WOW – you guys are amazing.  Two 30-min segments and you barely blinked. And well done to Lina who got it done with me on Saturday! 

For the next 6 weeks, we are repeating a 60 minute run over and over again. There is a method to that madness! We are trying to become very comfortable with an hour long run. Hopefully over the next 6 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!!!

So after this week, you should be running, ideally, a 30-35 min run, a 45 min run and a 60 min run – with only those red men for stops – no walk breaks.  But keep it slow!! 

Running over the holidaysLet’s talk about how to train over the holidays….. For those of you in town and able to join to run together, 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.  But we will get you back up to speed, I promise! 

If people are around, Micki, with maybe her daughter, is up for running with you for the 60 min runs on Thursdays.  Please let me know if you’ll be around so Micki can coordinate with you all. 

I will be back for the Thursday run the first week of January. Since we will miss 3 Thursdays during break, it is important that you try as hard as you can to keep up your running so you’re ready to hit the ground running (ha ha!) in January.  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 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.”  Tell your family when you plan to go – they will likely pester you about it if they are anything like mine.  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??)  Past year’s groups have sent each other photos on What’sApp to keep everyone motivated.  I think they have had a lot of fun seeing where the group was running, whether on a tropical island, in the snow, or on a treadmill.  So pester each other, check in, continue to be as supportive as you have been – keep everyone on track!! 

This week
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.  Think of it like a beginner told me one year – you’ll be running the last segment right from the start!   

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.
RunGo:  https://routes.rungoapp.com/route/fIzxsdWuvZ

Hi everyone!
What a great run down to see the lights on Oxford & Regent Streets this week.  You all continue to amaze us – it was a HUGE jump up in running time and you all made it seem so easy.  It might not have felt so easy, but it was definitely nice having the lights as a distraction.  I’ve put the photos the coaches took into the Flickr site.  If any of you have photos you’d like to add in, just send them to me and I’ll upload them.  https://flickr.com/photos/122036078@N08/albums/72157720094665211/page2

We have just two more weeks until winter break and we will accomplish a lot before then.  You all can DO this!  We are so excited for all of you, how well you are doing.  We have several pieces of information below but not quite so long-winded as the past few weeks 🙂

Post-Run Coffee at Ash’s
On Tuesday, we will gather at Ash’s house for some post-run social time:  at 9:30.  Since we are getting close to the holidays when people will be traveling and needing to take tests to travel, we ask that everyone do a lateral flow test at home that morning just to be safe.  The coaches are looking forward to seeing you all there!

Non-Thursday Running
Just a reminder that you are running about 30-35 minutes on the weekends and 45 minutes on Tuesdays.  Your segments should not be longer than what we run on Thursday – so nothing longer than 25 min this Tuesday and 30 min next Tuesday.  Please please get in both of these runs each week.  It will make the Thursday runs so much more enjoyable and less intimidating!

Shoes
Some of you may have already purchased new shoes since you started running, but some haven’t.  If you haven’t, it would be good to get a new pair before we start increasing our mileage in January.   It’s a good idea to go to a store that knows what it’s doing – that will evaluate your gait and suggest an appropriate shoe for you.  In London, Runners Need (a chain with many locations) or the Asics store on Oxford Street offer gait analysis.  You want to get new shoes soon so you can make sure they are comfortable and don’t cause any issues.  When I was a beginner, I ran the first few months in cross trainers and when I got “real” running shoes, my knees started hurting because I was landing differently in the new shoes.  It took several weeks of alternating with my old and new shoes before everything settled and I was glad to have that time.

Planning for the Break
Looking ahead, there will be 3 weeks that ASL is off from school and 2 weeks that there will not be a coached run.  I will be back the first week of January so we will have a normal coached run that week (Jan 6).  We expect/hope that you will continue to do 3 runs a week.  For the Thursday run, you will keep repeating what we do our last Thursday together – 60 minutes.  If you are in town, please continue to meet up with the group to help get you out there.  I will say more about all of this next week but a couple of you asked about it this week so I figured I’d say it now as well.

This Week
For Thursday, we are going to run down to Hyde Park.  It’s a great place to go for your future Tuesday runs – easy to get to, and then you get the park to run in.  We will end at the Green Park tube so BRING YOUR CONTACTLESS OR OYSTER CARD!  We can get coffee at Starbucks or Joe & the Juice nearby.

Directions for the run:
RunGo:  https://routes.rungoapp.com/route/YTQBKBvaQe

From the church gardens, run straight out and up Cochrane St and turn left on Circus Rd.  Cross Wellington, head down Circus Rd and turn left on Lisson Grove.  Run to Marylebone Road and cross over to Seymour Place.  At the end, turn right, cross over Edgware Road (be careful at this light) and run straight for one block on Seymour Road.  Turn left on Stanhope Place and then cross Hyde Park Pl to get into Hyde Park.  When you see the silver globe, after crossing North Carriage Dr, turn right.  When the path curves left, go straight and cross the road (be careful!) and head down the hill.  Turn left at the far side of the fountain and follow the path along the side of the Italian Gardens, keeping to the path right along the water.  You will go under a bridge, still keeping the water on the left.  When the path diverges, run down to the right to join the paved path, taking care to avoid the bicycles.  At the corner of the park, turn right and make your way out of the gates to Hyde Park Corner and cross over Knightsbridge to run through the Wellington Arch and into Green Park.  Run diagonally to the left to go towards the tube station at the far end.