30 1 5 Sept Running Info

Hi everyone,

We’ve had a great start to the running season!  It was wonderful to see so many of you gathering in front of Barclays.   Did you notice that in a week with some bad weather we had beautiful sunshine for both our runs?  I think that is a good omen for the year!

To the new runners, we’re so glad you’ve joined us!  To the returning runners, thanks for being so friendly and welcoming to our new runners- keep it up!  We have more new runners starting this week.  To everyone, if the runs last week were too slow/fast or too short/long – Don’t give up!!  It often takes a few sessions to find the smaller group of women that run the right distance/pace for you.  (If you need some help/guidance linking up with someone, just let me know.)

This week we return to some of our favourite routes – Hyde Park, The Wall and The Heath.  In each route, there are lots of options for mileage.  As always, don’t be tempted to do too much, too soon.

T-Th Beginner Group

The first day for the new beginner group is this Thursday 4 September.  If you have any friends who are interested in joining, please have them email me.

Stay Tuned – Spring Half-Marathon Trip

We’re hard at work behind the scenes trying to find a great race for our spring half-marathon. Please remember that we have to balance many factors in choosing a race including timing, travel and finding a race that is appropriate for our beginner runners.  A few races have just been announced that may work for us.  We’re in the process of getting our questions answered.  We’ll be back to you as soon as we can with the details for the race.

Fall Half-Marathon?

Please let me know if you signed up for a fall half-marathon race and you are still planning to run.  We want to make sure that we have your longer runs built into the weekly routes.

Oyster Card

One last reminder, bring your Oyster card.  Sometimes our routes loop back home, but often we stop along the way and take the tube home.

Keep running,

Jane

ROUTES THIS WEEK

Monday 1 September – Hyde Park – always versatile! (2-8 miles)

Click here for all of the Hyde Park interactive route maps

Start:  Everybody starts the same way… head west on Circus Road, turn left on Grove End Road and follow south as it becomes Lisson Grove.  Cross over Marylebone Road and continue on Seymour Place until the end.  Turn right and cross over Edgware Road and then take the first left on Stanhope Place to enter Hyde Park at the intersection with Stanhope Place. Cross into the Park—you’ll see a silver orb just inside the park.

2 Milers:  After entering the park, turn right towards Speakers’ Corner, then finish at the Marble Arch Tube [or take the 82 bus] to head back home.

3 Milers:  Continue south through Hyde Park, past the Serpentine and at the Carriage drive, make a left and head back toward Hyde Park Corner.  Take the Hyde Park Corner tube home.

5 Milers:  At Hyde Park Corner continue back up/north on the carriage drive.  Exit the park at the Animals in War memorial and follow Upper Brook Street.  Turn left on Park Street which becomes Gloucester Place and then Park Road back to St. John’s Wood.

HydePark5miles

6 Milers: upon entering the park, turn right at the silver sphere and run until you meet N Carriage Road where you turn left.  Run down to the Serpentine, crossing over the bridge then left to run along the Serpentine. At the end of the Serpentine, turn left again and make your way to the eastern edge of the park before exiting at the Upper Brook St/Animals in War exit.  Continue along Upper Brook Street to Park Street, turn left, take it to Park Road and into SJW.

HydePark6mi

8 Milers: follow the 6 mile run but do not turn left at No Carriage Rd, instead cross over [this is tricky, be careful] and follow until you reach the large broadwalk where you turn left.  Run past Kensington Palace (on your right) and take a left to run along the southern edge of the park towards Hyde Park Corner, then turn left on the eastern edge and exit at Upper Brook St/Animals in War exit as above.  Take Upper Brook Street to Park Street [left] to Park Road and home to SJW.

HydePark8mi

Wednesday 3 September – The Wall (3 to 6 miles)

We head down towards Regents Park, then enter the canal at the Charlbert entrance and run east [left] cutting through Camden Lock Market until we run out of canal path at Islington.  Since the canal is blocked here, we call it “The Wall.”  At The Wall, we turn around and head back to St. John’s Wood.  This is a great route to do a tempo run because there are no traffic lights.  But please be careful and aware of the bikes on the path.

If you run all the way to The Wall and back it is 6 miles.  But it is very easy to run half the distance if you want and turn around and head home.  As a marker, if you run to the Camden market (where we have to exit the canal path and run past the food stalls for a minute) and return home it is a 3 mile round trip.

TheWall

 

Friday 6 September – The Heath (4-8 miles)

We run up the hill on Fridays–it’s tradition! It is hard, but you’ll feel great when you are finished.

If you are not up for a hill run yet, no problem, just let us know.  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. If you have trouble running up, think about how easy it will be running down!

5 miles: The Betsy Route

6-7miles:  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]

First Heath run – top of Parliament Hill on a beautiful morning

1 – 5 Sept Running Info

Saturday, August 30, 2014

22 27 29 August Running Info

Hello all,

Welcome back!  A special welcome to the new folks joining the group.  I hope you had a fantastic summer.  I’m excited about a new year at WRW and I can’t wait to see you at our first run of the season on Wednesday.  We meet at 8:15 in front of Barclays Bank at the corner of Wellington and Circus Roads in St. John’s Wood.   I’m going to wear my bright yellow hat so you can recognise me, please come say HI if you are new.

As we approach the start of a new running season, here are two important things to keep in mind.

1.Take care of  yourself:  This one is easy!  Read the emails and learn the routes.  Eat, drink (and be merry!).  Don’t go too fast, or too far, too early.  Stretch when you can.  Make sure you sleep.  Have the right gear (for those of you who like to shop, this is fun).  If you have an injury, see a specialist for help.  If you have a question, just ask.  We have lots of knowledge in the group and we can steer you in the right direction.

2.Take care of each other:  This one is fun!  Welcome the new runners and the ex-beginners.  (Remember how nice it was when someone welcomed you!)  Say Hi!  Encourage the new runners to persevere, and congratulate all on success, big and small.  Notice if someone is suffering and offer to help.  Sometimes an encouraging word or a distracting conversation can work wonders!

Easing back to running:  If you haven’t run in awhile, no worries!  I’ve already heard from a bunch of the group who plan to start out with slower/shorter runs.  At the start of the year, we’ve designed the routes to have plenty of options for distance.  Most likely there will be someone running at your pace and your distance.  We do have a group of women who are planning to run a fall half marathon.  Don’t be tempted to join them on a long run or be discouraged that you can’t keep up.  Remember, they have been seriously training all summer to get ready for a fall race.

Pace Groups:  We tend to be flexible about the pace groups at the start of the year but I imagine that we’ll naturally fall into our groups pretty quickly.  Please remember to look out for new runners who may need some help finding the right group.

That’s all for now – see you at Barclays at 8:15!

Keep running,

Jane

ROUTES THIS WEEK

Wednesday 27 August – Regents Park loop (4 miles)

We’re starting with a familiar, local loop. Head down Grove End Road as though going to Hyde Park BUT at Marylebone Road, turn left and follow Marylebone Road, past Madame Tussauds, then turn left at York Bridge and right at the Outer Circle.  Follow the Outer Circle counter clockwise, all the way to the crosswalk by the US Ambassador’s House. Cross out of the Park and head to Starbucks.

If you are training for a fall race and want a longer run, you can add some mileage in the park.  If you add another loop on the outer circle the total will be 6.8 miles.

If you are not up for 4 miles, that is fine.  Come with the group for awhile and you can always turn around and head back at any point.  We’ll meet you at Starbucks when we’re finished!

 

Friday 29 August – We’re offering two options today – a shorter, flat loop in Kensal Rise and also the traditional Friday Hampstead hill run.

Option 1 – Kensal Rise loop (5.25 miles)

This is a shorter version of the traditional Kensal Rise run. 

The beginning of this run takes us along the canal to the west.  Please be aware of bikes along the canal and move into single file whenever you hear a ‘bike!’ shout.

Start out heading west on Circus Road, turn left on Grove End to St John’s Wood Road and go west, working your way to the canal entrance on Blomfield.  Enter the canal heading west and run to the Ladbroke Grove exit.  Here we turn right and run over the bridge until your first right on Harrow Road.  Turn left on Elgin and follow to Maida Vale.  Turn right and then left on to Hall Road and run back to Starbucks. If you want to shorten this route, run west on the canal and turn back at your desired half-way point.  (The two mile mark is at the point on the canal when the Westway highway is over our heads.)   

KensalRise6mi

Option 2 – 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.

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]