We’re in an important part of our training – only 13 training weeks until the race (plus 2 weeks of vacation). Try to block out the running time in your schedule and make it a priority.

Did you get the Nice France travel email?
If you’re attending our half-marathon trip to Nice France you should have received an email on Saturday morning with the subject “Nice Half Marathon – 3rd Travel Email.” If you didn’t get it, please check your SPAM and if you still didn’t get it, please let us know ASAP. We are trying to finalise our list of attendees. This is crucial because all future travel information will only go to those attending the trip. NOTE: On January 15 you will be charged for 1 night at the hotel. If you can no longer attend the trip, you need to tell the hotel and Kathy Anderson (who is copied on this email) by January 15.

Long Runs are KEY!
We’re now in mileage building time! The long run is the most important thing during this period. Over the next few weeks we’re alternating 7 and 8-mile runs to prepare for our 9-mile run to Canary Wharf on Feb. 8. If you’re 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. We’ll build mileage over a few weeks and then have some periodic cutback weeks. It’s important to give your body some recovery weeks with less mileage.

Looking ahead

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!

Getting back to running
If you’ve been injured or haven’t been running in the fall please plan to gradually build your mileage. If you add too much too soon, you risk injury. If you would like to link up with some other runners who are getting back into running, please let me know.

Save the Date – Tuesday January 26 – Shirt/Hat Distribution
On Tuesday January 26 in the morning, we’ll be collecting money and distributing the WRW shirts and hats. (They look amazing!) More details to follow.
That’s all for now!

Keep running,
Jane

Monday 11 January  – Sloane Sq/Westminster/Green Park (7.5 miles)

Everybody starts out to Hyde Park, taking the usual route: west on Circus Road, left on Grove End, all the way down to Seymour Place where the road ends. Right on Seymour, across Edgware, left on Stanhope and enter the park. At the silver orb, turn left and run down to the southern edge, following the path to the right before it leaves the Park. Run to exit by the tall shiny new ‘One Hyde Park’ complex, cross over Knightsbridge and continue ahead on Sloane Street.  Continue past Sloane Square down Lower Sloane St/ Chelsea Bridge Road to the Thames. Turn left on the Thames side of Grosvenor Road and run along the embankment. Continue left on Birdcage Walk, cutting through St James Park to the Mall, then left on the Mall towards Buckingham Palace, crossing before the circle to reach Green Park. Run up to the Green Park Tube on Piccadilly St and head home!

Wednesday 13 January – 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).

Friday 15 January – HIGHGATE (7.5 miles)

This hill run avoids most of the mud in the Heath and gets the hills out of the way by the halfway point of the run. As the race nears, the hill runs become even more important and this is a step up from the regular 6 mile Heath run we’ve been doing.

Head up Fitzjohn’s as usual and continue past the Hampstead Tube and Whitestone Pond to stay on Spaniards Road. Do not enter the Heath at the normal entry point, but stay on Spaniards Road as it wraps around the outside of the Heath, past Kenwood House and past The Bishops Road where Spaniards Road turns into Hampstead Lane.

Continue on Hampstead Lane as it edges around the outside of the Heath in a gentle rise until you reach The Grove, where you turn right. The Grove is a pretty, tree lined street just before the Highgate roundabout.  Run to the first right lane, which is Fitzroy Park and has a traffic barrier across the road. Pass around the traffic barrier and continue down the road, past lovely homes and a famous allotment on the right side. This road curves downhill to the left and takes you to the entrance of the Heath near a set of bathrooms and just before Merton Lane to the left.

Enter the Heath, run past the loos and take the path to the left as it runs along the model boating pond, the men’s bathing pond and a third pond. (Due to works on the Heath there are closures of some paths which may change weekly. We may have to run on the outside of some of the ponds and cross over further down the Heath.) When the sidewalk dead ends, take a right to run along the exercise fields, track and swimming pool. Exit the Heath past the swimming pool, crossing over the bridge onto Constantine Road. Take a right, running past South End Rd/Fleet Rd, past the Royal Free Hospital and cutting to the left just past the Royal Free’s entrance driveway to take a short cut to Haverstock Hill. Go left on Haverstock Hill to Belsize Avenue, veering to the left to stay onto Buckland Crescent and take this to Fitzjohn’s. Left on Fitzjohn’s to Swiss Cottage, then scoot over to St Johns Wood Park Road and back to Starbucks.

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.