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.
