Category: MWF

11 – 15 December 2017 Running Info

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.

4 – 8 December 2017 Running Info

Hi Everyone,
We have two unique runs planned this week where we’re doing something different so please read the email below. Should be very fun, hope you can join us!
Monday – Wembley Central IN REVERSE
On Monday we’ll plan to meet at Barclays as normal, but then we’re going to run to the Maida Vale station and take the Bakerloo line to the Wembley Central station. (You may want to stretch again on the train.) We’ll take a minute at the Wembley Central station to get organised into our pace groups and then we follow the canal back to St. John’s Wood. There are a few benefits of doing the route in reverse. We miss a lot of the bike traffic on the canal and we end at home so we don’t have to take a cold tube ride back. In addition, if you find that you are struggling near the end of the run, you’ll be in familiar territory and could always walk a bit. If you’re not sure if you want to tackle 8 miles, it’s 6.5 miles to the canal exit in Little Venice so you could easily walk to town/home from there. If you tackle the entire route, you’ll have Starbucks waiting as a reward!
Wednesday – Christmas Lights, 6:00am start
Why get up so early? It really is quite spectacular to see the Christmas lights at night and without the crowds. The picture at the top of the email is from the run last year. For those who are interested, meet at Barclays at 6:00am. When we’re waiting at Barclays and when we run by the houses in town, be VERY QUIET. No talking or only whispers. Our group is very loud and we don’t want to wake up the entire neighbourhood at that early hour! It’s 4.4 miles to Bond Street station and 5.3 miles to Baker Street. (Last year I took the tube from Bond Street and was home around 7:15.) Everyone should look at the map because the group usually gets divided as different groups stop for pictures. If you’re planning to run at 6:00am please wear bright or reflective clothing and maybe even carry a bike light or head lamp if you have one. And be extra careful of the cars!
If you’re not up for an early morning run, they’ll be a group that meets at the regular time on Wednesday. You can decide to do the Christmas Lights route at that time, or you can do the regularly planned Wednesday route of The Wall or another route of your choice.
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 £5-10 donation, but feel free to give whatever you would like. We’ll also be donating some home-baked goodies and Gisele has agreed to be the coordinator of the baked goods. Give your donation (in an envelope with your name) to me before Tuesday 12 December. Please email Gisele at [email protected] if you would like to contribute baked treats. We’ll gather the baked goods on Tuesday 12 December and we’ll give the gift to Starbucks on Wednesday 13 December before the run. Please get your gift to us soon if you would like to participate.
Utrecht Hotel – LAST CHANCE
If you would like to join the group for the half marathon race in Utrecht, please book your hotel now. The hotel is filling up and we don’t want you to miss out. If there is any chance that you might attend, please book your room now. We have a generous cancellation policy so you can cancel later if your plans change. You must book a room using the hotel booking page for our group: https://www.nh-hotels.com/event/women-running-the-world. If you have any issues with the hotel website or booking a room please email Carolyn Perelmuter at [email protected]. Also, if you are going to Utrecht, please send your flight information and roommate name (if you have one) to Sue Wheeler at [email protected]. Thanks so much!
Keep running,
Jane
ROUTES
Monday 4 December – Wembley Central to SJW (IN REVERSE) 8 miles
 This week we are reversing our long run by starting at Wembley Central and running back back along the canal to St. John’s Wood. We are going to take the tube from Maida Vale out to Wembley Central station so meet at Barclays at the usual time for the short run over to the station.

Part 1 – Run to Maida Vale tube station
Take Circus Road/Hall Road to Hamilton Terrace. Turn right on Hamilton Terrace and then left on Abercorn Place and cross Maida Vale. The tube station is ahead of you on the left. We’re taking the Bakerloo Line to Wembley Central station.

Part 2 – Wembley Central station to St. John’s Wood

Out of the station, turn left on the High Street and then take your first left on to Ealing Road. Follow Ealing Road (past the Alperton station) to the T- junction and turn left. You’ll cross over the canal bridge and see the entrance to the canal path on your left. There is a 243 Ealing Road sign for new apartments at the entrance to the canal (see photo below.) We’ll follow the canal back home and then exit the canal off Bloomfield Road in Maida Vale and run back the usual way to Starbucks.

Wednesday 6 December

Option One (6:00 am start) – London Holiday Lights (4-6 miles)

The first part of the route we run through Regents Park. Head out St John’s Wood Terrace, right on Charlbert and enter Regents Park. Turn right at the Outer Circle and follow the outer edge of the circle until we exit at York Gate. [Note we are running by residences in Regents Park so try not to talk—our conversations echo in the early morning calm!] Cross Marylebone Road, running through the Marylebone Church courtyard and follow Marylebone High Street down until you turn right on George Street, then left on Spanish Place to Manchester Square (past the Wallace Collection) then right on Fitzhardinge Street, left on Orchard Street until you reach Oxford Street.

Turn left on Oxford Street and continue until you reach Regents Street and turn right. Follow Regents Street to Great Marlborough Street, take a left, go past Liberty and then take a right on Carnaby Street.  Follow Carnaby to its end at Beak Street, right on Beak then left on Regents Street, all the way into Piccadilly Circus.  Turn right on Piccadilly Street and then right on Old Bond Street. Follow Old Bond which turns into New Bond back up to Brook Street. Turn left then right onto South Molton Street up to Oxford Street.  You can stop at the Bond Street Station (4.4 miles) or continue up Gee’s Court (a tiny alley street diagonally across from Bond Street Station) which becomes St. Christopher’s Place. Cross Wigmore Street up Marylebone Lane, back up the Marylebone High Street, through the Marylebone Church courtyard to Marylebone Road.

Options:  turn left at Marylebone Road to reach Baker Street Station and you will have run 5.4 miles; alternatively, retrace your steps through Regents Park outer circle back to Starbucks via Allitsen and St Johns Wood Terrace and you will have run 6.5 miles. Latte time!

Option Two (normal 8:20 start) – The Wall (3 to 6 miles)

We head down towards Regents Park, then enter the canal at the Charlbert entrance and run east [left] to the entrance to Camden Lock Market where the footpath is now closed.
DIVERSION – Follow the bridge across the canal and turn right on Camden High Street. Take the first left on Hawley Crescent and then left on Kentish Town Road. There is an entrance back to the canal path on the left side of the bridge. When you reach the King’s Cross the path now takes you into Granary Square which means you don’t have to run on the pontoon walkway for the time being! Continue to follow the canal until you reach the tunnel.

 
​At The Wall at the Islington Tunnel, turn around and head back to St. John’s Wood via the same route. 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. It is also very easy to run half the distance if you would prefer 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 8 December – The Heath 4-8 miles

It’s Friday [again!], so everyone up the hill! 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, ask around at Barclays; every week there is a group who prefer to do a flat run and you can decide together which flat route to tackle.

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.

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.

30 Oct – 3 November 2017 Running Info

Hi everyone,

I enjoyed running in our beautiful warm weather last week. End of October and we’re still in short sleeves – we’ll take it. Please read the following email. It’s long, but it has some important information including the 2017-2018 WRW shirt and hat order information and a cool Lululemon running/training event.

On Monday we’re celebrating Halloween with a run through the Brompton Cemetery ending at the Whole Foods in South Kensington. The Brompton Cemetery is one of those hidden London jewels! It was opened in 1840 and designed to be a garden for recreation as well as providing burial space. The cemetery covers 39 acres and 205,000 people are buried there including the famous suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst. To top it off, the South Ken Whole Foods has a large seating area upstairs for sharing a post-run coffee. I hope you can join the run! We have a large group this year, so make sure you take a look at the route. We try hard to have to the pace groups stick together as much as possible but if the group is very large, we’ll likely split into smaller groups along the way. Wednesday is the Camden/Morningside Crescent/Regents Park route and Friday we’re back up the hill.

Good luck Sue!
Congratulations to Sue Wheeler who is running the River Thames Half Marathon this Sunday 29 October. We hope you have a great race and have fun!

Halloween Costumes on Monday!
It’s time for our Fourth Annual Halloween Costume run! Plan to dress up for Halloween – nothing too elaborate because you still have to run – but be creative! A crazy hat? A Halloween top? Last year we had some great running “costumes” and I can’t wait to see what you come up with for this year!

WRW SHIRTS AND HATS – ORDER NOW
It’s time for the new WRW T-shirt order and this year we are also offering some additional WRW kit. (Thank you Carol Bertolino for organising all these great offerings!) Orders are due by5pm on Thursday 2 November. Since we have such a large order, we need to work with the Nike “teamwear” vendors as the inventory levels are always changing. So once we get confirmation that our preferred colour/style is in stock, we need to order ASAP. That means that we can’t extend the deadline or make late additions once we have submitted the order. Don’t be late, or you’ll miss your chance to order! We don’t have an exact price yet from our vendor (depends on the number we order) so we’ve provided you a price range.

2017-2018 T-shirt
We’re offering the same Nike Legend Dri Fit shirt we’ve had the last five years. We’re keeping the shirt and race-hat color a surprise, but trust us it’s going to look great! (The shirt color will be a standard color and not anything sheer or a color you wouldn’t normally wear.) 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. Many runners order a size smaller than their usual size. The price will be £25 – £30 per shirt.

WRW Kit Hat
We’re offering the same Nike Dri-Fit featherlight cap that we’ve had the last two years with the WRW logo, London and the British Flag in classic red/white/blue on the front. At the moment, the only colour in stock is the charcoal grey that we offered two years ago. However, I know that many of you missed a chance to get that hat so we’re offering it again. The price will be between £25-£30 per hat depending on the number we order. Please note that this is NOT the race hat for Utrecht. (We’re ordering a race hat in a fun bright colour for all those who are going to the half marathon.)

WRW Kit Long-sleeve T-shirt in two colours
This year we are also offering a long-sleeved Nike Legend Dri-Fit T-shirt. This is the same style as the short-sleeve shirt just with long sleeves. The colours available are black and cardinal (which actually looks more like a raspberry colour – there is a picture on the google form) and it will have the WRW logo, London and the British Flag in accenting colours printed on the front. The price will be between £35-£45 per shirt.

How to order
If you would like to place an order, please click on the WRW Apparel Order Form to complete the Google Doc. It’s very simple, just follow the directions. If you want to order multiple shirts in multiple sizes, you should submit the form for each shirt size with a different name. For example, Jane Novak1 orders one small shirt and Jane Novak2 orders one large shirt.

If you have trouble with the Google Doc for any reason, please email Carol Bertolino at [email protected].

Money Collection
We’re going to collect money when the shirts/hats arrive, probably not until January.

Ordering from abroad
We’re happy for our WRW friends from all over the world to order, but we kindly request that you arrange for a friend in London (not Jane or Carol) to pay and pick up the shirt/hat when we do the money collection and shirt/hat distribution. Please also plan for your London friend to arrange for shipping as well.

Lululemon training event – “Baby Got Track” this Thursday 2 November 6:30-8:30PM
How do the shapes we make and the breath we take, affect our performance within the sport of our choice and everyday life? Join Lululemon Ambassador Chevy Rough and his movement community, the ChasingLights Collective, for a night of play, games and workshop-based learnings on how to move, breathe and recover like nature intended. The session will take place on a running track, however don’t assume it’s all running and that you may not be good enough to keep up. This is just a space that will be housing us and for you to explore in new ways. The evening is not about coming first, it’s about connecting the dots between mind and body while having fun with other like minded humans. Performance junkies or those new to exercise will all takeaway something different to help them with the road ahead. Location Paddington Rec Ground W9 1PD. Sign up on Eventbrite at lululemonbabygottrack2017.eventbrite.co.uk and also email Nicole McNaughton at [email protected]. Also be sure to pick up your pre-run pack at Lululemon Westfield from October 26th. Print off your eventbrite sign up and show in store to redeem.

Heart Monitoring – Making the most of your training
Christian Hyslop, a personal-fitness trainer who has worked with many women in WRW, is offering an innovative and easy-to-use heart monitoring system called MyZone.

Some benefits include:

  • Easy-to-follow colour-coded format to help keep you at a comfortable running pace
  • The MyZone app is compatible with Apple, Android and Google smartphones
  • Fabric chest strap is comfortable to wear and washes easily
  • Chest strap works with smart watches and all other heart rate watches

For more information please contact Christian directly at [email protected]

Utrecht Half Marathon Travel Plans
I sent out an email on Wednesday with details and directions for how to book a hotel room and register for the race. Thank you for all the positive feedback and for being so responsive. Once again, if you are considering going to the race, please book your hotel room now. (We have a generous cancellation policy so you could always cancel later.) It is very helpful to us to know as soon as possible if we’re going to need to add more rooms to our group block. If you didn’t get the travel email, please let us know. Also, please email Sue Wheeler at [email protected] with your flight information and the names of the roommates if you are staying in a double room.

Keep running,

Jane

ROUTES

Monday 30 October – Whole Foods via Brompton Cemetery (6.5+ miles) HALLOWEEN RUN!

Today we’ll earn our post-run treat by ending at Whole Foods on the Kensington High Street!  Bring your shopping list if you want.

We start out the normal way to Hyde Park.  Once you enter the park, turn left and run along the east side of the park.  At Hyde Park Corner turn right and run along the south side exiting at the gate we normally use at William Street [next to the French Embassy].  Cross the street, take a right.  Turn left at Brompton Road (just past the tube) and take Brompton all the way (admiring Harrods as you pass) until Fulham Road.  Veer left on Fulham Road and continue to Brompton Cemetery.  Turn right to enter the Cemetery.  Run through the Cemetery then exit and turn right onto Old Brompton Road, then turn left onto Earls Court Road. Cross Cromwell Road, then turn right onto Cromwell Road and then turn left onto Marloes Road. Continue north on Marloes making your way through the streets to Kensington High Street.  Whole Foods will be to your right.

Wednesday 1 November –  Camden/Morningside Crescent/Regent’s Park (5 miles) 

We will run to the canal going eastbound to Camden Market, where we exit the canal and turn right onto Camden High Street. We’ll run down Camden High Street to Mornington Crescent Tube Station and veer right onto Hampstead Road, which we will take down towards Euston Road. Just before reaching the huge intersection at Euston Road we turn right at the Sainsburys/Itsu and run between the office buildings at Regent’s Place and past the nice fountains, through Triton Square.  Left to Euston Road, then cross Osnaburgh Street and Albany Street. At Park Square East, turn right towards Regents Park.  We make the first left onto Outer Circle and run around the loop to the Charlbert Street exit (where we usually enter for the canal or park). We’ll run up Charlbert Street to Allitsen Road, make a left, and head back to Starbucks.  [Note, some ladies choose to run into and through Regents Park to meander to the Charlbert Street exit].

Friday 3 November – 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.

23 – 27 October 2017 Running Info

Congratulations to all our WRW friends who ran the half marathon in Rhinebeck NY. We miss you in London!

Welcome back to a normal week of running. We’ve been a bit off schedule with ASL school trips and fall break. If you’ve been busy and missed a run or two, please come join us again! If you can run consistently, it’s best for your fitness/training and will help you avoid injury. Besides it’s fun! (Well, at least the coffee part is fun…)

Monday we’re running the famous London landmark, Tower Bridge. This was a new route in the spring and it got great reviews. It’s very good for photos, but it also gives a few options for distance. If you haven’t run in awhile, it’s a good route to build some mileage. Remember to bring your Oyster/Tube card because we’ll take the tube home. Wednesday we’re doing the Notting Hill route and Friday we’re back up the hill, but encouraging people to try the Highgate route.

Training Plans
We’ve posted two training plans on the website for the 18 March half marathon in Utrecht: https://womenrunningtheworld.com/training/spring-half/. There’s our standard training plan and also a gradual plan for runners who don’t want to tackle as many miles as part of training. (In the last six weeks of training, both training plans call for the same distance on the long runs.) We follow the standard training plan when we plan the routes for the group, but you’ll see there is a range of options for mileage in most of our routes. The half marathon will be here before you know it, so if you are planning to participate in the race it’s important that you commit to regular running and follow the plan to gradually increase your mileage. Looking ahead, we’ll plan to run the 9 miles to Canary Wharf at the end of January (see below). So you need to have tackled 6, 7, and 8 miles before then. If you are new to the group and all this sounds impossible – don’t worry! Just plan to come run with us regularly and we’ll gradually tackle each new distance. I heard from a few of you that you recently ran your longest runs ever – the first time you completed 6 miles – and I feel so thrilled and proud for each of your accomplishments!

Save the Date
It’s hard to believe that we’ve reached the end of October already. Looking ahead we have the following runs on the schedule:

23 October – Tower Hill (7 miles)
30 October – Halloween run – Brompton Cemetery and Kensington Whole Foods (6.5 miles)
6 November – Hyde Park (6 – 8 miles)
8 November (Wednesday) – First tempo training session at Paddington track
13 November – Canary Wharf (9 miles)
17 November (Friday) – Borough Market (6 miles)
20 November – Finsbury Park Happening Bagel (7 miles)
27 November – Holland Park to Green Park (7-8 miles)
4 December – Wembley REVERSE (8 miles)
6 December (Wednesday) – Christmas Lights run (early start)
11 December – Hyde Park

Key Training Runs
And looking even further ahead into the new year, mark your calendar for these important training runs:

29 January – Canary Wharf (9 miles)
12 February – Greenford (10 miles)
5 March – Kew Gardens (11 miles)

WRW Shirts
 – Final Reminder
We’re starting the planning for the 2018 WRW shirt. Please email [email protected] if you have any suggestions for a fun/witty/inspirational saying for the back of the shirt. For our new runners, here’s a reminder of the shirt back from previous years:

2013 – “Run Like A Girl”
2014 – “We Run London”
2015 – “Sorry, Gotta Run!”
2016 – “In It For The Long Run”
2017 – “This Is My Happy Pace”

Stay tuned for information about how to order the shirt. We’ll be back to you soon with more details.

That’s all for now. Keep up the good work and stay tuned for more details on the Utrecht travel plans this week.

Keep running,
Jane

ROUTES

Monday 23 October – Tower Hill (7.25 miles)
Today we will be running across, along and across the Thames and in and around some of the oldest parts of London. The sights will be stunning!

We start off as though we are running to Borough Market-down Grove End and into Hyde Park, under Wellington Arch, along Green Park, through St James Park and towards Big Ben then across Westminster Bridge.  At the end of Westminster Bridge, exit left down the stairs and run along the Thames Path past the London Eye, Royal Festival Hall, Blackfriars Bridge, Tate Modern, Shakespeare’s Globe to the Golden Hinde, admiring all the landmarks as you trod past. Follow the walkway to the right of the Golden Hinde and at the junction with Southwark Cathedral, turn sharp left and follow Montague Close until just before the tunnel.  At the tunnel, go up the stairway to the left (which puts you onto London Bridge Road) then turn right on London Bridge Road to the first crosswalk-cross London Bridge Road and go left; just before the river, turn right on the stairs to descend to the Thames Path. Continue on the Thames Path past the HMS Belfast, City Hall and Potters Fields, to Tower Bridge.  Climb the stairs up to the Bridge (don’t go under the Bridge), then run across Tower Bridge (the views!), continuing past the Tower of London (more views!) until you reach the stairs down to Tower of London Park.  Take the stairs down and follow the paved path along the park. Just past the park is a junction in the path-turn right to run in a tunnel under Tower Hill Road, past part of the original London Wall and up to the Tower Hill tube station.  Now, think of all the history you’ve witnessed in just 7 miles!

Wednesday 25 October – Notting Hill (4 – 6 miles)
Run west to the canal (west on Circus, left on Grove End Road, right on St Johns Wood Road, left on Cunningham Place, cross Edgeware, run along Blomfield and enter the Canal at the opening before the bridge).  Run along the canal to the west and exit at Ladbroke Grove.  Run to Elgin Crescent and make a left.  Continue to Ledbury and go right and then left at Westbourne Grove.  Run down Westbourne Grove over Bishop’s Bridge and down the steps into Sheldon Square.  Go back along the canal and out where you entered and back to Starbucks.

You also have the option of a shorter run by not running as far as Ladbroke Grove.  Instead, run half the distance you want, turn around and head home.  For example, running to the Westway flyover and back is about four miles.

Friday 27 October – The Highgate Route (7.5 miles) Option #1
Head up Fitzjohn’s, as usual, and continue past the Hampstead Tube and Whitestone Pond to stay on Spaniards Road.  Do not enter the Heath at the normal entry point, but stay on Spaniards Road as it wraps around the outside of the Heath, past Kenwood House and past The Bishops Road where Spaniards Road turns into Hampstead Lane.

Continue on Hampstead Lane as it edges around the outside of the Heath in a gentle rise until you reach The Grove, where you turn right.  [The Grove is a pretty, tree lined street just before the Highgate roundabout].  Run to the first right lane, which is Fitzroy Park and has a traffic barrier across the road.  Pass around the traffic barrier—this is fine! And continue down the road, past lovely homes and a famous allotment on the right side.  This road curves downhill to the left and takes you to the entrance of the Heath near a set of bathrooms [and just before Merton Lane to the left].

Enter the Heath, run past the loos and take the path to the left as it runs along the model boating pond, the men’s bathing pond and a third pond.  When the sidewalk dead ends, take a right to run along the exercise fields, track and swimming pool.  Exit the Heath past the swimming pool, crossing over the bridge onto Constantine Road.  Take a right, running past South End Rd/Fleet Rd, past the Royal Free Hospital and cutting to the left just past the Royal Free’s entrance driveway to take a short cut to Haverstock Hill. Go left on Haverstock Hill; crossing at the pedestrian stoplight to the other side, then turn right on to Belsize Avenue.  At Lancaster Grove, stay left on Belsize Avenue as it changes to Buckland Crescent.  Take this to Fitzjohn’s where you turn left to run towards Swiss Cottage Library, then scoot over to St Johns Wood Park Road and back to Starbucks.

The Heath (4-8 miles) – Option #2

4 miles:  A great way to ease into running the hill.   Run up to the Hampstead tube station and back. If you have trouble running up, think about how easy it will be running down!
5 miles: The Betsy Route
6+ miles:  The partial Heath route OR the reverse Heath route
8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

16 – 20 October 2017 Running Info

Hi Everyone,
This week is fall break and parent-teacher conferences at ASL so we won’t be setting official routes. If you want to run, just meet at Barclays and we’ll decide on the route on the day. Due to the holiday, we’ll be starting slightly later this week at 8:30.
Good luck US WRW runners!
We have a large group of WRW runners from the US who are gathering this weekend in New York to visit, have fun and run the Rhinebeck Fall Foliage Half Marathon. Have a fantastic weekend! We miss you in London!
Looking ahead – Halloween run 30 October
Monday 30th of October will be our Fourth Annual Halloween Costume run! Plan to dress up for Halloween – nothing too elaborate because you still have to run – but be creative! A crazy hat? A Halloween top? Last year we had some great running “costumes” and I can’t wait to see what you come up with for this year! Keeping with the Halloween theme, we’re running through Brompton Cemetery to the South Ken Whole Foods. We love this route and it’s fun to do it around Halloween.
A group of friends
A small reminder to everyone that WRW is really just a group of friends who like to run together. We have a lot of knowledge in the group from the experience of running, but none of us (especially me!) are professional experts. We tend to offer general wisdom about training such as it’s important to gradually add mileage and it’s important to properly stretch. It’s crucial that if something is bothering you, little or big, that you seek out professional advice from an expert. Or if you are new to running or new to running longer distances, you may want to see an expert to make sure that you are healthy and OK to tackle this challenge. We have the names of some experts listed on our website.
Keep running,
Jane

9 – 13 October 2017 Running Info

We had a fantastic turnout for the run to Brick Lane on Monday and to Borough Market on Friday. Two of our all-time favourite runs!
This week, we’re sticking closer to home with the Hyde Park routes on Monday. There are many distance options so it’s a good way to get back into running if you’ve had some time off or try to add some mileage if you’ve been regularly running. Wednesday we’re doing the Kensal Rise loop and Friday we’re back up the hill or you can do a route of your choice.
Good Luck Half Marathon Runners!
We have nine WRW women running half marathons this Sunday 8 October. Good luck to Claire Butler, Roni Fransis, Stephanie Gladis, Susan Johnson and Meredith Snizek who are running the Royal Parks Half Marathon. And good luck to Alysia Hoyt, Darcy Fautz and Darcy’s daughters who are running the Oxford Half Marathon. (I’m sorry if I forgot anyone!) We hope you all have a great race!
Good Luck Shoreditch Runners!
It’s a great weekend for running! We also have a large group running the Shoreditch 10K on Sunday morning. Good luck to Melinda Bariso, Bjprg Fridbjornsdottir, Amy Grace, Micki Heskett, Jen Iannazzo, Corinna Matlis, Megan Marine, Kathy McMahon, Julie Moyle, Dinae Norris, Vicki Renner, Stephanie Schueppert and Megan Weitz. (Sorry if I forgot anyone!) Enjoy the run and have fun!
STRETCH!
I can’t emphasise enough how important it is to stretch when we finish running. It’s tempting to go right for a cup of coffee, but it’s crucial that you spend some time to properly stretch. Here’s a good link to an NHS page that lists some key stretches (with pictures) for after running. How to stretch after a run.
Lululemon Shopping Event This Wednesday 11 October
Our friends at the Lululemon Marylebone Store have invited us to a “Fall Sneak Peak” shopping event on Wednesday 11 October from 7:00-8:00pm. Come check out the new collection and enjoy a 20% discount on the evening. RSVP to Kathy Anderson at [email protected]. Lululemon Marylebone is located at 74-75 Marylebone High Street W1U 5JR.
Keep running,
Jane
ROUTES
Monday, 9 October – 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 11 October –  Kensal Rise (4- 5+ 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, turning left on Cunningham then right on Aberdeen to work your way to the canal entrance on Bloomfield. 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 13 October – The Heath (4-8 miles)
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.
5 miles: The Betsy Route
6-7miles:  The partial Heath route OR the Reverse Heath Route
7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles:  The full Heath route

2 – 6 October 2017 Running Info

I love this photo from the pergola a week ago. The weather was not as cooperative this week!
There’s a lot of important stuff in this email (so please read it!) because we’re starting to formalise our pace groups this week. I’m going to try to avoid bombarding you with too much training information all at once. I’ll give you the basics and point you to the website for more specifics. We’ll come back to these training principles often throughout the year.
We have fun routes on the schedule this week. Monday we head to one of our favourite destinations, Brick Lane, for famous east-end bagels from Beigel Bake and coffee and “fancy” doughnuts next door at Crosstown Doughnuts. We’ll try to get into our pace groups before we start, but make sure you look at the map and the photos below and take a note of the bridge where we exit the canal.
Wednesday we’re sticking close to home and doing the Regents Park outer and inner circles. Friday is our first official run to Borough Market. Yeah! We’re recommending the standard Westminster Bridge 6-mile route. If you aren’t quite up for a 6-mile run yet, you could join the group to Big Ben, which is 4 miles and then take the Jubilee Line at Westminster to London Bridge and meet the rest of the group at the market. (We also listed the 5-mile Hungerford Bridge route, but this way is more congested with pedestrians.) If you’ve never been to Borough Market before – join us! It’s a real London treat. If you need to stick closer to home, you can tackle the Hill like we usually do on Fridays.
Congratulations Racers
Congratulations to Stephanie Gladis and Audgunn Syse who ran the Windsor Half Marathon last weekend. They reported it was a great race, but very hilly! Well done! And…We’re going to miss you Audie! We wish you all the best in your new adventure and please make sure to come back and visit us.
Shoreditch 10K Sunday 8 October 9am
We have a group of women running in the Shoreditch 10K next weekend. Entries are open until 4 October if you would still like to sign up. Email [email protected] if you want to connect with the group that is running.
2018 HALF MARATHON
I sent out an email Thursday announcing that the group will be travelling to Utrecht, Netherlands to run a half marathon on Sunday 18 March 2018. Thanks for all the positive feedback! We’re really excited about this race. If you didn’t receive the email, it may have bounced to your junk box. If not, please let me know so I can check the distribution. All the information is also listed on our website. At this point, you can book your flight. We’ll be back to you soon with more details about the hotel and race registration. I will also be posting our training plan soon so that you can see how we get from where we are now to running a half marathon in March.
PACE GROUPS
Each training week is planned to have one longer/slower run on Monday, one shorter/faster run on Wednesday and one hill run on Friday. The pace groups are for the longer/slower run and the pace listed is the training pace (not race pace). For the tempo/faster day and the hill day the groups will not necessarily be together. Some folks may want to push it more than others.
For those who are interested, there is a nifty calculator on our website to determine your training pace as compared to a target race pace. For many, the pace calculator might be too technical. As a rule of thumb, you should run your long run at a pace that allows you to carry on a conversation. Not too fast, not too slow. (I know that is easier said than done!) The slower run is an important part of your training because it helps build mileage without injury but it also helps your body build fuel. For more info about pace and the science behind the slower run, click here.
The pace groups are not an exact science! They serve more as a general guide. Since our group is so large, the pace groups allow for smaller groups of women that run roughly the same pace to find each other and train together. A few important things to note:
  • The pace groups names are relative to each other. For example, you would be in the 9s if the 8s group was ahead of you and the 10s group was behind you. That seems obvious, but it is the relative placement in the larger group that matters and less about the actual specific time of the pace group.
  • The pace group names are simplified. For example, most of the 10s probably run a 10:30 min/mile training pace, but we don’t call them the 10:30s, we just call them the 10s.
 
Leaders
There are 2-4 women in each group who will be pace group leaders for the long run. They’ll help keep the group together, which will be increasingly important as we do more longer runs and/or new routes. But please remember that everyone is responsible for generally knowing the route, not just the leaders. We are also having more leaders this year to help cover the natural range of the pace group. For example, in the 10s we may have a faster sub-group and a slower sub-group and we tried to have leaders who covered the range.
Please let me know if you need some help finding your group or if you have any questions.
The “Eights” Group
Leaders: Melinda Bariso, Asdis Karadottir, Marissa O’Malia, and McKenzie Webster (8:15 – 8:45 min/mile)
Leaders: Carol Bertolino, Dani Burke and Meg Stone (8:45 – 9:15 min/mile)
The “Nines” Group (9:15 – 10:00)
Leaders: Amy Grace, Micki Heskett, Megan Marine and Kathy McMahon
The “Tens” Group (10:00-11:00 min/mile)
Leaders: Darcy Fautz, Jane Novak, Carolyn Perimeter and Megan Weitz
The “Elevens” and “Twelves” Group (11:00-12:30 min/mile)
Leaders: Melissa Kay, Magali Kivatinetz, Jenn Murphy and Litsa Savastano
A big THANKS to all our leaders – you play an important role in helping such a large group work smoothly!
That’s all for now – Keep RUNNING!
Jane
ROUTES
Monday, 2 October – Brick Lane via Canal (6.5 miles)
This is a fun and funky destination run!  We will head out in the same way as though we are running to The Wall. Take the Canal east to the Wall—go up ramp to Muriel Street, take a right and then an almost immediate left up a path that winds between the apartment buildings. Here’s 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. Turn right at Liverpool Street to the major road Upper Street. Cross Upper Street and turn left, then make your first right at Duncan Street. Follow Duncan Street to the end and there will be an entrance to the canal directly in front of you. At the canal path continue running straight, the water will be on your right. Follow the canal until you reach the Kingsland Road Bridge, Number 45. See the photo below.
Run under the bridge and take the brick steps up on your left, see photo below.
At the top of the stairs turn left and at the main road, Kingsland Road, turn left.  (You’ll be running back over the canal.) Follow Kingsland Road, you’ll see the Gherkin building in the distance in front of you. (Kingsland Road will become Shoreditch High Street.) Turn left at Bethnal Green Road. There will be a white medal railroad bridge in front of you and the BOXPARK market will be on your right once you turn. You’ll also pass the Shoreditch High Street Overground Station on your right. Follow Bethnal Green Road until you hit Brick Lane, less than a quarter of a mile.
There is a Casa Blue cafe at the corner, turn right into Brick Lane and you’ll see Beigel Bake and Crosstown Doughnutes on the right. They are FUNKY so bring your cool attitudes! For the journey home, you can take the Shoreditch High Street Overground to Canada Water and then take the Jubilee Line home. Or you can walk through Spitalfields Market to get to the Liverpool Street tube station.

Wednesday 4 October – Regents Park (inner and outer loops) (5 miles)
From Barclay’s head down Wellington Road to the traffic circle at Lord’s Cricket Ground and bear left onto Prince Albert Road. Run to the pedestrian crossing where we will cross and head to the Outer Circle. Turn right and run on the inside of the circle past Winfield House which will be on your left. Continue around the Outer Circle until you reach the traffic light at intersection with York Bridge. Turn left and proceed to the Inner Circle. Run one complete loop of the Inner Circle and back out across York Bridge where we will take a left and continue on Ulster Terrace which is part of the Outer Circle. At the next large intersection take a left and continue on the Outer Circle, heading north back towards the Zoo and Camden. Pass the entrance to the Zoo on your left and continue to the bridge at North Gate which we will cross to reach Charlbert Street. Run up Charlbert Street until St John’s Terrace where we turn left and run back to Barclay’s for a stretch before heading to Starbucks.

Friday 6 October – Borough Market
Option 1 – 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.

Option 2 – Borough Market via Hungerford Bridge – 5 miles
Head to Regents Park the usual way taking Circus Road to Charlbert. Cross Regents Park until you hit the Broad Walk turning right and following the Broad Walk until you exit at Park Crescent. Follow Portland Place south, it turns into Langham Place and then Regent Street until you get to Riccadilly Circus. At Piccadilly Circus, take Haymarket South to Cockspur Street into Trafalgar Square. At Trafalgar Square, continue south toward the Thames on Northumberland Ave. At the river, cross on the Hungerford Bridge right in front of you. At the end of the bridge, turn left to follow the The Queen’s Walk along the Thames until the path ends after the Southwark Bridge. Borough Market is under the railway bridge near the London Bridge station. The official address is 8 Southwark Street SE1 1TL.