I’ve spent a bit of time looking at our schedule over the coming weeks leading up to the Dorking race and have some suggestions.  As always, feel free to do your own thing.  I thought it might be helpful to lay out some mileage/routes that you could each incorporate into your programs.   On the race route, there are 5 hills – none of them are awful, each are an approx 60ft elevation gain (about the elevation difference between Starbucks and half way up Fitzjohn’s in a bit shorter distance than that).  They each peak at somewhere around a 5% gradient (you could think about that like for each 20 feet you run, you would climb 1 ft higher in elevation).  So, not horrible, but definitely there.

All that being said, there are three Fridays between now and then (13th, 20th, 27th May) – I would recommend the heath for those of you who normally do it and are not injured (and currently avoiding hills).  There are also three Wednesdays (11th, 18th, 25th May) where many of you are going to be trying to do some sort of tempo/speed/pace work.  I realize it may be boring, but the best route for that work would be the canal west.  Anyone not interested in pace work could just do the regular Notting Hill route and the others could keep running out until they are half way done with the workout, then turn around and come back.  I know, I know…. kind of boring, but it would only be for 3 weeks.  Some of you will be doing pace progression and that should be done without street crossings/stoplights; others are trying to do 4-5-6 miles at a pushed, extremely consistent pace which is also best done on a long, straight stretch.

Mondays I would recommend the following:

• 16th May – possibly the embankment loop that goes down to Hyde Park, around Harvey Nics, down Sloane St. (like the Battersea route) but when you hit the river turn left and run along the embankment back to the House of Parliament.  Then head up to Trafalgar Square and Regent’s Street and Regent’s Park home.  Some of you will be wanting to do 9 miles and that would do it.  Some are shooting for 8 and you could come home by bus/tube, others are needing 6 miles and that would get you to Westminster tube station.
• 23rd May – Kew?  Some of you want 11 miles so you would need to either run past Kew a half mile or more, then turn around and come back, or instead of going diagonally across Hyde Park you could stay on the perimeter of the park (north or south side) which would bump the mileage up a bit.  Some of you are needing 9 miles (Kew falls somewhere between 9.5 and 9.85 depending on your path through Hyde Park) so you could either just do the whole thing and feel like Superwoman or you could walk in the last bit after you reach 9 miles.  Others are needing 6 miles so that might be some sort of Hyde Park loop along the Serpentine.
• 30th May – Maybe this route we could just decide later on.  We have different groups wanting to run 8, 6 and 5 miles that day so we’ll think of something (hopefully more interesting than Hyde Park).  A few undulating hills would be a good idea (possibly over by King’s Cross/Farringdon where we would go over Pentonville Rise???).

Thursdays I had these routes in mind for the Ease Back into Running group (I’m telling you now because no one has arms long enough to reach across the Atlantic and strangle me):

• 12th May – 7ish miles – maybe a slightly extended Notting Hill route?  Syma’s the boss – be nice to her!
• 19th May – 7.5 miles – Finsbury greenbelt.  This is a tough route as we have to go up to Hampstead then continue up to Highgate, but the greenbelt is gorgeous and our legs will start getting used to hills.  The prize at the finish is that fab bakery at Finsbury so everyone remember to bring your 80p to cover the cost of a cappucino, a pastry, a bottle of water, and some rugelach (sp?) to go.  We’ll do a little excursion in either Highgate (just to bring back those fond memories of the Highgate Incident) or maybe Finsbury Park near the finish of the route to bump the mileage up to 7.5 miles.
• 26th May – 9 miles – Wandsworth Common.  This is also not an easy route, but we’ll take it slow.  There are a number of street crossings so we’ll have some breaks.  The route takes us down to Battersea Park then up that nasty hill to the Wandsworth area.  It’s a tough one, but it’ll make Dorking look flat.  This is the train station that didn’t accept our Oyster cards before (maybe that’s all changed now with Boris?).  So, keep your savings from last week’s run to pay for the possible fine at Waterloo (or I guess we could just play by the rules and buy a train ticket???).

This schedule leaves Tuesdays free.  I’m always happy to run with whomever wasn’t able to get out on their regular day.  Just let me know and we’ll sort something out.  I hope all is well in London – let’s keep it our little secret, but I’m actually missing the London weather.  I’m running morning and/or evenings here in Texas and it’s sweltering.  I’m heading out now (5:00pm) and it’s still 94 degrees out there – yikes!!!

See you in a week or so,

Happy Running,

Paula