Hi Runners,

It’s recovery week!  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 are 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.  Email Kathy McMahon, [email protected], she is organising the London group next week.  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!

Have a fabulous break and I look forward to seeing you Monday 24 February!

XO

Jane

Hi everyone,

It’s been another rough weather week in London, but we managed to sneak in our runs before the afternoon rain.  That’s some good incentive to get out and run at 8:15 because you never know what the rest of the day will bring.  Monday was an especially good day because we had a fantastic turn-out for the 9-mile Embankment loop.  For a few runners, that was the first time they had ever run 9 miles – well done!

This week we have the famous 9-mile run to Canary Wharf.  It looks like most of the group has migrated to doing the long run on Monday.  This is 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.  There are two tricky sections when we’re off the canal but I’ve added detailed description 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!  (For those of you who know the route well, please note that I simplified the route in Angel.  Make sure to take a look at that section.)

On Wednesday, we’re going to try a new type of tempo workout – Fartleks!  Make sure you read the description below.

Keep up the good work everyone! and keep running!

Jane

ROUTES

Monday, 10 February—Base Conditioning Run

Canary Wharf!  9.3 miles (with shorter options)

Section One – Canal to the Wall

(The route starts out as the The Wall route – if you need a shorter run consider running to the Wall and returning which is a 6-mile route.)

A few of you have said that you hate running down Wellington Road, so lets run past Panzers and turn right down Cochrane Street to the High Street and cross Prince Albert Road at the SJW zebra crossing.  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 at the euphorium bakery.)  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 (Jack Wills shop at the corner) 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 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.  (You’ll see that the way we have gone in the past is blocked so we need to make a slight detour.)  When you reach the road (Narrow St.), turn left and run past the Dunbar Wharf and make your first right on Three Colt Street.  Run until you hit the water again and turn left.  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 sky-scrapper building in front of you.  Stop when you see the sign for the Canary Wharf DLR Station at the ‘mall’ entrance on the South Collanade.  We’ll meet at the Starbucks inside the building on the right, next to the DLR station.  After a much earned coffee, we’ll head to the Canary Wharf Tube station [Jubilee Line] and tube it home to SJW.  Congratulations!

 

Wednesday, 12 February—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!

Here’s an interesting tidbit—supposedly you can take a timed mile trial number and multiply by 14 to get a predicted half-marathon time.  We’ll test that theory out at the end of March!

Friday, 14 February—Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

No ASL today

It’s time to LOVE 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.

In addition, 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

______________________________________

Website:  https://womenrunningtheworld.commm

Facebook Group:  Women Running The World (request to join)

Email: [email protected]

Hi Everyone,

It’s official!  The Met Office has announced that southeast England had the wettest January in 100 years!  I think the majority of that rain fell during our tempo run last Wednesday!   Thanks to all of you for being so dedicated to running even in all this bad weather.   I know it’s hard.  We’re in the crucial part of our training – only 8 weeks to the race.  Try to block out the time in your calendar to run.  Even if the weather is bad, I promise you’ll feel good when you finish!

This week for our long run we have a 9-mile loop east along the canal through Farringdon to the Embankment and back to St. Johns Wood.  There are a few points along the route where you can tube home if you would like to do a shorter distance and build to our 9-mile run to Canary Wharf next week. We’ll be back in Hyde Park for tempo work as well.  

Looking ahead – Remember the long runs are KEY!  

Feb. 3 – Canal, Farringdon, Embankment loop, 9 miles

Feb. 10 – Canary Wharf destination, 9 miles

Feb. 17 – ASL break (4-6 miles)

Feb. 24 – Battersea loop, 8-10 miles

March 3 – Canal west to Greenford destination, 10 miles

March 10 – Big Ben loop, 8 miles

March 17 – Kew Gardens destination, 11 miles

March 24 – Green Park loop, 6-7 miles

MARCH 30 – RACE DAY!

GERMAN RACE UPDATE

Hills during the race?  There seems to be some rumours going around about the hill profile during the German race.  The best way to describe the course is that it’s rolling hills, gradually up and down, with 3 medium hills at 3km (1.8 miles), 11km (6.8 miles), and 18 km (11 miles).  From looking at the route map, our estimate is that for each medium hill there is a climb is 30-40M over 1KM.  

So what does that mean?  From Swiss Cottage Library to Lyndhurst Road is a 32M climb over 1KM with an average 3% gradient.  We believe this is the best example for the 3 medium hills during the course.  From Belsize Lane (near the flower shop at the base of hill) to the Hampstead Tube is a 45M climb over 1KM, which we believe is a bit more difficult than the 3 hills on the course.  If you’ve been running every Friday up to the Hampstead Tube stop or all the way up the hill to the Heath you’ll have had lots of practice doing hills that are more difficult than the race course.  

PLEASE NOTE!  There is a hill map on the race website but it is very confusing because the half-marathon route is on the same map as the marathon route.  If you take a look at it, the top dark blue line is the marathon route (which does have a few huge hills).  The lower light blue line is for the half-marathon.  The good news is that after the hill at 18km (11 miles) the last part of the race is basically downhill.    Please know that we studied the hills before we chose this as our race for the year and we have complete confidence that the course is not too difficult for our group or the beginner group.  

Tips for Hill Running:  Many people tend to look down and hunch over when running uphill.  Try to resist this urge because you won’t be able to breathe efficiently.  One tip from Paula is to turn your palms upward when running uphill.  Turning your palms upward forces your shoulders back (which opens the breathing passages) and brings the body into a more compact position (instead of flailing arms.) 

Tips for Breathing:  Maureen Fossum has some tips for breathing during our tempo and speed work.  When you’re working hard, remember to focus on your breathing and try to maintain fewer deep breaths instead of taking many shallow breaths.  Maureen suggested using your steps as a guide.  For example, try breathing in for 4 steps and out for 4 steps.  If you are working hard, you may need to breathe more often, maybe breathe in for 2 steps and out for 2 steps, or even 1 step each.  By focusing on deep breathing you’ll give yourself more oxygen but you can also distract yourself from how you’re feeling.  (Your mind is a powerful tool during the difficult parts!)

That’s all for now!  

Keep running!

Jane

ROUTES

LONG RUN

Monday 3 February or Wednesday 5 February

Canal/Farringdon/Embankment Loop – 9 miles (remember this is your slower paced run)

Head out the canal to “The Wall” and exit the canal.  Turn right at the top of the exit onto Muriel/Rodney Street, which will turn into Penton Rise, then King’s Cross and, eventually Farringdon Street.  Stay on Farringdon Street until you reach the Embankment, turn right on the Embankment and run along the Thames for about a mile.  When you reach Northumberland Avenue (At Embankment Tube Station) make a right and run up through Trafalgar Square, onto Cockspur Street and then onto Haymarket. Take this to Picadilly Circus and turn right onto Regent Street.  Run on Regent Street, which turns onto Portland Place, to Marylebone Road.  Run on Marylebone to Allsop and make a right, Which turns into Park Road.  Follow Park Road along the west side of Regent’s Park back to Starbucks the usual way.

TEMPO RUN

Monday 3 February or Wednesday 5 February

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).

HILL RUN  The Heath

Friday 7 February

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.

In addition, 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

______________________________________

Website:  https://womenrunningtheworld.commm

Facebook Group:  Women Running The World (request to join)

Email: [email protected]

Hi all!

Looking forward to another great week of running with you.  This week for our long run we have a 8-mile loop south through Hyde Park and then following Sloane Street to Pimlico and back home.  (There’s also a 6-mile option.)  We’re continuing our tempo work and this week we have a “diamond” run in Regents Park on the schedule.  Make sure you read the description below in the route section.  Remember that a tempo run will be shorter in time – tempo runs should last 45-60 minutes and the speed work sessions should be 25-40 minutes.  Less is more!  I know that speed work can be difficult, so try to stick together as a group and cheer each other on.  It really does help!

German Trip Update-

I’m getting very excited about our upcoming trip!  We’re continuing to finalise the details for all aspects of the weekend and make commitments based on our current numbers.  If for whatever reason your plans have changed and you’re not going to be able to join us, please let me know as soon as possible.  Thanks so much!

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

Jen – GU Energy, Mint Chocolate

Syma – TORQ, Forest Fruits

Linda – 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 from last year.

Keep running!

Jane

ROUTES

Monday, 27 January  Base Conditioning Run

8 Miles:  Sloane St/Victoria Stn Loop

Head the normal way to Hyde Park and along the east [left] side to Hyde Park Corner.  Turn left on the Carriage Drive and exit left out of the park, across Knightsbridge and head right to Sloane Street.  Follow Sloane St south to Pimlico Street and make a left.  Continue left onto Buckingham Palace Road, then left again on Grosvenor Gardens [near Victoria Stn].  Head back up to Hyde Park, exit at the Animal War Memorial onto Upper Brook Street, then left on Park Street and follow this home as it changes names, all the way to SJW Starbucks.

Alternative:  6 Miles:  Hyde Park/Bond Street Shopping

Start with the full group and run to Hyde Park, following the east path to Hyde Park Corner.  Cross through Wellington Arch into Green Park and run across the northern edge of Green Park, exit the park and continue on Piccadilly to New Bond Street, where you turn left.  Take New Bond Street to Oxford Street, then zig zag left then right onto Marylebone Lane.  Take this until it meets with Marylebone High Street and continue to Marylebone Road, make a left, then a right at the light [York Bridge] and enter left into Regents Park just beyond the Ring Road.  Follow the path along the lake, then exit by the Mosque onto Park Road, take a right and head to Starbucks.

Wednesday, 29 January  Tempo ‘Diamond’ Run

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 [down Wellington Road, left at the SJW Church roundabout, cross the zebra crossing before the High Street and enter Park at the Charlbert Entrance].  Enter the Park 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 down 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 31 January – The Heath

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.

In addition, 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.

______________________________________

Website:  https://womenrunningtheworld.commm

Facebook Group:  Women Running The World (request to join)

Email: [email protected]

Hi Runners,

Thanks for a great week of training.  I was happy that so many of you made the 9-mile run to Wembley.  Well done!  We also made good progress on practicing the long-run training pace.   The traffic light experiment worked well and I think we’ll continue doing it.  The 10s were able to run a good pace by sending the 9s one traffic light ahead.  Just that little bit of separation helps each group manage the pace and also eases sidewalk congestion.   

This week our long run is a 7-mile run to Holland Park/Westfield.   You’ll see from our training schedules, that we’ll build mileage over a few weeks and then have some periodic cutback weeks.  It is important to give your body some recovery weeks with less mileage.  Also, we’re going to add some more intense tempo training this week (more on that below). 

Long Runs are KEY!

We’re now in mileage building time!  The long run is the most important thing during this period.  If you are 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.

Looking ahead, we have the following long runs on the schedule –

Week of 27 Jan – Sloane Street/Pimlico Loop (8 miles)

Week of 3 Feb – Farrington, Embankment to SJW Loop (9 miles) or Green Park Tube (8 miles)

Week of 10 Feb – Canary Wharf (9 miles)

Week of 17 Feb – Half-Term/ASL Winter break

Plan for Canary Wharf – Week of 10 Feb

The week of 10 February is an important training week 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 week.

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!

That’s all for now!  

Keep running!

Jane

Click here for the interactive routes on the website.

ROUTES

LONG RUN – 7 miles – remember this is your slower paced run

Monday 20 January (9s, 10s, 12s)

Wednesday 22 January (11s)

Holland Park/Westfield

We are going to head out the canal westbound, but we’re going to go on a bit different of a route. down Run down Circus/Hall/Sutherland all the way to Harrow Road.  We’ll turn left onto Harrow Road and cross over the canal, and then turn right and hop onto the canal towpath there and run down to the Ladbroke Grove exit.  After we exit the canal we’ll run down Ladbroke Grove to Holland Park Avenue and turn right.  We’ll then run a short distance and then turn left onto Holland Walk and straight through the park to Kensington High Street.  Now, we’ll turn right onto Ken High Street, which turns into Hammersmith Road to and run down to Shepard’s Bush Road and make a right. Run down Shepard’s Bush Road to Shepard’s Bush Commons, and across to Uxbridge Road.  Make a right on Uxbridge and run a bit to Ariel Way, which goes directly to the mall.

TEMPO RUN

Wednesday 22 January (9s, 10s, 12s)

Monday 20 January (11s)

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).

HILL RUN  The Heath

Friday 24 January

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.

In addition, 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.

______________________________________

Website:  https://womenrunningtheworld.commm

Facebook Group:  Women Running The World (request to join)

Email: [email protected]

Hi everyone,

Happy New Year!  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.

Congratulations to Sunny Brenneman who got a new full-time job!  We’re happy for you, but we’re really going to miss running with you weekly.

Keep running!

Jane

ROUTES

LONG RUN – 7 miles

Monday 6 January (9s, 10s, 12s)

Wednesday 8 January (11s)

Green Park Loop

Head to Hyde Park the usual way and run along the eastern edge of the park to Hyde Park Corner.  Cross under the Wellington Arch and run down Constitution Hill to The Mall.  Run a short distance down The Mall, turn left and run along the eastern edge of Green Park to Piccadilly.  Turn left on Piccadilly and run along the northern edge of Green Park back to Hyde Park Corner.  Cross back into Hyde Park and run back up the eastern edge of the park to the Upper Brook Street exit and back to SJW via the normal route.

TEMPO RUN – 6 miles

Monday 6 January (11s)

Wednesday 8 January (9s , 10s, 12s)

The Wall

Run South on Finchley/Wellington Road to the SJW Church Roundabout, follow the sidewalk to the left and cross Prince Albert Road at the crosswalk just beyond the SJW Church.  Continue east and enter the canal at the Charlbert entrance.  Run east [left], cutting through the Camden Lock Market until you run out of canal path at Islington.  Touch the canal boat tunnel wall—this is The Wall!—then turn around and re-trace your steps back to SJW.  When you come off the canal at Regents Park, take Charlbert to Allitsen to SJW High Street to Starbucks.

Friday 20 December – The Heath

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.

In addition, 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.

______________________________________

Website:  https://womenrunningtheworld.commm

Facebook Group:  Women Running The World (request to join)

Email: [email protected]

Hi all,

I can’t believe we’ve arrived at the last week before the December break!  I want to thank all of you for such a great “first semester” for Women Running the World.  I’ve loved getting to know all of you.  I’m so impressed with your commitment and dedication.  Knowing that you’ll be waiting for me at Barclays certainly helps me get out the door on the dark London mornings.  I’m very proud of how friendly and welcoming you’ve been to all our new runners.  And I’m equally proud of how many new runners have joined us this year.   Keep up the good work!

Running over the holiday

We aren’t setting official routes for the weeks of 23 and 30 December.  We’ll be back training as a group the week of 6 January.  For those of you in town over the holidays, get in touch with each other.  Usually people keep running, but sometimes they will go a bit later in the day.  If you need some route ideas, scan back through the weekly emails on our website.  For everyone, those staying in town and those traveling, 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 to the race.

12s Pace Group

The 12s pace group has decided to move their long run to Mondays starting in January.  Mark your calendar!

THANK YOU gift and cookies for Starbucks staff!

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 £10 donation but feel free to give whatever you would like.  We would love a few folks to agree to make cookies as well.  Give your donation, in an envelope with your name, to Bonnie, Syma, Betsy or me.  Please email Bonnie Bandeen ([email protected]) if you would like to contribute baked treats.  We’ll give the gift to Starbucks on Wed Dec. 18 so please get your gift to us soon if you would like to participate.  

Keep running!

Jane

ROUTES

LONG RUN – 5 – 8 miles

Monday 16 December for the 9s and 10s

Wednesday 18 December for the 11s and 12s

 

Vauxhall/Embankment/Birdcage Loop

 

Start: Everyone starts the same way.  Go south Wellington/Park/Gloucester toward Hyde Park and cross over to Hyde Park on Upper Brook Street and continue south along the east side of the park. Exit the park through Duke of Wellington Square and go down Grosvenor Place along Victoria Street and onto Vauxhall Bridge Road. 

 

5 Milers Continue down Vauxhall Bridge Road to Millbank and turn left.  Run along The Thames to Parliament Square, where you can take the Jubilee Line home from the Westminster Tube Station.

 

6 Milers Run from Parliament Square up Birdcage Walk, through St James Park.  Go left on The Mall to Constitution Hill back through Duke of Wellington Square and home via tube from the Hyde Park Station.

 

8 Milers Continue up the ester edge of Hyde park and out at Upper Brook Street.  Go left on Portman and head home via Gloucester Place/Park Rd/ Wellington.

 

 

TEMPO RUN – 6 miles

Wednesday, 18 December for the 9s and 10s

Monday, 16 December for the 11s and 12s

Kensal Rise

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. For 4 miles, the two mile mark is approx at the point on the canal when the Westway highway is over our heads; turn around there to head back the way you came.  

Friday 20 December – The Heath

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.

In addition, 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.

______________________________________

Website:  https://womenrunningtheworld.commm

Facebook Group:  Women Running The World (request to join)

Email: [email protected]

Hi all,

We’ve got a great long run to Wembley this week with options for 7, 8 or 9 miles.  We head west along the canal for 7 miles.  We quickly lose the bike traffic and there are parts of the route that are urban and others that are very rural.  It is an interesting slice of modern London.  (The only tricky part is knowing when to exit the canal.  Check out the photo and directions below – you’re looking for a big “243 Ealing Road” sign.)  If you have been following the gradual training schedule and building a base of 5-6 mile runs, this week you need to do 7 miles.  (Don’t be tempted to run 7 if you haven’t run in awhile, mileage increase should always be gradual).  If you have a few 7 mile runs under your belt, think about running 8 or 9.  The good news is that the route is the same, you can decide which tube to take home based on how you are feeling on the day.  The destination runs take a bit longer, but they’re worth it to prevent boredom.  Running a new route can add a spark to your training!

THANK YOU to Starbucks!

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 £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, Syma, Betsy or me.  Please email Bonnie Bandeen ([email protected]) if you would like to contribute baked treats.  We’ll give the gift to Starbucks on Wed Dec. 18 so please get your gift to us soon if you would like to participate.

German Trip – Update

We had an outstanding response to our money collection and t-shirt distribution last week.  THANK YOU!  This is going to be a fantastic trip!

Keep running!

Jane

ROUTES

LONG RUN – 8 or 9 miles

Monday 9 December (9s and 10s)

Wednesday 11 December (11s and 12s)

This week we have 7 miles on the gradual training plan and 8-9 miles on the standard training plan.

7 miles (Alperton Tube Station)

8 miles (Wembley Central Tube Station)

9 miles (Wembley Park Tube Station)

Wembley

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.  (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.

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

TEMPO RUN – 6.75 miles

Monday 9 December (11s and 12s)

Wednesday 11 December (9s and 10s)

Notting Hill

Run out 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.

Friday 13 December – The Heath

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.

In addition, 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.

______________________________________

Website:  https://womenrunningtheworld.commm

Facebook Group:  Women Running The World (request to join)

Email: [email protected]

Hi all,

For those who celebrate, I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!  Thanks to everyone who ran to Happening Bagel last week.  It was fun to have all the groups together.  I really enjoyed the run, hope you did too.

I know this is a busy time of year and making the time to run can be a challenge.  Please, please try to keep running consistently.  It is the best way to avoid injury.  This week we return to some of our standard runs – Hyde Park, Notting Hill and the Heath.  This offers many options in terms of distance and we can loop back to St. John’s Wood.  (Looking ahead, the following week Dec. 9 or Dec. 11, our long run is to Wembley or Wembley Park, which is a great training run.  We head west out the canal for almost the entire run.  But you will need to build a little extra time in your schedule for the tube home.)

GERMAN TRIP UPDATE

Your response to the half marathon trip to Germany has been amazing!  We have an over 20% increase in our numbers since last year – as I write this it looks like we have 85 women going to Bad Durkheim.  This is very exciting but it also means that the logistics of managing the trip are more complicated.  Please help us out by reading the emails and doing what we ask from you.  We’ll be collecting money next week 4 – 6 December at Pret.  Please look out for an email early in the week with all the details.

Keep Running!

Jane

ROUTES

LONG RUN — Hyde Park—always versatile! 6 or 8 miles, your choice:

Monday, 2 December for the 9s and 10s

Wednesday, 4 December for the 11s and 12s

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.

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.

TEMPO RUN – The Wall

Wednesday 4 December for  9s and 10s

Monday 2 December for  11s and 12s

6 Milers: Run South on Finchley/Wellington Road to the SJW Church Roundabout, follow the sidewalk to the left and cross Prince Albert Road at the crosswalk just beyond the SJW Church.  Continue east and enter the canal at the Charlbert entrance.  Run east [left], cutting through the Camden Lock Market until you run out of canal path at Islington.  Touch the canal boat tunnel wall—this is The Wall!—then turn around and re-trace your steps back to SJW.  When you come of the canal at Regents Park, take Charlbert to Allitsen to SJW High Street to Starbucks.

3 Milers:  Start as above but when you reach the Camden Lock Market, turn around and head home.

Notes:  This is a great time to do a faster ‘tempo’ run.  Be very aware of bicyclists who commute on this canal path.  Move into single file lines whenever someone yells out ‘bike!’

Friday 6 December – The Heath

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.

In addition, 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.

______________________________________

Website:  https://womenrunningtheworld.commm

Facebook Group:  Women Running The World (request to join)

Email: [email protected]