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.