Month: February 2017

27 Feb – 3 March Running Info

Hi Everyone,
We’re off to Greenford this week for our long run. The photo above is from a previous run to Greenford and I hope it gives you a bit of inspiration. We head west out the canal for almost 10 miles and the stretch past Wembley is very rural in parts. You can leave the hustle and bustle of London behind you. This is an excellent training run with no traffic lights. Watch your pace – don’t be tempted to go too fast. Remember long slow runs are the best way to build fuel. This is also a good route to test your gels. The photos of the exit in the route section are from last year, so hopefully they aren’t building a new apartment building or something crazy at the site. We’re going to assume the Black Horse pub is still there! The important thing is to look for the numbers on the bridges, we’re exiting at bridge number 15 – NOT 15a, don’t be fooled. Wednesday is our last official tempo run before the race! We’re going to Hyde Park for the Tempo triangle. Friday we’re back up the Hill. The ASL Middle and High Schools are off for parent conferences on Friday so it might be a smaller group, but we’ll still meet at 8:15 as usual.

DEADLINE – Photo Book Friday 3 March
If you are going to Warsaw, please send in your photo book info before this Friday. You can email Amy Grace at [email protected]. Thanks so much!

WRW PHOTOS!
Over the next few weeks as we lead up to the race, please take pictures of your pace groups and send them to [email protected]. The more, the better! (Send them in “actual size.”) We want to be able to remember and celebrate all our running this year to get ready for Warsaw!

Are you interested in running the Richmond Half Marathon on 17 September for charity?
Would you be interested in running the Richmond Half for charity? The Winch, which is a community support organisation in Swiss Cottage that does a lot of work for children in the area, is considering securing charity spots for the race, but they would like to know if there is some interest before they do that. If you would like to run the Richmond Half on 17 September for The Winch, minimum donation would be around £500, or if you have any questions please email Paige Victor directly.

Keep running,
Jane

ROUTES

Monday 27 February Greenford 9.75 miles

We start out the regular way to get on the canal path at Maida Vale heading west. We’ll then run along the canal for about 8 more miles until we exit the canal at Oldfield Lane which is the next exit after Greenford Road. We’re looking for the following bridge which is pretty plain but does have a small black “15” in the center.

Just underneath the bridge there are steps leading up to The Black Horse Pub.

At the top of the steps turn right and run along Oldfield Lane which is fairly industrial area until you reach the Greenford Station on the right just under the railway bridge. Tube home via the Central Line. If you want to stop for coffee, food or the bathroom, there is a little place with the great name of the Friendly Cafe just past the station on the left. (If you want fancy coffee, turn left at the railway bridge (instead of going under) and following the road until the next intersection where there is a mall with a Costa Coffee.) Note, there is no guarantee these coffee places are still there!


Wednesday 1 March – Hyde Park Tempo Triangles
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 and if you go back to SJW it is about 6.5 miles.

 
Friday 3 March – The Heath
It’s Friday [again!], so everyone up the hill! 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, ask around at Barclays; every week there is a group who prefer to do a flat run and you can decide together which flat route to tackle.

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.

20 – 24 February 2017 Running Info

Hi Everyone,

I hope you had a good recovery week. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone. We have only FOUR more long runs before the half marathon! This is a crucial part of our training as we tackle our longest training runs. This is the time to practice taking a gel or other fuel that you’ll use during the race. Also make sure you run in the clothes you will wear for the race. (Have a few options depending on the weather.) Remember, nothing new on race day.

Because we’re so close to the race, we’re jumping right back into a 9-mile run. We don’t have any extra build-up weeks this year. Ideally everyone will tackle the 9 miles, but I know that the first day back from the break can sometimes be harder for many people. If you’re really not up for the 9 miles, you can cut out the Battersea loop part and make the route shorter. If you turn left at the Embankment and go straight to Westminster, it is 6 miles and if you then continue on to Green Park it is 7 miles. If at all possible, plan to do the 10 miles to Greenford next week.

Looking ahead we have the following long runs:

Feb. 20 – Sloane Square/Battersea/Green Park (9 miles)
Feb. 27 – Greenford (10 miles)
March 6 – Wembley REVERSE (8 miles)
March 13 – Kew Gardens (11 miles)
March 20 – Serpentine (5.5 miles)
MARCH 26 – RACE DAY

Try to plan your schedule so you can join the destination runs, especially Kew Gardens. It takes more time, but it’s great for your training and can give you a real sense of accomplishment to make it to the final destination. Plus it can be very fun to tackle the challenge with the group.

Wednesday we’re in Regents Park doing the Tempo Diamonds and then we’re all meeting in Regents Park to do some filming for our 2017 video. More on that below. We would love everyone to participate in the video not just the women going to Warsaw.

WRW GROUP FILMING SESSION THIS WEDNESDAY!
Thank you all for being such great helpers with sending us your mannequin challenges video clips and pictures. Please feel free to keep sending them in. Now, we have the last part of the video that involves a bit of choreography to a song. The purpose of this song is to have all of you in it! IT IS OUR ONLY DAY FILMING AS AN ENTIRE GROUP! So, please try your best to attend. Please meet us (Joanna, Liane, Carol and Sonia) at Regents Park on Wednesday, Feb 22nd immediately after running at 9:00am at the Charlbert entrance into Regents Park where the benches are. We will go over the choreography and then start filming. (Those that are running the race in Warsaw and coming from out of town, Sonia will message you personally, so we can have you in the video as well. We won’t forget you!). Thank you!!!

REMINDER – PHOTO BOOK
If you are going to the Warsaw race, please respond to Amy’s email ASAP with your information and photo for the photo directory. Thanks so much!

Finally, well done to all of you who made it to Canary Wharf before the break! Super proud of all of you and I loved seeing all your photos! We’re really in the home stretch as far as race training goes – keep up the good work!

Keep running,

Jane

ROUTES

Monday February 20 –  Battersea Loop to Green Park (9.3 miles)
This is a mash up of two of our routes (Battersea Loop and Sloane Sq to Green Park) to get us to the needed 9+ miles today.  If you are not running the Half, you can cut your route shorter today by taking the Tube home from Sloane Sq or Westminster.

We head out to Hyde Park, along the eastern edge of the park, and down Sloane Street to Sloane Square the usual way.  We continue through Sloane Square, down Chelsea Bridge Road, and over the Chelsea Bridge to the south bank of the Thames.  Turn right into Battersea Park and run along the south side of the Thames to the Albert Bridge, where we cross back over the Thames and then turn right again (completing the “Loop”) to run along the north side of the Thames along the Embankment all the way to Westminster Tube Station.

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!

Wednesday February 22 – Tempo “Diamond” Run and FILMING
We are continuing with our focused tempo running on Wednesdays.  This week we will do ‘diamonds’—they are fast but also fast to be done with so give them a try!

Head over to Regents Park, the normal way.  Enter the Park at the Charlbert Entrance and veer to the left path.  When you reach the first intersection with the other sidewalk, it is time to turn on your running jets.  You will run hard for 1 minute, then recover by running slowly for 3 minutes; then run hard for 2 minutes and recover by running slowly for 3 minutes; then run hard for 3 minutes, recover run slowly for 3 minutes; run hard for 2 minutes, recover run slowly for 3 minutes and finally run hard for 1 minutes, recover run slowly for 3 minutes.

The ‘diamond’ looks like this:

1 minute hard                     3 minutes jogging recovery
2 minutes hard                   3 minutes jogging recovery
3 minutes hard                   3 minutes jogging recovery
2 minutes hard                   3 minutes jogging recovery
1 minute hard                     3 minutes jogging recovery

If you need to extend the amount of time for the jogging recovery, that’s fine, you can jog up to twice the amount of the hard run time [so 6 minutes max recovery jog for the 3 min hard run]

This type of running is best done within the park so you don’t have to contend with driveways etc.  If you find you need more mileage in Regents Park, just keep looping however you see fit.

Friday February 24 – The Heath

It’s Friday [again!], so everyone up the hill! 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, ask around at Barclays; every week there is a group who prefer to do a flat run and you can decide together which flat route to tackle.

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.

6 – 10 February 2017 Running Info

This week we have the famous 9-mile run to Canary Wharf! (Luckily the threatened tube strike was cancelled.) It’s an important training run because most of the run is non-stop along the canal. Remember to watch your pace – don’t be tempted to go too fast. This is a great run for building fuel for race day. Also remember to wait for your immediate pace group when you exit the canal at The Wall. There are two tricky sections when we’re off the canal, but there are detailed descriptions below and pictures so all the groups should feel comfortable doing the route. Plus, there are great bragging rights that come from telling your family and friends that you just ran to Canary Wharf! Please try to be early on Monday so we can get organised into pace groups before we start. Also we will most likely stagger the start time so we don’t overwhelm the canal. When we get to Canary Wharf we usually have a group that stops at Starbucks and also a group that stops at Tortilla for a breakfast burrito. Our usual Starbucks has removed some of their seating, but there are two other Starbucks in the Canary Wharf shopping area. If your pace group goes to a new Starbucks, please take note of the location in the mall and maybe take a picture so we can announce a new place to gather in the future.
On Wednesday, we’ll be in Regents Park doing the tempo track and Fartlek workout. Friday we’re back up the hill.
THANK YOU
Thank you to everyone for making last week’s money collection and shirt/hat distribution a success! Thank you to everyone who came to pay and collect their goodies and to everyone who gave their money to a friend.
An extra special thanks to the following people for their help:
  • Carol Bertolino and Chris Roberts – collecting orders, finding a new Nike supplier, finalising the designs and dealing with the vendors who made the shirts and hats. Everything looks great – thank you so much!
  • McKenzie Webster – hosting our large group on Tuesday morning
  • Amy Grace, Heidi Jensen Moran, Melissa Kay and Carolyn Perelmuter – collecting money and distributing the kit
  • Shannon McHugh – dealing with the shipping
New Running Shoes
If you’re thinking about getting a new pair of shoes for the race, now’s the time to do it. You want to make sure you can run in the shoes at least a few times before the actual race. The same applies for the clothes you’ll wear on race day.  Make sure you test everything first. You don’t want to get to the middle of the race and realise that something is rubbing or annoying you. Who knows what the weather will be on race day – it could be warm, mild or cold. That’s Europe in the spring! Plan to bring race clothes for all temperatures and we’ll decide that morning!
Recovery Week Feb 13-17
Yeah! Everyone gets a little mini-break from running next week. It’s important to “clock your vacation time” from running. Giving your body a week to rest and recover has huge pay-offs. Psychologically you’ll be itching to run the following week (hopefully!) and your body will thank you for the break. If you’re not able to run at all next week – no worries. It will be OK. If you have access to a treadmill, try to get in 2-3 runs of no more than an hour. If you are staying in London, come out and run with the group. There are other people in town and wanting to run. Run no farther than 6 miles or no longer than 60 minutes (whichever comes first.) Ideally you would run 6 miles (or 60 mins) once next week then add in another 2 runs of shorter distances 3-5 miles. Avoid speed/tempo work and consider running flat on Friday. We’ll leave the route selection up to you, but consider going somewhere fun! If you’re running, plan to meet at Barclays at 8:30.
Keep running,
Jane
ROUTES
Monday 6 February – Canary Wharf (9.3 miles)

Section One – Canal to the Wall
The route starts out as the Wall.  Run along Prince Albert Road to join the canal at Charlbert Street.  Run along the canal for approximately 3 miles until the canal pathway ends at the famous “Wall.”

Section Two – Angel Roads
We need to run through the Angel neighbourhood until we can re-enter the canal path.   At the wall follow the ramp up to Muriel Street.  (This is a good place to wait for your pace group.)  Take a right and then an almost immediate left up a path that winds between the apartment buildings.  See the picture below for the entrance to the path.

CanaryPic1.jpg

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.  (NB:  There is a public Ladies Room at the end of White Conduit Street, which intersects with Chapel Market about midway.)  Turn right at Liverpool Street to the major road Upper Street.  Cross Upper Street and turn left.  (NB:  Angel Tube Station is to your right if you are going home from here.)  Make your first right at Duncan Street and follow until the end.  The entrance to the canal path will be directly in front of you.  Go straight along the canal (NOT a sharp right turn.)

Section Three – Canal to Limehouse Basin
We run for about 4 miles following the canal path past Victoria Park to the Limehouse Basin.  We exit the canal path at the wire looking bridge – see picture below – and take the brown brick steps up to the left.

CanaryPic2.jpg
CanaryPic3.jpg

Section Four – Limehouse Basin to Canary Wharf
At the top of the brick steps, go straight.  At the Limehouse Gallery and Bronze Age shop turn right.  Run along the water until you reach the second metal foot-bridge leading to a park.  Cross the bridge and run through the park.  After the park, you’ll run straight, under an arch and the water will be on your right.  Run with the water on your right until you see the long flight of steps next to Royal China – see picture below.  You’re almost there!  Only a third of a mile remaining!

CanaryPic4.jpg
Run up the steps and straight ahead, through the small park to India Drive and then veer slightly right along Cabot Square.  You’re heading for the big skyscraper building in front of you.  Stop when you see the sign for the Canary Wharf DLR Station at the ‘mall’ entrance on the South Colonnade.  We’ll meet at the Starbucks inside the building, just right of the entrance.  After a much earned coffee, we’ll head to the Canary Wharf Tube station [Jubilee Line] and tube it home to SJW.  Congratulations!
CanaryWharfSimple.png

Wednesday 8 February –  Tempo Track Sprinting and Fartleks

This week we are back to track sprinting and Fartleks, which are short sprint bursts interspersed into the run.

Head down to the Regents Park Outer Circle the normal way [down Wellington, left at roundabout, cross zebra before the High Street, enter outer park at Charlbert but do not go into the park, instead turn left on the outer circle and run slowly to the track. Run ONE lap at the track, gradually increasing your speed. Now, time to really run!

Do a timed one mile on the track [4 laps in the middle lane is pretty close] or you can set your watch to give you a one mile interval. Run this mile at about 80-85% of your maximum capacity. If it were a scale of 1-20 [where 20 is a level of intensity that you could do for 1-2 seconds before you collapse], your timed mile should be a 16-17 [yikes!]. After your timed mile, jog another lap, slowly, around the track to recover, then continue to run slowly over the Regents Park.

Now, we’ll do about a 15-20 minute group Fartlek session. This is how it works: break into groups of 3-5 runners based on your sprint pace—the fastest group needs to be in front. Separate each group by a couple of minutes before you start running again. Someone in each group identifies the ‘run-to’ point [a bench, a rubbish can, a particular tree, etc] then counts down 3,2,1, ‘GO!’ Everyone in that group runs as hard as possible to the established ‘run-to’ point. The distance of each fartlek should be different—mix up longer legs [maybe 200 meters] with shorter legs [maybe 20 meters]. You can do the loop outlined in the map below or just pick your own path until you’ve done about 15-20 minutes of fartleks.

Now, jog back over to the track and do ANOTHER timed mile to try to meet or better the time you had from your first timed mile.

Run, walk or crawl back to Starbucks and enjoy a much-earned coffee and chat!

TrackSprintingFartleks.png

Friday 10 February – The Heath
We run up the hill on Friday – it’s tradition!  We know it’s hard, but you will feel great when you are finished.
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.