20 – 26 November 2017 Running Info

Well done to everyone who made it Canary Wharf last week and to those who took an unexpected detour and made it to Stratford instead! You just never know where you may end up on a run in London!
Due to the American Thanksgiving holiday and no school at ASL, many of our runners are out of town or unavailable to run on Wednesday and Friday so we’ll do one route for Monday this week. We’re running to the Happening Bagel Bakery (LOVE that name!) in Finsbury Park via Highgate and the Greenway. (Bring cash, I don’t think the bakery takes cards.) This is a WRW favourite and we don’t do it often because the first part takes us up the hill in Hampstead, which we usually do on Friday. The first part is the hill, but the second part is beautiful as we run through Highgate and then a area of woodland known as the Parkland Walk. Parkland Walk is a stretch of forest that follows an old train line. (History lesson – the train line first opened in 1872, but was eventually replaced by the extension of the London Underground. Passenger service ended in 1954 and freight service in 1970.) If you’ve never done this route before I strongly encourage you to give it a try. If I can’t twist your arm to try it, you could always do one of our other Heath routes.
We’re not setting routes for Wednesday and Friday. If you want to run, show up for an 8:30 start and as a group you can decide where you would like to go.
Looking Ahead – Wednesday 6 December Christmas Lights Run – 6:00am START

I know it sounds crazy, but it is really worth it to get up early to see the Christmas lights in the dark and without the crowds. We’ll meet at Barclays at 6:00am. Last year I did the 4.5 mile route and took the tube from Bond Street and was home to help the kids by 7:15am. We recommend that you wear some reflective clothing and ideally have a bike light or head lamp. The streets, especially in Regents Park, are very dark at that time of the morning. You may want to purchase or borrow something before the run. (If you’re not up for an early start, or you can’t swing it with your family, there’ll be a group that meets at the normal time as well.)
Keep running,
Jane

ROUTES
Monday 20 November – Happening Bagel via Highgate and Finsbury Greenbelt – 7 miles

For this run we start up Fitzjohn’s like we’re going to the Heath but pass the entrance and continue up Spaniards/Hampstead Lane to Highgate. At the very top of the hill bear right and run slightly downhill towards Highgate High Street. At the second circular intersection, cross the high street at the zebra crossing and go down Southwood Lane. At the bottom of the hill veer to the right onto Jackson’s Lane (which is a very narrow road). Continue down Jackson’s to Archway Road, cross the road and make a right, then a relatively quick left onto Holmesdale Road.  Run a short distance on Holmesdale and the entrance to the Finsbury Greenbelt will be on your left.  Follow the path until it ends, turn left, cross the bridge over the train tracks and enter Finsbury Park. Turn right and run along the western edge of the park until the entrance on Seven Sister’s Road. After we stretch we will head over the street to the Happening Bagel. Once we’ve bought our bagels we will cross back over the street to Costa for coffee and then take the tube home from the Finsbury Park Station.

Wednesday 22 November and Friday 24 November
No organised routes. Meet at 8:30 and pick your own route.

13 – 17 November 2017 Running Info

Hi Everyone,
I’m looking forward to another great week of running. Monday we have an option to go to Canary Wharf, more on that below. Wednesday we’re going to Regents Park to do a different type of tempo/speed drills, make sure you read the directions in the routes section. Remember that these work-outs are more fun if you can stick together with your group and tackle the challenge together. It’s also easier for the group to stay together during this workout, because we’re not on the track. Friday we’re running to Borough Market. As always if you want to stick closer to home on Friday you can run the hill.
Building distance in our training – Monday to Canary Wharf
This week we have another long destination run on the schedule for Monday – Canary Wharf at 9 miles. Please note that the standard training program has a base of 7-8 mile long runs in November-December with a suggestion that you try a 9-10 mile run if you’re feeling strong. The gradual training program has a base of 5-7 mile long runs. Here’s the LINK to our training plans if you would like to take a look. Don’t feel like you have to do this run just because it’s on the schedule. Take stock in how you are feeling and whether you have tackled some longer runs this fall.  If you feel you aren’t up for Canary Wharf you can join the group to the Wall and then turn around and run home instead and continue to do the 7- and 8-mile runs on the schedule for the rest of November and December. We’ll be doing the 9-mile Canary Wharf route again on 29 January 2018. If you want to run to Canary Wharf, that’s great! Try to arrive early to Barclays and find your group right away so the pace groups can start together.
Utrecht Hotel Rooms – LAST CHANCE
We booked our entire original block of rooms which means that right now we have 95 women signed up for Utrecht. Wow! We added more rooms to the block at the same rate. However, if we need to add even more rooms again it will be at a higher rate. So if you are considering going to the race, please book now. We have a generous cancellation policy, so you could cancel later. Also, if your plans change for any reason and you are no longer going to the race, please let us know first before you cancel your room. Here’s the link to our dedicated booking page: https://www.nh-hotels.com/event/women-running-the-world
Keep running,
Jane
ROUTES

Monday, 13 November – 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.

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.

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!

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.   Stretch by the mall entrance, then head inside for a much earned coffee. Afterwards, we’ll head to the Canary Wharf Tube station [Jubilee Line] and tube it home to SJW.  Congratulations!
Wednesday 15 November – Tempo Diamonds —Speed Drills

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 17 November – Borough Market via Westminster Bridge – 6 miles
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.  Continue past Big Ben and cross Westminster Bridge. After the bridge turn left to run along the Thamesuntil the river path ends after Southwark Bridge. Borough Market is under the railway bridge near the London Bridge station. The official address is 8 Southwark Street SE1 1TL.

6 – 10 November 2017 Running Info

Hi all,
Halloween was so much fun with WRW this year! I loved your running costumes! Everyone was very creative and we had a large group run to Brompton Cemetery and stay for coffee at Whole Foods. I also liked all the photos of costumes and pace groups that you posted on our Facebook group. (I recommend joining our Facebook group if you haven’t done it yet. All you need to do is request to join the group “Women Running the World”).
We’re sticking closer to home this week and running to Hyde Park on Monday. The training schedule calls for 8 miles. If you’re not quite ready for 8 miles, that is fine. If you are feeling strong, consider pushing yourself to do a bit more mileage than you have been doing even if it isn’t 8 miles. We’re going to Paddington Track for a tempo run on Wednesday and the Heath on Friday.
Tempo Run Wednesday
This week we’re trying something new and heading to the Paddington track so make sure you read the description below in the route section. Over the next few months leading up to the race we’ll be doing some more structured tempo/speed work. If you haven’t done speed work before, it’s important that you don’t jump right into doing sprints. Each workout will have an easy warm-up and even at the point when you’re supposed to run hard let yourself build up to speed over a few steps or more. SPEED WORK IS SO MUCH MORE FUN IF YOU TACKLE THIS AS A GROUP AND ENCOURAGE EACH OTHER!  Wait for the group during the recovery parts and at the end so you can travel back to Starbucks together. Some of the most difficult workouts can be the most fun if you do it with the group!
Utrecht Hotel – Book Now!
If you are considering joining the half-marathon trip to Utrecht, please book your hotel now. Most of the rooms in our block have been reserved and we may need to add more rooms. The sooner we know if we need more rooms, the better. We have a very generous cancellation policy so you could always cancel later if necessary. The link to our dedicated booking page is:  https://www.nh-hotels.com/event/women-running-the-world
San Francisco Half Marathon – 29 July 2018
We have a growing group of WRW runners from London and the US who are planning to do the San Francisco half marathon this summer. It follows either the first half or the second half of the San Franscisco marathon. The WRW group is doing the first half and the early start at 5:30am so they can run over the Golden Gate bridge. What an amazing life experience! If you want to connect with the group, some of the people who are either signed up or are seriously considering it are: Maureen Fossum, Darcy Fautz, Mee Lee, Carmine Najjar, Kathy McMahon, Danja Roberts and Poornima Guruprasad. If you have any questions you can email Maureen at [email protected]. You can follow this LINK to the race website.
Keep running,
Jane

ROUTES

Hyde Park  8 miles
This run takes you around the periphery of the park.  As before, you turn right at the silver sphere after entering the park.  Cross over N Carriage Rd and keep going until the end of the park.  Turn left to run along the edge.  Just keep turning left until you’re heading  back up along the eastern edge of the park.  Exit at Upper Brook St/Animals of War Memorial.

All the Hyde Park routes are listed on our website.

Wednesday 8 November – Paddington Track
We are trying something new!  Meet at Barlcays as usual, then the groups will jog the 1 mile warm-up to the track at Paddington.

We begin as if we are going to the canal down Circus Road, which becomes Hall Rd, and Sutherland Rd without any turns . There is a crosswalk just before Randolph Ave. Turn right onto Randolph Ave, pass Maida Vale tube, then entrance to Paddington Park is on left.

Since this is the first time we are trying this, it is a bit of trial and error. All suggested times are subject to change.

The 8s should leave as early as they can to allow for spacing at the track.

Workout:

1 mile jog to track

Some stretching and some striders before you begin the workout. Striders explained in the link below.

4 x 800 meters (2 laps) with one lap recovery in between each one.

1 mile jog back to Starbucks for warm down

Total mileage, 5 miles

Group targets:
8’s    3:30 for 800 metres
9’s    4:00 for 800 metres
10’s   4:45 for 800 metres
11’s   5:15 for 800 metres

The one lap jog in between each one is not timed, but best not to walk, but get into a slow recovery jog immediately.

http://dailyburn.com/life/fitness/run-faster-strides-running-drills

Friday 10 November – Heath Routes
It’s Friday which means everyone up to the Heath. 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+ miles:  The partial Heath route OR the Reverse Heath route OR Pergola route
7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.