Month: October 2016

31 Oct – 4 Nov 2016 Running Info

Hi Everyone,

Love this picture – we had the entire table at Starbucks! And there were a few more runners waiting for coffee and not in the picture.

On Monday we’re celebrating Halloween with a run through the Brompton Cemetery ending at the Whole Foods in South Kensington. The Brompton Cemetery is one of those hidden London jewels! It was opened in 1840 and designed to be a garden for recreation as well as providing burial space. The cemetery covers 39 acres and 205,000 people are buried there including the famous suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst. To top it off, the South Ken Whole Foods has a large seating area upstairs for sharing a post-run coffee. I hope you can join the run! We have a large group this year, so make sure you take a look at the route. We try hard to have to the pace groups stick together as much as possible but if the group is very large, we’ll likely split into smaller groups along the way. Wednesday is The Wall and Friday we’re back up the hill.

Halloween Costumes on Monday!
It’s time for our Third Annual Halloween Costume run! Plan to dress up for Halloween – nothing too elaborate because you still have to run – but be creative! A crazy hat? A Halloween top? Last year we had some great running “costumes” and I can’t wait to see what you come up with for this year! And as I mentioned above, this year we have the extra treat of being in the Brompton Cemetery on the spookiest day of the year.

RSVP – Adventure Run Next Monday Nov. 7
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. This means that if you are doing this run we are NOT meeting at Barclays – see the details below. (If you can’t do this run, there will be a group that meets at Barclays and decides on a route of their choice.) 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. Block out the entire morning or more if you want to stay for a long coffee afterwards.

If you’re planning to attend, please email [email protected] so we know to look out for you at the station. But please be aware that we are not waiting for anyone. You must be on time to catch this train or we’re leaving without you.

Here’s the plan: We’ll meet at the Finchley Road and Frognal Overground Station at 8:30 for the 8:41 train to Richmond. We will arrive in Richmond by 9:15 to start our run. (You can take a bus up Finchley Road to the station or take the tube to Finchley Road, turn left and walk up to the Overground Station.) When we arrive in Richmond we’ll run along the Thames all the way to Hampton Court Palace. (The entire run is approximately 8 miles or you can exit at the Horse Fair bridge for a 6-mile route and take a train from Kingston station.) We’ll take the train back to London Waterloo from the Hampton Court train station. The train runs every 30 minutes, at 23 and 54 past the hour from Hampton Court and it is an approximately 40 minute train ride back to London.

That’s all for now!
Keep running,

Jane

ROUTES

Monday 31 October – Whole Foods via Brompton Cemetery (6.5+ miles)

Today we’ll earn our post-run treat by ending at Whole Foods on the Kensington High Street!  Bring your shopping list if you want.

We start out the normal way to Hyde Park.  Once you enter the park, turn left and run along the east side of the park.  At Hyde Park Corner turn right and run along the south side exiting at the gate we normally use at William Street [next to the French Embassy].  Cross the street, take a right.  Turn left at Brompton Road (just past the tube) and take Brompton all the way (admiring Harrods as you pass) until Fulham Road.  Veer left on Fulham Road and continue to Brompton Cemetery.  Turn right to enter the Cemetery.  Run through the Cemetery then exit and turn right onto Old Brompton Road, then turn left onto Earls Court Road. Cross Cromwell Road, then turn right onto Cromwell Road and then turn left onto Marloes Road. Continue north on Marloes making your way through the streets to Kensington High Street.  Whole Foods will be to your right.

Wednesday 2 November – 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 and hit “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 6 November – 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 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.

24 – 28 October 2016 Running Info

Hi everyone,

We had a fantastic turnout for the run to Brick Lane and I’m so happy that so many of you tried the route. We were very disappointed that our favourite funky coffee shop, Brick Lane Coffee, has been taken over to be a Crosstown Doughnut and Coffee Bar. At least we got some delicious donuts due to the change.

This week, we’re sticking closer to home with the Hyde Park routes on Monday. There are many distance options so it’s a good way to get back into running if you’ve had some time off or try to add some mileage if you’ve been regularly running. Wednesday we’re doing the Kensal Rise loop and Friday we’re back up the hill or you can do a route of your choice. ASL is off on Friday for teacher conferences so we’ll meet later at 8:30.

Training Plans
We’ve posted two training plans on the website for the March 26 half marathon in Warsaw: https://womenrunningtheworld.com/training/spring-half/  There’s our standard training plan and also a gradual plan for runners who don’t want to tackle as many miles as part of training. (In the last six weeks of training, both training plans call for the same distance on the long runs.) We follow the standard training plan when we plan the routes for the group, but you’ll see there is a range of options for mileage in most of our routes. The half marathon is a month earlier than last year’s race so if you are planning to participate in the race it’s important that you commit to regular running and follow the plan to gradually increase your mileage. Looking ahead, we’ll plan to run the 9.5 miles to Canary Wharf on 6 February 2017. So you need to have tackled 6, 7, and 8 miles before then. If you are new to the group and all this sounds impossible – don’t worry! Just plan to come run with us regularly and we’ll gradually tackle each new distance. I heard from a few of you that you recently ran your longest runs ever – the first time you completed 6 miles – and I feel so thrilled and proud for each of your accomplishments!

Looking ahead – Halloween 31 October
Halloween falls on a running day this year and we have a few fun things planned. First, it is our Third Annual Halloween Costume run! Plan to dress up for Halloween – nothing too elaborate because you still have to run – but be creative! A crazy hat? A Halloween top? Last year we had some great running “costumes” and I can’t wait to see what you come up with for this year! Second, we’re running through Brompton Cemetery to the South Ken Whole Foods on Halloween. We love this route and it’s going to be fun to do it on Halloween.

Looking ahead – Adventure Run to Hampton Court Palace 7 November
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.

Save the Date
It’s hard to believe that we’ve reached the end of October already. Looking ahead we have the following runs on the schedule:

31 October – Brompton Cemetery and Kensington Whole Foods (6.5 miles)
7 November – ADVENTURE RUN – Hampton Court Palace (6 or 8 miles)
14 November – Canal/Farringdon (6 miles) or Canary Wharf (9 miles)
18 November (Friday) – Borough Market (6 miles)
21 November – Finsbury Park Happening Bagel (7 miles)
28 November – Holland Park to Green Park (7-8 miles)
5 December – Wembley REVERSE (8 miles)
7 December (Wednesday) – Christmas Lights run (early start)
12 December – Hyde Park

Lululemon event – this Tuesday!
Join us on Tuesday, 25th October 7pm for a very special event at the Lululemon Marylebone store!  (Unfortunately Lululemon has said that they can’t do the yoga part of the evening that we advertised earlier but we’re still going to have a great night of shopping.) 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! AND Lululemon is offering our group a 20% discount! 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.

Keep running,

Jane

ROUTES


Monday, 24 October – Hyde Park  – always versatile! (5 – 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 and enjoy your run!

Wednesday 26 October –  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 28 October – The Heath (4-8 miles)

NOTE – LATE START AT 8:30 AM due to ASL parent conferences.  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.

17 – 21 October 2016 Running Info

Hi all,

I’m looking forward to another good week of running! Monday we head to one of our favourite destinations, Brick Lane, for famous east-end bagels from Beigel Bake and coffee from Brick Lane Coffee. We’ll try to get into our pace groups before we start, but make sure you look at the map and the photos below and take a note of the bridge where we exit the canal. Wednesday is the Notting Hill route. Friday we’re encouraging runners to try the 7.5-mile Highgate Heath route. We’d like this to be one of our regular Friday routes and this is a good time of year to add it to the rotation. If you’re not up for the Highgate Hill, you can always do one of the other Friday hill options.

WRW Shirts
We’re starting the planning for the 2017 WRW shirt. Please email [email protected] if you have any suggestions for a fun/witty/inspirational saying for the back of the shirt. For our new runners, here’s a reminder of the shirt back from previous years:

2013 – “Run Like A Girl”
2014 – “We Run London”
2015 – “Sorry, Gotta Run!”
2016 – “In It For The Long Run”

Stay tuned for information about how to order the shirt. We’ll be back to you with more details soon.

Keep running,

Jane

ROUTES

Monday, 17 October – Brick Lane via Canal (6.5 miles)

This is a fun and funky destination run!  We will head out in the same way as though we are running to The Wall. Take the Canal east to the Wall—go up ramp to Muriel Street, take a right and then an almost immediate left up a path that winds between the apartment buildings. Here’s the entrance to the path:

CanaryPic1

Keep going straight on the path and it will become Maygood Street. When you get to the intersection of a main road (Barnsbury Road) turn right.  Run until you make the second left onto Chapel Market. (There is a metal archway saying Chapel Market and a zebra crossing at the intersection.) Follow Chapel Market until the end. Turn right at Liverpool Street to the major road Upper Street. Cross Upper Street and turn left, then make your first right at Duncan Street. Follow Duncan Street to the end and there will be an entrance to the canal directly in front of you. At the canal path continue running straight, the water will be on your right. Follow the canal until you reach the Kingsland Road Bridge, Number 45. See the photo below.

kingslandbridge

Run under the bridge and take the brick steps up on your left, see photo below.

kingslandsteps

At the top of the stairs turn left and at the main road, Kingsland Road, turn left.  (You’ll be running back over the canal.) Follow Kingsland Road, you’ll see the Gherkin building in the distance in front of you. (Kingsland Road will become Shoreditch High Street.) Turn left at Bethnal Green Road. There will be a white medal railroad bridge in front of you and the BOXPARK market will be on your right once you turn. You’ll also pass the Shoreditch High Street Overground Station on your right. Follow Bethnal Green Road until you hit Brick Lane, less than a quarter of a mile. There is a Casa Blue cafe at the corner, turn right into Brick Lane and you’ll see Beigel Bake and Brick Lane Coffee on the right. They are FUNKY so bring your cool attitudes! For the journey home, you can take the Shoreditch High Street Overground to Canada Water and then take the Jubilee Line home. Or you can walk through Spitalfields Market to get to the Liverpool Street tube station.

Wednesday 19 October – 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.

Friday 21 October – The Highgate Route (7.5 miles) Option #1
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—this is fine! 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.  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; crossing at the pedestrian stoplight to the other side, then turn right on to Belsize Avenue.  At Lancaster Grove, stay left on Belsize Avenue as it changes to Buckland Crescent.  Take this to Fitzjohn’s where you turn left to run towards Swiss Cottage Library, then scoot over to St Johns Wood Park Road and back to Starbucks.


The Heath (4-8 miles) – Option #2

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
8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

10 – 14 October 2016 Running Info

Welcome back to a normal week of running. We’ve been a bit off schedule with ASL school trips and fall break. If you’ve been busy and missed a run or two, please come join us again! If you can run consistently, it’s best for your fitness/training and will help you avoid injury. Besides it’s fun! (Well, at least the coffee part is fun…)

Monday we return to the Sloane Square, Embankment, Westminster route which gives us lots of options for distance. If you haven’t run in awhile it’s a good route to build some mileage. Remember to bring your Oyster/Tube card because we’ll take the tube home. Wednesday we head to The Wall and Friday we’re back up the hill.

Good Luck Royal Parks Half Marathon Runners!
We have eight WRW runners in the Royal Parks Half Marathon on Sunday 9 October. Good luck to Dani Burke, Mary Duffy, Darcy Fautz, Stephanie Gladis, Beth Keaveny, Rekha Kumar, Shan Mercer and Marissa O’Malia. We hope you have a great race!

Cheering on the runners
If you would like to go support the runners, we’re organising a group to meet at the St. John’s Wood tube stop at 8:15am on Sunday morning. (Maureen is planning to take the 46 bus as well.) Email [email protected] if you would like to join the tube or bus group so we know to look out for you. Wear your orange hat from the Nice race (if you have one) so the runners can easily spot you. Thanks so much! The runners really appreciate the support!

STRETCH!
I can’t emphasise enough how important it is to stretch when we finish running. It’s tempting to go right away for a cup of coffee, but it’s crucial that you spend some time to properly stretch. Here’s a good link to an NHS page that lists some key stretches (with pictures) for after running. How to stretch after a run

Lululemon Event – UPDATE
Mark your calendar on Tuesday, 25th October 7pm for a very special event at the Lululemon Marylebone store!  (Unfortunately Lululemon has said that they can’t do the yoga part of the evening that we advertised last week but we’re still going to have a great night of shopping.) 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.

Facebook Group
If you haven’t yet, please join our Facebook group, Women Running The World. (You will need to request to join.) It’s a great way to share fun running and non-running photos, updates and information.
Keep running,
Jane

 

ROUTES
 Monday 10 October – Sloane Sq/Westminster/Green Park–3.75 to 7/10 miles
We start out by running 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 left onto Sloane Street.

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

6.33’ers:  continue past Sloane Square 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 take the tube home!

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

 

Wednesday 12 October – 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.  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.  Please be aware of the bikes on the path and move into single file on the inside (away from the water) when they are approaching.

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 14 October – 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.

Every week there is usually a group of women who prefer to do a flat run.  We can help make sure that you find each other if you are not running the hills this week.

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.