Author: wrwlondon

2016-17 Beginners Week 24

Hello Amazing Beginners!
As I start to write this, you are just finishing the winter 10K.  It looks like the weather was kind to you – cool, no rain.  I hope you all had fun and got to experience what being in an adrenalin-fueled crowd is like.  We can’t wait to hear all about it on Thursday!

This email is going to be a bit long – sorry – so please bear with me and read as much as you can.

New Shoes?
If you are feeling like your shoes are getting old, NOW is the time to replace them.  You want to be able to fully break them in before the race.  Don’t feel that you have to get new shoes – if you are feeling good in yours, it’s fine.  You just don’t want to get new ones a week or two before the race.  When I get new shoes, I generally run a shorter run in them first just to make sure they don’t give me any problems.  I’ve definitely had shoes in the past that throw me off a little and cause some niggles.  They always break in, but it takes time and you want to make sure they are fully broken in by the race.

Tuesday’s Run
I know Tamar has already told you but take it easy on this Tuesday’s run.  You will want to get out there, but run for just 30 minutes and run SLOWLY!  The purpose of Tuesday’s run is to just get your legs moving a bit.  You have a long run on Thursday and with today’s race, you don’t want to push your muscles too much.

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.  I will be here over break and would be happy to run with anyone who would like to on Thursday – just let me know.

This week – gels!
This week we are going to try gels on the run.  Gels are basically carbohydrates to give you 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.

Places to buy gels:
Runners Need stores or runnersneed.com (individual GU, SIS, TORQ, Shot Bloks, sport jelly beans)
sweatshop.co.uk  (you can buy individual GU gels here)
amazon.co.uk  (may only be available in boxes but you could share with others in the group)
wiggle.co.uk

Ocado (Clif Shot Bloks, SIS isotonic gels)


Route this week
We were originally scheduled to do Big Ben and Back this week but given how far you all went last week for 90 minutes, we need a slightly longer route just to keep up with you!  We are doing a modified Notting Hill route that takes us east along the canal to Ladbroke Grove.  Turn left on Elgin Crescent.  At the end, turn right onto Ledbury Rd.  Run 2 blocks and turn left on Westbourne Grove.  Turn right on Inverness Terrace (just after Queensway), cross Bayswater Rd and enter Hyde Park.  Turn left in the park and run to Speakers Corner and then around to the Animals in War memorial.  Head home the usual way.  If there is still time remaining when you get to Regent’s Park, turn into the park at the mosque and head in past the boats, over the wooden bridge and then left to head out at the Charlbert Rd exit.

2016-17 Beginners Week 23

So wonderful to see you all in something other than running gear last night!  A big THANK YOU to Tamar and Cameron for the amazing food and drink.  It was nice to meet many of your other halves, too.  You guys really are a FABULOUS group!  But you knew that 🙂

And of COURSE you guys were all fantastic on the run through Brompton Cemetery to Whole Foods.  80 minutes done and dusted!  I know you guys are starting to realize this really is possible.  I think I even heard someone say, “You know, if we just turned around and ran back to SJW from there that’s basically the half marathon.”   Um.. what??  I love that!

DON’T FORGET – MONEY COLLECTION AND HAT/SHIRT DISTRIBUTION ON TUESDAY 31 JANUARY
Tuesday is a big day! Please stop by McKenzie’s house at Ordnance Hill which is near the corner with Acacia Road (a few blocks from Starbucks) some time between 8:30-11:00am. THANK YOU McKenzie for letting us invade your house!  We’re collecting money for shirts, hats, half-zips and all outstanding items for the Warsaw trip. We’ll also be handing out the apparel. The dinners and tour are requiring large deposits so we’re trying to simplify things for everyone by doing the collection now. IF YOU CAN’T MAKE IT AT THAT TIME ON TUESDAY, PLEASE GIVE YOUR MONEY TO A FRIEND TO BRING AND TO COLLECT YOUR KIT. The costs are listed below:
All Warsaw Race Attendees:
Friday dinner – £45
Saturday dinner – £35
Race hat – £10
Appreciation gifts/End-of-Year celebration/WRW costs- £10
Warsaw Extra (by sign-up):
Saturday afternoon tour – £10
WRW Apparel (by order):
T-Shirt – £25
White or Navy hat – £25
Half-Zip – £50
—————————————————
Normally, starting next week, we would have you start running 60 minutes on Tuesdays and 40-45 min on the weekends.  However, since you are doing the 10K on Sunday, you should hold off on that and instead do a leisurely 30 min on Tuesday 7 February.  I’ll remind you of that in next week’s email.
Just some thoughts about the 10K – don’t stress about it as a race – treat it as another training opportunity where you can get that feeling of energy that comes from the racers and also witness the mass of bodies at the start and how you will likely not move very quickly at the beginning.  Don’t push yourselves too much – we don’t want any injuries!    You may feel great that morning or you may not – every race day is different.  So if you’re feeling tired, slow down.  You will all have run the distance before so you know you can do it.  The most important thing is to have fun!
This week, since ASL’s lower school is off on Thursday, we are splitting the groups.  Meg and Amy will run on Wednesday and the other coaches will do Thursday.  This is who we have down for each day (Krishna is away):
Wednesday – Julie, Tamar, Maria, Laura, Rachel
Thursday – Sue, Noelle, Grace, Susie, Kris, Kira, Paige
We will meet on Wednesday at Barclay’s as usual, just be aware that the regular MWF group will be there as well.
Our remaining schedule:
Week 23 – 2 Feb – 90 min = Sloane Sq/Green Park
Week 24 – 9 Feb – 100 min = Big Ben and back
Week 25 – February break – 60 min run
Week 26 – 23 Feb – 110 min = Wembley
Week 27 – 1 Mar – 120 min = Canary Wharf [NOTE – WEDNESDAY]
Week 28 – 9 Mar – 90 min = TBD
Week 29 – 16 Mar – 130 min = Kew Gardens
Week 30 – 23 Mar – 45 min = easy run through Regents Park
RACE DAY!
Route this week:
We start out by running to Hyde Park, taking the usual route: west on Circus Road, left on Grove End, all the way down to Seymour Place where the road ends.  Right on Seymour, across Edgware, left on Stanhope and enter the park. At the silver orb, turn left and run down to the southern edge, following the path to the right before it leaves the Park.  Run to big gated exit before the tall ‘One Hyde Park’ complex, cross over Knightsbridge at William Street, quick right on Knightsbridge then a left onto Sloane Street continue past Sloane Square down Lower Sloane St/Chelsea Bridge Road to the Thames.  Turn left on the Thames side of Grosvenor Rd and run along the Embankment to Westminster and continue left on Birdcage Walk, cutting through St James Park to the Mall, then left on the Mall towards Buckingham Palace, crossing before the circle to reach Green Park.  Run up to the Green Park Tube on Piccadilly St and take the tube home!

2016-17 Beginners Week 22

Well done on running 70 minutes on Thursday!  You may not believe us, but the hardest part is behind us.  Once someone can run an hour, bumping up a session 10 minutes each week is not a significant jump in terms of fitness/cardio requirement.  The hard part is learning how to run and building a base.  It’s tough to move from walking/jogging intervals to non-stop running.  We’ve done that hard work and are more than ready to start extending our mileage.

A few notes about training over the coming weeks:

  • It’s very important to get in the the long runs each week, even if they are not on Thursday with the rest of the group
  • It’s important to not steadily increase your time every week – it is best to lengthen your session for 3-4 weeks then drop back for one week to allow your body to recover/rest.  We will rest the week of ASL’s February break and again the second week of March.
  • Please continue to email/talk to each other when you have scheduling conflicts – it’s a great way to get those longer runs in if you can’t make a Thursday

We heard from several of you that the Thursday run felt much easier than the Tuesday run because of the pace.  If you are feeling like you’re going too fast on Tuesday, please please slow down a bit.  Often, if you say that you want to slow a bit, there will be someone around you who is thinking the same thing and would love to slow down as well.  We don’t want anyone to be injured or be too exhausted to be ready to run longer on Thursday.  If you’re feeling like you want to push the pace for the run on Tuesday, though, that is also fine.  Just listen to your body.  I know you all want to try to stay together but it’s not always possible, and you are all close enough in pace that even if you are separated, you’ll get back to Starbucks within a few minutes of each other.

Here is a reminder of our runs until the race.  It sounds like everyone can do Wednesday 1 March for Canary Wharf so please mark your calendars for that.

Week 22 – 26 Jan – 80 min = Brompton Cemetery/Whole Foods Kensington
Week 23 – 2 Feb – 90 min = Sloane Sq/Green Park
Week 24 – 9 Feb – 100 min = Big Ben and back
Week 25 – February break – 60 min run
Week 26 – 23 Feb – 110 min = Wembley
Week 27 – 1 Mar – 120 min = Canary Wharf [NOTE – WEDNESDAY]
Week 28 – 9 Mar – 90 min = TBD
Week 29 – 16 Mar – 130 min = Kew Gardens
Week 30 – 23 Mar – 45 min = easy run through Regents Park
RACE DAY!

I appreciate that the lengths of upcoming runs could seem daunting, but I promise that you can do it. When we started running together, our longest jogging interval was one minute. You are now doing 60-70 times that rather comfortably.  The coaches are here for you. Let us if know if you’re having trouble. Each of our coaches have a lot of running experience and they truly understand the psychology of the half-marathon distance. At this point in our training, our hardest work is convincing ourselves that we can run 13.1 miles. It’s a mind game and the mind is a powerful thing! Try to start playing the tape over in your head that says “I can do this”. When doubts creep in, turn off that negative feed.  We do believe you can do this.  We are down to our core group now and we believe in each and every one of you. The next few weeks should be a lot of fun!  Seriously!

Route this week
This week we are running an interesting route through the Brompton Cemetery to finish at Whole Foods in Kensington. We’ll head down to Hyde Park in the normal fashion via Lisson Grove/Seymour. As we near Wellington Arch, we’ll veer to the right (or west) staying along the inside edge of the park. exiting at the gate we normally use at William Street [next to the French Embassy].  Cross the street, take a right.  Turn left at Brompton Road (just past the tube) and take Brompton all the way (admiring Harrods as you pass) until Fulham Road.  Veer left on Fulham Road and continue to Brompton Cemetery.  Turn right to enter the Cemetery.  Run through the Cemetery then exit and turn right onto Old Brompton Road, then turn left onto Earls Court Road. Cross Cromwell Road, then turn right onto Cromwell Road and then turn left onto Marloes Road. Continue north on Marloes making your way through the streets to Kensington High Street.  Whole Foods will be to your right. Whole Foods is a great place to finish. There is plenty of room for everyone to sit together for coffee after the run (if you have time). To get back to SJW, some people may decide to share cabs or you can tube home from Kensington High Street station (Circle Line).

2016-17 Beginners Week 21

Hi everyone,

Well, we are really starting things this week.  Up until now, we have been building our muscles and our lungs and our psyche to know that we can run for 60 minutes.  We will now start to add on a bit each Thursday to build you up to the distance you need to run that race.  The other thing to know is that while we plan the runs for a certain amount of time, we won’t all finish the planned distance at that time.  So depending on your pace for that day, you may run a little less than the expected time or a little more, but we will all need to run the same distance for the race so we all need to build up to that distance even if it takes different times for each of you.
Think of how far you’ve come – it really is amazing.  We can’t wait to watch you grow from here!
Here are my bullet points for the week (these may look familiar…):
  • Running 3x/week – Thursday long, weekend 30 min, Tuesday 45 min
  • It is normal to move among pace groups each week or day
  • Bring water for the Thursday runs
  • Eat something before the Thursday runs
  • The Thursday run is SLOW
Looking ahead, the week of 6 February following the 90 minute run, we will be increasing your non-Thursday run time to 35-45 min on the weekend and 60 min on Tuesdays.  Until then, keep doing what you’re doing.
Today’s lecture – why we run slowly.  This is from Paula Mitchell, our founder.
Why do we run the long run slower than race pace?
The quick answer is that it has to do with how your body builds fuel, which is something you’ll need for the race! I’ll delve into the basic science of fueling (which I have hugely over-simplified but hopefully it’ll get my point across). To fuel our runs we have 3 options – Creatine Phosphate (CP), glycogen and fat.
Creatine Phosphate- You have about 15 seconds worth of CP fuel – that’s it. Think Usain Bolt running the 100m – he fuels with CP and it works because he can run 100m in less than 15 seconds. CP is where your body will go first looking for fuel, particularly if you take off like a rocket from Barclays. Think of CP as kindling on a fire – it catches fire easily but burns out very quickly.
Glycogen- Glycogen is the next fuel option. Glycogen is basically stored in your muscles and in your liver and because of that it makes glycogen a bit more difficult to burn as fuel (think of damp firewood – it will eventually burn but it takes quite a bit to get it going).
Fat- Fat is the 3rd source of fuel and most runners, even the very lean women, have an ample supply of it. Think of fat as a butane tank of gas on the BBQ grill – once it’s lit, you can have countless cook-outs before the fuel is gone.
Here’s the important part- All of those fuel sources – kindling, damp firewood or butane gas need something to ignite them and keep them burning. Physiologically speaking that ignition or burning “tool” is ATP which is created by mitochondria; so, the more mitochondria you have the more efficient you are as a fuel burning machine.
What is mitochondria and how do we get more of it?  Some of us are genetically blessed with higher mitochondria counts. Thank your mother for that – it comes through the maternal side of the genetic equation. If you didn’t win the genetic lottery, then the only way you can increase mitochondria is through LONG, SLOW, ENDURANCE training (LSE). When you go for a long run at a slow pace, you actually produce mitochondria. Kind of cool, huh? Now remember – we need mitochondria to help ignite our fuel sources. So what does that mean for you? It means SLOW DOWN on your long run – give your body a chance to become a mitochondria production factory. If you do your long run at a strong pace, you’re missing out on this benefit.
So we will be keeping it SLOW on Thursdays, and now you know why.
The route this week:
BOROUGH MARKET!
Please make sure to bring your Oyster Card or contactless card for the tube ride back.  Also, you might want to have some cash – not all vendors accept cards.  We will head first to Monmouth Coffee – legendary filter coffee – and then we can head into the market together or separately – whatever works for everyone.  It sounds like several of you have favourite vendors so hopefully we can compare notes and do some serious shopping!
Borough Market via Westminster Bridge
We head to Hyde Park via the usual 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.  Continue past Big Ben and cross Westminster Bridge. After the bridge turn left to run along the Thames until the river path ends after Southwark Bridge. Borough Market is under the railway bridge near the London Bridge station. The official address is 8 Southwark Street SE1 1TL.

2016-17 Beginners Week 20

HI everyone,

What a fun evening it was on Thursday!  So nice to see everyone out and not in hats and ponytails!  And well done to jumping right back into the routine for Thursdays run.  You are such a strong group, and we love how you motivated each other over the break through WhatsApp.

OK – first, Tamar noticed that the day we are scheduled to to the Canary Wharf run is a parent-teacher conference day for the middle and high schools.  Given that this is a big milestone run (plus a FUN milestone because we celebrate with breakfast burritos and margaritas), we would like to see if you all could do the run on Wednesday instead.  We considered doing it on Tuesday but having only 5 days between long runs is not good and two coaches are not available.  Please let me know if you can arrange your schedules so you can do it on Wednesday 1 March.
Next, a few reminders:
  • You should be running 3 times per week now
  • The Tuesday run should be about 45 minutes and the weekend run should be about 30 minutes (Tuesday runs will get longer in a few weeks, but not yet)
  • It is OK to break up into smaller pace groups on your weekend and Tuesday runs but it is normal for pace groups to ebb and flow from week to week
  • Bring water for the Thursday runs
  • Eat something before the Thursday runs
  • The Thursday run is SLOW
Training
We cannot emphasize enough that the way to build up to the half is to just put in the time and miles.  Also, it is important to understand that the pace groups will continue to morph throughout our training and that is completely normal.  Some days you feel like you want to be towards the front, sometimes you feel like it’s just not your day and you’re slower.  This happens in the M/W/F group, too.  We have lots of time and as you know, it’s about finishing and feeling good about it, not about how fast you can go.  Save that for next year.  Also, as we run for longer times on Thursdays, we will continue to make you run more slowly than you might otherwise.  Running slowly builds your body and muscles in a different way.  I will send our founder, Paula’s, lengthy description of that next week.
Water and Nutrition
As our runs get longer, you will want water along to hydrate.  It will make you feel better on the run and will help your body recover faster.  Also, please please eat something, just a little something, before our Thursday runs.  We don’t want you feeling faint from lack of energy.  Maybe some yogurt or a banana – just a little something for your body to use to fuel you.  As our runs get longer in a few weeks, we will talk to you about fueling for much longer runs and during the race, but we’re not ready for that yet.
This week’s route:
Start out on Circus Rd to Hall Rd.  Just past Randolph Ave, go left onto Warrington Crescent and at the Warwick Ave tube, turn right onto Clifton Villas.  Left onto Blomfield Rd and then right onto Westbourne Terrace Rd over the canal and under the Westway to Westbourne Bridge/Westbourne Terrace.  Keep right onto Sussex Gardens to Lancaster Terrace.  Enter Hyde Park at the Italian Gardens and run so the fountains are on your left.  Keep to the path closest to the water, run under the bridge and hook around to the right at the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain to go up to the road.  Turn right to run across the bridge and go diagonally across the park to Speakers Corner.  Turn right and then left past the Animals in War Memorial.  Cross Park Lane and turn left at the next street, Park St.  Run up this street as it becomes Gloucester Rd and turn left when it ends at Park Rd.  Run up Park Rd to St John’s Wood High St and Starbucks.

2016-17 Beginners Week 19

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful break.  We are looking forward to running with you tomorrow and hearing how you spent your break.  I hope you all managed to do at least a bit of running over the past few weeks.  If you haven’t, please let one of us know tomorrow so we can help you take it easy – we don’t want any injuries!
IMPORTANT – we are assuming it will be fine to run in the morning but with the temperature forecasted to be below freezing overnight, we need to make sure the sidewalks are not icy.  We will run in fog, rain and snow but an icy sidewalk is dangerous.  Assume the run is on unless you hear from us in the morning.
For the next 2 weeks, we will be doing 60 minute runs on Thursday.  We want to make sure you all have a strong base to build on when we start to increase our time and mileage.  Tomorrow, we will do a loop that will have plenty of opportunity for red men for most of the run.
Please note that after tomorrow, most of our runs will start to be destination runs, meaning that we will end someplace that is not SJW.  This is because we need to run further and longer while also trying to keep us as flat as possible and with some interesting places to keep us distracted while we run.  We have mapped out a tentative schedule below, subject to change.  This should help you determine your timing for getting back to SJW after the run.  Please make it a habit to bring your Oyster Card or contactless card.  If you have questions, please let us know.
Week 20 – 60 min – TBD
Week 21 – 70 min – Borough Market
Week 22 – 80 min = Brompton Cemetery/Whole Foods Kensington
Week 23 – 90 min = Sloane Sq/Green Park
Week 24 – 100 min = Big Ben and back
Week 25 – February break – 60 min run
Week 26 – 110 min = Wembley
Week 27 – 120 min = Canary Wharf (with margaritas and breakfast burritos!)
Week 28 – 90 min = TBD
Week 29 – 130 min = Kew Gardens
Week 30 – 45 min = easy run through Regents Park
RACE DAY!
Tomorrow’s route:
This route takes Elsworthy Rd to Primrose Hill Rd (left) and Adelaide Rd (right) over towards Camden then turn right onto Chalk Farm Rd/Camden High Street/Hampstead Rd to Euston Rd. The group will turn right, run a couple of minutes, then turn right towards Regents Park. Staying on the pavement/sidewalk on the outside of the hedges, follow the outer loop back to the Charlbert exit of the park then finish at Starbucks.

2016-17 Beginners Week 16

Hi everyone,

First of all, thank you so much for the Starbucks gift cards!  You all know very well they will get used!  You are such an amazing group, as we keep saying.  It is a joy to be running with you!
 
You may have noticed on our training schedule that we’re repeating a 60 minute run over and over again for 5 straight weeks. There is a method to that madness! We are trying to become very comfortable with an hour long run. Hopefully over the next 5 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!!!
 
Running over the holidays
Let’s talk about how to train over the holidays….. For those of you in town and able to join the group run, 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.
 
Stacey and Melissa will be here over the break and are happy to run with anyone who is here on the Thursdays.  Please let us know if you are here and interested.  They will send out an email to confirm the time – it may be a little later like 8:30 or 9 to give you all a little more sleep 🙂
 
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 down 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.”  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??)
 
This week
For this Tuesday, you should still run with a walk break – perhaps a 20 minute segment and then a 25 minute segment.
 
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 and before you know it, we will be back at Starbucks.
 
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.

2016-17 Beginners Week 15

Hi,
Well, this is it – the week of the Lights run AND your last week of running with a walk break!!  Can you believe it?  We are so proud of all of you and we are excited to run the shopping district with you when we are the only ones on the street.
Holiday Lights at 6 am
This week we will be running two 30 minute segments but there will be many extra stops as we take in the holiday decorations.  It will be important not to start out too fast as the first half of the run will have few stops.
We will meet at 6 am and plan to start out ASAP so please be on time.  In order to make sure we are back to get the kids off to school, we will just have our warm up walk be to Charlbert and then we will start running. When we’re waiting at Barclays and when we walk or run by the houses in town, be VERY QUIET. No talking or only whispers. Our group is very loud and we don’t want to wake up the entire neighbourhood at that early hour!
Since it will be so dark, please wear bright or reflective clothing and maybe even carry a bike light or head lamp if you have one. And be extra careful of the cars!
The map below is the one used by the MWF group and it has it going to Baker Street.  We will be stopping at Bond Street to take the tube home so please remember your Oyster card!
Starbucks donation
There is still time to give a donation for Starbucks staff if you are so inclined.  Jane will give the gift to them next Wednesday.
See you all on Thursday!
Amy
lightsrunnew

2016-17 Beginners Week 14

Hi everyone,
For those of you who celebrated, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  All that eating is perhaps good motivation for doing some running…!
We have just a few 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 🙂
Race Registration
It is time to register for the race!  Full instructions and the link can be found on the website here about a third of the way down:  https://womenrunningtheworld.com/spring-half-marathon/  It is very straightforward but if you have any trouble, just let me know.
The important thing for you all is that you put your race time to be 2:30-2:39.  This race is large enough that it will have corrals based on the estimated race finish time.  This is so faster runners aren’t stuck behind slower runners and slower runners don’t have to deal with faster runners trying to push their way through.  We don’t know yet where you will actually fall in the race times, but this will put us all in the same corral and that is most important thing.
Holiday Lights Run – December 8
Don’t forget – we are planning to do the early morning holiday lights run on Thursday 8 December.  Please let me know if you think you can NOT make it.   We will send out the specifics next week but we will start at 6 am and you should be back to SJW around 7:15.  It really is a special run so I hope you can all make it!
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.  If you’re going back to the US for the holidays, you could pick up a pair there (that’s what I did my beginner year).  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.
Communicating With Each Other
I’ve had a couple of people ask about the best way to communicate if they are running late or aren’t sure where the group is going, especially on Tuesdays or for weekend runs.  In the past, the beginners would often email each other, but last year, the group created a WhatsApp group that everyone was on.  This allowed them to quickly message the whole group about meeting up or to say they were running late or whatever.  Just something to consider!
THANK YOU to Starbucks
Every year, the M/W/F group organises a gift for the employees at our local St. John’s Wood Starbucks. You are welcome to contribute to that effort if you would like.  We’re suggesting a £5-10 donation, but feel free to give whatever you would like. We’ll also be donating some home-baked goodies. Give your donation (in an envelope with your name) to one of us before Tuesday 13 December. Please email wrwlondon@gmail.com if you would like to contribute baked treats. We’ll gather the baked goods on Tuesday 13 December and we’ll give the gift to Starbucks on Wednesday 14 December before the M/W/F group run. Please get your gift to us soon if you would like to participate.
This Week
For Thursday, we are going to run down to Hyde Park and we will be doing 2 25-minute intervals with a 5 minute walk break in between.  We will end at the Starbucks at the Green Park tube so BRING YOUR OYSTER CARD!
Directions for the run:
From Barclays, 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.  Follow that path to the road (N Carriage Drive) and cross the road (be careful!).  Run down the hill to the Italian Gardens and turn left to run along the gardens (the gardens will be on your left).  Keep to the path closest to the water and run through the tunnel under the road and past the Diana Memorial Fountain and the cafe.  Keep along the water and at the end, bear right to run down onto the path (keep out of the bike path on the right).  At the end of the path, go right to 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 straight and then turn left to go towards the tube station at the far end.beginnerhydetogreenlong

2016-17 Beginners Week 13

Hi everyone,
Last week was HUGE!  3 15-minute segments – that is fantastic.  We are SO proud of all of you.

This week, we are keeping it steady with the same 15 minute segments.  For those of you going away for the ASL break, just do your best to get in the runs.  Remember, beginning this week, the Tuesday run is now a total of 45 minutes exercise time and your weekend run should be 30-35 minutes total.  Break it up with walk/runs however feels most comfortable to you.

Several of your coaches are here on Thursday so we are planning to coach the run as usual assuming there is enough interest.  Please respond to let us know if you will be here.  Let’s give us an extra few minutes of sleep and meet at 8:30 am.  We will do a loop so we can get back to SJW to give time to start cooking.

And now for the lengthy part of the email.  Feel free to skim or skip it – I know it is quite verbose!

With Thanksgiving this week and many of us having food on our minds, I thought it would be a good time to talk about nutrition for runners.  The information here is taken directly from Paula, the founder of our group (she is the “I” in the text).  She has years of experience as well as trainer certification.  That said, everyone is different and you need to figure out what will work best for you.

Protein:

Let’s start with protein because that is probably the most critical component as you increase exercise intensity or duration.  When you run, you create tiny tears in your muscle fibers and protein is required to repair that damage.  For female long-distance runners, experts suggest taking in about 90g a day (or 1.6-1.8g/kg of body weight).  That’s a lot of protein – it takes a concerted effort to get there and at our level, we don’t need that much.  Make it “clean” protein when possible – lean meats, fish, nuts, yogurt, lentils/pulses and low-fat milk (this is the one low-fat product that most nutritionists agree is fine).  Most professional runners eat salmon like crazy – I’ve never heard a nutritionist say that salmon is THAT much better than other fish, but a lot of very experienced runners sing its praises.

Carbohydrates:

A lot of trainers will encourage you to increase your carb intake, but I don’t fully agree (particularly for our type of running).  It may be necessary for athletes training at extemely high intensity zones, but that’s not what we’re doing.  Bottomline….  we are trying to teach our bodies to use fat as 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 a half-marathon.  If you increase your carb intake on a daily basis, then your body starts expecting a constant feed of carb fuel and may begin to resist going to fat as a fuel source.  Your body needs carbs so don’t completely cut them out – just choose clean carbs, complex when possible, ie. grains, wholewheat products, basmati rice (the longer the grain the better – long grain basmati is better for you than even brown rice).  Bread is not evil, just don’t rely on it as your major carb source.  Sourdough bread is better for you (usually made with naturally occuring yeast) than traditional loaves.

Fat:

Fat is necessary in our diets.  I would make a nutritionist cringe by explaining it so simply, but basically fat creates a slower release of energy/fuel.  It’s as though you’ve taken a time release medication rather than a typical dose when you combine a bit of fat with your other nutrition sources.  Fat from avocados, olive oil, nuts, etc is obviously better for you than fat in brownies, cookies, etc (sorry about that!!!).  Some current research is suggesting it is actually it’s the sugar in those products rather than the saturated fat that is causing a big problem with obesity, diabetes and heart disease.  We can let the scientists battle that out – for us, just try to get your fat from more natural foods.

With all nutrition, the closer you can get to whole food, the better (i.e., apples are better than applesauce, whole vegetables are better than pre-packaged ones).  Basically, the closer your food looks to how you would find it “in-situ”, the better.  That concept is one thing on which all nutritionists/dietitians seem to agree.
Before you run, I would suggest the following:

  • 50g carbohydrates
  • 5g protein
  • 2-3g fat

That could be a half bagel with cream cheese, yogurt with nuts (if the nuts don’t upset your stomach), a smoothie, or try oatmeal/porridge – it wins the prize for a near-perfect carb/protein/fat mix for pre-run.  Most people find simpler carbs work better before a run than complex carbs as they are more easily digested (so a plain bagel instead of a wholegrain/seeded bagel).  Ideally, eat the pre-run meal 90 minutes before running.  Sometimes that is just not possible, so the closer to the run that you eat, the more you should consider simplier carbs for easier digestion.   The latest research on coffee/caffeine pre-exercise, suggest there is no impact on performance, but a huge impact on perceived exertion.  This is interesting to me – basically these new studies conclude that given two athletes who have eaten the exact same thing, and are asked to perform at the exact same level, and who have the exact same result feel differently about how hard the session was.  The one who has caffeine in their system will feel it was easier – their “perception of exertion” is lower.

Within 30 minutes after you run, I would suggest the following:

  • 50g carbohydrates
  • 10g protein
  • 2g fat

The protein piece is critical as is the timing of this food.  Again, a nutritionist/scientist would cringe at how I try to explain this, but here we go… when you exercise your muscles are agitated/traumatized.  The cell membranes temporarily become more porous (instead of a wall, it’s more like a mesh allowing the flow of nutrients easy passage).  Some post-run ideas would be a latte and yogurt, a latte and a piece of fruit or a latte and half a skinny muffin.  I’ve attached the Starbucks nutritional info to make this easier for you.  Basically a tall, skinny latte has 14g of carbs, 10g of protein and 0g fat – so you’re looking for another 35g of carbs in addition to the latte.  All of this pre/post run info would apply to longer runs and what qualifies as a long run is different from runner to runner.  You are probably just fine eating whatever you normally consume until about mid-end January when our runs lengthen.

Click here for Starbucks beverage nutrition info
Click here for Starbucks food nutrition info