Well done last week! That was a big jump up in time – going from 7 minute to 10 minute segments. That’s HUGE! I know it was hard, but you did it! AND how fun to be in fancy dress (as they say here). Thank you all for your spirit – it was amusing to see the reactions from pedestrians as we ran by.
This week we will increase our intervals up to 12 minutes. 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!
Some of you may be away for ISSTs (the high school end of the season sports tournaments for those of you without ASL high schoolers) this week so just try to get the run in when you can. I’ll be away watching my daughter play field hockey in The Hague so I will miss you! The rest of the coaches will be here this week so you’ll be in good hands.
Don’t forget to keep it SLOW on Tuesdays. You can get an app for your phone – I recommend MapMyRun, Strava or RunKeeper – that will track how fast you are running. You should be running between a 12:30 and 13:30 minute mile at the most (and it is completely fine to be slower). I would recommend that one person be in charge of the timing for Tuesdays and another person keep track of the speed. You should pause the app when you walk so you’re accurately timing the run portion. For your weekend run, it’s OK to go a bit faster because it’s for a shorter time and distance. But don’t kill yourselves!
Thank you for the responses about destination runs. Most of you wanted about a 50/50 split so I’ve created a schedule between now and winter break that incorporates that for the most part. We did a destination last week so we’ll start out with looping back this week. Here is the tentative schedule until winter break: 7 Nov – loop back to SJW – Camden to Regent’s Park 14 Nov – destination – Green Park via Hyde Park 21 Nov – loop back to SJW – Notting Hill 28 Nov – ASL Thanksgiving – several coaches will be here to run if others are, route TBD 5 Dec – holiday lights run (6 am start) 12 Dec – loop back to Primrose Hill (Pia’s) for our beginner gathering!
Please try your best to be on time for the run. Some of us need to get to work or other commitments so it’s important that we can start out on time. We will try to have the warm up exercises started before 8:20 so we can be ready to go shortly after that. Thank you!
Have a great run on Thursday and I’ll see you next week! Amy
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.
Hi all, As usual, GREAT JOB with the run on Thursday. I know as we get to the last segment or so it starts to feel hard, but you all are pushing through and making it happen and we are so proud of you! I have a bunch of little things to discuss this week so read on…
Prague By now, you should all have had the email with the hotel and race registration information as well as the email for us at WRW to help with our planning to see who is planning to come. We only have a certain number of hotel rooms, and we are going to cap our total WRW attendance at 120 due to restaurant capacity, so even if you’re not fully sure about the race, I would recommend reserving a hotel room. You have until 15 January to cancel it with no obligation. I just wouldn’t want you to realize in 3 weeks that you actually CAN do this (which I KNOW you can, but I get that it can take some time to convince yourself) and then have to go on our waitlist if it fills up. Please talk to any of the coaches if you’re feeling unsure.
Here is the link again – please fill it out ASAP if you haven’t yet –
London Winter 10K I heard from a couple of you that you’ve been hearing about the London Winter 10K. In the past few years, many beginners have done this race. This year it is on Sunday 9 February 2020. This is NOT mandatory. However, it can be a good intermediate goal and is also a good way to experience what race day feels like. By race day, you will have run 10K on our Thursday runs so it will not be a stretch for you in terms of distance. However, it’s important to treat it like a training run and not like a race. We will talk more about it as the day approaches if some of you decide to run it. It is a fun race! I’ve heard that it might sell out so if you all can get motivated, you should go for it and sign up! https://www.londonwinterrun.co.uk
This Week and Future Runs 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!
Question for you all – how do you feel about destination runs versus loops back to SJW? We have some destination runs that are just about the right length for us. I’d love to use them, but I want to be sensitive to your time since it will take longer to get back home. So can you let me know what you think?
SAVE THE DATE We will do our annual Holiday Lights run on Thursday 5 December. This is a very special run – we will leave at 6 am and run down to Oxford and Regent Streets and see the London holiday lights in all their glory. You can make it back home by 7:15 if you have a shorter run (last year, the group split and those who wanted the full run for the week went a little longer). I want to give you enough time to make arrangements with your family if you have younger kids. This is a run that is not to be missed! Also, it sounds like Pia may be making a plan for the following week – 12 December – for a holiday celebration. It’s not final, but wanted to put it out there so your calendars don’t fill up.
Adding A Run on the Weekend I know some of you have started adding in an extra run on the weekend. This is the time for all of you to start doing that if you haven’t already. This will really help you continue to build your stamina and will make the runs during the week easier. In general, you don’t want to run a longer segment on the weekend than we are doing during the week – so if you ran next weekend, it shouldn’t have segments longer than 10 minutes. The run should be no more than 30-35 total minutes including walk time. 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.
Eating Before the Run 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, many 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. Plus, your body composition will change as you build your muscle.Let us know if you have any questions about any of this!
This Week – Halloween As it happens, our run falls on Halloween this year. If you’re up for it, let’s have some fun and wear some fancy dress (as they say here). I may try to plan a route to see some Halloween decorations in the neighborhood – I’ll see what I can come up with.
What a great run! Big Ben (or I guess we should call it the scaffolding tower that was Big Ben) is done and dusted. That run 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! Hopefully you can repeat the run on Tuesday for those of you who missed it on Thursday. If you do, take a photo and send it!
This week is parent/teacher conferences at ASL. Most of the coaches can run at the regular time so I’m hoping many of you will be able to join us. If not, use the What’sApp group to see who else is around either in the afternoon or on Friday morning to get together.
This week, the running segments are not too different from last week – just a few more 7 minute ones. We will loop back to Barclays to get you back home to kids quickly if you need to.
Stretching/Rolling Equipment I promised to send out links to some of the stretching/rolling paraphernalia we talked about at the beginner coffee.
Weekend Running Some of you have asked about running a bit on the weekends. It would be good to start that in a week or so. In general, you don’t want to run a longer segment on the weekend than we are doing during the week – so if you ran next weekend, it shouldn’t have segments longer than 7 minutes. The run should be no more than 30-35 total minutes including walk time. 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.
Here is the route for the week: 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.
Hi everyone, For those of you with kids at ASL, I hope you had a nice break! I look forward to hearing about it on Thursday’s run.
It was so great to get together last week. I hope you enjoyed hearing from some of last year’s beginners about their experience. Thank you to Melissa for hosting! I will send out links next week to some of the equipment we mentioned during the coffee to help stave off injuries and aches.
We have a few new runners who may be joining us this week. If there is a group running on Tuesday, can you reply all to this email so they know there will be a group going since they are not on the WhatsApp yet? I know you will all look out for them! This should be the last week we add anyone new – our run times are increasing and it will be difficult for a new runner to catch up. Sunita, Dawn and Natasha – here is the link to the group WhatsApp –
So – 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 (well, what you can see of it given the scaffolding…) 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 repeat it 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. Turn left to 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.
And here is the route we ran this past week, in case you’d like to run it again. Walk down Circus, begin running either at Grove End or maybe just after Cavendish? Run straight down Hall Rd which becomes Sutherland Ave. Right on Shirland Rd. Cross Elgin Ave and take the next right onto Essendine Rd. At the end, head into Paddington Rec and run through it, exiting basically straight across so you end up on Randolph Ave. Turn right on Randolph and then left on Abercorn. Cross Maida Vale and turn right onto Hamilton Terrace. Check the time – if it’s almost done, turn left onto Hall Road. Otherwise, continue down Hamilton Terrace to the end and turn left and then turn left onto Grove End and back to Hall/Circus Road.
Hi everyone, We are so impressed with you all! You guys made those longer segments seem easy. It was fun to see the Frieze sculptures along the way. And we are so happy that several of you have taken the plunge and bought your tickets for Prague! Wahoo!
I am attaching the warm-up exercises we did on Thursday so you can start to incorporate them into your Tuesday run as well. It is good to get your muscles activated and warm before we start out now that we are starting to increase the minutes we are running.
We have a couple of new runners joining us this week, hopefully on Tuesday. So please be on the lookout for them at Barclays! Yvonne and Tulsi – the group has a What’sApp group to keep in touch – here is the link to join:
This Week This week we are going to Melissa’s flat after Thursday’s run to have some social time over coffee and pastries, hear a bit more about the race and hear from former beginners who have gone through the program. I know some of you may not be able to stay and that’s fine – just let us know if you have any questions. Melissa’s address is 50 South Lodge, Circus Road. We should be getting there between 9:15 and 9:30 if you can’t make the run but can make the coffee.
For the run this week, we are starting to increase our running increments, doing 4 and 5 minute segments.
Running Next Week 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 this Thursday and next Thursday, even if it’s just a few 4 or 5 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 your legs to get used to running on a regular basis. And if you’re traveling, use it to explore where you are!
For next Thursday (17 October), we have our run to Big Ben so clear your calendars for this beginner group milestone!
Running Kit First, I want to make sure you all received the email about WRW running kit. There is absolutely no obligation to buy, but the orders are due by Wednesday so I wanted to make sure you don’t miss it if you want a WRW shirt. From a sizing perspective, most years I have gotten a small but for some reason, last year’s shirt ran a little small and I moved into a medium. It will depend on how you like your shirt to fit. I believe Marissa, our kit master, also has some extra WRW black hats if anyone is interested in one of those.
I know there have been questions about recommended gear for running and where to buy it. First, know that you don’t need to run out to buy things unless you want to (always good to have a shopping excuse!). My beginner year I bought super cheap stretchy cotton yoga pants at Sports Direct (for literally less than £10 each) and a super cheap running belt (that I still use) and then bought things like shoes and running tights when I went back to the states at Christmas. I was also not convinced I would last at this running thing beyond Christmas so was reluctant to buy running tights that I would never use again.
The coaches recommend you consider the following gear to get you through the training season:
Rain jacket – it does rain here and it’s not going to stop us. You want one that is breathable if possible (although again, I got by for almost 3 years with a super cheap not-breathable lightweight waterproof shell that I already owned). They can be very expensive but this one isn’t and is similar to one I got a few years ago:https://www.sportsshoes.com/product/ron2737/ronhill-infinity-nightfall-women%27s-jacket/
Baseball cap – good for keeping light drizzle off your face, helping with sun, taming your hair; does not need to be an official running cap – just something you are comfortable in
Thermal layer/light fleece – I have two weights of fleece. As we get into colder months, the heavier fleece is all I’ve ever needed for a warm layer for running.
Running gloves – again, I have two weights of gloves for various temps. You just want something form fitting that won’t soak up sweat
Ear warmer band and/or warm hat – I have both of these because if it’s really cold, I want a full hat but sometimes I just want ear protection. Any wool or fleece hat that isn’t floppy is fine.
it has 2 pockets so if you pull your phone out of the bigger one, you don’t have to worry about your keys or money or whatever being pulled out at the same time because those can go in the smaller one
the belt is not stretchy (some people really love the stretchy belt (Spibelt is the popular brand) but I don’t, maybe because I got used to the non-stretchy one)
it doesn’t soak up sweat like the kind that some runners like – the FlipBelt
it’s cheap so if you don’t like it, you don’t feel like you’ve wasted too much money
Places to buy: Runners Need (both in store and online) for clothes, gear and shoes (they do gait analysis) Wiggle (online only) for gear Asics store on Oxford St for shoes (they do gait analysis) London Designer Outlets by Wembley (Asics, Nike, New Balance Adidas are all there) for better prices Sports Direct/Lillywhites (not a great experience but can get cheap stuff there) Amazon
Hi Everyone, I hope you have had a great weekend! A huge thank you to Nidhi for hosting us at her flat on Thursday for her birthday celebration. It was so nice to have that time with those that could stay!
We are covering a lot in this week’s email so try to bear with me.
This week For the run, 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.
Race Announcement The race will be announced tomorrow! I know for many of you the idea of a race is surreal and a bit crazy. But I also know several of you feel that way yet are determined to make it happen (YAY!). If you are ready to commit, I would encourage you to book your flights as soon as the announcement comes out. We are a large group of runners and I have personally witnessed the flight prices increase in prior years as runners book their flights. I wouldn’t want you all to wait to book and miss out on cheaper prices. If you are not ready to commit, that is fine, too. We will have the beginner breakfast next week to talk about the race and hear from past beginners which may help allay your fears. But you don’t have to decide right now or even in the next few weeks, I promise.
Stretching and Warm Up We are going to try something new this week at the start. Rather than walk for 5+ minutes to warm up, we are going to do a series of exercises designed to get your muscles warm and limber. Hopefully we can build this into our routine and it would be great for you to try it on your Tuesday run as well. I don’t have a proper link for the exercises as they were prescribed to a runner friend from a physio to help her avoid injury. The coaches this week will lead you in the exercises and I will send you what I have in next week’s email so you can try it on the following Tuesday.
For post-run, walking at the end is intended to act as a cool-down. As we have said, it is very important to stretch after the run which is why we build in that time before heading in to Starbucks/Pret. This link provides some good stretches: http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/c25k/Pages/how-to-stretch-after-a-run.aspx
Physio and other experts A few of you asked about aches and pains. If you are feeling like something is hurting, please go see a professional. We have several people listed on our website: https://womenrunningtheworld.com/training/expert-help/ Victor St. Ange is the physio that many people in the running group use. He is terrific and he can do an overall analysis of how well your muscles are engaging as they are needed. The con is that he is very popular and it can take a few weeks to get an appointment.Many runners also swear by Christian Antonee and I believe he is easier to book on short notice. I also have personally used Soliman Laurence who is more of a massage therapist.
Tuesday Runs We heard from several of you that the Tuesday runs have been a bit fast. This is very common with the beginner group. It is hard to keep a slow pace, but it’s important to try to do it. You will all feel better for it. If you are in the front, don’t feel the people behind you are pushing you to go faster – they aren’t! And if you’re in the back, you don’t need to try to keep up with those in the front. Run the pace that is right for you.
You should be running around a 13 – 13 ½ minute mile on Tuesdays, maybe even slower. This translates to a little faster than an 8 ½ minute kilometer. You can use apps on your phone to show your pace. Apps I’ve used in the past are MapMyRun, Runkeeper and Strava. You do not need a running watch! As a beginner, it’s nice to be able to focus on building your stamina and creating a bond with your group, not worrying or thinking about your pace and distance. Use the apps to guide your pace, as a quick check in. Also, make sure you set it to auto pause so it doesn’t calculate you standing still as part of your pace – otherwise it will show your pace as artificially slow.
If you are feeling like you don’t want to talk during the run, SLOW DOWN! Sometimes it helps to designate a person to keep the pace and you can switch off each week. Let us know how it goes!
Here is the route we did last Thursday in case you want to repeat it:
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… 🙂 As we noted on the run on Thursday, the canal is a great place to run out for a distance and turn around at the halfway point. It allows for non-stop running and it’s easy to get to. But please always be careful of the bikes!
If you haven’t yet joined the group, there is still time to join us and not be far behind, but please join us this week! Or let me know if you’d like to punt out a year and I’ll keep your info for next year if you’d like.
A couple of dates to put in your calendar: Thursday 10 October – we will be having a we will have a little gathering after the run (location TBD) to talk about the race (which should be announced in the next few weeks). It will be a chance to hear from some former beginners about their experience, ask any questions and just be social. Thursday 17 October – Big Ben! We will be running to Big Ben this day, believe it or not! So clear your calendars so you can join us for this major beginner group milestone! Don’t worry – there will be many traffic lights and stops along the way, and you’ll be ready for it, we promise.
Keeping it Slow on Tuesday I’m hearing that it is a little tricky to keep it slow on Tuesdays. This is normal – we hear this every year. At this point, you should be keeping together, for the most part, as a pack. So one way to help this is to have the slower people up front to set the pace. Just make sure you don’t crowd them!
Next Week’s Route We will likely be running through Primrose next week. We will plan to start running at the corner of Charlbert and Allitsen, so those of you who have been meeting us in Regents – you’ll need to meet there or at Barclays. Also, in the next week or so we will start doing warm up exercises at Barclays and doing a shorter walk to start, so you may want to build into your schedule to come to Barclays soon to start.
Now that we are a few weeks in to the program, we wanted to give a bit more information on shoes, nutrition and aches/pains.
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 any pains during 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. There are experts such as physios listed on the womenrunningtheworld.com website if you are interested.
Other Exercise All of us will benefit from lots of stretching and some squats or lunges 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.
Hi everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend! For this week, as usual, please repeat last Thursday’s run on Tuesday. Also, please look out for new people joining and welcome them – we may have a few new additions this week.
This Thursday’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.
If you are on this email and are not planning to join us this year, please let me know – we won’t take offense! We don’t want to junk up your inbox any more than it already is. But if you are planning to join, come on out! It’s not too late to get started.
Hope to see everyone on Thursday, Your coaches
A beautiful day in the park last Thursday! Photo cred to Jess 🙂 Front: Amber Borst, Carrie Rodarte, Canan Kulac, Stephanie Stanley Alexander, Gina BeesleyRear: Renata Figueiredo (coach), Vera Kunda, Amy Grace (coach), Manbir Leefield, Anu Nayar, Melissa Kay (coach), Paola DiMeo (coach), Pia Ahmad, Nidhi Banga
Hello everyone! Well done on Thursday getting through those 2 minute running intervals with apparent ease. 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. So for this Tuesday, as for last week, repeat what we did this past Thursday based on the training plan we sent out last week.
Welcome to those of you just joining us. I hope you can make the run this Tuesday. Just look for the group at Barclays and introduce yourself. This is a very friendly group and they will take care of you!
What’sApp Group Our beginner groups in the past have found it really helpful to set up a beginner What’sApp group and you guys are already on the ball with that! This makes it easy to connect with one another if you can’t make a Tuesday or Thursday run. For example, if you can’t make a run, you can send out a message and see if someone else might be around to run with you another time. This is just for you guys – the coaches don’t need to be on it. Here is the link to join: https://chat.whatsapp.com/B6BzYbPSs9GKSXL3doUNCq
This Week 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 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 have a list of professionals (physios, osteopaths, etc.) that our runners use that we can share with you – just ask!
A note on the pace – I had said in an earlier email that you should be running at a pace where you can talk comfortably. This is true, but that doesn’t mean you need to be talking all the time. It is perfectly fine to not be talking – I just want to make sure you CAN talk. Otherwise, you are going too fast.
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!
it has 2 pockets so if you pull your phone out of the bigger one, you don’t have to worry about your keys or money or whatever being pulled out at the same time because those can go in the smaller one
the belt is not stretchy (some people really love the stretchy belt (Spibelt is the popular brand) but I don’t, maybe because I got used to the non-stretchy one)
it doesn’t soak up sweat like the kind that some runners like – the FlipBelt
it’s cheap so if you don’t like it, you don’t feel like you’ve wasted too much money
I can tell you, though, that every runner will have her favorite belt for various reasons so it often comes down to trying one and if it doesn’t work, trying another.
Also, if you go out to a store to check out running belts, it might be a good idea to also get a pair of running gloves. It will start to be chilly in the morning and you will want something that doesn’t soak up the sweat. This is not a necessity certainly, but just wanted to put it out there.
SJWWC Meeting Next, the first St. John’s Wood Women’s Club meeting is this Tuesday (10 Sept) at 9:30 am at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue at 28 St. John’s Wood Road across from the cricket ground entrance. If you are not already a part of this club, I encourage you to come to the meeting to see what it’s all about. It is a great way to do fun things in and around London with minimal effort and planning on your part! It is completely acceptable to show up in your running gear so it could be fun for you all to do your run and head over together. If you have any questions about it, feel free to send me an email. You can also check them out at www.sjwwc.org.
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, Your coaches
This week’s photo: Front: Jess Browne (coach), Paola Di Meo (coach), Wamiq Umaira, Sumaiya Hossain, Canan KulacRear: Renata Figueiredo (coach), Anu Nayar, Kelli Novak, Lynn Akashi, Stephanie Alexander, Pia Ahmad, Melissa Kay (coach), Rohini Suri, Lesley Smith
Hello everyone, We are off to a great start! We are so excited to get to know you – we clearly have a fabulous group this year as usual! So… this is a long email with lots of information so please bear with us. We have attached our program as a two page PDF. Please note, however, that the race date is not yet determined. I have based this schedule on an assumed date that may not be the actual date. Once the race is chosen, I will revise the schedule if needed and resend. One page is the specific running/walking intervals week by week. The other page is more of broad weekly view of what we are doing.
For those of you who are just joining us, don’t worry! You’ll be fine. Our routine is this: on Thursdays the coaches will run with the group. The following Tuesday, the group will meet at Barclays at the same time (always 8:15 am for an 8:20 start) and repeat what we did the prior Thursday. To time your intervals, we find that an app called IntervalTimer works very well (see below for what it looks like). I’m sure there are others out there, but that one is free and fairly easy to set up. It generally works best if someone is the official timer person each Tuesday and someone else guides the group. We will be running in Regent’s Park for the first few weeks so it’s not too tricky to guide. We are happy to help you all manage it – just ask! For anyone who was not able to join us on Thursday, just show up on Tuesday, introduce yourself, and you will be fine. Also, if you find you cannot make a Tuesday or Thursday run, try emailing the group to see if there are others who might be able to join you later or on a different day. So for this Tuesday, follow the intervals in the program for week one.
The key for the Tuesday runs is to go SLOW! The founder of WRW, Paula Mitchell, explained the philosophy of running so slow and having walking breaks this way:”Most of us have tried to run at some point in our lives or we had to do it in school. Usually we have less-than-wonderful memories about running. In my opinion, most people trying to learn to run go too fast. They head out the front door like a rocket, chest pounding, lungs gasping for air, legs screaming, etc. No wonder we don’t stick with it. It’s horrible. From my experience, if we start very slowly, run at a very gentle pace and don’t get our heart-rates too high, then we’re OK to keep at it. When we finish running as a group, you should be feeling like you did something but you shouldn’t be exhausted. That is the psychological side of it. From a physiological viewpoint, if you are new to running then your body isn’t necessarily ready to support that activity. By starting the program very gently we give our bodies time to catch up. Over the first few weeks, there are small changes happening within your muscular system. The small stabilizer muscles surrounding joints will strengthen. The larger muscles which drive movement will start to “wake up”. Most likely you will not notice these changes in the mirror, but they are happening. By beginning a new training regime gradually, we can hopefully keep injuries at bay. This is one of the reasons we definitely need to keep our pace slow on Tuesdays. Rein each other in!!! Try to replicate the pace we do together on Thursdays. If you run too fast, it can lead to injury or make you very frustrated with running. I’ll repeat this because it’s critical…… keep the Tuesday run SLOW, very SLOW!!!“
During the first few weeks of our program, we’ll continue to have additions to the group and start to see some attrition. Usually by October, the group settles into a pack and running becomes part of your weekly routine. For any of you who have some running experience, please consider moving up to our Mon/Wed/Fri groups. We have another 100+ runners who run a wide range of pace and distance. You will have people to run with and you will be able to keep up. The beginner group progresses very slowly and we will continue to keep the group running at a very slow pace. It’s part of the master plan!!! One last thing here… if you are already a runner (therefore have a natural pace/gait), running this slow can actually hurt – that slow pace will create an unhealthy amount of impact on your joints and can throw off your already-developed gait. Let me know if you want to discuss this – we are happy to talk about how you could transition to the next level in our running group. Lastly on this topic, if you are already a runner, after a few weeks you’ll be running circles around our true “newbies”. It’s depressing for them to feel that they are working SOOOOOOO hard and you’re flitting around as though it’s a gentle stroll in the park.
People often ask whether we run through the winter and in the rain. The short answer – yes! The only time we cancel runs would be for icy conditions which are dangerous. Otherwise, we run in rain, sleet, snow, hail, etc. That being said, you might consider buying a good running rain-jacket. It needs to be lightweight and breathable. Runners Need sells them as do most of the outdoor shops, or ask any of the coaches for recommendations. You might be surprised to hear that we don’t usually have to run in rain. We like to joke that the sky clears for WRW – it will be raining as you walk to Barclays and by the time we start running, it’s over. And if it does rain, it passes over quickly. It’s rare we run in heavy rain. If you’re in the market for new shoes, we recommend waiting a month or so. Often, as you start running each person develops a gait and it actually improves (or becomes more efficient) over time. If you go in now for shoes, they may fit you in shoes that are appropriate for your current gait. That gait may very well change in the next few weeks so hold off if you can make yourself wait!
OK – the last few things. First, our running group has a website: www.womenrunningtheworld.com. We will post this email under “Beginners” so if you misplace it and are looking for information, you can find it there (although I am currently having some technical difficulties with the site so it may be a bit until I get it figured out). Our program will also be out there as well as some route information if you’re interested. So the website could be helpful but don’t worry about any of the other information posted out there for the Mon/Wed/Fri group. Second, our group has a Facebook page – WRW London. You can request to join and we will add you.
Finally, here is the photo from our first day. It’s going to be fun to look back and see us all at the start of our adventure!
We look forward to seeing you on Thursday and hearing about how SLOW you ran on Tuesday! Your Coaches Front: Renata Figueiredo (coach), Stephanie Stanley Alexander, Wamiq Umaira, Sumaiya HossainRear: Wendy Staton, Nidha Banga, Melissa Kay (coach), Lynn Akashi, Amy Grace (coach), Jess Browne (coach), Paola Di Meo (coach), Rohini Suri, Pia Ahmed, Kelli Novak
