Month: October 2016

2016-17 Beginners Week 9

Well done everyone!  Big Ben was a huge milestone and you all did it with smiles on your faces.  Remember when you said you couldn’t imagine running all the way there?  On top of that, we had a pretty big jump up in running time – we went from 28 to 36 total minutes and from 5 to 7 minute segments.  Great job!  Hopefully you can repeat the run on Tuesday for those of you who missed it on Thursday.  If you do, take a photo and send it!

This week, the running segments are not too different from last week – just a few more 7 minute ones.
Some of you have asked about running a bit on the weekends.  It would be good to start that in a week or so.  In general, you don’t want to run a longer segment on the weekend than we are doing during the week – so if you ran next weekend, it shouldn’t have segments longer than 7 minutes.  The run should be no more than 30-35 total minutes including walk time.  Pay attention to your pace, too, so you don’t go too fast.  Your muscles have been building so you can add that third run, but we don’t want you to push too much and get injured.  As we run longer segments, it will become more important to have that extra run on the weekend so the longer runs during the week aren’t so tiring.
Welcome to Fernanda who joined us for the first time last week.  This week, we have two more new beginners – Cara and Amy.  Amy plans to join the group on Tuesday so please look out for her.  Cara will be joining us on Thursday.
Finally, here is the likely route for the week:
Cross Wellington and head down Circus Road.  Go left on Grove End to St. John’s Wood Road. Take a right on Grove End then a left on Cunningham Place.  Go right on Aberdeen Place and follow the road to the canal entrance on Blomfield.  Go west on the canal and exit at Harrow Rd.  Cross the canal on Harrow then go right on Sutherland to Castellain.  Take a left and run to Paddington Rec, entering at the Moorhead Road Gate.  Run through Paddington exiting at Carlton Vale.  Go right on Carlton Vale, right on Hamilton Terrace, and left on Hall back to Barclays.
Week 9 beginner

Week 9 beginner

2016-17 Beginners Week 8

This is the week we’ve all been waiting for!  Believe it or not, you are all ready to run to Big Ben, our first destination run.  Don’t be intimidated – it is really not much farther than you have already been running.  In addition, there are a lot of traffic lights along the way that will give us some extra breaks.  We are so excited to do this run with you!

Please remember to bring your Oyster card with you since we will be taking the tube home from Westminster.  We will take a photo in front of Big Ben and maybe grab a coffee at the Nero across the street.
On another note, I have sad news.  Meg’s mother passed away this weekend.  Fortunately, she was able to be with her for the past week and will be there with her family this week.  I know she is disappointed to miss the Big Ben run but she sends everyone her best and will be back with us soon.
If you aren’t able to join us on Thursday but want to do the run at a different time and/or repeat next Tuesday, here is the route:
Start heading west on Circus Road and turn left on Grove End and follow south as it becomes Lisson Grove.  Cross over Marylebone Road and continue on Seymour Place until the end.  Turn right and cross over Edgware Road and then left to enter Hyde Park at the intersection with Stanhope Place.   Run along the eastern edge of the park to Hyde Park Corner, under Wellington Arch and down Constitution Hill.  Run past the Victoria Memorial down the mall and enter St. James Park.  Run over the pond and out of the park, turning left onto Birdcage Walk and down into Parliament Square to Big Ben.
bigben4mi

2016-17 Beginners Week 7

Hi everyone,
Hopefully you are settled back into your routine this week.  It was nice seeing several of you at the SJWWC meeting this morning!

This week, we are starting to increase our running increments, doing 4 and 5 minute segments.  We are going to run along the canal toward Camden so you can see another option to run on Tuesdays.

Don’t forget that next week is our run to Big Ben!

Also, I forgot to mention last week that we found £20 on the sidewalk leading to Meg’s house after the breakfast that was likely dropped by one of you.  So if you think you dropped it, let me know and I will return it.

See you all on Thursday!

Your Coaches

2016-17 Beginners Week 6

Hi everyone,
For those of you with kids at ASL, I hope you had a nice break!   I look forward to hearing about it on tomorrow’s run.
For our run tomorrow, we will be running a total of 22 minutes, slipping in a few 4 minute blocks.  Going forward, the amount of time spent running starts to increase more quickly since you have built the base you need to start to run longer.  It is really important to get that second run in each week so you keep that base up and build from there.  Anyone on this list who hasn’t been out running with us – now is the time to jump in before we are too far along in the program.
I know some of you have asked for more structured warm up and cool down exercises.  The walking we do at the beginning of our runs in intended to warm up our muscles.  For the level of running we are doing, this should be sufficient to avoid injury due to starting out “cold.”  We will make more of an effort to walk briskly, however, as that will get those muscles warmed up better, especially as the weather turns cooler.  If you are experiencing any soreness or aches, consider using a roller like Meg demonstrated prior to coming out in the morning.  Also, please remember that none of us are officially trained in either fitness or physio.  If you are feeling aches and pains, PLEASE ask us for recommendations for a physio.  We highly recommend seeing someone early, before a problem really develops.
For post-run, again the walking is intended to act as a cool-down.  As we have said, it is very important to stretch after the run which is why we build in that time before heading in to Starbucks.  We have demonstrated a few stretches but this link provides a few more in addition to what we have done:  http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/c25k/Pages/how-to-stretch-after-a-run.aspx
We are happy to help demonstrate these, but again remember that we are not trained in this so we can only show what we have found to be helpful for ourselves.

See you all tomorrow!
Your coaches