169 Days until the Bratislava Half-marathon, but who’s counting……
Hello Runners,
Long run moves to Wednesday for next week – ASL is on break Mon and Tues so we will move our regular Monday long run to Wednesday for this week only!
Good luck to all our ladies who are racing this weekend!!! – Darcy and Kelli are running the Windsor half-marathon this weekend, Agnes is running the Royal Parks half-marathon and Patricia and I are running the Royal Parks Ultra (my apologies if I’ve missed others who are running). Good luck to everyone!!!
Running group t-shirts – Chris Roberts and Kelli Montanaro have arranged for group t-shirts to be made. These girls are talented! The shirts are going to be so cute. Chris will be at Starbucks on Thursday and Friday (11th and 12th) post-run with shirt samples so you can decide which size shirt you want. I’ll send more info about the t-shirt ordering process in next week’s email. You will be asked to pre-pay for your shirt at the time of ordering.
Pilates for Runners class – APPI will be offering a pilates class designed specifically for runners. Ladies, I cannot over-emphasize the importance of stretching, or doing yoga or pilates to offset some of the pounding we endure as runners. If you are interested, call Anna at APPI (0207 624 5314) and tell her which day/time would be convenient for you. They will attempt to group up people to create a few classes throughout the week.
Our birthdays for the month of October –
Cai-Cai Fritzinger (2 October)
Maria Schneider (8 October)
Jane Novak (11 October)
Carol Mark (18 October)
Syma Qattan (28 October)
Erin Roth (29 October)
Angela Shaw (30 October)
Laura Goldstein (30 October)
Happy birthday to you all!!! We’ll celebrate with cupcakes on Friday, 26 October after the run.
Below is the suggested training schedule for the week – note the shift of the long run to Wednesday:
Routes this Week
Monday, 8 October
I think we’ll have a small group running on Monday as ASL is on break. We’ve shifted the longer weekly run to Wednesday for this week, so most of you need 4-6 miles.
Hyde Park (4, 5 or 6 miles) – Anyone wanting 4 miles
could run down to the NE corner of Hyde Park then turn around and head home. If you want 5 miles, run down to Hyde Park and do a small loop in the NE corner then exit the park and run home by the US embassy, up Baker St. to SJW. If you want 6 miles, run down to Hyde Park, do a loop sin the park staying north of the Serpentine (see map). If all of that sounds too boring, go for an adventure run. It’s fun! All you do is head out from Starbucks having no idea where you’re going. At each intersection or street crossing, someone yells out left or right. It’s fun and you never know what you might see or where you might end up.
Wednesday, 10 October
We’ve switched our long runs to Wednesday for this week only:
Notting Hill + Holland Park (8.5 miles) – start the normal Notting Hill route but instead of turning left to cross over
Portobello Road keep running up towards the Holland Park area (see map). Take the pedestrian path towards Kensington High Street. Do a little loop in Holland Park, then return to the pedestrian path and drop down to Kensington High Street. Turn left and run past the tube station, past Whole Foods, then enter Hyde Park at the SW corner. Cut across the park on a diagonal then take Sussex Gardens back to Marylebone Rd. Head home via Lisson Grove or Baker St. If you want 8 miles instead of 8.5, don’t do the loop in Holland Park or take the tube from Baker St.
Notting Hill (6.5 miles) – If you want about 6-7 miles, do the regular Notting Hill run. I think there is a map under the “Routes” tab on our website.
Whole Foods (5.75 miles) – Join the group doing the 8 mile route through Holland Park. We’ll run by Whole Foods at about mile 5.75. You can stop there if you’ll agree to do our grocery shopping as well!!!
The canal west (any distance) – head down to the canal in Little Venice. Run half the distance you want and turn around and head home.
Friday, 12 October
You all know the routine….
The Heath – old route (8 miles) – we’ll do the old route this time. You can shorten this route by heading towards the track after Parliament Hill, exit the heath, run past Royal Free Hospital then home through Belsize.
The 6-7 mile route – follow the group doing the full 8 mile route. At parliament hill instead of turning left towards Kenwood House, turn right and run past the track. Exit the heath, run past Royal Free Hospital and head home through Belsize Park.
The Betsy route (5 miles) – I think Betsy is now doing a longer route on Fridays, but her namesake run is a great route. Anyone wanting this distance ask around as we are running up the hill to Hampstead and someone will explain to you how to do it.
Hampstead tube station (4 miles)– this is a great route to do if you’re short on time or are new to running “the hill”. Head up to the Hampstead tube station with the group then turn around and head back home. For a change of scenery, run up to Hampstead tube station then run back to Starbucks in SJW via the Hampstead high street, then Belsize Park, then down St. John’s Wood Park Rd.
I hope to see you running this week,
Paula