Congratulations to all our WRW friends who ran the half marathon in Rhinebeck NY. We miss you in London!
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’re running the famous London landmark, Tower Bridge. This was a new route in the spring and it got great reviews. It’s very good for photos, but it also gives a few 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’re doing the Notting Hill route and Friday we’re back up the hill, but encouraging people to try the Highgate route.
Training Plans
We’ve posted two training plans on the website for the 18 March half marathon in Utrecht: 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 will be here before you know it, 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 miles to Canary Wharf at the end of January (see below). 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!
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:
23 October – Tower Hill (7 miles)
30 October – Halloween run – Brompton Cemetery and Kensington Whole Foods (6.5 miles)
6 November – Hyde Park (6 – 8 miles)
8 November (Wednesday) – First tempo training session at Paddington track
13 November – Canary Wharf (9 miles)
17 November (Friday) – Borough Market (6 miles)
20 November – Finsbury Park Happening Bagel (7 miles)
27 November – Holland Park to Green Park (7-8 miles)
4 December – Wembley REVERSE (8 miles)
6 December (Wednesday) – Christmas Lights run (early start)
11 December – Hyde Park
Key Training Runs
And looking even further ahead into the new year, mark your calendar for these important training runs:
29 January – Canary Wharf (9 miles)
12 February – Greenford (10 miles)
5 March – Kew Gardens (11 miles)
WRW Shirts
– Final Reminder
We’re starting the planning for the 2018 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”
2017 – “This Is My Happy Pace”
Stay tuned for information about how to order the shirt. We’ll be back to you soon with more details.
That’s all for now. Keep up the good work and stay tuned for more details on the Utrecht travel plans this week.
Keep running,
Jane
ROUTES
Monday 23 October – Tower Hill (7.25 miles)
Today we will be running across, along and across the Thames and in and around some of the oldest parts of London. The sights will be stunning!
We start off as though we are running to Borough Market-down Grove End and into Hyde Park, under Wellington Arch, along Green Park, through St James Park and towards Big Ben then across Westminster Bridge. At the end of Westminster Bridge, exit left down the stairs and run along the Thames Path past the London Eye, Royal Festival Hall, Blackfriars Bridge, Tate Modern, Shakespeare’s Globe to the Golden Hinde, admiring all the landmarks as you trod past. Follow the walkway to the right of the Golden Hinde and at the junction with Southwark Cathedral, turn sharp left and follow Montague Close until just before the tunnel. At the tunnel, go up the stairway to the left (which puts you onto London Bridge Road) then turn right on London Bridge Road to the first crosswalk-cross London Bridge Road and go left; just before the river, turn right on the stairs to descend to the Thames Path. Continue on the Thames Path past the HMS Belfast, City Hall and Potters Fields, to Tower Bridge. Climb the stairs up to the Bridge (don’t go under the Bridge), then run across Tower Bridge (the views!), continuing past the Tower of London (more views!) until you reach the stairs down to Tower of London Park. Take the stairs down and follow the paved path along the park. Just past the park is a junction in the path-turn right to run in a tunnel under Tower Hill Road, past part of the original London Wall and up to the Tower Hill tube station. Now, think of all the history you’ve witnessed in just 7 miles!
Wednesday 25 October – Notting Hill (4 – 6 miles)
Run west to the canal (west on Circus, left on Grove End Road, right on St Johns Wood Road, left on Cunningham Place, cross Edgeware, run along Blomfield and enter the Canal at the opening before the bridge). Run along 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 27 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.