Hello Everyone!

You are on the list for the WRW beginner group.  We hope you are still interested and excited to begin!  The beginner running group starts this Thursday, 1 September at 8:15 am at Barclays Bank in St John’s Wood at the corner of Circus and Wellington Roads.  We are so excited to get going!  If you have changed your mind and are no longer interested in learning to run, or believe you may belong in the regular non-beginner group, please let us know.  Otherwise, you can expect to receive an email from us each week explaining what we’ll be doing the following week.  We expect that there will be more beginners joining us over the next several weeks as the new school year starts.

A bit about your coaches:

• Amy Grace, Meg Stone and Stacey Towfighi have previously coached the beginner group so they can help you with what to expect during the year.  They have been in London and running with WRW for 3 – 5 years.
• Melissa Kay and Karina Kalb are new to coaching and are excited to go on this journey with you!  Karina was a beginner 3 years ago and Melissa has been running with WRW for over 2 years.
• Jane Novak is the overall leader of Women Running the World and will also run with us many weeks because she loves getting to know everyone!

A bit of information about the program:

• Very important – this group is for women who have never run before.  If you can run even a mile or two, you likely belong in the regular running group that meets Mon/Wed/Fri.  We need to all be working through this process together – if someone is running circles around us, it’s demoralizing.  Plus, it will be boring and frustrating for you.  Feel free to talk to any of the coaches about where you belong.
• The program is gentle, but it’s still difficult.  For the first few weeks, we will be out there less than 45 minutes.  We will do a 5-10 minute walk to warm up, then we will jog very, very slowly for 60 seconds, then walk for 2 minutes.  We will repeat the 1 min jog, 2 min walk pattern 10 times, then finish with a 5-10 minute cool-down walk back to Starbucks.  So when we have finished our session we will have jogged for a total of 10 minutes.  Over the weeks, the jogging intervals increase gradually but we continue to go at an extremely slow pace.
• We understand it’s difficult to believe, but by late December you will be running a steady 60 minutes without any walking breaks.  By March, you will be fully prepared for a half-marathon (13.1 miles).  We have not yet chosen the half marathon location but we expect it will be in late March/early April.  More on this to come!
• Our training schedule will prepare us for the half-marathon, but please know that you do not have to go on the trip or have any intention of running those distances.  You do not have to commit to anything!  That is the beauty of this group….  you don’t pay to be part of the group and you don’t have to commit to a long-term program.  If you try it for a few weeks and don’t like it, you stop.  No hard feelings – at least you will have tried.  All of that being said, the women who end up most successful with the program are those who make a mental commitment to being there week after week.
• Each Thursday, we will run with the group, set the pace, tell you when to run/walk and set the route.  We will also encourage you to start meeting up one more day a week either as a group or as several small groups (most of the beginner groups in the past have done this on Tuesday mornings but that’s up to you).  For the first 8-10 weeks, this second run each week will be a repeat of whatever we did with you on Thursday.  Believe me, that second run each week (without us) will teach you just as much as the Thursday run. 
• If you know of other people who want to join us, please encourage them to come and start with us.  It is very difficult for people to join the group after a month or two as by then we are running quite a bit, so tell them to come and come now!  Particularly keep an eye out for women new to London who might would be interested in joining the group.  For many new-comers, by the time they hear about the group, it’s too late (we’ve made too much progress) for them to catch up.
• We will address injuries/aches/pains as we go.  Most problems can be dealt with without having to stop running.  We have a list of specialists that we can guide you to.  It is much better to see someone quickly than to let something minor turn into something bigger.

A few guidelines:

• Come dressed however you choose.  There is no need to buy a lot of running clothes at this point and definitely do NOT buy a new pair of running shoes yet.  We can tell you where to go in London once you’ve settled into the program.  One year a beginner ran in jeans for the first 3 months as she was convinced she wouldn’t become a runner and didn’t need to invest in running clothes.  So no worries about how you look, just show up.
• Be on time.  We do not operate on an RSVP system so whoever is there at 8:15 runs.  If you’re late, you will be left behind.  For any of you dropping off young children or have other complications, just let us know.  We’ll try to figure something out.
• No dogs or strollers allowed (sorry!).
• Always carry with you a bit of money and an Oyster card (and possibly a Starbucks card).  For awhile we won’t be getting very far from SJW, but it’s nice to know you always have the option mid-run to grab a cab/tube/bus if you have a problem.  Also most of the women stay for a coffee after the run.  This is a great time to ask questions or discuss concerns as sometimes we don’t all get a chance to talk to each other during the run.

The program works – we promise.  Countless women have come through it successfully.  It’s hard, but it’s good fun and the sense of accomplishment you will feel is simply more than we can put down in words.  So give it a try, show up on 1 September and see what happens.  We know it’s scary – most women are terrified, some don’t sleep the night before the first session, some show up feeling queasy, but don’t worry.  We are all in the same situation.  We are doing this to learn how to run – it’s impossible to “slow down the group” or “hold people back”.  You can do this – we promise.  We’ll hold your hand or pick you up and carry you if need be – just show up.  That’s all you have to do is show up – we’ll guide you through each step along the way.

See you on Thursday!

Your coaches

Hi everyone,

Kew – done and dusted!  You guys rocked it, as we knew you would.  We are SO proud of all of you amazing women and we can’t wait to run with you one week from today!

So – this is it!  The last week of you being Beginners!  Next week you will officially be ex-Beginners.

This email is a little long – feel free to read it or skim it or ignore it, whatever works for you.

Tuesday – do your normal 60 minute run but don’t push it.  Thursday we will just do 45 minutes around Regent’s Park at a slow pace.  The goal this week is to enjoy your running (!!) and your group.  Relax!  If you push the pace this week, it may make your legs feel a bit heavier than normal on Sunday from the muscle damage that comes when you are building up muscle (you may have noticed this on your weekend runs after a long Thursday run).  Your training is done, you are READY!  As Paula said in the final email my beginner year, this week is about finding the joy in running and in your amazing group.

After the run on Thursday, we coaches will hang at Starbucks so you can ask any questions.  And feel free to email any of us this week if there is something on your mind.

You’ve received Jane’s great and detailed email about the race.  I am sure there is so much information coming at you that it’s a little overwhelming so I’m going to just list a few things that you may have skimmed over:

• Bring your running shoes on the plane – they are the most important thing for the weekend (and I usually bring my bra and socks since they will fit easily and they are also important to me)
• Cut your toenails, or bring clippers
• Bring sunscreen (not something we ever need in London!)
• If you have space, bring your roller if you use one – you will be anxious, which can tighten up your muscles, so better to have it so you don’t worry about it so much [note – I will be bringing mine so if you need one, you are welcome to borrow it!]
• Overpack the possible running outfits – the clothing isn’t bulky and better to have what you suddenly want than wish you’d packed it
• Bring at least 2 gels – better to have too many than too few
• Consider having some Starburst or Tootsie Rolls or jelly beans along with you on the race – they can give a quick little “wake up” for your mouth that can help
• Don’t forget your hat!  But if you are not a hat person, it is totally fine to not wear it

A few other things:

• Try to get a good night’s sleep on FRIDAY.  Getting good rest at least one of the two nights before the race is important so get yourself to bed at a decent hour on Friday.
• This week, try to eat well.  What you eat the week before is more important than the night before.  Keep your protein intake fairly high, don’t drink too much alcohol, drink water slowly but consistently.
• On Saturday and Sunday nights, the beginners will all sit together (with your coaches) at dinner, so we will have plenty of time to answer last minute questions on Saturday and then CELEBRATE TOGETHER on Sunday.  Yay!
• On race morning, we will group you with your assigned coach(es) similarly to what we’ve been doing the last few Thursdays.  We will all go to the start line together and we will start off together but you should stay with your assigned coach until she says it’s OK to go ahead.
• If you run with music when you run on your own, consider bringing music for the race.  We are lucky to have such a high coach to runner ratio, but there is still a good chance you will end up running on your own for part of the race.  Be prepared for that mentally as well as musically.  The great thing is there are so many WRW runners (and plenty of non-WRW runners) that you won’t be running all by your lonesome on a road
• From what I can tell, there are about 4,200 half marathon runners and about 2,500 10K runners, all starting out together.  This is not huge but it will seem crowded.
• As Jane noted, there is a long stretch on the race where it will seem like forever until you turn around.  I’ve attached the satellite picture from the race website that shows very clearly how we run out to the airport (in the bottom right is the end of the runway) and then run back.  Basically, from 9 km to 15 km we are running along the water and then we turn around.  That’s not quite 4 miles, or about the distance we ran along the Thames to Kew.  I am hoping that we will have a good view of the runners coming back towards us because then we can play the “spot the WRW runners” game 🙂
• Psychologically, when a stretch seems long, it can help to try to visualize running in London for a similar distance – like running back from Hyde Park is about 2 miles, visualize running to and crossing Oxford Street, then up towards Marylebone Road and on to Park Rd.  And if your legs are feeling tired, try doing some high stepping or side shuffling to wake your muscles up.
• Also as Jane noted, try to take time to ENJOY the race.  Look around at the scenery, the other runners, the spectators.  Think how far you have come since running for 1 minute in September – you are all INCREDIBLE!

Next week, you officially become part of the regular WRW group.  Congratulations!  You will receive an email each week with the suggested routes for the week.  Generally, the runs after the race tend to be fun destinations.  We no longer need to worry about mileage, it’s more about being social and keeping fit (since we can use that as an excuse to eat all the good things at Borough Market…).

For the first week after the race, don’t worry about getting right out there to run.  You may or may not feel sore from the race – a lot of it will depend on the weather and how hard you push at the end.  My beginner year, my group got together the Thursday after the race and did 3 – 4 miles in Regents Park, just to get out there and to reconnect with each other post-race.  Also, for those of you willing to brave Fitzjohn’s and the Heath, we are happy to run with you next Friday or the Friday after to give you a few tips on running up the hill.  It’s hard, but it’s such a great feeling to get to the top.  Plus, the Heath is beautiful (and hopefully Tiffany can meet us since we’ll be running towards her!).

I know it can be tricky to start running on MWF after you’ve gotten into such a TTH schedule for the year.  It can also be intimidating to run with all those super scary advanced MWF runners.  But trust me, ALL of you are running at paces that EASILY fit within the larger MWF group.  Your coaches will help connect you with the women in your pace group and I swear, they are all really nice.  And you will meet many of them this weekend.  So please please come out and run with us whenever you can.  It will also make it easier for the fall if you meet some of your fellow pace group runners over the next month or so before school gets out.

We will see you on Thursday!

Well, this is it!  Our last big run before the race!  You may be a bit nervous about the run, and that is normal.  You all can do this – and we know you know you can do it.  It’s a long run, and it will feel long, and that’s OK.  We will make sure you are not running too fast and we will get there and it will be AWESOME!

A few things:

• Use this run to try out what you might wear in Nice – your shirt, waist pouch, hat, leggings, socks.  If the weather isn’t cooperative, it’s OK to wear different bottoms (I don’t want anyone catching cold by wearing something too light if the weather is bad), but it would be good to wear your expected shirt so you make sure it doesn’t chafe.  We want no surprises on race day that something that worked for a 6 mile run suddenly starts chafing at 9 miles.  Right now, the weather looks to be a high of about 70 and a low in the mid 50s.  With the race at 9:30 am, the temp will probably be around 60 to start and mid-60s to end.  If it’s sunny, it will feel warmer.
• Bring your Oyster card or contactless card to take the tube back plus money for Starbucks
• Bring a gel, maybe two
• Bring water
• Eat well and get a good night’s rest the night before and don’t go out partying 🙂
• Stretch the night before if you can
• Eat something for breakfast

A note about bathrooms along the run – around mile 5, there is a Costa Coffee attached to the Hilton Hotel on the Kensington High Street (just past the intersection with Holland Road) which has a few toilets.  There is also a Starbucks at mile 5.7 but it only has a single toilet.  We are not going to plan a stop – it’s better to keep running – but if you need to stop, a coach will wait for you and other coaches will continue on with the group.

Please confirm that you will be there on Thursday so we can plan our coaching groups.

Finally – I think a few of you may not yet have turned in your medical form.  Please please get that done ASAP.  One of our runners had a cousin who flew to Italy from the US for a race and was turned away because his medical form wasn’t in order.  We don’t want that to happen to any of you!!  Please let us know if you need any help with that.

See you Thursday!

The route:

We start out the normal way running to Hyde Park. Once in the park, we’ll turn to the left and run down the main walkway as we regularly do, to Hyde Park Corner. At the end of the walk, turn right to follow the main cross route in the park—beware of the bike lane! When this ends at West Carriage Drive, cross the road at the crossing and continue on the pathway towards the southwest corner of Kensington Gardens. We’ll run out of the park at the Broadwalk, turning right onto Kensington High Street and continue for about two miles until we reach the Hammersmith Tube gyratory. Run counter clockwise towards the left, ending up on Queen Caroline Street which gets you to St. Paul’s Church green. Run along the green to the right, heading to and crossing over Hammersmith Bridge. Exit Hammersmith Bridge Road to your left, go down the stairs and run under the bridge onto the Thames footpath. Now it’s time to enjoy the view as we run along the Thames for almost four miles—it’s beautiful!

This is the bridge just BEFORE the bridge we exit on.  I find it useful to know what this looks like because then I know it’s the next bridge where we get off the path:

Run UNDER the bridge and then turn left, past a couple of tiny shops and garages. Run through the small parking lot until you see the stone steps leading to the top of the bridge.

At the top of the steps turn right towards town (not back over the river) and run along this road [Kew Road] for about a third of a mile until you reach a 3-way intersection.  At the 3-way intersection, veer right and follow Kew Road along the boundary wall to Kew Gardens until you reach the first main pedestrian entrance to Kew Gardens, the Victoria Gate. Across from Victoria Gate, is Lichfield Road (it is only sign posted on the left-hand corner). Follow Lichfield Road straight into Kew village. Starbucks is on the left where we’ll all meet up to congratulate ourselves on such a great run!

I hope you all had a great break for those of you who had break.  We have just two more long runs before the race – it’s coming up fast!  This week, we ease back into it a bit by doing 100 minutes.  We will do the long Hyde Park loop, going behind Kensington Palace, and then returning to SJW.  Mary H is going to meet us for coffee at Starbucks – we miss her! – so I hope you can stay for a bit after the run.

As the race approaches, if you are going to the race, you will receive more detailed information from Jane about who is on which flight and any details about the itinerary for the weekend.  In the meantime, please make sure you send me the information for the photo directory if you haven’t already.  The deadline is this Friday.  It’s really great for the MWF group to get to see who you are and vice versa!

Also, don’t forget to go to one of the filming sessions this week at Chris Roberts’ house.  I went yesterday and it was quite amusing.  Even if you are not going to the race, please go to a session!  The video is to celebrate all of our runners, not just those who are going to the race.

The date that worked for most of us to go see Jodi preach is 8 May.  As we get closer, we will coordinate heading over or meeting there.  If you can’t go that day, she is also preaching this Sunday (10 April) as well as 5 June (her last time).

Make sure you are doing lots and lots of stretching these last few weeks before the race.  We don’t want any injuries!

Here’s a map of the route for Thursday.  See you then!

You guys are SO fabulous!  I am sad I missed last week’s run – it sounds like it was incredible with the weather and everyone feeling good about the run.  I loved seeing your happy faces at the end of the run.  You all can DO this!  We are all so excited for you!

This is the week – the legendary Canary Wharf run.  This distance is about the same as what you ran last week so you don’t need to stress about it – you’ve already proven you can do it!  The difference is that most of it is on the canal so no stopping.  Although that may sound intimidating, it actually allows you to get into a nice rhythm, plus it is great training for the race.  Then, before you know it, you’ll be there and ready for a little margarita action 🙂

Reminders:

• Eat something before the run
• Bring water
• Bring a gel if you have one but we still have a bunch and will bring them along
• Bring your Oyster card
• Bring money for margaritas and breakfast burritos!

We will take the gels about 70-80 minutes into the run – roughly around the Victoria Park area.  And we will try to take them while continuing to run this time.

Like last week, please let us know if you will be on the run this week.  We want to make sure we have a plan for putting coaches with groups.

Also, some of us have talked about going to hear Jodi preach at the American International Church.  There are two dates that I think might work for many of us – 10 April and 8 May.  The service is from 11 am – 12:15 pm and the church is on Tottenham Court Rd near the Goodge St Tube (Northern Line).  If you are interested, please respond to me with the date(s) that you can do and we will organise the outing.

• Will you be there this Thursday
• What date(s) work for you to see Jodi

Here are the details for the route.  There are some photographs of the exits on the canal just for reference.

Section One – Canal to the Wall

We will run past Panzers and down to Charlbert where we turn right.  Run to Prince Albert Road and cross into Regent’s Park to join the canal.  Run along the canal for approximately 3 miles until the canal pathway ends at the famous “Wall.” 

Well, it’s back to mileage/time building this week!  Your bodies had a nice rest and now it’s time to go back to work.  This week is a great run, going down to Hyde Park then through Sloane Square (make sure to do some window shopping as you run by!) and over the river to Battersea Park.  Then we’ll head along the river to Big Ben and finish up at Green Park.  The schedule says 110 minutes but as you all know the runs now are more about the distance – the time is just an approximation and some of you will finish a little before and some a little after and all of it is OK.  Just remember to take it nice and slow.

Unfortunately, I will not be joining you this week and Vicky may not be there as well but hopefully Jane will be back in fighting form.

Lesley has the big bag of gels and she will bring them on Thursday so you can try a different flavor or kind.  We have plenty and we may have enough to see us through Canary next week as well.  Yum yum!

Don’t forget to bring your Oyster card for the tube right back to SJW.

A quick reminder about the race – don’t forget to get your medical form filled in and submitted.  There are instructions on the website (www.womenrunningtheworld.com) if you’re not sure what you need to do.

Here is this week’s route in detail:

What a fabulous run to Wembley last week, and you guys were AMAZING as usual.  It was the first time we’ve run that long with no little red men to give us a break and you all did so well.  Runs like that start to get us used to what the race will be like – no little red men there, unfortunately.  But it can nice to just get in a groove with a comfortable pace and go and go – just like you did!

This week is a recovery week – 60 minutes on Thursday.  When you are building up mileage, you want to build up for 2 – 3 weeks and then take a break by cutting back to let your body recover so it is ready to keep building.  So we have this week and the week of ASL’s break built in for recovery.

Next week, we will bring more gels so you can try a different one during that longer run.  Figure out what you like and then get several of them to use on the Canary and Kew runs as well as the race.  We want to make sure you are comfortable taking them and knowing what they taste like and how they make you feel.  Either next week or during Canary we will try taking them while running… 🙂

A quick look at our upcoming schedule:

17 March – Battersea

24 March – Canary Wharf

31 March – ASL break

7 April – 100 minutes – probably Whole Foods Kensington

14 April – Kew Gardens

A note about your Tuesday runs – it is so wonderful how you all look after each other, but at this point, everyone should have a general sense of where they are on the route and how to get home if needed.  Certainly you should make sure no one is left behind at a street crossing, but if groups get separated due to pace, everyone should be responsible for themselves for the route.

Start down St John’s Wood Terrace to Charlbert and then down to the canal entrance at Regent’s Park.  Run east on the canal towards Camden Market where we exit the canal over the bridge and turn right onto Camden High Street.  We’ll run down Camden High Street to Mornington Crescent Tube Station and veer right onto Hampstead Road, which we will take down to Robert Street.  Turn right on Robert for a few blocks and then a left on Albany Street and then the first right onto Chester Gate.  Run on the Outer Circle of Regents Park until you get to the exit for Charlbert Street.  Take Charlbert back up to St John’s Wood Terrace and then to Starbucks.

Well done for a great 100 minute run on Thursday!  I know many of you were nervous about it, especially after having been off for a week, but you did it!  And did it amazingly well!

This email is going to be a little long, so some quick bullet points to keep you (and me) focused:

• We are changing the route this week
• Some runners will start earlier than others
• You guys are right on plan – you can do this!
• We are trying gels for the first time this week – there is detailed info on the purpose of gels below
• Please bring your water bottles – you will want them with the gel

As you know, we were planning to do the run to Canary Wharf this week.  However, given that we ran between 7.25 and 7.5 miles last week, we don’t want to push it too much to run a full 9.  Plus, Meg is going to be in the states and she doesn’t want to miss margaritas!

So – we are going to swap the Wembley run with Canary.  We will run to Wembley this week and do Canary on 24 March.  The plan at the moment is to run to Wembley Central (about 8 miles) and take the Bakerloo line to Maida Vale and have coffee at the Starbucks that is right across the street from that station.  If you can’t stay for coffee, you can continue on the Bakerloo line to Baker and switch to the Jubilee.

Also, we are going to start Vijaya and Swati early at 8 am so that we will all finish close to each other.  This was something two of our beginners did last year for these longer destination runs and it worked really well (thanks, Jen, for the suggestion!).

I have to say that I love the Wembley run – you have a nice long unbroken run along the canal with a few glimpses of Wembley Stadium and then you run along a street with colorful shops and the most spectacularly carved Hindu temple – a place you would likely never go unless you were on this run.

I know we’ve said this before, but getting in these long runs on Thursday is critical.  It will be very difficult to do the following week’s run if you miss the week before.  You all have been great about working together if you can’t make a run – please continue that and help each other get these runs in if you can’t make it.

I know some of you may be worried that you won’t be ready for Nice.  Trust us, you will.  We have 8 weeks until Nice – plenty of time!  Think how far you have come even in the last month!  A month ago, we were just starting to up the time to 70 minutes.  You guys have just run 100 and the longest time we have on the plan is 135 minutes and that’s in 6 ½ weeks.  So seriously, you can ALL do it, you just need to stay committed and keep with it.  We are SO excited for all of you  – you guys are truly amazing.  If we didn’t think you could do it, we would say so – and that is another reason why getting these long runs in is so important – we don’t want you to get injured by trying to jump up the mileage in a week.  That’s also why we have switched the route for the week – we want everyone to build up appropriately – there is no need to push the mileage right now.

OK – so the other thing for this week is that 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.

Route
Here is the route – we go out the canal to the west almost the entire way (down Circus, left on Grove End Rd, diagonal across at St John’s Wood Rd, first left on  Cunningham Pl, right at Crocker’s Folly onto Aberdeen Pl and go across Maida Vale.  Enter the canal at the little entrance on the left before you get to the bridge for Warwick Ave.   Continue out the canal and exit at Alperton.  The steps are just before the bridge labelled number “11” and “Ealing Road Alperton.”  (See photo below).  Turn right at the top of the stairs and your first right again onto Ealing Road.  Just after the turn you’ll see the Alperton station on your left. Follow Ealing Road to the High Road and turn right.  You’ll see Wembley Central on your right.  [Note – the route map below shows a route up to 9 miles which is going an extra mile to Wembley Park – this is an option that we sometimes do with the WMF group but the 8 mile point is where we will stop.]