Hi Everyone,
Thanks for all the great feedback on our Christmas lights run! We had a big group for such an early start. You have amazing spirit! And I love this photo of a group that found Santa and his reindeer! You just never know what you may discover running in London.
This week I have some news to share. After five years, I’ve decided that this will be my last year as the leader of WRW. I’m still going to be in London and running with the group, but as my oldest son is going off to college and my centre of gravity likely shifts slightly to the US, I think it’s a good time to transition to new leadership. I am thrilled to announce that Micki Heskett will be the new leader of WRW! Micki has been a long-term member of WRW and started running in the beginner group trained by our founder Paula Mitchell. As so many of you know, Micki is kind, friendly and welcoming and she lives the ethos of WRW. I’m sure she is going to be an excellent leader. The rest of the WRW leadership team, Amy, Carolyn and Darcy, are staying in their roles so I’m confident that WRW is in very good hands!
My time at WRW has been extremely rewarding and fulfilling. It has been an honour for me to hold this position and I am proud of all that we have accomplished together. I am thankful for all the wonderful women that I have met over the years and I am constantly rejuvenated by your friendship and your care for this group. WRW is always a bright spot in my day. We’ll do the official hand-off at the end of the school year, so you’re not getting rid of me quite yet! We have lots of running (and drinking coffee) still to do together!
Back to running, this week we’re keeping things simple with Hyde Park on Monday, some tempo work in Regents Park on Wednesday and The Hill on Friday. If you’re training for the Utrecht Half Marathon, both the standard and gradual training programs suggest 7 miles on Monday. Challenge yourself to finish the year on a strong note!
THANK YOU to Starbucks – Last chance! We need your help!
The holiday time of year is here and we’ll be organising a gift for the employees at our local St. John’s Wood Starbucks. We’re suggesting a £5-10 donation, but feel free to give whatever you would like. I’ll be collecting money on Monday before the run. We’ll also be donating some baked goodies. Please email Gisele at
[email protected] if you would like to contribute baked goodies.
WE URGENTLY NEED BAKERS, PLEASE HELP. We’ll gather the baked goods on Tuesday Dec 13 and we’ll give the gift to Starbucks on Wed 14 Dec. before we start our run so please get your gift to us soon if you would like to participate.
Running over the holiday
We aren’t setting official routes for the weeks of 18 and 25 December. We’ll be back training as a group on Wednesday 3 January. For those of you in town over the holidays, there’ll be a group meeting at Barclays on MWF at 8:30. If you need some route ideas, scan back through the weekly emails on our website. For everyone, those staying in town and those travelling, feel free to take it easy over the break. There is no harm in giving your body a break. Running 2-3 times a week for 30-40 minutes will allow you to maintain fitness. For those of you training for the half marathon in the spring, we will start back in January with 6-7 miles then our long-run mileage will increase over the weeks leading up to the race.
I hope you all have a fantastic holiday!
Keep running,
Jane
ROUTES
Monday, 11 December – 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 13 December – 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’ve been doing consistent tempo work and would like a challenge you can up your game with the following:
2 minutes, then 3 minutes recovery
3 minutes, then 3 minutes recovery
4 minutes, then 3 minutes recovery
3 minutes, then 3 minutes recovery
2 minutes, then 3 minutes 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 drivew
ays etc. If you find you need more mileage in Regents Park, just keep looping however you see fit.
Friday 15 December – 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 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.
