Hello everyone,
Exciting news! The “Ease Back into Running” group is being revived and is scheduled to run on Tuesday mornings at 8:15am from Starbucks in SJW. It looks as though we’ll have about 8-12 ladies joining us. We will begin with a very gentle pace and will be doing about 3 miles (with lots of street crossings so hopefully we’ll have lots of breaks). Some of these ladies are new to our running groups and some are familiar faces who may just be using this group temporarily to “find their running legs” again. I have been worried for months that we are losing ladies who fall between the beginner and mid-level groups. It’s a big jump between those two groups. In fact, we probably need to quit calling it the mid-level group – who’s mid-level when they can run 7 miles straight up a hill? So, if you know of anyone interested in the group – send them my way. I don’t think we need to worry about having too many runners in the new EBR group. I imagine many women will only use it to help them transition to one of our other groups.
Depressing news. Our good-bye coffee for Randi is all arranged for Wednesday, 9 November. We will be doing a London Highlights run that morning and finishing for coffee and pastries upstairs at Cafe Richoux at about 10:00. Even if you can’t join us for the run, stop by for coffee.
Inspiring news? Some of our runners take powerbag classes with Christian and rave about the work-out. He is offering two new classes – one on Tuesday and one on Thursday morning. If those times don’t work for you, get together a group of people and work with Christian on a time that suits you. His contact info is: Christian Hyslop, [email protected], 07970939797, www.wellbeingandperformance.com
Now, our route suggestions for the week:
Monday – Battersea Park – This is a 10 mile route which heads down through Hyde Park to Sloane Square, over the river, then back to SJW. I’m suggesting this route as there are endless options for people to shorten the distance. If you are a mid-level runner and are planning on doing your long run on Wednesday, consider doing the Hyde Park piece then head home (5ish miles), or run to Sloane Square and home (6.5 miles), or most of the route but finishing at Green Park on the way back to SJW (8ish miles). Some upcoming Monday routes…. Greenford then Kew/Richmond. Fun times ahead!Tuesday – The Ease Back into Running group will be doing a 3 mile loop at a gentle pace. Come on ladies, no excuses!!! I promise the hardest thing is coming out to run that first time. Once you get there, you’ll be OK. We’ll struggle through together.Wednesday –
- The fastest group could consider doing The Wall or if that’s getting old, maybe a Hyde Park+Green Park loop (7ish miles). I promise I will come up with some new Wednesday routes for you girls. I know Notting Hill and The Wall must be getting boring. I’m trying to keep you on a route where you can push the pace without a lot of street crossings (so the canal works well). Ideally, Wednesdays are a great day for tempo work. That makes a nice program for you – Mons running long, Weds tempo work and Fris hills.
- The mid-level group will be doing an interesting (and flat) 8 mile route through the city. There are options every mile or so to shorten the distance. My plan for this group is to get you comfortable with 7-8 mile routes over the next two months. We’ll throw in the mix a couple of longer runs before mid-Dec then use the winter break as a recovery phase before building up for the half-marathon in the spring. Next week we’ll be tackling another 8 mile route – one that’s a bit more challenging than this week’s plan. So if you can make it out both weeks, you’ll be a uber-runner by the end of November!
Friday – Everyone to the heath! Yeah! I’ll be doing the new route but there are always people doing the old route or shortened versions of either run. I know it’s tough getting up that hill, but think of how strong you are becoming. When we get to Lisbon and we’re running flat, it’ll feel easy….. OK, easier.
That’s it for now. Have a great weekend.
I hope to see you out running this week,
Paula
PS – One of our beginner runners sent me this today. I thought you may get a kick out of it.