Hi all,
Such a bummer about the Winter 10K today. I know you must be disappointed. You can use this Thursday’s run to show a 10K run in order to get your medal if you’re interested. It sounds like you’ll need a tracking app – it may be easiest to download Strava and use that. Let me know if you have questions about that. And then you can connect to me on Strava!
If you are keen to run a 10K before the half, your best bet will likely be the Regent’s Park 10K on Sunday 1 March. It won’t be the huge crowds but it will still be a race and could be good fun for you all to do. The course is 3 laps around a course in Regent’s Park. https://www.theraceorganiser.com/race-course-map/the-mornington-chasers-regent-s-park-10k-series-march-01-03-2020-09-00.
This Tuesday, assuming that you ran 45 minutes this weekend, you should run the regular 60 minutes. And afterwards come to the…
**** Money Collection – Tuesday 11 Feb 8:30-11:00am ****
You should have already received an email, but just a reminder that Tuesday is money collection day. Here is the info if you didn’t, or if you’ve misplaced the email.
Please stop by Carolyn’s house at 20 Loudoun Road (a short walk from ASL’s Loudoun Gate) sometime between 8:30-11am with cash (cash only, please!) to cover the costs as detailed below. Please note, we’ve learned in recent years that cash machines/ATMs in the St Johns Wood area always run out of money on the couple of days before kit collection/race payment. It’s a good idea to organise your cash at least a few days early so you won’t be caught short! IF YOU CAN’T MAKE IT AT THAT TIME ON TUESDAY, PLEASE ARRANGE FOR A FRIEND TO TAKE YOUR PAYMENT FOR YOU AND COLLECT YOUR KIT!
Cost and Kit Breakdown
All Prague Race Attendees £175*, which includes:
Thursday dinner — £40*
Friday dinner — £45
Saturday dinner — £65*
Race hat — £10
WRW fee — £15**
*If you are not arriving until Friday, the cost of the Thursday night dinner will be deducted from your total. Similarly, if you are leaving before the Saturday celebration dinner, that amount will be deducted from your total.
** WRW fee helps to cover the costs incurred by WRW, including appreciation gifts, the end-of-year “leavers” celebration, and website costs
Optional Prague Extra: Saturday tour — £25
WRW Annual T-shirt: £25
Next week – ASL break week
Next week is a rest week to let your body recover from the work it has been doing to build up your muscles. The schedule has you running 60 minutes on Thursday. You’re also supposed to now be running 60 minutes on Tuesday. If you can’t run because you’re off on a ski slope, it’s OK. But if you can, try to get a least a couple of runs in even if only for 30 minutes.
Revision to the schedule – Kew on Tuesday 17 March – MARK YOUR CALENDARS
We are going to change our scheduled run to Kew from Thursday 19 March to Tuesday 17 March. This is for 2 reasons – first, Jess will be out of town on the 19th and is keen to run with you all on this iconic run; second, with the race a day earlier than usual, it is better to run this longest run a couple of days earlier as well to give your bodies a chance to rest, recover and be ready for the race. So please MARK YOUR CALENDARS for Tuesday 17 March for the run to Kew.
This week – gels!
This 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! On Thursday, we will bring a bunch of gels that you can sample. You can 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 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. This is a very individual thing – some people like fruity flavours, some like chocolate, etc. Different brands can have different effects on your stomach so it’s important to try them first.
Places to buy gels:
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)
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
(this week) Week 25 Feb 13 – 100 min = Big Ben and back
Week 26 Feb 20 – February break – 60 min run
Week 27 Feb 27 – 110 min = Wembley
Week 28 Mar 5 – 120 min = Canada Water
Week 29 Mar 12 – 90 min = TBD
Week 30 Mar 17 – 130 min = Kew Gardens (this is a Tuesday)
Week 31 Mar 25 – 45 min = easy run through Regents Park (note this is a Wednesday since we leave for the race the next day)
RACE DAY!
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 🙂
The route this week – to Big Ben and back
It was a huge deal when we ran here in October. Now we are running there AND back! For this run we head to Hyde Park via the usual route and run along the eastern edge of the park to Hyde Park Corner, under the arch and down Constitution Hill. Run pass 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, then turn around and run the same route back to Starbucks.
