Hi all!

Happy Valentine’s Day!  So fun to see the photos of the London runners checking out the Wander Art in Mayfair this week.  And so impressed with you guys getting out there in the cold.  Luckily, the weather should be kinder to us this week.
This week is a break week for those of you who have been following the schedule.  If you are not up to the current mileage of 7.5 miles, use this week to continue to build up if you can.   Continue to do a 45 min “short” run and another 60 min run this week as well.   We plan to coach this week as usual for whatever mileage you are doing.

Aches/Pains
It feels like more of you are experiencing various physical issues.  This is not unusual for beginners at this stage as we are really ramping up and asking a lot of your body.  I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to go see someone if you are experiencing more than just minor pains.  I was reminded of this this week when I went to see a new physio for the sciatica that just won’t go away.  She determined that my left side, where the sciatica is, is not nearly as strong as the other side and is likely causing a lot of the issues.  She gave me some exercises to start strengthening the areas that are weak, and I could tell right away the difference in ability between the two sides.  Having a professional review your body is so important to help prevent future injury and keep you up and running (pun intended!).  If you want a recommendation, let me know.

More about gels
Next week we are going to try gels on the run.   Gels are basically carbohydrates to give your body some extra fuel during the race.  For the most part, we train in a way to teach our body to use fat as a fuel.  Fat is easier to access as an energy source and requires less fine-tuning in terms of timing carb intake during exercise.  Our bodies have about 1000-1200 “easy access” calories available which will get most ladies about 10-11 miles (depending on their weight and fitness level).  After that we will use gels (carbs) to fuel that last 2-3 miles of the half-marathon.  We, your coaches, will tell you when you should take the gel.  We will plan to use them on our longer runs going forward so we get used to taking them – we don’t want anything “new” on race day to throw us off!  Hopefully, we can get us coaches organized enough to each have a few gels to bring next week for you to try.  It’s a little trickier to coordinate this year!  The idea is to try different flavors and brands and decide what you like (it may be helpful to keep the packet if you like it so you remember it).  Then you can buy some either online or at running stores.  In general, gels don’t taste great but they will either give you a boost after about 6 – 8 minutes or, if you’re like me, they will keep you from losing energy.

Some of the gels we have are called isotonic and have more liquid so you may not need water with them.  Others are more like the consistency of jam and you’ll want water to wash it down.  So please please bring your water with you.  We will also try to have some Shot Bloks and energy jelly beans if you want to try those.  Some people like the Shot Bloks which are chewy rather than jam-like.  Note that half a package of Shot Bloks (3 pieces) is equivalent to one gel.  This is a very individual thing – some people like fruity flavours, some like chocolate, etc.  Jess claims she likes running long distances so she has an excuse to eat the chocolate and caramel gels!  
Different brands can have different effects on your stomach so it’s important to try them first.   In general, the energy jelly beans (I like the Jelly Belly brand) are good for a pick-me-up during a long run when you can take a few at a time but not the whole pack.  The whole pack is equivalent to a gel and personally, a whole pack of jelly beans at once would not feel so great in my tummy!  There are also energy gummies that some people like as well that are used similarly.
Places to buy gels/beans/Bloks:
Runners Need stores or runnersneed.com (individual GU, SIS, TORQ, Shot Bloks, sport jelly beans)
amazon.co.uk  (may only be available in boxes but you could share with others in the group, sport jelly beans)
wiggle.co.uk
energysnacks.co.uk (individual packets available)https://www.ultramarathonrunningstore.com (individual GU, TORQ, Clif Shot Bloks and gels)
Ocado (Clif Shot Bloks, SIS isotonic gels)

The Schedule
Week 25 Feb 18 – February break – 60 min run
Week 26 Feb 25 – 100 min = Big Ben and back – 8 miles
Week 27 Mar 4 – 105 min – 8.5 miles
Week 28 Mar 11 – 110 min = Canary Wharf – 9 miles
Week 29 Mar 18 – 60 min
Week 30 Mar 25 – 110 min = Wembley – 9 miles
Week 31 April 1 – 120 min = Canada Water – 10 miles
Week 32 Apr 8 – April  break – 60 min run
Week 31 Apr 15 – 130 min = Kew Gardens – 11 miles
Week 32 Apr 22 – 45 min = easy run through Regents Park 
RACE WEEK!
Don’t forget – your Tuesday runs are now 60 min long and the weekend run is 45 mins.  It is CRITICAL that you are running 3 times a week at this point.  Put it in your calendar and get it done 🙂

Routes this week
A 60 min run for all of you should be between 4 and 5 miles.  There are a bunch of options that are mainly loops from our runs this past fall in the Beginner RunGo group here:  https://routes.rungoapp.com/group/wrw-london-beginners
Happy running!
Amy