittent speed runs, followed by slow recovery running.  Mix these up as you choose, different interval lengths and speeds are fine, provided you are in control of your body as you run by the grommets, bikes, walkers and other runners.

 Run South on Finchley/Wellington Road to the SJW Church Roundabout, follow the sidewalk to the left and cross Prince Albert Road at the crosswalk just beyond the SJW Church.  Continue east and enter the canal at the Charlbert entrance.  Run east [left], cutting through the Camden Lock Market until you run out of canal path at Islington.  Touch the canal boat tunnel wall—this is The Wall!—then turn around and re-trace your steps back to SJW.  When you come off the canal at Regents Park, take Charlbert to Allitsen to SJW High Street to Starbucks.

 TheWall

HILL RUN  The Heath

Friday 27 March

 

It’s Friday again, so everyone up Fitzjohn’s.  You can pick your distance and whatever you choose, there will certainly be someone else interested in running that distance.  All of these routes are on the website.

In addition, every week there are a group of women who prefer to do a flat run.  We can help make sure that you find each other.  

 

4 miles:  A great way to ease into running the hill.   Run up to the Hampstead tube station and back.
5 miles: The Betsy Route
6-7miles:  The partial Heath route

7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

Kew Gardens – our longest run of the year!

23 – 27 March Running Info

Saturday, March 21, 2015

16 – 20 March 2015 Running Info

Hello runners!

Well done to everyone who ran to Greenford last week! We had a huge turnout and it was fun to tackle the challenge together. This week we’re running east on the canal and then exiting to run through Farringdon to the Embankment and then winding our way back to St. John’s Wood. The Farringdon stretch can be very crowded, but think of it as good practice for dodging other runners during the race. On Wednesday we’re back in Regents Park for our last tempo workout of the year and Friday we head up the hill. If you’re feeling the mileage in your legs, it might be a good time to schedule a sports massage. And as always, make sure you stretch!

Kew Gardens, 23 March
Looking ahead, for most of us the following week will be our longest training run of the season – 11 miles to Kew Gardens. Make sure you have water and gels for that run. This is the perfect time to test out a water belt or whatever you plan to use for water during the race.

Long run after break?
For those of you really pushing for personal best time during the race, you may want to do your longest run on the week after the break, probably Wednesday 8 April because Monday is a holiday. However, that assumes that you’ll be able to run over the holiday. You don’t want to come back after a week off and go straight to running 11 miles. We’ll put two route options in the email for those weeks. Talk with the other women in your pace group and let me know if you have any questions.

Keep running,

Jane

ROUTES

Monday, 16 March – Canal/Farringdon/Embankment Loop (9 miles)

Head out the canal to “The Wall” and exit the canal.  Turn right at the top of the exit onto Muriel/Rodney Street, which will turn into Penton Rise, then King’s Cross and, eventually Farringdon Street.  Stay on Farringdon Street until you reach the Embankment, turn right on the Embankment and run along the Thames for about a mile.  When you reach Northumberland Avenue (At Embankment Tube Station) make a right and run up through Trafalgar Square, onto Cockspur Street and then onto Haymarket. Take this to Picadilly Circus and turn right onto Regent Street.  Run on Regent Street, which turns onto Portland Place, to Marylebone Road.  Run on Marylebone to Allsop and make a right, Which turns into Park Road.  Follow Park Road along the west side of Regent’s Park back to Starbucks the usual way.

 

Wednesday, 18 March – Regent’s Park Tempo Diamonds

We’re continuing with our focused tempo running on Wednesdays.  This week we will do ‘diamonds’.

Head over to Regent’s Park, the normal way [down Wellington Road, left at the SJW Church roundabout, cross the zebra crossing before the High Street and enter Park at the Charlbert Entrance].  Enter the Park and veer to the left path.  When you reach the first intersection with the other sidewalk, it is time to turn on your running jets.  You will run hard for 1 minute, then recover by running slowly for 3 minutes; then run hard for 2 minutes and recover by running slowly for 3 minutes; then run hard for 3 minutes, recover run slowly for 3 minutes; run hard for 2 minutes, recover run slowly for 3 minutes and finally run hard for 1 minutes, recover run slowly for 3 minutes.

The ‘diamond’ looks like this:

            1 minute hard 3 minutes jogging recovery
2 minutes hard 3 minutes jogging recovery
3 minutes hard 3 minutes jogging recovery
2 minutes hard 3 minutes jogging recovery
1 minute hard 3 minutes jogging recovery

If you need to extend the amount of time for the jogging recovery, that’s fine, you can jog up to twice the amount of the hard run time [so 6 minutes max recovery jog for the 3 min hard run]

This type of running is best down within the park so you don’t have to contend with driveways etc.  If you find you need more mileage in Regent’s Park, just keep looping however you see fit.

 

Friday, 20 March –  The Heath

It’s Friday [again!], so everyone up Fitzjohn’s.  You can pick your distance and whatever you choose, there will certainly be someone else interested in running that distance.  All of these routes are on the website.

4 miles:  A great way to ease into running the hill.   Run up to the Hampstead tube station and back.
5 miles: The Betsy Route
6-7 miles:  The partial Heath route
7.5 miles:  The Highgate route
8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

9 – 13 March 2015 Running Info

Hi Everyone,

We’re off to Greenford this week for our long run.  The photo above is from our run to Greenford last year and I hope it gives you a bit of inspiration.  We head west out the canal for almost 10 miles and the stretch past Wembley is very rural in parts.  You can leave the hustle and bustle of London behind you.  This is an excellent training run with no traffic lights.  Watch your pace – don’t be tempted to go too fast.  Remember long slow runs are the best way to build fuel.  The photos of the exit are from last year as well, so hopefully they aren’t building a new apartment building or something crazy at the site.  We’re going to assume the Black Horse pub is still there!  The important thing is to look for the numbers on the bridges, we’re exiting at bridge number 15.  Wednesday we’re going to Hyde Park for tempo work and Friday we’re back up the hill.

Congratulations Racers!
Congratulations to Darcy Fautz and Holly Bell Stevens who completed the Bath Half Marathon last weekend!  Well done!

Thank you!
Thanks to everyone for being so excellent about our money collection last week.  We collected from almost everyone on the day.  We really appreciate it!  If you went to the Pret basement on Tuesday I’m sure you saw what a gigantic job it is to hand out over 100 shirts!

Padua Reminder- Health Form
Don’t forget that you need to have a doctor complete the Padua Health Form in order to run the race!

Keep up the good work!  The weather is changing, we’re seeing signs of spring and we’re in the home stretch of our race training!

Keep running,

Jane

ROUTES

LONG RUN – Monday, 9 March
Greenford 9.75 miles–This is a great run to find your comfortable conditioning pace and just go!

We start out the regular way to get on the Canal Path at Maida Vale heading west. We’ll then run along the Canal for about 8 more miles until we exit the Canal at Oldfield Lane [this is after Greenford Road].  We’re looking for the following bridge, which is pretty boring, but does have a small black “15” in the center.  

image001

Just underneath the bridge there are steps leading up to  the The Black Horse Pub.
image002

At the top of the steps turn right and run along Oldfield Lane which is fairly industrial area until you reach the Greenford Station on the right just under the railway bridge.  Tube home via the Central Line.  If you want to stop for coffee, food or the bathroom, there is a little place with the great name of the Friendly Cafe just past the station on the left.  (If you want fancy coffee, turn left at the railway bridge (instead of going under) and following the road until the next intersection where there is a mall with a Costa Coffee.)  Note, we think these coffee places are still there!

Greenford

 

TEMPO RUN – Wednesday, 11 March

Hyde Park Triangles—another shot at speed work—yippee!!!

Head down to Hyde Park the usual way at a very gentle pace.  Once you reach the park pick up the pace a bit around Speaker’s Corner, and then run very fast down to the SE corner of the park. Jog slowly around the corner while you try to bring your heart rate back down to a recovered rate. Once you reach the straightaway, run hard again to Carriage Road.  Slow down to a recover rate again as you cross over the bridge and up to the path, where you will turn right and run hard along the diagonal back to Speaker’s Corner.  Jog very slowly back to SJW or hop on the bus or tube from Marble Arch. If you are not doing tempo work, you can do this run at a regular pace (if you go back to SJW it is about 6.5 miles).

HILL RUN  The Heath – Friday 13 March
Ooh, it’s Friday the 13th—a perfect day for running up that ‘fun’ hill!

4 miles:  A great way to ease into running the hill.   Run up to the Hampstead tube station and back.
5 miles: The Betsy Route
6-7miles:  The partial Heath route
7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.