Hello Runners,

I’ve just come in from our mid-paced run to Beigel Bake and I’m on cloud 9. Wow! We had several ladies who had never run that far before, we had several ladies who were worried they couldn’t keep up but they did, and we had several ladies purposely slowing down their pace to work on “finding their long run pace”. It was a huge success! To our faster girls who joined the run, thank you so much for not pushing the pace. You were all brilliant! Thanks a million and congratulations to everyone who reached some new milestone in their running. The Beigel Bake was a big hit. We’ll have to do that run again sometime.

Running Group T-shirts:
Our t-shirt order is in. The shirts are so cute – I can’t wait to see everyone wearing them! I’m horrible at being a money-collector, so this is it – if you haven’t paid me yet this is your last reminder. I am out of town from Thursday, 25 Oct through Sunday, 4 November) so it might be easiest to mail me a check: 8 Pindock Mews, London W9 2PY. There are a couple of people who did not confirm that they wanted a shirt and had not paid so those orders were not placed. Sorry!

Birthday Celebrations:
We’ll celebrate our October birthdays on Friday, 2 November. Happy Birthday to our November birthday ladies!!! We’ll celebrate these birthdays on Friday, 30 November.
Stacey Towfighi – 19 Nov
Bonnie Bandeen – 23 Nov
Donna Vos – 30 Nov
Ninita Agarval – Nov (no date specified)

Routes this Week

Yes, I am that bossy!!! I’m suggesting routes for the group even though I’ll be out of town. Let’s take this opportunity to repeat some of our most popular routes (translation – I’ll recommend the boring routes so you’ll really miss me while I’m away!!!). Seriously, run whatever routes you want to do. If there’s something we’ve done lately that you enjoyed, group up with a few other runners and do it. Here are some suggestions:

Monday, 29 October
Mondays are long run day for our faster runners. The Hyde Park loop will give you an opportunity to test that slower pace concept. Many of you have less mileage on your program this week than last week. It’ll be tempting to run quickly around Hyde Park and be done with it. Try to resist that temptation and slow yourself down just a bit.

Hyde Park loop (8 miles) – Run down Lisson Grove then Seymour to enter at the NE corner of the park then turn right or west to run along the northern boundary, turn left or south to reach Kensington Palace, then continue to follow the full perimeter of Hyde Park and return to St. John’s Wood via Baker Street or Gloucester Road.
If you’re doing your long run on Monday, but are having trouble maintaining a strong pace over long distances, either drop behind the group above when you get tired or shorten your run to the following:

Serpentine loop (6 miles) – run with the group to Hyde Park but when they cross over Carriage Rd – you turn left or south at Carriage Rd then run over the bridge. Immediately after the bridge, turn left to follow the waters edge back towards Wellington Arch. Then run back towards Speaker’s Corner and home via Baker Street or Gloucester Road. On Monday, mid-paced runners should do a tempo run (if you’re working on pace) or a mid-distance regular paced run.

The Wall (6 miles) – Consider doing this route as a tempo run (or just at a comfortable pace – your choice!!!). If you’re doing it as a tempo run, your warm-up and cool-down could be the jog to/from the canal. You could also to “The Wall” at a regular pace, then run back from “The Wall” to where we exit from the canal at a very strong pace. If you decide to try that, make note of how long it takes you to run only that leg (Wall to turn-off).

Wednesday, 31 October
Mid-paced runners should do the following route:

Hyde Park loop (8 miles) – Run down Lisson Grove then Seymour to enter at the NE corner of the park then turn right or west to run along the northern boundary, turn left or south to reach Kensington Palace, then continue to follow the full perimeter of Hyde Park and return to St. John’s Wood via Baker Street or Gloucester Road.

Mid-paced runners not wanting 8 miles could do the following route:

Serpentine loop (6 miles) – run with the group to Hyde Park but when they cross over Carriage Rd – you turn left or south at Carriage Rd then run over the bridge. Immediately after the bridge, turn left to follow the waters edge back towards Wellington Arch. Then run back towards Speaker’s Corner and home via Baker Street or Gloucester Road.

Our faster runners might enjoy (?) the following route for a regular-paced mid-distance run or a tempo run:

Notting Hill (6.5 miles) – I think most of you know this route now. If you’re not familiar with it, have a look under the “Routes” tab to make sure you know where you’re going.

Notting Hill (6.5 miles) partial tempo run – If you want to try a bit of tempo work, but love the Notting Hill route – then do both!!! Jog to the canal, once you get there, run hard until the Ladbrook Grove turn-off (where we exit off the canal). From there, run a steady pace for the rest of the route and enjoy the window shopping in Notting Hill.

Western canal tempo run (any distance) – If you want a more intense tempo work-out than the one above, jog down to the canal, do your tempo work on the canal, turn around and do tempo work on the canal back to Maida Vale. From there, jog back to Starbucks in SJW to cool-down.

Friday, 2 November
We will celebrate our October birthdays after the run today. Kelli will be organizing post-run cupcakes.

The Heath – old route (8 miles) – The old route.

The 6-7 mile route – follow the group doing the full 8 mile route. At parliament hill instead of turning left towards Kenwood House, turn right and run past the track. Exit the heath, run past Royal Free Hospital and head home through Belsize Park.

The Betsy route (5 miles) – I think Betsy is now doing a longer route on Fridays, but her namesake run is a great route. Anyone wanting this distance ask around as we are running up the hill to Hampstead and someone will explain to you how to do it.

Hampstead tube station (4 miles)– this is a great route to do if you’re short on time or are new to running “the hill”. Head up to the Hampstead tube station with the group then turn around and head back home. For a change of scenery, run up to Hampstead tube station then run back to Starbucks in SJW via the Hampstead high street, then Belsize Park, then down St. John’s Wood Park Rd.

Monday, 5 November
The following is a great route for a long run (mid-paced runners will do this route on Wednesday, 7 November).

Sloane/Pimlico loop (8 miles) – Run down Lisson Grove then Seymour to Hyde Park. Carry on as
though you’re doing the Battersea loop but before you get to the river turn left on Pimlico Road. Take Buckingham Palace Road to Victoria Station then Grosvenor back to Hyde Park Corner. Run back to SJW via Baker St or Gloucester Rd. This is a new route for many of you – here’s a snapshot of the route. If you are struggling to maintain a strong pace over long distances, either drop behind the group above when you get tired or shorten your run by going home from Bond St or Baker St tube stations.

Mid-paced runners could do a tempo run or a mid-distance regular-paced run using the following route:

Notting Hill (6.5 miles) – I think most of you know this route now. If you’re not familiar with it, have a look under the “Routes” tab to make sure you know where you’re going.

Notting Hill (6.5 miles) partial tempo run – If you want to try a bit of tempo work, but love the Notting Hill route – then do both!!! Jog to the canal, once you get there, run hard until the Ladbrook Grove turn-off (where we exit off the canal). From there, run a steady pace for the rest of the route and enjoy the window shopping in Notting Hill.

Western canal tempo run (any distance) – If you want a more intense tempo work-out than the one above, jog down to the canal, do your tempo work on the canal, turn around and do tempo work on the canal back to Maida Vale. From there, jog back to Starbucks in SJW to cool-down.

Wednesday, 7 November
Mid-paced runners should do the following route for their long run:

Sloane/Pimlico loop (8 miles) – See route description and map above. If you are struggling to maintain a strong pace over long distances, either drop behind the group above when you get tired or shorten your run by going home from Bond St or Baker St tube stations.

Our faster runners could do the following tempo run:

The Wall (6 miles) – If you are doing your long run on Monday, consider doing this route as a tempo run (or just at a comfortable pace – your choice!!!). Your warm-up and cool-down could be the jog to/from the canal. or If you want to try something different, jog over to the track in Regents Park and try one of the following workouts: Yasso 800s simplified – run two laps hard (make note of your 2-lap time) then jog until you’ve recovered. Repeat another 3-4 times (so you’ll do a hard 2-lap interval 4-5 times in total). See if you can maintain your time or slightly improve it over the repetitions. Make sure that you are fully warmed up before you do this. Pyramids – run 1/4 lap hard then jog to recover, run 1/2 lap hard then jog to recover, run 3/4 lap hard then jog to recover, run 1 lap hard then jog to recover, run 3/4 lap hard then jog to recover, run 1/2 lap hard then jog to recover, run 1/4 lap hard then jog to recover. Repeat that entire routine until you’ve been doing track work for about 35 minutes. Then jog back to SJW or have someone piggy-back you.

Friday, 9 November
The Heath – old or new route (8 miles) – If I’m up for it, I think I’ll run the new route (Western route) at a medium pace. Join me if you’re interested in learning that route! There are always people running the old route, so you’ll have someone to run with whichever route you choose.

The 6-7 mile route – follow the group doing the full 8 mile old route. At parliament hill instead of turning left towards Kenwood House, turn right and run past the track. Exit the heath, run past Royal Free Hospital and head home through Belsize Park. If you want to do the new route but don’t want 8 miles, follow me and I’ll show you where to turn off to do a 6 mile run.

The Betsy route (5 miles) – I think Betsy is now doing a longer route on Fridays, but her namesake run is a great route. Anyone wanting this distance ask around as we are running up the hill to Hampstead and someone will explain to you how to do it.

Hampstead tube station (4 miles)– this is a great route to do if you’re short on time or are new to running “the hill”. Head up to the Hampstead tube station with the group then turn around and head back home. For a change of scenery, run up to Hampstead tube station then run back to Starbucks in SJW via the Hampstead high street, then Belsize Park, then down St. John’s Wood Park Rd.

That’s it! I’ll look forward to hearing about how all of the runs have gone when I’m back. I’ll miss you all!!!!

Happy Running,

Paula