Author: wrwlondon

Beginners Week 12: 23 Nov 2015

Hi everyone!
I heard you all had a great run last week.  The key is to keep it slow, especially when you run on your own on Tuesdays.  It is so hard to pull yourself back, but it makes a huge difference in how you feel during the run.

For this week, we are making a change in the published schedule.  The schedule originally had us increasing our time but we are going to do the same time intervals this week as we did last week.  So you should run 11/12/12/12 with 3 minute walking intervals in between.

As I mentioned over the weekend, none of the coaches can run on Thursday morning.  However, I will run with anyone who wants to on Friday and I believe Jane can run then as well. Since it’s Thanksgiving the night before and some of us may be up a little late perhaps we could run a little later – maybe 9 am?  Let me know if that works for those of you planning to run on Friday.

If you will be out of town or unable to join us on Friday, please do what you can to run even a little bit whenever and wherever you can over the weekend.  If you can’t, it’s OK – just jump back in on Tuesday and make sure you go slowly!

Let me know if 9 am works for you Friday runners…

Amy, Meg & Vicky

Beginners Week 11: 17 Nov 2015

Hi everyone,

Well done last week!  That was a big jump up in time – going from 40 to 47 minutes total running time, plus going from 7 minute to 10 minute segments.  That’s HUGE!  I know it was hard, but you did it!  This week will be the same 47 minutes of running time, just compressed into fewer segments.  If you hadn’t noticed, we are increasing our time faster now so it is so important to make sure you are getting at least the Tues/Thurs (or substitute days) in and it will be much easier on you if you are doing that third run on the weekend.  It will be easy to suddenly feel like you’re falling behind and we don’t want that to happen!
Meg, Amy and Stacey will not be there on Thursday (wah!) but Vicky, Lesley and Jane will all be there ready to run.
This week for the route, you’ll be going to Notting Hill via Elgin Avenue in Maida Vale.  Have a great run!
Screen Shot 2015-11-16 at 8.27.57 PM.png

Beginners Week 10: 11 Nov 2015

Hi everyone,
Sorry for the late email this week – it’s been a crazy week for some reason.
First, hopefully you all received Jane’s email about registering for the race.  If you think there is even the slimmest chance that you might go, please please sign up for the race.  It is only 19 euros so if you don’t go, it’s not a huge monetary loss, and we wouldn’t want you to miss out because the race sold out.  We don’t know when the race typically sells out but why wait??  If you have any questions about it, please ask us.
Next, some of you may be away for ISSTs (the high school end of the season sports tournaments for those of you not with ASL high schoolers) this week so just try to get the run in when you can.  Meg, Vicky and Jane will be away but Amy, Leslie and Stacey will be there on Thursday.  I think several of you also were planning to run later, so whatever works for you is great.
We have a jump up in time intervals this week but don’t be nervous – you can do it!  You are all doing so well.  If you are worried about the time, or feel tired during the run, just slow down.  We’re not in a hurry!  Do your best to do an extra run on the weekend – it will really help you continue to build your stamina.
Finally, some of you have asked about eating before the run.  In general, it is good to have something in your stomach before you run, but not too much.  The key for all of you is to experiment.  A little later, as we are running for longer, I will send a long, information-packed email put together by WRW’s founder, Paula, on the science and theory behind what to eat before and after a run.  But I don’t think we need that level of detail yet.  For now, you should be trying different things to see what works for you because everyone is different.  Personally, I usually have a yogurt or a banana along with coffee and whole milk.  It’s enough to keep my stomach from grumbling and will give me a little energy, but won’t sit like a lump.  I know other runners like oatmeal or a smoothie or maybe half a bagel with cream cheese.  The important thing is to have something.  As we start to run longer, you will need a little more energy and it’s good to start trying things now.
Also, most of you will experience an increased appetite as a result of this training.  That is normal.  Many runners will say they didn’t lose a pound when they started running.  Usually it’s because you’re hungrier with increased activity levels, so you eat more.  Generally, women don’t lose or gain weight in training, but they have more energy, they can eat more and often digestive issues disappear.  
Let us know if you have any questions about any of this!
Amy, Vicky & Meg
Route for this week:
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.
Screen Shot 2015-11-10 at 9.24.20 AM.png

Beginners Week 9: 2 Nov 2015

Well done everyone!  Big Ben was a huge milestone and you all did it with smiles on your faces.  Remember when you said you couldn’t imagine running all the way there?  On top of that, we had a pretty big jump up in running time – we went from 28 to 36 total minutes and from 5 to 7 minute segments.  Great job!

This week, the running segments are not too different from last week – just a few more 7 minute ones.
Some of you have asked about running a bit on the weekends.  It would be good to start that this week or next.  In general, you don’t want to run a longer segment on the weekend than we are doing during the week – so this weekend shouldn’t have segments longer than 7 minutes.  The run should be no more than 30-35 total minutes.  Pay attention to your pace, too, so you don’t go too fast.  Your muscles have been building so you can add that third run, but we don’t want you to push too much and get injured.  As we run longer segments, it will become more important to have that extra run on the weekend so the longer runs during the week aren’t so tiring.
Finally, we want to encourage you to book your hotel room for the race if you think there’s even a chance you might be going.  It looks like we may need to add rooms to our block and we want to do that before the race registration opens and the hotel has an influx of other runners looking for rooms. Remember – you have until January 15 to cancel if you decide not to go.  You don’t need to book your flight now if you’re not ready to take the plunge.
After you book please send an email to Kathy Anderson (katherinemakosa@yahoo.com) with the following information: room type, roommate name (if applicable), and flight details. We want to make sure that our list matches the hotel list (and we’ve already caught a few inconsistencies so it’s important that you do this).  If you aren’t booking flights yet, just let her know.
For example:
Hotel: Classic Double, roommate is Paula Radcliffe
Outbound flight: Friday BA 0346 departs 8:55
Inbound flight: Monday BA 0343 departs 11:50
Finally, here is the likely route for the week (we are going to test it first so it might change a little):
Cross Wellington and head down Circus Road.  Go left on Grove End to St. John’s Wood Road. Take a right on Grove End then a left on Cunningham Place.  Go right on Aberdeen Place and follow the road to the canal entrance on Blomfield.  Go west on the canal and exit at Harrow Rd.  Cross the canal on Harrow then go right on Sutherland to Castellain.  Take a left and run to Paddington Rec, entering at the Moorhead Road Gate.  Run through Paddington exiting at Carlton Vale.  Go right on Carlton Vale, right on Hamilton Terrace, and left on Hall back to Barclays.

Screen Shot 2015-11-02 at 4.30.26 PM.png

See you on Thursday!
Amy

Beginners Week 8: 25 Oct 2015

This is the week we’ve all been waiting for!  Believe it or not, you are all ready to run to Big Ben, our first destination run.  Don’t be intimidated – it is really not much farther than you have already been running.  In addition, there are a lot of traffic lights along the way that will give us some extra breaks.  We are so excited to do this run with you!

Please remember to bring your Oyster card with you since we will be taking the tube home from Westminster.  We will take a photo in front of Big Ben and maybe grab a coffee at the Nero across the street.

If you aren’t able to join us on Thursday but want to do the run at a different time and/or next Tuesday, here is the 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.

bigben4mi

Beginners Week 7: 19 Oct 2015

Hi everyone,
It was so nice to see everyone at Meg’s on Thursday (and for us to finally meet you, Tiffany!).  We hope you were inspired by our ex-beginners and their promises that you can do this!  Please let us know if you have any questions about the trip or if you have any trouble registering at the hotel.

We have a new runner joining us this week and she plans to run with you all tomorrow at 8:15 at Barclays.  Her name is Swati Sen so please look for her and welcome her to the group.

Putting on my SJWWC hat, don’t forget there is a meeting/speaker tomorrow at Richoux at 9:30 – right after your run!  Running attire is totally acceptable 🙂

This week is parent-teachers conferences at ASL and some of you may have your conferences on Thursday morning like Vicky and Meg do.  If so, just get that group email going and figure out who can meet when.  Lesley, Jane and Amy will be there at the regular time on Thursday.

Since you may need to run at a different time, we are including our proposed route here if you’re interested.  A comparable, easier route is to just run the Outer Loop of Regent’s Park – it’s about the same distance if you run all the way on the outside.

See you Thursday!

—————————————————–
Go down St John’s Wood Terrace past Starbucks.  Take a right on Charlbert then a left on Allitsen, then go all the way into Primrose (it becomes St Edmund’s Terrace).  Run across Primrose and down Regent’s Park Road.  Go over the bridge and take the first right down the hill to Chalk Farm Rd.  Go right on Chalk Farm, which becomes Camden High Street, and take a right on Parkway, just after the Camden tube station.  Take Parkway across Prince Albert to the Outer Circle (Parkway becomes Gloucester Gate).  Follow the Outer Circle to the right and exit at Charlbert.  Head left on Prince Albert to St John’s Wood High Street and end at the Churchyard for stretching.

Beginners Week 6: 11 Oct 2015

Hi all,

I hope you all have been able to enjoy this lovely fall weather this weekend!  Several of us went down to cheer on Jane and other WRW runners (including 2 of last year’s beginners!) at the Royal Parks Half Marathon this morning and we couldn’t have asked for a nicer day.

Speaking of half marathons… we know it’s hard to fathom even running as far as Big Ben, but as you know the spring half marathon trip has been announced and the hotel and flight details will be coming out this week.  There is no rush to book – the race itself hasn’t even opened up for registrations – but we want to give you all the chance to ask questions now in case you want to book your flights.  Once the WRW gang starts booking flights, the cost will start to go up and we don’t want you to miss out on cheaper flights if you’re ready to book.

With that in mind, Meg has graciously offered to host a post-run coffee at her house this coming Thursday.  We will plan for our regular run route to end at her house on Hamilton Gardens (close to the Abbey Road crossing).  We will talk about the race and have some ex-beginners come to share their experiences from past years.  It’s good to hear from them about how YOU CAN DO THIS!

If you can’t make the run this week but can make the coffee, please come.  We will probably get to Meg’s house around 9:30 am.  Meg’s address is 20 Hamilton Gardens, NW8 9PU.  If you can’t make breakfast, please reach out to one of us if you have any questions.  The trip email will likely be sent out on Wednesday.

For our run on Thursday, we will be running a total of 22 minutes, slipping in a few 4 minute blocks.  Going forward, the amount of time spent running starts to increase more quickly since you have built the base you need to start to run longer.  It is really important to get that second run in each week so you keep that base up and build from there.  Anyone on this list who hasn’t been out running with us – now is the time to jump in before we are too far along in the program.

See you all on Thursday!

Amy, Meg & Vicky

Route for this week:

Cross Wellington and run down Circus/Hall Road to Hamilton Terrace.  Go right on Hamilton Terrace until Abercorn Place where you take a left.  It becomes Elgin, which we stay on until Chippenham Road (about 3/4 mile).  Take a right on Chippenham to Shirland, a right on Shirland briefly, then a left on Kilburn Park Road.  Run up Kilburn Park Road to Carlton Vale, go right on Carlton Vale until Abbey Road, and go right on Abbey until Garden Road, which leads to Hamilton Gardens – and Meg’s house!

Beginners Week 5: 2 Oct 2015

Hi everyone,

You are all doing so well!  I was about to say it seemed to be a walk in the park for you, except for once we weren’t in the park…  🙂

So first, importantly – next week is ASL’s October break and many of the group may not be around for the Tuesday run.  But not all of you are ASL and not all may be going away, so please reach out to each other to see who is available to run and when.  If you are away, try to get one run in between now and next Thursday, even if it’s just a few 2 or 3 minute intervals.  Don’t worry about keeping track of how many intervals – just get out there and run/walk for about 35-40 minutes if you can.  We want our legs to get used to running on a regular basis.

There were a few questions today about footwear and nutrition and comments about aches and pains so here are a few thoughts on that so everyone can have the same information.

Shoes – if you are feeling like you want/need a new pair of shoes, you can go out at any time now and buy some.  Runners Need and the Asics store on Oxford St both do gait analysis and will help you find the proper shoe.  However, you do not need to go out and buy a new pair of shoes if you are feeling like yours are fine.  There may be a point when we will advise you to get a new pair of shoes because if yours are getting old, they won’t have the support you will need as we start to increase our run times.  But for now, as long as you’re comfortable, you’re fine.

Nutrition – it’s good to eat a little something before you come out to run, but you don’t want to eat a lot.  Everyone is different in what works for them so try different things each week and see what works for you.  Things to try – a banana, yogurt, toast with peanut butter, a granola bar.  It’s fine to have coffee before the run.  When we are running longer distances, we will give you more information about nutrition for before, during and after the run, but we aren’t to a point yet where we need to be thinking about it.  More things to look forward to!

Aches – some of you may be experiencing some aches and pains. It is common to have some aches and pains during the first 2-3 months of this program.  For the most part, it’s just our body’s way of telling us "Thank you very much, but I would prefer hanging out at Starbucks and skipping the running part."  Many of you are already fit through other types of sports/hiking/tennis/etc, but we use different muscles in running and those muscles/joints will speak up.  As a very general guideline, most experts suggest ignoring the first 10-15 minutes of an exercise session then after that monitoring whether the pain/discomfort is stabilizing or increasing.  If the pain increases while you are running, then you should stop – if the pain is consistent or lessens during exercise then usually you’re fine to continue.  

All of us will benefit from lots of stretching and some squats or lungs whenever you have a bit of time.  You don’t have to go to a gym to do squats/lunges – you can do them anywhere.  Those exercises build muscle in your legs particularly around your knees.  The stronger those muscles become the more they can help to stabilize your knee joint which is extremely helpful in running.  Don’t let these suggestions overwhelm you!  None of it is required, it’s just the more you do, the easier the running will be.  Lastly on this topic, we are still only running twice a week.  This is SO important.  Feel free to do as much walking as you want, and tennis, or swimming, yoga, pilates or whatever….. but not running.  Twice a week is the perfect amount right now.  In a month or so we will come to a point where we’ll tell you it will be good to add a third run, but not yet.

If you are away for the break, we hope you have a wonderful time!

See you Thursday,

Amy, Meg and Vicky

Here is our group from yesterday – sorry for the small photo – technical difficulties!

Beginners Week 4: 27 Sept 2015

Hi everyone!
I am hoping all of that rain from last week is done for a while!  Kudos to those of you who braved the weather last Tuesday.

In case you missed it, Jane announced the destination for this year’s half marathon – Nice, France on 24 April 2016!  Please let us know if you did NOT receive Jane’s email.  Do not worry if you can’t even think about running a half marathon at this point.  Right now, just getting out there twice a week with the group is all that should be on your mind.  There will be more information forthcoming about the trip and we will have a beginner information session sometime in October to talk about it and answer all of your questions.  So stay tuned!

We have a new beginner joining our group this week and she plans to meet you all on Tuesday.  Her name is Faridah so please be on the look out for her.

This week’s run time will be just a slight increase from last week’s.  We are taking our time building up to make sure your bodies are becoming adjusted at a nice slow pace.  As always, please let one of us know if you are hurting or struggling.

See you all on Thursday!

Amy, Meg & Vicky

Beginners Week 3: 19 Sept 2015

Hello everyone!
We are so glad so many of you were able to run together on Tuesday.  It’s great to start to set that routine early on.

This week we will be adding one 3 minute interval running interval to our two minute ones.  It is absolutely essential we keep the pace very very slow so we don’t allow our heart rates to get too high, both for psychological reasons (so you don’t feel exhausted and worn out when you finish, and start hating it) and for physiological ones (as most of you haven’t run before, you need to give your bodies time to adjust so as to keep injuries at bay).  Please let us know if anything is hurting.  Most aches and pains can be quite easily addressed early on – it’s continuing to run on an injury that causes bigger problems.

We will not be doing much street running just yet, but please make a point of being very careful at the few road crossings we do have – it is very easy to just follow the person in front of you out onto the road without checking for cars or bikes, so please be careful!

And finally, if you are on this email list and have decided to not join our group, please let me know and we will take you off the distribution.  Otherwise, it is certainly not too late to join us!

See you on Thursday,

Amy, Meg and Vicky