Hi Everyone,

I hope you had a good recovery week.  I’m looking forward to seeing everyone and getting back to running.  We’ve only five more long runs before the half marathon!  (For those of you really pushing for a time, you may want to do an additional long run after the spring break.  More on that later.)  This week our long run is the Battersea Park Loop.  The entire loop is 10 miles, but there are many options to do a shorter loop or take a tube home if you are not up for the full 10 miles after our recovery week.  Looking ahead we have the following long runs:

Feb. 23 – Battersea Loop, 8-10 miles

March 2 – Big Ben Loop, 8 miles

March 9 – Canal to Greenford Destination, 10 miles

March 16 – Canal, Farringdon, Embankment Loop, 9 miles

March 23 – Kew Gardens Destination, 11 miles

March 30 – Spring Break

April 6 – Easter Monday holiday

April 13 – Green Park Loop, 6-7 miles

April 19 – RACE DAY

You’ll see that we have a mix of destination and loop runs.  Try to plan in your schedule for 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 running to The Wall and you can decide if you’d like to do some tempo training as part of that run or maybe practice your race pace for a bit.  Friday ASL is off for conferences so we’ll start at 8:30 for anyone who can make it.

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!

Finally, well done to all of you who made it to Canary Wharf before the break!  You get extra credit for surviving the bikes (and skate boards and motorcycles!) on the canal – I’ve never seen it that crowded!   Super proud of all of you.  We’re really in the home stretch as far as race training goes – keep up the good work!

Keep running,

Jane

ROUTES

Monday February 23 –  Battersea Loop  7.5-10.3 miles

 

Today we do an up and back and you can pick your turnaround point to meet the distance in your training schedule. 

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.  We will then 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 and run along the north side of the river back to Chelsea Bridge Road, where we will turn left and run back up through Sloane Square to Knightsbridge, turning right then left to retrace our way back into Hyde Park by the French Embassy.  Run to the paved path, turning right towards Hyde Park Corner, then left long the eastern edge of the park to the exit at Upper Brook Street [by the Animal war memorial] and back to Starbucks the usual way.

 

Wednesday February 25 — The Wall 6 miles

 

Today we all run to The Wall but it is YOUR CHOICE as to whether you run it ‘steady’ or resume your tempo training by doing Fartlek ‘speed intervals.’  If you choose to do interval sprints, try to pick areas that are less crowded before you turn on your super speed for intermittent speed runs, followed by slow recovery running.  Mix these up as you choose, different interval lengths and speeds are fine, provided you are in control of your body as you run by the grommets, bikes, walkers and other runners.

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.”  [Don’t forget to touch The Wall or else your run doesn’t count :p ].  At The Wall, we turn around and head back to St. John’s Wood.  Easy!

Friday February 27 —  The Heath [all options]

It’s Friday so everyone head up Fitzjohn’s.  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.

4 miles:  A great way to ease into running the hill.   Run up to the Hampstead tube station and back.
5 miles: The Betsy Route
6-7miles:  The partial Heath route

7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

Hello Runners,

Monday we’re off to Wembley with options for 7, 8 or 9 miles.  Spend a minute at Barclays making sure you get in your pace group before we start.  Since we have a long stretch on the canal you’ll want to make sure to look out for each other and not leave anyone behind.  It’s a good idea to wait for your group at the canal exit, see the photo below.  ASL Lower School is off on Monday so we have runners planning to go to Wembley on Tuesday as well.  Let me know if you need guidance linking up with your group.

Wednesday we return to tempo work in Hyde Park – the famous Hyde Park Tempo Triangles!  Friday we’re doing something a bit different, we’re running to the Finsbury Happening Bagel through Highgate and the Greenbelt.  This is one of my favourite runs, which we don’t do that often because we usually run in the Heath for our hill days.  It takes a bit longer because we tube home but to me it’s worth it.  I love the Greenbelt – a stretch of wild green in the middle of the city- and truthfully I LOVE the bagels at Happening Bagel.  (If you can’t run to Happening Bagel, you can always do one of our standard Heath routes.)

Good Luck Racers!

This weekend we have a big group of runners participating in the Cancer Research London Winter 10K including Gladys Al Saleh, Erin Collins, Alyse Driscoll, Lesley Gallagher, Joanna Gusich, Karina Kalb, Julie Moyle, Tammie Purdue, Vicky Timbers and Yianna Xenakis.  (Sorry if I forgot anyone!)  We hope you have a great race!

Important

Please don’t dash across the street just as the light is about to change. I know that sometimes we’re just chatting and not really paying attention, but this is really important.  First of all, it’s dangerous!  You may just make it across, but if other runners follow you, they’ll be stuck in the middle of traffic. (If you do happen to make it across an intersection, you can always wait at the other side of the road for the group.)  Second, it can be disheartening to be running ten steps behind someone only to watch them ditch you at the light – even if it’s unintentional.  I feel pretty strongly about this one – the ethos of this group is that we all look out for each other and run in groups.  You don’t have to wait for 50 people, but we all know the 5-10 people that tend to be in our group.  Look out for each other!  This is going to be especially important when we do some of our upcoming long runs.  Thanks for understanding!

Reminder – Padua Race Registration

The fees for registering for the Padua Race increase on Feb. 1.  Here’s the LINK to the directions for buying the race registration and the Runcard.

THIS GIRL CAN!

The UK Government has come out with a new ad campaign to encourage girls and women to be active.  They’re trying to specifically target women’s “fear of being judged” and I think they did an amazing job (and they’ve had over 5 million views on youtube.)  If you haven’t seen it yet, take a second to watch the video. http://www.takepart.com/video/2015/01/18/this-girl-can

Love this photo of our runners in the frosty Heath!

Keep running,

Jane

ROUTES

Monday February 2nd – Wembley (7-9 miles)

 

7 miles (Alperton Tube Station-Piccadilly Line)

8 miles (Wembley Central Tube Station–Bakerloo Line and Overground)

9 miles (Wembley Park Tube Station–Jubilee and Metropolitan Lines)

 

This is a great run – we go out the Canal to the west almost the entire way. No lights and soft on the knees! Continue out the canal and exit at Alperton.  The steps are just before the bridge labelled number “11” and “Ealing Road Alperton.”  (See photo below).  Turn right at the top of the stairs and your first right again onto Ealing Road.  Just after the turn you’ll see the Alperton station on your left for the 7-mile route. Follow Ealing Road to the High Road and turn right.  You’ll see Wembley Central on your right for the 8-mile route.  For 9 miles, continue until you make a left on Park Lane which becomes Wembley Park Drive. Continue past the stadium and to the Wembley Park Tube Station.

 

NOTE:  While the Alperton Tube station is at mile 7, it is a longer Tube ride home because of the necessary line changes.  You might want to push on to mile 8 and take Wembley Central which is a faster route home.

 

Here’s a photo of the exit off of the canal:

(You’re looking for the 243 Ealing Road sign)

 

Wednesday February 4th – Tempo Time!  Hyde Park Tempo Triangle

 

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 (if you go back to SJW it is about 6.5 miles).

 

Friday February 6 –What, NOT the Heath?!  No, it’s 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.  Cross the street at the big intersection and go down Southwood Lane and at the bottom of the hill veer to the right onto Jackson’s Lane. Continue down Jackson’s to Archway 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 to Finsbury Park, cross over the train tracks, turn right and run along the western edge of the park and exit onto Seven Sister’s Road.  Happening Bagel is across the street and we will go to Costa for coffee. We will take the tube home from the Finsbury Park Station.

Alternatively, you can run your favorite Heath route.  Your choice!

4 miles:  A great way to ease into running the hill.   Run up to the Hampstead tube station and back.
5 miles: The Betsy Route
6-7miles:  The partial Heath route

7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

Hi Everyone,

What a beautiful run in the Heath on Friday!  Thanks to Maureen for the stunning photo of our runners on a spectacular winter day.  

On Monday we have a 7-mile loop out the canal and then down to Hyde Park, entering near the Italian fountains.  We head to Green Park and then turn back toward St. John’s Wood.  Remember to watch your pace.  We have a few weeks of 7-8 mile runs so that we can build to our 9-mile run to Canary Wharf on Feb. 9.

Wednesday we’re doing another new tempo/speed workout in Regents Park.  We’re doing Fartleks!  Make sure you read the directions in the route section.  As always, these workouts are so much more fun if you stick together as a group and encourage each other along the way.   Here’s a LINK to a short but informative article about why Fartlek workouts are good for your training.

Padua Trip

I sent two emails this week about the Padua trip regarding race registration and the Giotto Fresco tour.  If you didn’t receive the emails please first check your SPAM folder and if you still didn’t receive it, please email back and let me know.  We want to make sure that our master email list is correct!  (If you want to go on the tour, a reminder that you need to email Karina Kalb at [email protected] today.)

ENERGY GELS for training and the race

Looking ahead to our longest training runs, it is time to start to think about what type of gel or fueling you’ll use during the race.  Fueling is different for each runner but I’ll give you some of Paula’s general guidelines.  The rule of thumb is that after about 80-90 minutes of running you’ll have used up natural fuel sources and you’ll need to top up the tank with something.  (That is based on our type of running, if someone is running a marathon at a 6 min/mile pace, their fueling needs will be different!)  Most of the women in the group use some sort of sports gel.  If you have never used a sports gel before it is crucial that you try it out during some of our long training runs.  The gels are very concentrated so a brand that might work well for one person could make another person feel sick.  Below are some recommendations from members of the group.  It is worth stocking up now so you’ll have them for our longest runs.  You can go to a Runner’s Need store or order them on the internet.  Amazon also has a good stock.  (If you have some leftovers at home, make sure to check the expiration date because they don’t last forever.)

Amy – GU Energy, Tri-Berry

Syma – TORQ, Forest Fruits

Jane – GU Roctane (has caffeine), Blueberry Pomegranate

Vicky – Clif Shot Bloks, Berry or Orange

We’ll review this again before our longest runs, but in general during a race you would take a gel somewhere between 7-8 miles and then don’t take another one for 35-45 mins.  (Don’t be tempted to take more than one gel in 30 mins! – you’ll need to keep an eye on your watch.)  If you don’t want to get into too much of the science of it all, Paula recommends that you take a gel at 8 miles during the race if you’re running at a medium pace for you (not as compared to anyone else) or 7 miles if you’re running fast for you.  For me, during training, I will take a gel around 7-8 mile mark of a 10-mile run.  Even if I don’t feel that I desperately need it at that point, it helps me feel better at the end of run, and helps me practice taking a gel.  If you are interested in learning more about fueling, gels and the different brands, CLICK HERE to read Paula’s full note.

Royal Parks Half Marathon- October 11, 2015

The ballot for spaces in the Royal Parks Half Marathon opens next week.  It will open on Tuesday 27 January and stay open until Wednesday 4 February.  This is a great race because it is very close to home and you get to run in some of London’s iconic spots like Hyde Park corner and past Big Ben with no cars, only runners.  I ran this race two years ago if you have any questions.  Here’s the LINK to the race website.

Winter weather

One quick note on London weather forecasts.  Some news sources were predicting snow for last weekend and into Monday. They made it seem like we’d get two feet of snow but instead we got about 2 minutes on Saturday afternoon.  If you run in London you can’t be too swayed by the weather.  Wake up, put on your running clothes and come run. If it is snowy or icy, we won’t run, we’ll go straight to coffee.  But in the last 4 years of running in London that only happened once or twice!

Thanks for reading another long email – keep running!

Jane

ROUTES

Monday, 26 January – Canal West/Paddington/Hyde/Green/Mayfair Loop (6.89 miles)

Start out by heading west on Circus Road, turn left on Grove End to St John’s Wood Road and go west, running along Blomfield towards the canal.  Do not get on the canal but instead cross over the canal and take the Westbourne Bridge over the Westway A40.  Run south on Westbourne Terrace and at the fork, bear right to enter Hyde Park at Lancaster Gate.  

Run along the west side of the Italian Gardens and continue along the south side of The Serpentine until you reach Hyde Park Corner.  Run through Wellington Arch and turn left to enter Green Park.  Run to the Green Park Tube, cross Piccadilly and head north (turn left) on to  Berkeley Street.  After Berkeley Square Gardens, turn left and then right onto Davies Street.  Run north on Davies to the Bond Street Tube.  Go left on Oxford and then right onto James Street.  Run north on James which becomes Marylebone High Street.  At Marylebone Road, turn left and then right to enter Regents Park at York Gate.  Once in Regents Park, turn left and run along the Boating Lake back to the Charlbert Street exit.  Take Charlbert back to SJW Terrace and Starbucks.

Wednesday, 28 January – Tempo Track Sprinting and Fartleks

Time for more tempo training—this week we incorporate 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!

Friday, 30 January –  The Heath

Today is hill day and you can pick your choice of the Heath Runs.  Want to try a new hill run that front loads the hills [almost all downhill after the half way point] and avoids the muddy Heath?  Try the Highgate option, below.  After this week, we will call this the 7.5 mi Highgate route and the Heath run link will include it on our web page.

 

Highgate  (7.5+miles)

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 a 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 to Belsize Avenue, veering to the left to stay onto Buckland Crescent  and take this to Fitzjohn’s.  Left on Fitzjohn’s to Swiss Cottage, then scoot over to St Johns Wood Park Road and back to Starbucks.

 

 

Regular Heath routes (4 – 8 miles):

4 miles:  A great way to ease into running the hill.   Run up to the Hampstead tube station and back.
5 miles: The Betsy Route
6-7miles:  The partial Heath route
8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

Hi Everyone,

Welcome back – it was great to see so many women running last week!  This Monday we’re heading to Sloane Square, the Embankment, Westminster and Green Park.  This is a great route with many distance options and a chance to see some beautiful parts of the city.  We’re also starting our more intense tempo training this Wednesday (more on that below).

We’re in an important part of our training – only 12 training weeks until the race (plus 2 weeks of vacation).  Try to block out the running time in your schedule and make it a priority.

Long Runs are KEY!

We’re now in mileage building time!  The long run is the most important thing during this period.  If you’re struggling to remain motivated or are dealing with aches/pains, consider doing less mileage on your mid-distance run.  You could also consider doing less on the hills. You’ll see from our training schedules, that we’ll build mileage over a few weeks and then have some periodic cutback weeks.  It’s important to give your body some recovery weeks with less mileage.

Looking ahead

We have the following long runs on the schedule:

Jan. 12 – Sloane Square/Westminster/Green Park (7.5 miles)

Jan. 19 – Big Ben Loop (8 miles)

Jan. 26 – Canal West/ Hyde Park/Mayfair (7 miles)

Feb. 2 – Wembley Park (7-9 miles)

Feb. 9 – Canary Wharf (9 miles)

Feb. 16 – Winter Break

Also on Friday Jan 23 we’ll be adding a 7-mile Heath route for those who would like to build to doing the full 8-mile Heath route.

Plan for Canary Wharf – Feb 9

February 9 is an important training day because if you’ve been following either the standard or gradual training schedule all groups need to do a 9-mile run.   Mark your calendars – I’d love to see the entire group make the run to Canary Wharf that day.

Tempo Run this week 

Make sure you read the description below in the route section.  Over the next two 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 is important that you don’t jump right into doing sprints.  You’ll see that this week, we have an easy/gentle run to Hyde Park with some stretches of fast running in the park and then an easy run (or bus/tube ride) home.   THIS 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 SJW together.  Some of the most difficult workouts can be the most fun if you do it with the group!

Getting back to running

If you’ve been injured or haven’t been running in the fall please plan to gradually build your mileage.  If you add too much too soon, you risk injury.  If you would like to link up with some other runners who are getting back into running, please let me know.

That’s all for now!

Keep running,

Jane

ROUTES

Monday 12 January  – Sloane Sq/Westminster/Green Park (7.5 miles)

Everybody starts out 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 exit by the tall shiny new ‘One Hyde Park’ complex, cross over Knightsbridge and continue ahead on Sloane Street.  Continue past Sloane Square down Lower Sloane St/ Chelsea Bridge Road to the Thames.  Turn left on the Thames side of Grosvenor Road and run along the embankment.  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 head home!

Wednesday 14 January – Hyde Park Tempo Triangle

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 (if you go back to SJW it is about 6.5 miles).

Friday 16 January – The Heath (4-8 miles)

It’s Friday so everyone head up Fitzjohn’s.  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.

4 miles:  A great way to ease into running the hill.   Run up to the Hampstead tube station and back.

5 miles: The Betsy Route

6-7miles:  The partial Heath route

8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

______________________________________

Hi everyone,

Happy New Year!  I can’t believe we’re in 2015.  I hope you had a fantastic holiday break!  It will be great to see you all again.  This is the week to get back into running.  The routes this week are straight forward.  If you didn’t run at all over the holidays, you might consider limiting your mileage this week and easing back into a regular running routine.  I know it can be difficult to get back to running, especially in the dark January days.  But try to block the time in your schedule and plan to run.  You’ll be glad you did it – I promise!

Keep running!

Jane

ROUTES

Monday 5 January – Hyde Park (3 to 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—you’ll see a silver orb just inside the Park.  After entering the Park, turn right and run towards Speaker’s Corner.

3 Milers:  Continue south through Hyde Park, past the Serpentine and at the Carriage drive, make a left and head back toward Hyde Park Corner.  Take the Hyde Park Corner tube home.

5 Milers:  At Hyde Park Corner continue back up/north on the carriage drive.  Exit the park at the Animals in War memorial and follow Upper Brook Street.  Turn left on Park Street which becomes Gloucester Place and then Park Road back to St. John’s Wood.

6 Milers: upon entering the park, turn right at the silver sphere and run until you meet N Carriage Road where you turn left.  Run down to the Serpentine, crossing over the bridge then left to run along the Serpentine. At the end of the Serpentine, turn left again and make your way to the eastern edge of the park before exiting at the Upper Brook St/Animals in War exit.  Continue along Upper Brook Street to Park Street, turn left, take it to Park Road and into SJW.

8 Milers: follow the 6 mile run but do not turn left at No Carriage Rd, instead cross over [this is tricky, be careful] and follow until you reach the large broadwalk where you turn left.  Run past Kensington Palace (on your right) and take a left to run along the southern edge of the park towards Hyde Park Corner, then turn left on the eastern edge and exit at Upper Brook St/Animals in War exit as above.  Take Upper Brook Street to Park Street [left] to Park Road and home to SJW.

Wednesday 7 January – 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.”  [Don’t forget to touch The Wall or else your run doesn’t count :p ].  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 9 January – The Heath 4-8 miles

It’s a NEW YEAR and Friday so everyone up head up for our FIRST HEATH RUN of 2015!!!  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.

4 miles:  A great way to ease into running the hill.   Run up to the Hampstead tube station and back.

5 miles: The Betsy Route

6-7miles:  The partial Heath route

8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

Hi Everyone,

This was another great week for WRW.  I loved how many people were up for an early morning run to see the Christmas lights!  You have amazing spirt!  We had 27 runners including two special guests – Lesley’s husband David and Meg’s daughter Alex.  The picture above is dark but that’s the point – it’s proof that we were actually at Barclays at 6:00am!  It was quite an experience to see the lights without traffic or crowds.  A big THANK YOU to Diane for the great suggestion and for leading us that morning. I think we’ve started a new WRW tradition.  If anyone has ideas for new fun routes, please let me know.

On Monday we’re returning to the Sloan Square/ Embankment/Westminster/ GreenPark route.  It offers one more chance to see the shops on Sloane Street and many options for distance depending on which tube you take home.  Wednesday we’re doing the Kensal Rise loop and Friday we’re back up the hill.

Reminder:  T-Shirt order due now

I sent an email mid-week but just in case you missed it – It’s time for the new t-shirts!  The cost is £25 per shirt.  It will be the same Nike Dri Fit shirt we’ve had the last two years, but in a new fun colour.  We’ll have our WRW logo on the front and a new saying on the back.  If you want to see a sample, there will surely be someone wearing one from last year on any given running day.  You should also ask your fellow runners about their sizes because the shirts run a bit big.

If you want a shirt please:

1.  Respond to this email and say you want a shirt

2.  Include your size in the email

BEFORE next Wednesday 17 December 

(Our supplier has suggested that we get the order in before January so we’re having a quick turnaround.)  We’re going to collect money in January!  We’re also looking into offering a long-sleeve half-zip.  More details on that in the new year.

THANK YOU to Starbucks – Last chance!

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.  We’ll also be donating some home-baked goodies.  Give your donation, in an envelope with your name, to Bonnie Bandeen or me before Tuesday Dec 16.  Please email Bonnie ([email protected]) if you would like to contribute baked treats.  Bonnie will gather the baked goods on Tuesday Dec 16 and we’ll give the gift to Starbucks on Wed 17 Dec. 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 22 and 29 December.  We’ll be back training as a group the week of 5 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 mileage will increase over the weeks leading up to the race.

I hope you all have a fantastic holiday!  I feel very grateful for WRW and each one of you!

Keep running,

Jane

ROUTES

Monday 15 December  – Sloane Sq/Westminster/Green Park (3.75-10 miles)

Choose your distance!

Everybody starts out 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 exit by the tall shiny new ‘One Hyde Park’ complex, cross over Knightsbridge and continue ahead on Sloane Street.

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

6.33’ers:  continue past Sloane Sq 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!

7.5’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 head home!

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

Wednesday 17 December – Kensal Rise 4-6 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, working your way to the canal entrance on Blomfield.  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 19 December – The Heath (4-8 miles)

It’s Friday [again!], so everyone up Fitzjohn’s.  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.

5 miles: The Betsy Route

6-7 miles:  The partial Heath route

8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

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