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.

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