Hi everyone, You all rocked the 80 minute run last week to Whole Foods. I know it got a bit hard towards the end but it should be hard towards the end – that is when you are building up! You all did it – we are so proud of how well ALL of you are doing!
If you are feeling tired and sore after your runs, you might try doing an epsom salt bath. Melissa swears by them and the few times I’ve tried them it really does seem to help my legs from feeling tired. You can get epsom salts from health stores or even Ocado.
This week This week is ASL’s parent teacher conferences. I am hoping most of you who are at ASL were able to schedule your conferences so you can run. But let me know if you will not be able to make this Thursday. We are doing 90 minutes this week, running down through Sloane Square, along the Thames, past Big Ben and on to Green Park.
Increasing your non-Thursday run time Starting this week, you should increase your running time so you are running 45 minutes on the weekend and 60 minutes on Tuesdays (so start this on Tuesday if you can). You’ll keep doing this for the rest of the training until the race. Remember to keep it nice and slow!
Winter 10K Several of you are running the Winter 10K next Sunday. For those that do, you should do a leisurely 45 minutes for next Tuesday (so you are basically swapping your 60 minute and 45 minute runs). So you would do:
60 minutes this Tuesday (4 Feb)
90 minutes Thursday (6 Feb)
70ish minutes Sunday at the race
45 minutes EASY PACE Tuesday (11 Feb)
100 minutes Thursday (13 Feb)
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! [Note – we had two beginners injure themselves in prior years – so BE CAREFUL!] You may feel great that morning or you may not – every race day is different. So if you’re feeling tired, slow down. You have all run this distance before so you know you can do it. The most important thing is to have fun!
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.
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!
Well done ALL of you! Such a great run to Borough, and so nice to see Renata, too! I know you were all nervous about adding on time but look at you! So just keep that in mind as we go forward – YOU CAN DO IT!
You may not believe us, but the hardest part is behind you. 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.
This is another crazy long email so bear with me – sorry!
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
If you want to run a little faster, you can push your pace on the shorter weekend run. But keep your Tuesday runs slow please!
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 then again 3 weeks later.
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, and if there are a bunch of you who will miss, you can always see if a coach can run with you later
Message from Jess – she wants you all to know that she will be running the Winter 10K with you. She is going to miss the prior Thursday and go visit her daughter in order to be back here for the race. So no fretting – she’ll be there!
This week, in addition to Shannon guest coaching, we will also have two new guest coaches – Janelle and Magali. Paola and I will be there, too, of course. So if you see Janelle and Magali at Barclays before we get there, just say hello 🙂
SAVE THE DATE – Tuesday 11 February On Tuesday 11 February, we will be doing money collection for the race and kit distribution. It will be on Loudoun Road at a runner’s home – details soon – between 8:30 and 10:30. So come after your Tuesday run. At this time, we will be collecting money for the dinners at the race and other incidentals, and if you ordered an annual Nike shirt, you will pay for them then and pick them up. VERY IMPORTANT – If you cannot make that time, PLEASE have someone pay and pick up for you. With almost 150 people, we can’t take the time to chase people down. The other important thing is that it is cash only, and last year, the cash machines in SJW ran out of cash on the morning of the money collection. So plan ahead. You will get an email from WRW sometime next week with all of the specifics.
Running Playlists Some of us were talking about running playlists and songs that can match the pace you want. It’s important to test out the beats per minute (bpm) yourself and not just rely on what I say or what websites say. It can vary quite a lot based on your stride length. I have found that for me, especially as I’m getting tired, I take smaller strides at a faster pace, so 180 bpm, which one site says equals a 7 min/mi equals more like a 9+ min/mi for me when I’m tired. Conversely, when I was trying to keep myself slower during a run, when I used one for 10-10:30 min/mi (150 bpm) I ended up going faster. So I think perhaps take some music out that you like to run to and pay attention – does one song cause you to speed up? Or slow down? Then type those songs into the links below to see what the bpm is to get a sense. I have created a bunch of playlists on my Spotify for a wide range of bpm – 120 – 180. You can go to my profile and follow any of them that you want and/or use them to help build your own: https://open.spotify.com/user/aewgrace?si=bapDYQyZR9CJfBZdPLZcsA Sites I use to find songs: https://jog.fm/workout-songs – can search for songs with a certain bpm or search a particular song to find the bpm https://songbpm.com – this one has a nicer interface but you have to type the song in, you can’t just look for songs with a certain bpm.I know there are many others out there – just do a search for them.
Finally, we’ve had some questions in the past week or so that I wanted to address.
What should we do about running before/after the Winter 10K? I will email about strategies for the race itself the week before the race, but from a run length perspective, you will swap your normal weekend and Tuesday runs – so you will run our regular long run on Thursday, you’ll do the 10K on Sunday and you’ll do your shorter (normally on the weekend) run on Tuesday. Then the long Thursday run again. Let me know if that doesn’t make sense.
What are we going to do about running after the half marathon? First, let me say I am psyched you’re already thinking about running after the half. Yay! (They are all sucked in – check!) We will talk lots more about this as we near the race but basically you will all fold into the regular MWF group after the race. Don’t be nervous. It will feel a bit weird at first, because you will be used to just your group being there and running together and then suddenly there are all these other people that maybe you met at the race but don’t really know. It will all be OK – we promise. But think about this when you are planning your spring schedule. I found after my beginner race that I was so used to clearing my calendar for Tues/Thurs that I had a bunch of conflicts in April after the race for Mon/Wed/Fri. So start scheduling your haircuts and pilates and whatever on Tues/Thurs in April, OK? Put those run days in your calendar now so you don’t forget.
My knees hurt, my hips hurt, my <insert body part> hurts First, buy a foam roller. Something basic, like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Maximo-Fitness-Superior-Instructions-Included/dp/B06Y97NVKZ/ref=cts_sp_1_vtp (mine is 45 cm, not 90 but I’m sure either is fine). Use it on your IT band. Search YouTube for videos on how to roll.Second, go see an expert to make sure all is OK. I have used Victor and Soliman and find both are good for different areas. Victor is great for making sure things are “working” the way they should. He is also great for any doubts you have about if you can do this. Soliman has been better for me with sciatica. Let me know if you want their information. Other people see various people, too – but go if you’re having niggles that won’t resolve within about 10 min of the run.
When should we increase our weekend/Tuesday running time? This will happen starting next week (4 Feb). You will start running 60 min on Tuesdays and 45 min on the weekends. I’ll put it in next week’s email as a reminder.
Can we/should we add another run in during the week? No. Running is a repetitive movement and we don’t want you to injure yourselves by running too much. However, you can certainly do other exercise – spinning, yoga, pilates, walking, swimming, whatever! – to increase your stamina and muscle strength.
The Schedule (this week) Week 23 Jan 30 – 80 min = Brompton Cemetery/Whole Foods Kensington Week 24 Feb 6 – 90 min = Sloane Sq/Green Park (note – this is parent-teacher conf at ASL) Week 25 Feb 13 – 100 min = Big Ben and back Week 26 Feb 20 – February break – 60 min run Week 27 Feb 27 – 110 min = Wembley Week 28 Mar 5 – 120 min = Canada Water Week 29 Mar 12 – 90 min = TBD Week 30 Mar 19 – 130 min = Kew Gardens Week 31 Mar 25 – 45 min = easy run through Regents Park (note this is a Wednesday since we leave for the race the next day) RACE DAY!
This week’s run 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).
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!
OK – 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 if you plan to do some shopping – 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 or head home – whatever works for everyone.
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.
Hi everyone, WELL DONE to ALL of you on Thursday! We had a looonnnggg 3 weeks off and I know it was difficult to keep up the running. But you guys kicked ass on Thursday. You may have been a bit sore after Thursday and that is totally normal. I can tell you that many of the regular MWF runners were sore last week from getting back into the routine. 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
It is OK to try to run a bit faster on the weekend run, but only if you want to
Bring water for the Thursday runs
Eat something before the Thursday runs
The Thursday run is SLOW
Remaining Schedule after this week Week 22 Jan 23 – 70 min – Borough Market Week 23 Jan 30 – 80 min = Brompton Cemetery/Whole Foods Kensington Week 24 Feb 6 – 90 min = Sloane Sq/Green Park (note – this is parent-teacher conf at ASL) Week 25 Feb 13 – 100 min = Big Ben and back Week 26 Feb 20 – February break – 60 min run Week 27 Feb 27 – 110 min = Wembley Week 28 Mar 5 – 120 min = Canada Water Week 29 Mar 12 – 90 min = TBD Week 30 Mar 19 – 130 min = Kew Gardens Week 31 Mar 25 – 45 min = easy run through Regents Park (note this is a Wednesday since we leave for the race the next day) RACE DAY!
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.
I hope everyone had a wonderful break. It was so fun to run with some of you on Friday – thank you for getting me out of bed to help my jet lag! We are looking forward to running with you on Thursday 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 so we can help you take it easy – we don’t want any injuries!
For the next 2 weeks, we will be doing 60 minute runs on Thursday to remind ourselves that we can do this! We want to make sure you all have a strong base to build on when we start to increase our time and mileage the week after next. Thursday, we will do a loop that will have plenty of opportunity for red men for most of the run.
Please note that after next week, 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 21 Jan 16 – 60 min – probably a loop going down to Hyde Park and back Week 22 Jan 23 – 70 min – Borough Market Week 23 Jan 30 – 80 min = Brompton Cemetery/Whole Foods Kensington Week 24 Feb 6 – 90 min = Sloane Sq/Green Park (note – this is parent-teacher conf at ASL) Week 25 Feb 13 – 100 min = Big Ben and back Week 26 Feb 20 – February break – 60 min run Week 27 Feb 27 – 110 min = Wembley Week 28 Mar 5 – 120 min = Canada Water Week 29 Mar 12 – 90 min = TBD Week 30 Mar 19 – 130 min = Kew Gardens Week 31 Mar 25 – 45 min = easy run through Regents Park (note this is a Wednesday since we leave for the race the next day) RACE DAY!
For now, keep doing 45 minutes on Tuesdays and 30-35 minutes on the weekend. This will increase in a few weeks, but not yet.
This week’s route:This route takes Elsworthy Rd to Primrose Hill Rd (left) and quick right onto King Henry’s Rd to the end to cross the bridge and turn right onto Regent’s Park Rd then turn right onto Chalk Farm Rd/Camden High Street. Just after crossing the canal, turn right onto Jamestown Rd and left to Arlington Rd. After Mornington Crescent, run briefly on Hampstead Rd and then turn right on Granby Terrace (if you can – it may be blocked) or at Vardell or Robert Street to meet up with Stanhope St. Turn left on Stanhope and run to Triton Rd. Turn right and at the end, turn left. At the light, turn right and make the next right into 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.
So much fun seeing the lights with you all last week! It really is worth it to get up early for that run.
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 to run together, 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.
If people are around, Jess has offered to run on Tuesday 17 December, so you could do your 60 minute run on Tuesday and your 45 minute run on Thursday (or whatever day works for you). Please let me know if you are around and would like to do that.
I will be back Thursday night 2 January so could do a 60 minute run with people on Friday (3 January) if there is interest. So also let me know that, please.
This year, since we will miss 3 Thursdays during break, it is important that you try as hard as you can to keep up your running so you’re ready to hit the ground running (ha ha!) in January. 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 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.” Tell your family when you plan to go – they will likely pester you about it if they are anything like mine. 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??) Past year’s groups have sent each other photos on What’sApp to keep everyone motivated. I think they have had a lot of fun seeing where the group was running, whether on a tropical island, in the snow, or on a treadmill.
This week 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 at Pia’s for her holiday celebration for us!
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, through Primrose (not up the hill, I promise!) and to Pia’s.
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 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 🙂
Pacing A quick note about pacing. You may have noticed that we are starting to spread out a bit on our runs. We will soon start being a little more formal about this by having people choose to go in the front group or the rear group and there will be plenty of opportunity for you to try out various paces to see what is most comfortable for you. In addition, there will be some weeks when you’re feeling great and ready to roll and others when you’re not feeling it – it is completely normal to switch around. You are the only one who knows what is right for you.
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.
Starbucks/Pret donation We have an annual WRW tradition of showing our appreciation for the employees at our local coffee stops. As Starbucks and Pret function as our unofficial clubhouses, and the employees are generally very friendly and kind to us as a group, we like to give a tip and a basket of home-baked goods on our last run before the holiday break. If you’re inclined to contribute £5-10 toward our thank you, you can give it to any coach at Barclays this week or next. We will give the gifts on Friday 13 December.
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 do a quick warm up, walk one block down Wellington Road 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 us going to Baker Street. To get home by 7:15, you may need to stop at Bond Street and that is fine. However, we have found the last couple of years that to finish the full 30 minute segments, we need to run to Baker Street. So those of you that can do that, that will be our destination if Bond Street doesn’t do it for us. Please remember your Oyster/contactless card!
Hi all, I was very sad to miss last week’s run – I heard the 25 minute segments didn’t faze you one bit! I love it!
This week, we are keeping it steady with the same 25 minute segments. For those of you going away for the ASL break, just do your best to get in the runs. Don’t fret if you can’t do it all – next week is just a short increase and we will be stopping A LOT as we do the lights run. Just a reminder that the lights run next week will be at 6 am. I will send more details in next week’s email.
Some of the coaches are here on Thursday so we will coach the run as usual assuming there is enough interest. Please respond to let me know if you will be here. Let’s give us an extra few minutes of sleep and meet at 8:30 am. We will plan to loop back to SJW so those of us cooking can get home to start that if needed.
Have a great run tomorrow and hopefully I will see some of you on Thursday. Amy
Hi everyone, I am sending out this email super early because I’m heading out of town shortly and had it ready to go. I will miss you again next week but can’t wait to hear all about it from you and the coaches.
SO – today was HUGE! 3 15-minute segments – that is fantastic. We are SO proud of all of you. And so happy the sky cleared, as usual, for this amazing group.
This is another lengthy email, so please bear with me.
Remember, beginning this coming 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.
Pace I want to say a little more about pace and such. We are now getting to the point where the group may start to split up. This is completely normal. Please please do not worry about your pace or the pace of anyone else in the group. You don’t need to worry about going faster. ALL of you are running at a pace that is completely standard for beginner runners. And honestly, we will stay at a similar pace throughout the program. You should not be concerned at all about being fast enough to do the race – it is not about speed, it’s about finishing and finishing with a smile on your face (and sweat on your brow). As I’ve said before, if you are feeling like you don’t want to talk, you are going too fast.
Gait I have also heard some people worry about their gait. Everyone has her own gait and it’s generally not a good idea to try to change it unless a licensed professional has said there is a problem and is guiding you. Some people hit harder on their heels, some run flat, some run on their toes – it’s ALL fine. We are not trying to be Olympic athletes with the perfect positioning for the fastest marathon (and those Olympic athletes have many professionals guiding them). If you are hurting, please please see a physio or osteopath to get a professional opinion.
And now for the lengthy part of the email. Feel free to skim or skip it – I know it is quite verbose!
Nutrition With Thanksgiving coming soon 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
This week for the route, we are doing 2 25-minute segments with 5 minutes in between. We are going to Notting Hill via Elgin Avenue in Maida Vale. Lots of potential for street crossings and stops 🙂
Head down Circus and continue on to Hall. Turn right onto Hamilton Gardens and left onto Abercorn. Cross Maida Vale and continue on Elgin Ave until Harrow Road. Cross Harrow and continue on to Great Western Road. Turn right onto Westbourne Park Road and then left on Ledbury Road. Turn left onto Westbourne Grove and run until you get to Paddington. Cross over the tracks and go left, circling left around the basin to enter the canal. Go left on the canal and then take the first right up and over the canal to circle back towards SJW. Exit onto Blomfield Road, cross Maida Vale and stay on Aberdeen Place. Turn left on Cunningham Place and right on St John’s Wood Road. Take a left on Grove End and then right on Circus to get back to Barclays.
We’re really moving along now in our training and you guys are all doing AMAZING! Last week was another jump and from what I hear you all took it in stride (hah!). We will be going up a bit more this week but we know you’ve ALL got this.
This is a very long email, sorry. But it has important information so please do your best to read it.
First, just a note that the SJWWC holiday boutique is tomorrow (Tuesday) from 9:30 – 1:30 at the synagogue on St. John’s Wood Road. It’s a lovely group of vendors and it’s fine to come in your running clothes. No pressure to buy – but you might see something for a gift, or yourself!
OK – We have some significant increases in our training coming up, but you all are ready – really! But there are some important things we need to discuss, so bear with me because this email is a bit long.
We have reached a turning point in our training with this coming week’s run. We will be running 3 15-minute segments with 3 minutes of walking in between. Think about that – remember running 60 seconds those first weeks and we all thought we were going to die. Then two minutes…. well, it might as well have been a lifetime. We know it’s not easy – learning to run is challenging, but think of where you’ve come from. We’re putting in an hour of total time now – it’s amazing what you’re doing. We are at a critical point in our training where the routine begins to change… so I’ll just jump right in and start explaining.
3 runs a week? If you are aiming to do the half-marathon in the spring, you should be adding a third run each week if you haven’t already. It will make the race a lot easier if you can get in a third run as much as you can. Let’s be clear – it’s never easy running 13.1 miles, but the more miles you’ve put in, the more comfortable your body will be running that distance.
Varying each run – This is the good news….. We have progressed to the point where our runs/routes will begin to vary. Next Tuesday 19 November (or whichever day you are doing your second run) you will no longer simply repeat the route we did together the previous Thursday. After this week, you will be doing one long run with your coaches on Thursdays, one medium run and for the third weekly run, you will do a short run. The medium run (beginning Tuesday 19 Nov) will be 45 minutes total exercise time. Feel free to break that up into whatever intervals you are comfortable with. If you’re not sure where to start, you could try doing a 2 minute warm-up walk (after your warm up exercises) followed by three 13 minute jogging intervals separated by 2 minute walking breaks and 2+ minute walk at the end. The third run should be 30-35 minutes total exercise time. This also can be broken down into whatever length intervals make you happy. A place to start may be…. 2 minute warm-up walk followed by three 8-9 minute intervals separated by 2 minute walks. Particularly for this 30-35 minute session, some of you may be interested in doing a walking warm-up then just jogging slowly until you feel you need a break. Then walk for a couple of minutes and jog some more until you reach the 30-35 minute total time. If you want to try that, here are a few tips. First of all, run SLOW, like what we do on Thursdays. Second, don’t look at your watch. Do your warm-up then start jogging. Look around, watch the people on the streets or in the park, think about anything but running, notice the yellow/gold/red leaves, make a grocery list in your mind, think about what book you want to read next or where you want to go on holiday…. anything but running. When you’ve had enough, then check your watch to see how much time you did, take a walking break and carry on. You may just amaze yourself. On these additional runs, go wherever you want. You know how to get to Hyde Park, Regent’s Park is right there, and access to the canal is super easy. We’ll help you come up with some other ideas if those routes get boring.
Consistent Training – For just a minute here we’re going to be a little bit more tough than usual. These Thursday long runs are getting more and more important. If there is any way you can get there, please join us. We know some of you have things you have committed to ages ago and we get it. Until now it has not been a problem because we are simply repeating the Thursday run on the following Tuesday. We’re not asking you to cancel travel plans or quit courses. We are all busy and there are always weeks here and there when we can’t run. Not a problem! The bottom line is this… if you cannot make the majority of the Thursday runs, particularly in the new year, but truly even throughout December, it will be very difficult for you to contemplate doing a half-marathon. We’re not trying to be mean or demanding or threatening, just realistic. As our Thursday long run lengthens, you will want and need help, advice, pacing and someone to complain to. We will be discussing fueling/hydration and trying out different options in that regard. Those are things we need to learn/practice together – it’s not the same as reading it in an email. The other one or two runs each week are much, much less important. That’s the end of that speech….. next topic!
What’s your pace? We are beginning to settle into pace groups. This is natural and is not a reflection of your fitness level. We need to each find the pace that feels comfortable. Some of you have longer strides, some take smaller steps, some of you have long legs, some of you are tiny and have to take two steps to every one stride of a taller runner. It’s not only down to height – some tall people have a natural up and down movement with less forward propulsion. Most runners say that if they are asked to adjust their natural pace, things start hurting so it is important to find your natural speed. We need to start thinking about where in the group you are pace-wise. For the race, we will divide ourselves up based on these training paces so everyone will have a group and a trainer to run with. During our training runs start trying to identify others in the group who are running your pace. Who do you seem to naturally fall in sync with? You probably have noticed that we don’t talk about pace in terms of numbers or precise times in this group. It’s not important to have a specific number – it is important to know what feels comfortable to you…. not too fast, not too slow, but just right!
Hydration – As our runs get longer, we need to start taking in fluids while we’re running. Hydration requirements vary vastly from runner to runner, but experts suggest targeting about 500ml of fluid for each hour of exercise. Our needs are probably less than that as we are operating at a lower intensity level doing long distance training. You may consider buying a belt that holds little bottles, a tiny camelback (one that sits very high up on your back), or one of those bottles that slips over your hand. I wouldn’t recommend a large backpack – it changes your gait. This need to carry water applies only to your weekly long run. You are fine running 30-45 minutes if you drink before and after your session.
I understand that you have no point of reference, so you have no idea how well you are doing. We’re running about 4 miles now, over and over again. I know it’s not easy, but you are doing it. You have the worst of it behind you. It’s A LOT harder going from 0 running minutes to 1 running minute, or from 1 to 2 minutes – those are difficult beyond belief. In the next few weeks, we are transitioning into straight running, no designated walking breaks. That may sound scary, but think about where we run. Even though I say we are running 50 or 60 minutes non-stop, there will be street crossings. You will learn to pray for the little “red-man light”. My message is that you can do this. You have each other to lean on and all of your coaches to help out however we can.
So… on to this week! 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 Green Park tube station at the far end.
