Hello everyone,

I hope you had a fabulous holiday season.  I can’t believe it’s almost over.  We will ease back into our running next week – each group’s long runs are a bit shorter than what you were doing before the break.  The following week will be back to normal and then we’ll be on a steady program getting ready for Lisbon.

Monday (last of the holiday runs – we will meet at Starbucks at 9:00am) and it will be a mixed group.  Most of you who do your long runs on Mondays have 8 miles on your schedule.  I would recommend the Hyde Park full perimeter loop (one more time!!!) as that is a very easy route to shorten.  I promise our routes will be more interesting the following week.

Tuesday (back to the regular 8:15 start) – Ease Back into Running Group (7 miles) – down to Hyde Park then on to Wellington Arch, over to Green Park then home via Baker Street or Mayfair.  We’ll take this run at a gentle pace then get back to normal the following week.
Wednesday –
Distance Runners – Notting Hill
Pace Setters – Notting Hill
Flex-runners – Notting Hill
Mid-level (8 miles) – Wembley (tube/train home from Wembley Central station)
EBR – if you want to do your mid-distance run on Wednesday, 1) run out the canal with the group when they turn off the canal, turn around and run back to SJW 2) run the Notting Hill route but finish at Paddington

Friday – Everyone up the hill to Hampstead or the heath.  I won’t be there so let’s follow the old route.  I would love to get the new route established as a valid alternative over the next few weeks.  It’s nice to be able to mix it up.

In an effort to provide a bit of “new year” inspiration, I’ve attached pdf versions of the running schedules for the EBR, Mid-level and Flex-runners groups.  The Distance Runners each have their own programs as does the Gentle Runners group.  The Pace-setters are those ladies who are not wanting super-long distances but would prefer to run fast.  For those of you Pace-setters training for Lisbon, your long runs are stable at 8 miles during Jan then start ramping up (beginning on Monday, 2 Jan you have the following long run mileage – 6, 8, 8, 8, 8, 10, 6, 9, 9.5, 10, 11, 8).  I would encourage you (and any of the Flex-runners wanting to push their pace) to break away from the group and go for it.  The 8 miles runs throughout January will give you a great opportunity to run fast, push your pace and see what happens.
Happy Running,
Paula