25 27 31 January Running Info

January 25, 2014January 14, 2017

Hi all!

Looking forward to another great week of running with you. This week for our long run we have a 8-mile loop south through Hyde Park and then following Sloane Street to Pimlico and back home. (There’s also a 6-mile option.) We’re continuing our tempo work and this week we have a “diamond” run in Regents Park on the schedule. Make sure you read the description below in the route section. Remember that a tempo run will be shorter in time – tempo runs should last 45-60 minutes and the speed work sessions should be 25-40 minutes. Less is more! I know that speed work can be difficult, so try to stick together as a group and cheer each other on. It really does help!

German Trip Update-

I’m getting very excited about our upcoming trip! We’re continuing to finalise the details for all aspects of the weekend and make commitments based on our current numbers. If for whatever reason your plans have changed and you’re not going to be able to join us, please let me know as soon as possible. Thanks so much!

ENERGY GELS for training and the race-

Looking ahead to our longest training runs, it is time to start to think about what type of gel or fueling you’ll use during the race. Fueling is different for each runner but I’ll give you some of Paula’s general guidelines. The rule of thumb is that after about 80-90 minutes of running you’ll have used up natural fuel sources and you’ll need to top up the tank with something. (That is based on our type of running, if someone is running a marathon at a 6 min/mile pace, their fueling needs will be different!) Most of the women in the group use some sort of sports gel. If you have never used a sports gel before it is crucial that you try it out during some of our long training runs. The gels are very concentrated so a brand that might work well for one person could make another person feel sick. Below are some recommendations from members of the group. It is worth stocking up now so you’ll have them for our longest runs. You can go to a Runner’s Need store or order them on the internet. Amazon also has a good stock. (If you have some leftovers at home, make sure to check the expiration date because they don’t last forever.)

Amy – GU Energy, Tri-Berry

Jen – GU Energy, Mint Chocolate

Syma – TORQ, Forest Fruits

Linda – GU Roctane (has caffeine), Blueberry Pomegranate

Vicky – Clif Shot Bloks, Berry or Orange

We’ll review this again before our longest runs, but in general during a race you would take a gel somewhere between 7-8 miles and then don’t take another one for 35-45 mins. (Don’t be tempted to take more than one gel in 30 mins! – you’ll need to keep an eye on your watch.) If you don’t want to get into too much of the science of it all, Paula recommends that you take a gel at 8 miles during the race if you’re running at a medium pace for you (not as compared to anyone else) or 7 miles if you’re running fast for you. For me, during training, I will take a gel around 7-8 mile mark of a 10-mile run. Even if I don’t feel that I desperately need it at that point, it helps me feel better at the end of run, and helps me practice taking a gel. If you are interested in learning more about fueling, gels and the different brands, CLICK HERE to read Paula’s full note from last year.

Keep running!

Jane

ROUTES

Monday, 27 January Base Conditioning Run

8 Miles: Sloane St/Victoria Stn Loop

Head the normal way to Hyde Park and along the east [left] side to Hyde Park Corner. Turn left on the Carriage Drive and exit left out of the park, across Knightsbridge and head right to Sloane Street. Follow Sloane St south to Pimlico Street and make a left. Continue left onto Buckingham Palace Road, then left again on Grosvenor Gardens [near Victoria Stn]. Head back up to Hyde Park, exit at the Animal War Memorial onto Upper Brook Street, then left on Park Street and follow this home as it changes names, all the way to SJW Starbucks.

Alternative: 6 Miles: Hyde Park/Bond Street Shopping

Start with the full group and run to Hyde Park, following the east path to Hyde Park Corner. Cross through Wellington Arch into Green Park and run across the northern edge of Green Park, exit the park and continue on Piccadilly to New Bond Street, where you turn left. Take New Bond Street to Oxford Street, then zig zag left then right onto Marylebone Lane. Take this until it meets with Marylebone High Street and continue to Marylebone Road, make a left, then a right at the light [York Bridge] and enter left into Regents Park just beyond the Ring Road. Follow the path along the lake, then exit by the Mosque onto Park Road, take a right and head to Starbucks.

Wednesday, 29 January Tempo ‘Diamond’ Run

We are continuing with our focused tempo running on Wednesdays. This week we will do ‘diamonds’—they are fast but also fast to be done with so give them a try!

Head over to Regents Park, the normal way [down Wellington Road, left at the SJW Church roundabout, cross the zebra crossing before the High Street and enter Park at the Charlbert Entrance]. Enter the Park and veer to the left path. When you reach the first intersection with the other sidewalk, it is time to turn on your running jets. You will run hard for 1 minute, then recover by running slowly for 3 minutes; then run hard for 2 minutes and recover by running slowly for 3 minutes; then run hard for 3 minutes, recover run slowly for 3 minutes; run hard for 2 minutes, recover run slowly for 3 minutes and finally run hard for 1 minutes, recover run slowly for 3 minutes.

The ‘diamond’ looks like this:

1 minute hard 3 minutes jogging recovery

2 minutes hard 3 minutes jogging recovery

3 minutes hard 3 minutes jogging recovery

2 minutes hard 3 minutes jogging recovery

1 minute hard 3 minutes jogging recovery

If you need to extend the amount of time for the jogging recovery, that’s fine, you can jog up to twice the amount of the hard run time [so 6 minutes max recovery jog for the 3 min hard run]

This type of running is best down within the park so you don’t have to contend with driveways etc. If you find you need more mileage in Regents Park, just keep looping however you see fit.

Friday 31 January – The Heath

It’s Friday again, so everyone up Fitzjohn’s. You can pick your distance and whatever you choose, there will certainly be someone else interested in running that distance. All of these routes are on the website.

In addition, every week there are a group of women who prefer to do a flat run. We can help make sure that you find each other.

4 miles: A great way to ease into running the hill. Run up to the Hampstead tube station and back.

5 miles: The Betsy Route

6-7 miles: The partial Heath route

8 miles: The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

______________________________________

Website: https://womenrunningtheworld.commm

Facebook Group: Women Running The World (request to join)

Email: [email protected]

Time to start thinking about your energy needs during the half marathon. What is your favourite?

27 – 31 January Running Info

Saturday, January 25, 2014

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17 20 25 January Running Info

January 17, 2014March 20, 2016

Hi Runners,

Thanks for a great week of training. I was happy that so many of you made the 9-mile run to Wembley. Well done! We also made good progress on practicing the long-run training pace. The traffic light experiment worked well and I think we’ll continue doing it. The 10s were able to run a good pace by sending the 9s one traffic light ahead. Just that little bit of separation helps each group manage the pace and also eases sidewalk congestion.

This week our long run is a 7-mile run to Holland Park/Westfield. You’ll see from our training schedules, that we’ll build mileage over a few weeks and then have some periodic cutback weeks. It is important to give your body some recovery weeks with less mileage. Also, we’re going to add some more intense tempo training this week (more on that below).

Long Runs are KEY!

We’re now in mileage building time! The long run is the most important thing during this period. If you are struggling to remain motivated or are dealing with aches/pains, consider doing less mileage on your mid-distance run. You could also consider doing less on the hills.

Looking ahead, we have the following long runs on the schedule –

Week of 27 Jan – Sloane Street/Pimlico Loop (8 miles)

Week of 3 Feb – Farrington, Embankment to SJW Loop (9 miles) or Green Park Tube (8 miles)

Week of 10 Feb – Canary Wharf (9 miles)

Week of 17 Feb – Half-Term/ASL Winter break

Plan for Canary Wharf – Week of 10 Feb

The week of 10 February is an important training week because if you’ve been following either the standard or gradual training schedule all groups need to do a 9-mile run. Mark your calendars – I’d love to see the entire group make the run to Canary Wharf that week.

Tempo Run this week

Make sure you read the description below in the route section. Over the next two months leading up to the race we’ll be doing some more structured tempo/speed work. If you haven’t done speed work before, it is important that you don’t jump right into doing sprints. You’ll see that this week, we have an easy/gentle run to Hyde Park with some stretches of fast running in the park and then an easy run (or bus/tube ride) home. THIS IS SO MUCH MORE FUN IF YOU TACKLE THIS AS A GROUP AND ENCOURAGE EACH OTHER! Wait for the group during the recovery parts and at the end so you can travel back to SJW together. Some of the most difficult workouts can be the most fun if you do it with the group!

That’s all for now!

Keep running!

Jane

Click here for the interactive routes on the website.

ROUTES

LONG RUN – 7 miles – remember this is your slower paced run

Monday 20 January (9s, 10s, 12s)

Wednesday 22 January (11s)

Holland Park/Westfield

We are going to head out the canal westbound, but we’re going to go on a bit different of a route. down Run down Circus/Hall/Sutherland all the way to Harrow Road. We’ll turn left onto Harrow Road and cross over the canal, and then turn right and hop onto the canal towpath there and run down to the Ladbroke Grove exit. After we exit the canal we’ll run down Ladbroke Grove to Holland Park Avenue and turn right. We’ll then run a short distance and then turn left onto Holland Walk and straight through the park to Kensington High Street. Now, we’ll turn right onto Ken High Street, which turns into Hammersmith Road to and run down to Shepard’s Bush Road and make a right. Run down Shepard’s Bush Road to Shepard’s Bush Commons, and across to Uxbridge Road. Make a right on Uxbridge and run a bit to Ariel Way, which goes directly to the mall.

TEMPO RUN

Wednesday 22 January (9s, 10s, 12s)

Monday 20 January (11s)

Hyde Park Tempo Triangle

Head down to Hyde Park the usual way at a very gentle pace. Once you reach the park pick up the pace a bit around Speaker’s Corner, and then run very fast down to the SE corner of the park. Jog slowly around the corner while you try to bring your heart rate back down to a recovered rate. Once you reach the straightaway, run hard again to Carriage Road. Slow down to a recover rate again as you cross over the bridge and up to the path, where you will turn right and run hard along the diagonal back to Speaker’s Corner. Jog very slowly back to SJW or, even better, hop on the bus or tube from Marble Arch. If you are not doing tempo work, you can do this run at a regular pace (if you go back to SJW it is about 6.5 miles).

HILL RUN The Heath

Friday 24 January

In addition, every week there are a group of women who prefer to do a flat run. We can help make sure that you find each other.

4 miles: A great way to ease into running the hill. Run up to the Hampstead tube station and back.

5 miles: The Betsy Route

6-7 miles: The partial Heath route

8 miles: The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

______________________________________

Website: https://womenrunningtheworld.commm

Facebook Group: Women Running The World (request to join)

Email: [email protected]

Time for some shopping! Our long run takes us to Westfield Mall this week.

20 – 24 January Running Info

Friday, January 17, 2014

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13 – 17 January 2014 Running Info

January 11, 2014October 16, 2016

Hi Runners!

Welcome back! It was great to see so many of you out and running this week. A special round of “extra credit” for the 25+ women at Barclays on a very dark, dreary, rainy Monday morning. Our reward was a run in the pouring rain, only to return to Starbucks to see the sun come out. Typical. Thanks for laughing with me in the misery. The best part is that we still had a big group stay for coffee even though we were drenched. Nothing messes with the coffee!

I hope with the bad weather, ASL school evacuation and jet lag you managed to get in a bit of running last week. Our training will continue to pick up as we approach the half marathon. We’re officially 11 weeks from the race!

As a reminder, our training is based on three runs per week.
-slow, longer run
-fast/tempo run
-hill run

This week I’d like to focus on the importance of running a slower long run. Below I’ve copied Paula’s explanation from our website. This is important stuff so it is worth the read. (Next week, I’ll review the fast/tempo run so don’t worry, it’s not all about running slowly!) Also please read to the end to see an important announcement about the 10s pace group. This week, the long run is to Wembley. Many women said that they loved this run so we’re doing it again. Plus it will give us a good long uninterrupted run to work on pace.

Why do we run the long run slower than race pace?
The quick answer is that it has to do with how your body builds fuel, which is something you’ll need for the race! I’ll delve into the basic science of fueling (which I have hugely over-simplified but hopefully it’ll get my point across). To fuel our runs we have 3 options – Creatine Phosphate (CP), glycogen and fat.

Creatine Phosphate– You have about 15 seconds worth of CP fuel – that’s it. Think Usain Bolt running the 100m – he fuels with CP and it works because he can run 100m in less than 15 seconds. CP is where your body will go first looking for fuel, particularly if you take off like a rocket from Starbucks. Think of CP as kindling on a fire – it catches fire easily but burns out very quickly.

Glycogen– Glycogen is the next fuel option. Glycogen is basically stored in your muscles and in your liver and because of that it makes glycogen a bit more difficult to burn as fuel (think of damp firewood – it will eventually burn but it takes quite a bit to get it going).

Fat– Fat is the 3rd source of fuel and most runners, even the very lean women, have an ample supply of it. Think of fat as a butane tank of gas on the BBQ grill – once it’s lit, you can have countless cook-outs before the fuel is gone.

Here’s the important part– All of those fuel sources – kindling, damp firewood or butane gas need something to ignite them and keep them burning. Physiologically speaking that ignition or burning “tool” is ATP which is created by mitochondria; so, the more mitochondria you have the more efficient you are as a fuel burning machine.

What is mitochondria and how do we get more of it? Some of us are genetically blessed with higher mitochondria counts. Thank your mother for that – it comes through the maternal side of the genetic equation. If you didn’t win the genetic lottery, then the only way you can increase mitochondria is through LONG, SLOW, ENDURANCE training (LSE). When you go for a long run at a slow pace, you actually produce mitochondria. Kind of cool, huh? Now remember – we need mitochondria to help ignite our fuel sources. So what does that mean for you?????? It means SLOW DOWN on your long run – give your body a chance to become a mitochondria production factory. If you do your long run at a strong pace, you’re missing out on this benefit.

How slow, is slow? On our website we have a cool calculator from Runners World that calculates training pace based on your race pace. Pace Link (It has 6 different training paces for speed work, training and longer runs.) If you would like to run the half marathon in 2 hours (which is a fast time) you will need to average 9:10 min/mile during the race but your long run pace should be 10:34-11:54. If you would like to run it in 2 hours and 15 minutes, you will need to run 10:15 min/mile during the race but your long run pace should be 11:46-13:12. If you want to run it in 1 hour and 45 minutes (we will only have a few women at that pace from our group) you will average an 8 min/mile race pace but should do your long run at 9:20-10:30. I think you get the general picture.

But I don’t know my race time? That is fine. Talk to the women in your pace group. Many of them will have run a half marathon before and you can get a sense of their race time as a base for what you might target as a race time. During training, if you don’t have a pace watch, ask the women in your pace group so you can get a general sense of the speed of the group. Also, try slowing down to the lower end of your pace group time. As a rule of thumb, you’re long run should be at a pace so comfortable that you feel like you could run forever.

It feels like this shouldn’t work. I know it seems counter intuitive. (I want to run a fast race so I train slow. Really?) Trust us on this one. We’ve had very sceptical runners who followed this program and ran great races. It does work. Also, don’t forget we will be adding more tempo and speed work into our workouts, just not on the long run day.

THE 10s PACE GROUP-
Given all that great information you’ve just read above, I think the 10s group has been running too fast for our long run. We set out with the 9s, get talking and before you know it we’ve run too fast. I propose that we let the 9s go at the first green light and we’ll wait until the next green light to set out. Hopefully that will give us some space to manage the pace a bit better. On Monday I’m going to try to stick to a 10:15-10:30 min/mile pace for the long run. Anyone is welcome to join me!

Thanks for reading that long email! And keep running!

Jane

Click here for the routes on the web.

ROUTES

LONG RUN – 7, 8 or 9 miles REMEMBER TO CONSIDER YOUR PACE—this is NOT your tempo run.
Monday 13 January (9s, 10s and 12s)
Wednesday 15 January (11s)

7 miles (Alperton Tube Station) [take the Piccadilly Line northbound to connect to the Metropolitan Line, then transfer to Jubilee]
8 miles (Wembley Central Tube Station) [take the Bakerloo to Baker St and transfer to Jubilee]
9 miles (Wembley Park Tube Station) [easy, you are on the Jubilee Line!]

Wembley
This is a great run – we go out the Canal to the west almost the entire way. No lights and soft on the knees! Continue out the canal and exit at Alperton. (See photo below). Turn right at the top of the stairs and your first right again onto Ealing Road. Just after the turn you’ll see the Alperton station on your left for the 7-mile route. Follow Ealing Road to the High Road and turn right. You’ll see Wembley Central on your right for the 8-mile route. For 9 miles, continue until you make a left on Park Lane which becomes Wembley Park Drive. Continue past the stadium and to the Wembley Park Tube Station.

Note that the 7 mile Alperton Tube option requires changing trains at least twice so can be a bit longer to get back to SJW—maybe this is incentive to add another mile or two???

Here’s a photo of the exit off of the canal:

TEMPO RUN 5.7 miles
Wednesday 15 January (9s, 10s and 12s)
Monday 13 January (11s)

Can you run backwards? This is our Kensal Rise from the Canal run, but run in reverse!

Head west on Circus, make a right on Maida Vale and run north to Brondesbury Road, which turns into Harvist Road. Take this past Queens Park and make a left on Chamberlayne Road, which turns into Ladbroke Grove just beyond Harrow Road. Cross the bridge over the Canal then u-turn to the left to access the Canal Path. Take the Canal Path into Little Venice, crossing over the canal bridge by Blomfield Road. Head home the normal way, crossing over Edgeware Road, curving left onto Aberdeen Place, then working up to Grove End Road, Circus Road and Starbucks.

HILL RUN The Heath
Friday 17 January

Note that Friday the 17th there is no school for ASL middle school.
It’s Friday again, so everyone up Fitzjohn’s. You can pick your distance and whatever you choose, there will certainly be someone else interested in running that distance. All of these routes are on the website.

In addition, every week there are a group of women who prefer to do a flat run. We can help make sure that you find each other.

4 miles: A great way to ease into running the hill. Run up to the Hampstead tube station and back.
5 miles: The Betsy Route
6-7 miles: The partial Heath route
8 miles: The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

______________________________________

Website: https://womenrunningtheworld.commm
Facebook Group: Women Running The World (request to join)
Email: [email protected]

5 6 10 January Running Info

January 5, 2014September 4, 2016

Hi everyone,

Happy New Year! I hope you had a fantastic holiday break! It will be great to see you all again. This is the week to get back into running. The routes this week are straight forward. 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.

Congratulations to Sunny Brenneman who got a new full-time job! We’re happy for you, but we’re really going to miss running with you weekly.

Keep running!

Jane

ROUTES

LONG RUN – 7 miles

Monday 6 January (9s, 10s, 12s)

Wednesday 8 January (11s)

Green Park Loop

Head to Hyde Park the usual way and run along the eastern edge of the park to Hyde Park Corner. Cross under the Wellington Arch and run down Constitution Hill to The Mall. Run a short distance down The Mall, turn left and run along the eastern edge of Green Park to Piccadilly. Turn left on Piccadilly and run along the northern edge of Green Park back to Hyde Park Corner. Cross back into Hyde Park and run back up the eastern edge of the park to the Upper Brook Street exit and back to SJW via the normal route.

TEMPO RUN – 6 miles

Monday 6 January (11s)

Wednesday 8 January (9s , 10s, 12s)

The Wall

Run South on Finchley/Wellington Road to the SJW Church Roundabout, follow the sidewalk to the left and cross Prince Albert Road at the crosswalk just beyond the SJW Church. Continue east and enter the canal at the Charlbert entrance. Run east [left], cutting through the Camden Lock Market until you run out of canal path at Islington. Touch the canal boat tunnel wall—this is The Wall!—then turn around and re-trace your steps back to SJW. When you come off the canal at Regents Park, take Charlbert to Allitsen to SJW High Street to Starbucks.

TheWall