Hello Runners,

I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday season!  I’m still in the US – I’ll return to London next weekend.  It will be great to see everyone.  The routes this week are straight forward.  We’ll get back to some more interesting runs the following week.  If you didn’t run at all over the holidays, you might consider limiting your mileage this week and easing back into a regular running routine.

Routes this Week

Monday, 7 January
Marathoners – you have 10 miles on your schedule this week.  How about the Battersea loop?  It’s an efficient loop back to Starbucks.
Battersea (10 miles) – head down to Hyde Park, enter near the NE corner then run down to Hyde Park Corner.  From there, turn right to do a little window shopping as you head to Knightsbridge then continue the window shopping along Sloane Street.  Cross over Sloane Square, continue on to the river Thames, cross over the river on Chelsea Bridge Road and run along the embankment in Battersea Park.  Cross back over the river on Albert Bridge, run back to Chelsea Bridge Road, then retrace your steps to St. John’s Wood (or come home by the US Embassy and Baker St.).

Half-marathoners in the Mid-level II group – you have 7 miles on your schedule this week.  How about the Hyde/Green Park loop?  It’s an efficient loop back to Starbucks.
Hyde/Green Park (7 miles)– Run down to Hyde Park via Lisson Grove then continue down to Wellington Arch.  Cross over to Green Park, do a full loop of the park then go back under Wellington Arch to return to Hyde Park.  Run back to Starbucks taking Gloucester or Baker St. (see the map to the right if you’re not sure of this route).

The Wednesday Mid-level I group could do either a mid-distance average pace run or incorporate some tempo work into this route:
Hyde Park tempo work (5-7 miles) – Head down to Hyde Park via Lisson/Seymour at a very gentle pace with the other two groups.  Once you reach the park, pick up the pace of your jog around Speaker’s Corner then run very fast down to the SE corner of the park.  Jog around that corner trying to bring your heart-rate down then run hard to Carriage Rd. along the bike path.  Jog over the bridge trying to reach a “recovered” state before doing the last hard run back to Speaker’s Corner on a diagonal.  From this map to the right, you are jogging the blue parts and running hard on the red parts.  Jog very slowly back to SJW or preferably take a bus/tube home from Marble Arch/Oxford St..  DO NOT continue to run at a strong pace all the way back to Starbucks in SJW.  If you aren’t doing tempo work, run this route at a comfortable pace either finishing at Marble Arch/Oxford St., Baker St. or feel free to run all the way back to SJW (but that will be about 7 miles in total – probably more than you need).

Wednesday, 9 January

The Mid-Level I group has 7 miles on their schedule for half-marathon training.  How about you do the Notting Hill loop?  If you want the full 7 miles, add a bit in Regents Park.
Notting Hill (6.5 miles) – I think most of you know this route now.  If you’re not familiar with it, have a look under the “Routes” tab to make sure you know where you’re going.

The fast group and the Mid-Level II group could do either a mid-distance average pace run following the Notting Hill loop or incorporate some tempo work into the route:
Notting Hill (6.5 miles) partial tempo run – If you want to try a bit of tempo work, but love the Notting Hill route – then do both!!!  Jog to the canal, once you get there, run hard until the Ladbrook Grove turn-off (where we exit off the canal).  From there, run a steady pace for the rest of the route and enjoy the window shopping in Notting Hill.

Western canal tempo run (any distance) – If you want a more intense tempo work-out than the one above, jog down to the canal, do your tempo work on the canal (basically run hard to the Sainsbury’s), turn around and do tempo work on the canal back to Maida Vale.  From there, jog back to Starbucks in SJW to cool-down.  This work-out will be very, very hard.  You are warming up and cooling down going to/from the canal and running hard along towpath.  You could make it whatever distance (or time) you want.

Friday, 11 January
On Fridays, everyone goes up the hill.  There are groups doing all distances (4-8 miles) and all paces.  Have fun and remember…..  if you’re doing intensive tempo work during the week, there is no need to push the pace on the Friday hill run.

Happy Running,

Paula