Month: September 2016

3 – 7 October 2016 Running Info

Hi all,
Look at all those smiling faces – sorry I couldn’t get everyone in the photo!
We had a great turn-out for our destination run to the Piccadilly Whole Foods last Monday. I’m very proud of all the runners who had never run that far before. Well done! Thanks for your patience as we negotiated our way through Farringdon. We had to make quite a few stops to make sure that we didn’t lose anyone at the traffic lights. Over the next few weeks, our pace groups will continue to settle and we’ll likely have smaller sub-groups that form. This will make the destination runs a bit easier to manage.
Looking ahead, Monday and Wednesday are the ASL fall holiday so we’ll start at 8:30am. We aren’t setting official routes for those days. If you want to run, just meet at Barclays and we’ll decide on the route on the day.
Friday is our first official run to Borough Market. We’re recommending the standard Westminster Bridge 6-mile route. If you aren’t quite up for a 6-mile run yet, you could join the group to Big Ben, which is 4 miles and then take the Jubilee Line at Westminster to London Bridge and meet the rest of the group at the market. (We also listed the 5-mile Hungerford Bridge route but this way is more congested with pedestrians.) If you’ve never been to Borough Market before – join us! It’s a real London treat. If you need to stick closer to home, you can tackle the Hill like we usually do on Fridays.
Well done Runners!
Congratulations to Vijaya Kurada who completed the London Shine night half marathon and Jen Dorre who completed the Copenhagen half marathon with Meg Stone!
Warsaw Race Travel Update – Request for information
Thank you for all the positive feedback on our 2017 race destination. If you have booked your flights, please email Jen Skor ([email protected]) and let her know what flight you are on for both outbound and return. This is a huge help for us as we begin to keep track of the number of people in our group who are travelling to Warsaw. Thank you for doing this right away so we don’t have to chase you!
Lululemon Event
Mark your calendar on Tuesday, 25th October 7pm for a very special event at the Lululemon Marylebone store! The evening starts with a private 30 minute yoga session with a focus on the needs of runners. After you feel refreshed and revived, grab a glass of champagne and start shopping! The store will be open only for our group and this is a great opportunity to pick up a few cherished pieces for yourself and maybe start your holiday shopping. There will be a few surprises on the evening so don’t miss this unique and fantastic event! If you are member of the SJWWC please sign up on the SJWWC website. If you are not a member of the SJWWC, please email Kathy Anderson ([email protected]) and Stephanie Gladis ([email protected]) to sign up. Space is limited so please sign up now if you are interested.
That’s all for now – keep running,
Jane
ROUTES
Monday 3 October
Since there is no school at ASL on Monday, we will be on “holiday schedule”.  We’ll still be running but it may be a smaller group.  Plan to meet at Barclays for a slightly later start at 8:30.  The  runners get to pick the route!
Wednesday 5 October
This is also a DIY day because there is no school at ASL. Meet at Barclays at 8:30 and we’ll pick a fun route together.
Friday 7 October – Borough Market or The Hill

Option 1 – Borough Market via Hungerford Bridge – 5 miles

Head to Regents Park the usual way taking Circus Road to Charlbert. Cross Regents Park until you hit the Broad Walk turning right and following the Broad Walk until you exit at Park Crescent. Follow Portland Place south, it turns into Langham Place and then Regent Street until you get to Riccadilly Circus. At Piccadilly Circus, take Haymarket South to Cockspur Street into Trafalgar Square. At Trafalgar Square, continue south toward the Thames on Northumberland Ave. At the river, cross on the Hungerford Bridge right in front of you. At the end of the bridge, turn left to follow the The Queen’s Walk along the Thames until the path ends after the Southwark Bridge. Borough Market is under the railway bridge near the London Bridge station. The official address is 8 Southwark Street SE1 1TL.

borough-market-via-hungerford-bridge-5-miles

Option 2 – Borough Market via Westminster Bridge – 6 miles
We head to Hyde Park via the usual route. Start heading west on Circus Road and turn left on Grove End 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 left to enter Hyde Park at the intersection with Stanhope Place.   Run along the eastern edge of the park to Hyde Park Corner, under Wellington Arch and down Constitution Hill.  Run past the Victoria Memorial down the mall and enter St. James Park.  Run over the pond and out of the park, turning left onto Birdcage Walk and down into Parliament Square to Big Ben.  Continue past Big Ben and cross Westminster Bridge. After the bridge turn left to run along the Thamesuntil the river path ends after Southwark Bridge. Borough Market is under the railway bridge near the London Bridge station. The official address is 8 Southwark Street SE1 1TL.
Borough Market via Westminster Bridge 6 miles

Option 3- The Hill
It’s Friday and school’s in session so if you would prefer to stay closer to home you can head up Fitzjohns. 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. If you have trouble running up, think about how easy it will be running down!
5 miles: The Betsy Route

6+ miles:  The partial Heath route OR the reverse Heath route
7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

26 – 30 Sept 2016 Running Info

Hi all,
There’s a lot of important stuff in this email (so please read it!) because we’re starting to formalise our pace groups this week. I’m going to try to avoid bombarding you with too much training information all at once. I’ll give you the basics and point you to the website for more specifics. We’ll come back to these training principles often throughout the year.

On Monday we have a great run to the Whole Foods in Piccadilly Circus. I love the variety of the route and running along the Embankment through the heart of London. But the best part is ending at Whole Foods for some great coffee and food. (There is seating outside and upstairs.) The entire route is 6.5 miles but you can also take the tube from Blackfriars or Temple which is 5 miles. Wednesday we’re in Kensal Rise and Friday back up to the Heath.

Good Luck Racers!
Congratulations to Meg Stone who ran the Copenhagen Half Marathon last weekend. Good luck to Darcy Fautz and her daughter who are running the Windsor Half Marathon this weekend.

NEW WEBSITE – https://womenrunningtheworld.com
A huge “Thank You” to Amy Grace for the tremendous amount of work she did all last year to find an improved website platform for us and then to transfer all the existing data to the new site. The website is a great resource for the group but it’s also very fun! Two things to note this week:
Maps- Just a reminder that by Sunday evening, this email is posted on our website. On the website, you can zoom in on the maps and see the street names. If you need to brush up on any of the routes or if you are new to running in London, please take a look at the maps before we set out.
Photos- Amy posted a great collection of photos from many years of WRW. Check out the “Photo Galleries” under the “About Us” tab.

2017 HALF MARATHON
I sent out an email Thursday announcing that the group will be travelling to Warsaw, Poland to run a half marathon on Sunday 26 March 2017. Thanks for all the positive feedback! We’re really excited about this race. If you didn’t receive the email, it may have bounced to SPAM. If not, please let me know so I can check the distribution. Registration for the race has not opened yet. At this point, you can book your flight. We’ll be back to you soon with more details about the hotel and race registration. I will also be posting our training plan soon so that you can see how we get from where we are now to running a half marathon at the end of March.

PACE GROUPS
Each training week is planned to have one longer/slower run on Monday, one shorter/faster run on Wednesday and one hill run on Friday. The pace groups are for the longer/slower run and the pace listed is the training pace (not race pace). For the tempo/faster day and the hill day the groups will not necessarily be together. Some folks may want to push it more than others.

For those who are interested, there is a nifty calculator on our website to determine your training pace as compared to a target race pace. For many, the pace calculator might be too technical. As a rule of thumb, you should run your long run at a pace that allows you to carry on a conversation. Not too fast, not too slow. (I know that is easier said than done!) The slower run is an important part of your training because it helps build mileage without injury but it also helps your body build fuel. For more info about pace and the science behind the slower run, click here

The pace groups are not an exact science! They serve more as a general guide. Since our group is so large, the pace groups allow for smaller groups of women that run roughly the same pace to find each other and train together. A few important things to note:
The pace groups names are relative to each other. For example, you would be in the 9s if the 8s group was ahead of you and the 10s group was behind you. That seems obvious, but it is the relative placement in the larger group that matters and less about the actual specific time of the pace group.
The pace group names are simplified. For example, most of the 10s probably run a 10:30 min/mile training pace, but we don’t call them the 10:30s, we just call them the 10s.

Leaders
There are 2-4 women in each group who will be pace group leaders for the long run. They’ll help keep the group together, which will be increasingly important as we do more longer runs and/or new routes. But please remember that everyone is responsible for generally knowing the route, not just the leaders. We are also having more leaders this year to help cover the natural range of the pace group. For example, in the 10s we may have a faster sub-group and a slower sub-group and we tried to have leaders who covered the range.

Please let me know if you need some help finding your group or if you have any questions.

The “Eights” Group (8:45-9:00 min/mile)
Leaders: Karen Marsico, Marissa O’Malia and McKenzie Webster,

The “Nines” Group
Leaders: Shan Mercer (9:00-9:20 min/mile)
Leaders: Amy Grace, Megan Marine and Kathy McMahon (9:20-10:00 min/mile)

The “Tens” Group (10:00-10:45 min/mile)
Leaders: Darcy Fautz, Maureen Fossum, Jane Novak and Carolyn Perlmuter

The “Elevens” Group (10:45-11:30 min/mile)
Leaders: Melissa Kay and Stephanie Vauclain

The “Twelves” Group (11:30-12:30 min/mile)
Leaders: Magali Kivatinetz and Tamara Smith

A big THANKS to all our leaders – you play an important role in helping such a large group work smoothly!

That’s all for now – Keep RUNNING!
Jane

ROUTES

Monday, 26 September – Wholefoods Piccadilly (6.5 miles)

This is fun destination route. How can you resist a fun run that ends up with delicious and healthy food options to bring home? Don’t forget your cash and tube card! We start out heading east on the canal and run to the Wall. We’ll exit the canal there and turn right onto Rodney, which will turn into Penton Rise, then King’s Cross Road, and eventually Farringdon, which we will stay on until we reach the embankment. We then turn right and run along Victoria Embankment to Northumberland (just past Embankment Tube Station). Turn Right onto Northumberland and run through Trafalgar Square onto Cockspur and then turn right onto Haymarket. Take Haymarket into Piccadilly Circus and turn left onto Coventry. Run through Piccadilly Circus, across the street and onto Glasshouse Street, where you will see Whole Foods Market.

Wednesday 28 September – Kensal Rise (4- 5+ miles)

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, turning left on Cunningham then right on Aberdeen to work your way to the canal entrance on Bloomfield. Enter the canal heading west and run to the Ladbroke Grove exit. Here we turn right and run over the bridge along Chamberlayne Road to Harvist Road. Turn right on Harvist, which turns into Brondesbury Road, and take that to Kilburn High Road/Maida Vale. Turn right and follow Maida Vale to Hall Road where you turn left 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.)

Friday 30 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+ miles: The partial Heath route
6+ miles: The reverse Heath route
7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles: The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

19 – 23 Sept 2016 Running Info

Well done to our intrepid runners who met at Barclays on a very rainy Friday! You all get extra credit for a great effort. (True confession, I was there to take the photo but I wasn’t in running clothes!) I’ve written some more about London weather below. For everyone, it was another great week of running! Keep up the good work! This week we return to some of our classic routes that offer lots of options in terms of mileage. Monday is Hyde Park, Wednesday is The Wall and Friday is the The Heath. For the new folks, please let me know if you have any questions or need any help finding a pace group.

London Weather
This week was particularly extreme weather for London. We don’t usually have 85 degrees, thunder/lightening and heavy rain ever, let alone in the same week. That being said, our weather is very changeable and we get lots of days that include clouds, showers and sun. Don’t let a bad forecast discourage you from running. If you wait for the perfect day, you’d never get out the door. We had many days last year where the forecast was for rain, but it didn’t actually start raining until we were finished with our run. In any case, it does make sense to invest in a good breathable running jacket for wet weather.

Why Should Long Runs Be Slower?
For a great answer to that question, read the following Runner’s World article that gives a clear, concise summary of the science behind training with a slower, long run. We’ll return to this concept a few times throughout the year. When you tackle a new distance, your mile pace should be 45 – 90 seconds slower than your race pace. “When we overload the body in gradual, incremental increases, it responds positively by becoming stronger. If we overload the body too rapidly or too heavily too soon, it doesn’t have time to adapt and we risk poor performance, injury, illness and/or mental burnout.” Long slow runs also help build Mitochondria. They are the “powerhouse” of the cell because they are responsible for producing the energy required for muscle contraction. All important stuff if you want to run an endurance race! Right now during the early fall, we’re not worrying too much about race pace and training pace. The most important thing is to run, build up your fitness, get to know the people in the group and have fun! In general, you should be running at a pace that enables you to comfortably chat and have a conversation. Next week we’ll be sharing more information about the pace groups. The pace groups will play an important role in our training schedule when we start to gradually tick up the mileage and when we’ll be doing our long slower runs.

Be Careful
I know we’re all tempted to dash across the street to stay with the group. Please be careful! In the past, we had a runner hit by a motorcycle and we also had a runner hit by a car (on a weekend run). They were both OK, thank goodness, but I’m reminding you that in London you can’t depend on the traffic to stop for you. Also be mindful of pedestrians and bikes. We are a big group and we’re often running on narrow sidewalks. If you notice that a pedestrian has stopped and stepped to the side to let you pass, please remember to say “Thank You.”

Husbands Group
If any husbands or male friends would be interested in running with a group of men, please email Liane at [email protected]. Liane is new to WRW this year and her husband is hoping to connect with some fellow runners. Thanks!

Keep running,
Jane

ROUTES

Monday, 19 September – Hyde Park  – always versatile! (3 – 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.

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 ParkCorner tube home.

5 Milers:  Follow the 3 mile run. 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 SJW.

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.  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 SJW.

8 Milers: follow the 6-mile run but do not turn left at No Carriage Rd, instead cross over [this is tricky, be careful of the traffic] and follow until you reach the large broad walk 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 of the park.  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 SJW.

Create Maps or search from 80 million at MapMyRun

Wednesday 21 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.

Friday 23 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+ miles:  The partial Heath route
6+ miles:  The reverse Heath route
7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

12 – 16 Sept 2016 Running Info

Another great week of running! I’ve really enjoyed meeting the new runners – thanks for joining us! If you’re just getting back into running, and you’ve struggled a bit, don’t give up – Keep running! I promise with each run it will get easier and you will feel stronger. This email has a lot of important information about dates for fall runs so make sure you read it. It will also hopefully give you some incentive to keep running when you see the interesting destinations on the schedule.
We have some great routes this week with many distance options. Monday we head to Sloane Square/Westminster/Green Park and you can pick anything from 4-10 miles. (10 miles is an option for the women doing a fall half marathon.) You’ll see all the options listed below. Remember to bring your Oyster card/Tube card. Wednesday we run west along the canal and loop back home through Notting Hill. The entire route is 6 miles, but you can easily shorten it by turning back at any point along the canal. If you want to run a total of 4 miles, the 2-mile turn-around point is when the Westway motorway is over your head.
Thanks for all your patience and help last Friday. We had a very large group at Barclays. I think there were over 50 runners! I love it! I think the general Friday plan worked well last week. The runners who did the reverse route really liked it (except that Parliament Hill was tough!) and we also had a good group to do the standard 5-mile “Betsy” hill route and a group that did a flat run. Given there are so many of us, the plan for now is to continue sending smaller groups in a few directions on Friday so that we don’t overwhelm the sidewalk on Fitzjohn’s during the school run.
Adventure Run to Hampton Court Palace – Save the Date
An adventure run means that we ride the train to a location at the start of the run and then we take the train home at the end of the run. It takes more time to take the train both directions, but it gives us a chance to run some interesting routes that are outside our neighbourhood. We tried our first adventure run last spring from Richmond to Hampton Court Palace and it was a big hit. We run along the Thames path for pretty much the entire way and it’s a beautiful route. Plus you can’t beat coffee at the Palace cafe when you’re done. The entire route to the Palace is 8 miles, but there is also an option to take a train home at 6 miles. Mark your calendars now for Monday 7 November and block out the entire morning or more if you want to stay for a long coffee afterwards.
Borough Market- Save the Date
One of our favourite routes is to go to Borough Market on a Friday. If you want to plan ahead, our first Borough Market run will be on Friday Oct. 7. We also have one scheduled for Friday November 18 right before the Thanksgiving break. For anyone who doesn’t want to do a destination run, the Hill is always going to be an option on Fridays.
Looking ahead
Here are the Monday routes over the next month and a few other key routes in the fall:
12 September – Sloane Square/Embankment/Westminster
19 September – Hyde Park
26 September – Whole Foods Piccadilly
17 October – Brick Lane
31 October – Brompton Cemetery and Kensington Whole Foods
7 November – ADVENTURE RUN – Hampton Court Palace
21 November – Finsbury Park Happening Bagel
7 December (Wednesday) – Christmas Lights run (early start)
General Training and Pace Groups
In general, each week we run a long/slower run on Monday, a shorter/faster run on Wednesday and a hill run on Friday. We have pace groups that help make it easier for folks to find each other and will be especially important for our long runs. I’ll write more about the pace groups in the next few weeks. We follow the training principle that your long run should be at a pace slower than your race pace. If you’re new to the “race pace” concept, don’t worry! We can help you figure out where you should be.
As always, if you have any questions or if you need any guidance, just let me know.
Keep running,
Jane

ROUTES THIS WEEK

Monday 12 September  – Sloane Sq/Westminster/Green Park–3.75 to 7/10 miles, Your choice!

Today’s routes are fun because you can pick whichever distance suits you–in this case one size can fit all!

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 big gated exit before the tall ‘One Hyde Park’ complex, cross over Knightsbridge at William Street, quick right on Knightsbridge then a right onto Sloane Street.

3.75’ers:  at Sloane Sq, take the Tube home!

6.33’ers:  continue past Sloane Sq down Lower Sloane St/Chelsea Bridge Road to the Thames.  Turn left on the Thames side of Grosvenor Rd and run along the embankment to Westminster Tube–you’re done!

7+’ers:  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!

10 milers:  for anyone needing a longer run today, continue past Green Park Tube, through Mayfair to Baker Street and head to SJW Starbucks–this will give you almost 10 miles.

SloaneSq_Westm_GreenPk201509

Wednesday 14 September – Notting Hill (4-6 miles)
Run out the canal to the west and exit at Ladbroke Grove.  Run to Elgin Crescent and make a left.  Continue to Ledbury and go right and then left at Westbourne Grove.  Run down Westbourne Grove over Bishop’s Bridge and down the steps into Sheldon Square.  Go back along the canal and out where you entered and back to Starbucks.

You also have the option of a shorter run by not running as far as Ladbroke Grove.  Instead, run half the distance you want, turn around and head home.  For example, running to the Westway flyover and back is about four miles [two out and two back].

 NottingHill

Friday 16 September – The Heath (4-8 miles)

It’s Friday which means everyone up to the Heath. 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. We are adding the map for the Reverse Heath Route which will keep us off Fitzjohn’s during the main school run.

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.
5 miles: The Betsy Route
6-7miles:  The partial Heath route OR the Reverse Heath Route
7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles:  The full Heath route
Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

5 – 9 Sept 2016 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 and Starbucks. Thanks for your flexibility regarding the change of route last Friday as well.

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.) One runner said to me, “Wednesday was really difficult and I almost didn’t come back, but Friday was great. Now I’m hooked!” I know the first few runs after the summer can be challenging. Stick with it and I promise it will get better.

As a reminder to the new runners, we meet in front of Barclays Bank at the corner of Circus and Wellington Roads at 8:15 am so we can start running at 8:20. Always bring your Oyster/Tube card because we often return home on the Tube. If you are new to the group, I’ll wear my orange and blue hat so you can find me in the crowd. Come say HI!

This week we return to some of our favourite runs. Monday we head off to the heart of London with a 4-mile run to Big Ben and then we take the tube home from Westminster. (If you prefer a 2-mile route you can take the tube home from Marble Arch or a 3-mile route is the tube home from Hyde Park corner or a 5-mile route is taking the tube at Green Park after you hit Westminster.) Runners who are training for a fall half-marathon can loop back home for an 8-mile route. As always, if you haven’t been training all summer, don’t be tempted to do the longer route. Gradually adding mileage is one of the best ways to avoid injury. For the new runners, don’t be tempted to run too fast especially as you add new mileage. You should be able to talk the entire time during the Monday run. If you are struggling, consider slowing down a bit. Just let me know if you need some help finding a group that is running your pace. I’m happy to help.

Wednesday we run west along the canal and loop back home through Kensal Rise. The entire route is 5.5 miles, but you can easily shorten it by turning back at any point along the canal. If you want to run a total of 4 miles, the 2-mile turn-around point is when the Westway motorway is over your head.

NEW ROUTE FRIDAY
I’m really hoping that the construction on Fitzjohn’s Avenue clears up soon. (But I know many of you were perfectly happy to do a flat run last Friday!) For now we’re going to offer three options for the Friday run.

Option 1: Old Heath routes (assuming sidewalk is passable)
Our standard Hill routes up Fitzjohn’s are great at the start of the season because they offer many options for gradually adding mileage without the route being too tricky. Basically you can always run up the hill for awhile and then turn around and run down whenever you want. Unfortunately the current sidewalk situation makes it difficult for our large group to make it up the Hill without completely swamping the sidewalk which wouldn’t be fair to the other pedestrians, especially during the school run. SO for now we’re going to offer the standard routes as a possible option and I’ll email again on Thursday to give you an update on the sidewalk construction to see if they are doable.

Option 2: New Heath route – 6-mile IN REVERSE
We’re also going to start learning the 6-mile Heath route IN REVERSE. You’ll see the map and directions below. A few of us ran this route in the summer and we liked it. We have adjusted it so that we are basically off of Fitzjohn’s on the way up the Hill so you miss the busy pedestrian and traffic pollution time. Consider giving it a try this Friday and then let me know what you think about it.

Option 3: Flat run
Feel free to pick your own route if you would like to do a flat run. There is usually a group doing a flat run on Friday that you can join.

Sidewalk awareness
We are such a large group! Please remember not to block the sidewalk when we gather at Barclays or when we stop at Starbucks at the end. We want to be good citizens of St. John’s Wood.

Returning to running
I’ve heard from a few people who are returning to running after some time off. I’m happy to connect the runners who are not quite ready for our standard routes. If you are working up to 1-4 miles, you can send me an email at [email protected] and I’ll let you know about other women who are in the same boat.

T-Th Beginner Group
Our beginner group is off to a great start! If you have any friends who are interested in joining, please have them email [email protected]. Remember that the beginner group is for women who have never run before.

Stay Tuned – Spring Half-Marathon Trip
We’re hard at work behind the scenes trying to find a race for our spring half marathon. As you know, we have to balance many factors in choosing a race including timing, travel and finding a race that is appropriate for our beginner runners. We have our eye on a few races that look great and we are hard at work behind the scenes talking to the race directors, negotiating hotel contracts and researching all the logistical details. (Thank you Chris Roberts!) We can’t announce anything until those important details are finalised, but we hope to be able to announce the 2017 race around the end of September or early October. I know it’s tempting to bombard Chris with questions about the race, but please be patient. We promise we will announce the race as soon as we possibly can.

Keep running,
Jane

ROUTES THIS WEEK

Monday, 5 September – Big Ben (4-8 miles)
 This is such a fun route! We run right through the heart of London and stop at the famous Big Ben. The 8 mile option is for runners planning to do a fall half-marathon.
On Monday we head to Hyde Park via the usual route. Start heading west on Circus Road and turn left on Grove End 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 left to enter Hyde Park at the intersection with Stanhope Place.   Run along the eastern edge of the park to Hyde Park Corner, under Wellington Arch and down Constitution Hill. Run past the Victoria Memorial down the mall and enter St. James Park.  Run over the pond and out of the park, turning left onto Birdcage Walk and down into Parliament Square to Big Ben. Those running four miles will take the tube back to SJW from here and those running eight will turn around and follow the same route back. You can also make it about a five mile run by turning back at Big Ben and running to the Green Park Tube Station, then tubing it home.

 

BigBen4mi

Wednesday 7 September – Kensal Rise 4-5+ miles
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, turning left on Cunningham then right on Aberdeen to work 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 along Chamberlayne Road to Harvist Road. Turn right on Harvist, which turns into Brondesbury Road, and take that to Kilburn High Road/Maida Vale. Turn right and follow Maida Vale to Hall Road where you turn left 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

Friday 9 September – The Hill

As I mentioned above, he’s a new route to try, the “Reverse” Hampstead Heath 6 miles!

Start from Barclays running down Circus past the SJW High Street until it dead ends and turn left on Townshend Rd. Turn right on Acacia and then left on Avenue. Here’s the new part!  Cross Avenue Road at the Elsworthy cross walk and continue on Elsworthy. Veer left at the fork onto Harley Road and follow Harley to Adelaide. Cross Adelaide and continue past the Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre on Winchester Road. To avoid Fitzjohn’s, turn right on Adamson Rd, then left on Crossfield Rd, then left on Lancaster Grove, then right on Buckland Crescent which becomes Belsize Park,then Belsize Ave. At the end, turn left up Haverstock Hill. Run past the Royal Free Hospital on the garden path or turn right on Pond Street, which becomes Constantine Rd, then Severnake Rd. Enter the Heath at the entrance across from Roderick Road. Follow the path past the Parliament Hill Track. Take a sharp left after the Gazibo and run up Parliament Hill. Enjoy the view at the top! Run down the other side of the Hill. At the fork in the woods, take a sharp right and follow the path up until you exit the Heath at Spaniards Rd. Turn left and follow Heath Street, which becomes Fitzjohn’s Avenue back down the hill. At the Swiss Cottage intersection, cross and follow St. John’s Wood Rd and Ordnance Hill back to SJW.

ReverseHeath6mi

Assuming the sidewalk is passable, you can also tackle the standard Friday routes! 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.

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
7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.