Category: MWF

21 – 25 November 2016 Running Info

Hi Everyone,
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 stretch 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.
Time to register for the Warsaw Half Marathon Race
The race registration is open! We’ve provided detailed directions on the WRW website as well as the link to the race registration page. The registration is pretty straightforward, but it will be easier if you take a minute to read the directions first. PLEASE NOTE the directions about completing your estimated run time. Since this is a very large race, runners will be put into “corrals” based on their estimated finish time so that the fastest runners are near the front at the start. If you want to make sure that you are in the same corral as your pace group, we’ve suggested an estimated run time for each of the pace groups. In reality you may be faster or slower than our suggestion, but by answering this question the same as the other members of your pace group, you’ll know that you can start together. If you want to put in a different time, that is OK, you just won’t be with the majority of your pace group at the start.
Warsaw Hotel Rooms
We’re hoping that all of you who would like a hotel room in Warsaw have already booked one. If you still need a room, please email us at [email protected].
Keep running,
Jane
ROUTES
Monday 21 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 23 November and Friday 25 November
No organised routes. Meet at 8:30 and pick your own route.

14 – 18 November 2016 Running Info

Thanks for all the great feedback about our Monday adventure run to Hampton Court Palace. WRW is certainly up for an adventure! There were more than 30 women who did the run to the Palace. We had a beautiful autumn day and it’s a stunning route. We’ll plan to do this run again in the spring.

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 5-6 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. Did you run to Hampton Court? How did you feel? If you had a few aches and pains at the end, you may decide to do a shorter option on Monday (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 6 Feb 2017. 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.

Wednesday and Friday this week
Since we’ll have a group of runners who run to Canary Wharf on Monday, we have a shorter run on the schedule for Wednesday. We suggested a 4-mile Regents Park route. This is to make sure that we don’t increase our mileage too much in one week. If you don’t run to Canary Wharf, and you’d like to do a longer run on Wednesday you can easily add additional mileage in Regents Park or you can choose a different route of your choice. Friday we’re planning for a run to Borough Market. Get your shopping lists ready! As always, if you can’t go to Borough Market for any reason, you could always tackle our usual Friday hill run.

Warsaw Hotel Rooms – LAST CHANCE
Thanks for all your patience with the hotel website. The site is up again and we’re requesting that if there’s any chance you are going on this trip, please book your room now! (You can cancel with no penalty before March.) We heard from the race director that the race registration is going to open very soon, maybe even next week. We’re staying at the hotel that is most convenient for the race, so we fully expect that the hotel will sell out quickly once the race registration opens.

We’re getting close to booking all the rooms in our original room block. If you go on the site and there are no rooms listed, let us know and we’ll get more added. (The hotel doesn’t want to give us more rooms until we fully book the original rooms, which is a bit annoying, sorry.) All the details and the links to the hotel booking site are on our website under the “Spring Half Marathon” tab at this LINK. If you have any issues with the room booking, please let us know and we’ll help you get it sorted. Remember that after you book to email Jen Skor with your room type and flight information.

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

ROUTES

Monday, 14 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.

CanaryPic1

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.

CanaryPic2CanaryPic3

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!

CanaryPic4

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.  We’ll meet at the Starbucks inside the building, just right of the entrance.  After a much earned coffee, we’ll head to the Canary Wharf Tube station [Jubilee Line] and tube it home to SJW.  Congratulations!

Wednesday 16 November – Regents Park (4 miles)

We are going to ease up a bit and run a familiar local loop after the long run to Canary Wharf.  Head down Grove End Road as though going to Hyde Park BUT at Marylebone Road, turn left and follow Marylebone Road, past Madame Tussauds, then turn left at York Bridge/York Gate and right at the Outer Circle. Follow the Outer Circle counter clockwise, all the way to the crosswalk by the US Ambassador’s House. Cross out of the Park and head to Starbucks.

If you want a longer run, you can add another loop on the outer circle the total will be 6.8 miles.  We’ll meet you at Starbucks when we’re finished!

RegentsPark4mi

Friday 18 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.

7 – 11 November 2016 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 pace group photos at the Cemetery 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.)

You received lots of emails from WRW this week! We announced that we’re collecting WRW shirt and hat orders and that we’re booking hotel rooms for the half marathon in Warsaw. More details on both of those below. Please read the important update on the HOTEL rooms below.

This week is our adventure run to Hampton Court Palace on Monday. Wednesday is Notting Hill and Friday is the Hill.

RSVP – Adventure Run Monday Nov. 7
An adventure run means that we ride the train to a location at the start of the run and then we take the train home at the end of the run. This means that if you are doing this run we are NOT meeting at Barclays – see the details below. (If you can’t do this run, there will be a group that meets at Barclays and decides on a route of their choice.) Monday we’re running from Richmond to Hampton Court Palace. We run along the Thames path for pretty much the entire way and it’s a beautiful route. Plus you can’t beat coffee at the Palace cafe when you’re done. Block out the entire morning or more if you want to stay for a long coffee afterwards.

If you’re planning to attend, please email [email protected] so we know to look out for you at the station. But please be aware that we are not waiting for anyone. You must be on time to catch this train or we’re leaving without you.

Here’s the plan: We’ll meet at the Finchley Road and Frognal Overground Station at 8:30 for the 8:41 train to Richmond. We will arrive in Richmond by 9:15 to start our run. (You can take a bus up Finchley Road to the station or take the tube to Finchley Road, turn left and walk up to the Overground Station.) When we arrive in Richmond we’ll run along the Thames all the way to Hampton Court Palace. Take a look at the route directions below. (The entire run is approximately 8 miles or you can exit at the Horse Fair bridge for a 6-mile route and take a train from Kingston station.) We’ll take the train back to London Waterloo from the Hampton Court train station. The train runs every 30 minutes, at 23 and 54 past the hour from Hampton Court and it is an approximately 40 minute train ride back to London.

2016-2017 Shirt and Hat Order – DEADLINE SOON
I sent an email on Thursday afternoon announcing that we’re collecting orders for the 2016-2017 Women Running the World T-Shirt. This year we are also offering a WRW half-zip, long-sleeved shirt and WRW everyday hat. If you want to order, please complete the Google Doc at this LINK We need to have a very quick turnaround on the order collection because the inventory levels are constantly changing. When we know the style/colour is in stock we need to get our order in ASAP. Orders are due before Thursday 10 November at 5pm.

Warsaw Hotel Rooms – UPDATE
We sent an email on Friday announcing that you can now book hotel rooms from the Warsaw half marathon. Thanks for being so responsive! We’ve had many women book rooms already. At the moment the hotel website is showing that there are no rooms available, but this is a technical issue on their end. We will let you know when the hotel website is back up but it might not be until Monday or early next week. (We also heard from a few of you who received a “privacy” message when you tried to book and we’re looking into that as well.) If you would like a hotel room and you haven’t booked yet, please email [email protected] and let us know if you are planning to have a single room or share with a roommate so we have a sense of the total size of our group and whether we are going to need add rooms to our block. Thanks so much!

ROUTES

Monday 7 November – Richmond to Hampton Court (8 miles)
We will meet at the Finchley Road and Frognal Overground Station at 8:30 for the 8:37 train to Richmond. We will arrive in Richmond by 9:15 to start our run.You can take a bus up Finchley Road to the station or take the tube to Finchley Road, turn left and walk up to the Overground Station.

Leave the Richmond Overground Station, cross the road at the traffic lights and go down Old Station Passage. Turn left at the end and run a few yards until you get to Richmond Green. Cross the common, using the paths on a diagonally right direction, aiming for Old Palace Lane. Follow Old Palace Lane until you reach the river and turn left.

Now we stick to the river path along the Thames for the rest of our run. We will pass Petersham, Ham House and run briefly along Lower Ham Road. We keep right at Canbury Gardens and run into Kingston. In Kingston, we run as close to the Thames as possible, first on Thames Side past the pier, then right onto a small path which leads to the bridge pictured below.

Bridge in Kingston - Richmond to Hampton Court run

Bridge in Kingston – Richmond to Hampton Court run

At the bridge you have two options:

6-mile route:  Go up the stairs on the near side of the Horse Fair bridge and turn left into town. Follow the road to Kingston Overground station.

8-mile route to the Palace:  Go up the stairs on the near side of the Horse Fair bridge and cross the bridge.Come down the stairs and turn right under the bridge to continue along the Thames on a very pretty path called Barge Walk. This path continues all the way to Hampton Court Palace where we will pass some of the gardens and see the palace from the outside. If you can stay for a coffee, we’ll meet at the Tiltyard Cafe which is one of the restaurants on Palace grounds. If you cross the courtyard in front of the palace and then walk past the rose gardens you’ll see the Cafe. (No need to pay Palace entrance fee.) Enjoy a coffee and a treat before we get on the train back to London.

We will head back to London from the Hampton Court train station which is across the bridge from the palace. Coming from the path with the palace on your right, turn left across the Hampton Court Bridge and the train station is on your left. The train runs every 30 minutes, at 24 and 54 past the hour.

RichmondHamptonCourt8mi

Wednesday 9 November – Notting Hill (4 – 6 miles)
Keep your eyes open as this is often a celebrity spotting route!

Start out by 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 and run to the Ladbroke Grove exit then run down Ladbroke Grove, past the tube stop, to Elgin Crescent and make a left. Cross Portobello Road and continue on what is now Colville Terrace until it meets Ledbury Road where we turn right and then left at Westbourne Grove. Run down Westbourne Grove to the top of Bishop’s Bridge, then left down the steps into Sheldon Square (across from the Paddington Station entrance). Stay along the canal to where you entered, then run back on Blomfield to SJW and 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.

NottingHill

Friday 11 November – The Heath (4 – 8 miles)
It’s Friday again so everyone up Fitzjohn’s. You can pick your distance and whatever you choose, there will certainly be someone else interested in running that distance. All of these routes are on the website.

If you are not up for a hill run yet, no problem, just let us know.  Every week there are a group of women who prefer to do a flat run.  We can help make sure that you find each other.

4 miles:  A great way to ease into running the hill.   Run up to the Hampstead tube station and back. 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
7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

31 Oct – 4 Nov 2016 Running Info

Hi Everyone,

Love this picture – we had the entire table at Starbucks! And there were a few more runners waiting for coffee and not in the picture.

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 Wall and Friday we’re back up the hill.

Halloween Costumes on Monday!
It’s time for our Third 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! And as I mentioned above, this year we have the extra treat of being in the Brompton Cemetery on the spookiest day of the year.

RSVP – Adventure Run Next Monday Nov. 7
An adventure run means that we ride the train to a location at the start of the run and then we take the train home at the end of the run. This means that if you are doing this run we are NOT meeting at Barclays – see the details below. (If you can’t do this run, there will be a group that meets at Barclays and decides on a route of their choice.) We tried our first adventure run last spring from Richmond to Hampton Court Palace and it was a big hit. We run along the Thames path for pretty much the entire way and it’s a beautiful route. Plus you can’t beat coffee at the Palace cafe when you’re done. Block out the entire morning or more if you want to stay for a long coffee afterwards.

If you’re planning to attend, please email [email protected] so we know to look out for you at the station. But please be aware that we are not waiting for anyone. You must be on time to catch this train or we’re leaving without you.

Here’s the plan: We’ll meet at the Finchley Road and Frognal Overground Station at 8:30 for the 8:41 train to Richmond. We will arrive in Richmond by 9:15 to start our run. (You can take a bus up Finchley Road to the station or take the tube to Finchley Road, turn left and walk up to the Overground Station.) When we arrive in Richmond we’ll run along the Thames all the way to Hampton Court Palace. (The entire run is approximately 8 miles or you can exit at the Horse Fair bridge for a 6-mile route and take a train from Kingston station.) We’ll take the train back to London Waterloo from the Hampton Court train station. The train runs every 30 minutes, at 23 and 54 past the hour from Hampton Court and it is an approximately 40 minute train ride back to London.

That’s all for now!
Keep running,

Jane

ROUTES

Monday 31 October – Whole Foods via Brompton Cemetery (6.5+ miles)

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 2 November – The Wall (3 to 6 miles)

We head down towards Regents Park, then enter the canal at the Charlbert entrance and run east [left] cutting through Camden Lock Market until we run out of canal path at Islington and hit “The Wall”.  At The Wall, we turn around and head back to St. John’s Wood.  This is a great route to do a tempo run because there are no traffic lights.  But please be careful and aware of the bikes on the path.

If you run all the way to The Wall and back it is 6 miles.  But it is very easy to run half the distance if you want and turn around and head home.  As a marker, if you run to the Camden market (where we have to exit the canal path and run past the food stalls for a minute) and return home it is a 3 mile round trip.

Friday 6 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
7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

24 – 28 October 2016 Running Info

Hi everyone,

We had a fantastic turnout for the run to Brick Lane and I’m so happy that so many of you tried the route. We were very disappointed that our favourite funky coffee shop, Brick Lane Coffee, has been taken over to be a Crosstown Doughnut and Coffee Bar. At least we got some delicious donuts due to the change.

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. ASL is off on Friday for teacher conferences so we’ll meet later at 8:30.

Training Plans
We’ve posted two training plans on the website for the March 26 half marathon in Warsaw: 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 is a month earlier than last year’s race 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 9.5 miles to Canary Wharf on 6 February 2017. 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!

Looking ahead – Halloween 31 October
Halloween falls on a running day this year and we have a few fun things planned. First, it is our Third 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! Second, we’re running through Brompton Cemetery to the South Ken Whole Foods on Halloween. We love this route and it’s going to be fun to do it on Halloween.

Looking ahead – Adventure Run to Hampton Court Palace 7 November
An adventure run means that we ride the train to a location at the start of the run and then we take the train home at the end of the run. It takes more time to take the train both directions, but it gives us a chance to run some interesting routes that are outside our neighbourhood. We tried our first adventure run last spring from Richmond to Hampton Court Palace and it was a big hit. We run along the Thames path for pretty much the entire way and it’s a beautiful route. Plus you can’t beat coffee at the Palace cafe when you’re done. The entire route to the Palace is 8 miles, but there is also an option to take a train home at 6 miles. Mark your calendars now for Monday 7 November and block out the entire morning or more if you want to stay for a long coffee afterwards.

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:

31 October – Brompton Cemetery and Kensington Whole Foods (6.5 miles)
7 November – ADVENTURE RUN – Hampton Court Palace (6 or 8 miles)
14 November – Canal/Farringdon (6 miles) or Canary Wharf (9 miles)
18 November (Friday) – Borough Market (6 miles)
21 November – Finsbury Park Happening Bagel (7 miles)
28 November – Holland Park to Green Park (7-8 miles)
5 December – Wembley REVERSE (8 miles)
7 December (Wednesday) – Christmas Lights run (early start)
12 December – Hyde Park

Lululemon event – this Tuesday!
Join us on Tuesday, 25th October 7pm for a very special event at the Lululemon Marylebone store!  (Unfortunately Lululemon has said that they can’t do the yoga part of the evening that we advertised earlier but we’re still going to have a great night of shopping.) Grab a glass of champagne and start shopping! The store will be open only for our group and this is a great opportunity to pick up a few cherished pieces for yourself and maybe start your holiday shopping. There will be a few surprises on the evening so don’t miss this unique and fantastic event! AND Lululemon is offering our group a 20% discount! If you are member of the SJWWC please sign up on the SJWWC website. If you are not a member of the SJWWC, please email Kathy Anderson ([email protected]) and Stephanie Gladis ([email protected]) to sign up. Space is limited so please sign up now if you are interested.

Keep running,

Jane

ROUTES


Monday, 24 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 26 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 28 October – The Heath (4-8 miles)

NOTE – LATE START AT 8:30 AM due to ASL parent conferences.  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
6+ miles:  The reverse Heath route
7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

17 – 21 October 2016 Running Info

Hi all,

I’m looking forward to another good week of running! Monday we head to one of our favourite destinations, Brick Lane, for famous east-end bagels from Beigel Bake and coffee from Brick Lane Coffee. 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 is the Notting Hill route. Friday we’re encouraging runners to try the 7.5-mile Highgate Heath route. We’d like this to be one of our regular Friday routes and this is a good time of year to add it to the rotation. If you’re not up for the Highgate Hill, you can always do one of the other Friday hill options.

WRW Shirts
We’re starting the planning for the 2017 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”

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

Keep running,

Jane

ROUTES

Monday, 17 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:

CanaryPic1

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.

kingslandbridge

Run under the bridge and take the brick steps up on your left, see photo below.

kingslandsteps

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 Brick Lane Coffee 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 19 October – Notting Hill (4 – 6 miles)

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.

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 21 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.

10 – 14 October 2016 Running Info

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 return to the Sloane Square, Embankment, Westminster route which gives us lots of 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 head to The Wall and Friday we’re back up the hill.

Good Luck Royal Parks Half Marathon Runners!
We have eight WRW runners in the Royal Parks Half Marathon on Sunday 9 October. Good luck to Dani Burke, Mary Duffy, Darcy Fautz, Stephanie Gladis, Beth Keaveny, Rekha Kumar, Shan Mercer and Marissa O’Malia. We hope you have a great race!

Cheering on the runners
If you would like to go support the runners, we’re organising a group to meet at the St. John’s Wood tube stop at 8:15am on Sunday morning. (Maureen is planning to take the 46 bus as well.) Email [email protected] if you would like to join the tube or bus group so we know to look out for you. Wear your orange hat from the Nice race (if you have one) so the runners can easily spot you. Thanks so much! The runners really appreciate the support!

STRETCH!
I can’t emphasise enough how important it is to stretch when we finish running. It’s tempting to go right away 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 Event – UPDATE
Mark your calendar on Tuesday, 25th October 7pm for a very special event at the Lululemon Marylebone store!  (Unfortunately Lululemon has said that they can’t do the yoga part of the evening that we advertised last week but we’re still going to have a great night of shopping.) Grab a glass of champagne and start shopping! The store will be open only for our group and this is a great opportunity to pick up a few cherished pieces for yourself and maybe start your holiday shopping. There will be a few surprises on the evening so don’t miss this unique and fantastic event! If you are member of the SJWWC please sign up on the SJWWC website. If you are not a member of the SJWWC, please email Kathy Anderson ([email protected]) and Stephanie Gladis ([email protected]) to sign up. Space is limited so please sign up now if you are interested.

Facebook Group
If you haven’t yet, please join our Facebook group, Women Running The World. (You will need to request to join.) It’s a great way to share fun running and non-running photos, updates and information.
Keep running,
Jane

 

ROUTES
 Monday 10 October – Sloane Sq/Westminster/Green Park–3.75 to 7/10 miles
We start out by running to Hyde Park, taking the usual route: west on Circus Road, left on Grove End, all the way down to Seymour Place where the road ends.  Right on Seymour, across Edgware, left on Stanhope and enter the park. At the silver orb, turn left and run down to the southern edge, following the path to the right before it leaves the Park.  Run to big gated exit before the tall ‘One Hyde Park’ complex, cross over Knightsbridge at William Street, quick right on Knightsbridge then a left onto Sloane Street.

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

6.33’ers:  continue past Sloane Square down Lower Sloane St/Chelsea Bridge Road to the Thames.  Turn left on the Thames side of Grosvenor Rd and run along the Embankment to Westminster Tube–you’re done!

7+’ers:  continue left on Birdcage Walk, cutting through St James Park to the Mall, then left on the Mall towards Buckingham Palace, crossing before the circle to reach Green Park.  Run up to the Green Park Tube on Piccadilly St and take the tube home!

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

 

Wednesday 12 October – The Wall (3 to 6 miles)
We head down towards Regents Park, then enter the canal at the Charlbert entrance and run east [left] cutting through Camden Lock Market until we run out of canal path at Islington.  At The Wall, we turn around and head back to St. John’s Wood.  This is a great route to do a tempo run because there are no traffic lights.  Please be aware of the bikes on the path and move into single file on the inside (away from the water) when they are approaching.

If you run all the way to The Wall and back it is 6 miles.  But it is very easy to run half the distance if you want and turn around and head home.  As a marker, if you run to the Camden market (where we have to exit the canal path and run past the food stalls for a minute) and return home it is a 3 mile round trip.

Friday 14 October – 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.

Every week there is usually a group of women who prefer to do a flat run.  We can help make sure that you find each other if you are not running the hills this week.

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

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

3 – 7 October 2016 Running Info

Hi all,
Look at all those smiling faces – sorry I couldn’t get everyone in the photo!
We had a great turn-out for our destination run to the Piccadilly Whole Foods last Monday. I’m very proud of all the runners who had never run that far before. Well done! Thanks for your patience as we negotiated our way through Farringdon. We had to make quite a few stops to make sure that we didn’t lose anyone at the traffic lights. Over the next few weeks, our pace groups will continue to settle and we’ll likely have smaller sub-groups that form. This will make the destination runs a bit easier to manage.
Looking ahead, Monday and Wednesday are the ASL fall holiday so we’ll start at 8:30am. We aren’t setting official routes for those days. If you want to run, just meet at Barclays and we’ll decide on the route on the day.
Friday is our first official run to Borough Market. 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.
Well done Runners!
Congratulations to Vijaya Kurada who completed the London Shine night half marathon and Jen Dorre who completed the Copenhagen half marathon with Meg Stone!
Warsaw Race Travel Update – Request for information
Thank you for all the positive feedback on our 2017 race destination. If you have booked your flights, please email Jen Skor ([email protected]) and let her know what flight you are on for both outbound and return. This is a huge help for us as we begin to keep track of the number of people in our group who are travelling to Warsaw. Thank you for doing this right away so we don’t have to chase you!
Lululemon Event
Mark your calendar on Tuesday, 25th October 7pm for a very special event at the Lululemon Marylebone store! The evening starts with a private 30 minute yoga session with a focus on the needs of runners. After you feel refreshed and revived, grab a glass of champagne and start shopping! The store will be open only for our group and this is a great opportunity to pick up a few cherished pieces for yourself and maybe start your holiday shopping. There will be a few surprises on the evening so don’t miss this unique and fantastic event! If you are member of the SJWWC please sign up on the SJWWC website. If you are not a member of the SJWWC, please email Kathy Anderson ([email protected]) and Stephanie Gladis ([email protected]) to sign up. Space is limited so please sign up now if you are interested.
That’s all for now – keep running,
Jane
ROUTES
Monday 3 October
Since there is no school at ASL on Monday, we will be on “holiday schedule”.  We’ll still be running but it may be a smaller group.  Plan to meet at Barclays for a slightly later start at 8:30.  The  runners get to pick the route!
Wednesday 5 October
This is also a DIY day because there is no school at ASL. Meet at Barclays at 8:30 and we’ll pick a fun route together.
Friday 7 October – Borough Market or The Hill

Option 1 – 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.

borough-market-via-hungerford-bridge-5-miles

Option 2 – 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.
Borough Market via Westminster Bridge 6 miles

Option 3- The Hill
It’s Friday and school’s in session so if you would prefer to stay closer to home you can head up Fitzjohns. You can pick your distance and whatever you choose, there will certainly be someone else interested in running that distance.  All of these routes are on the website.
4 miles:  A great way to ease into running the hill.   Run up to the Hampstead tube station and back. 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
7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

26 – 30 Sept 2016 Running Info

Hi all,
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.

On Monday we have a great run to the Whole Foods in Piccadilly Circus. I love the variety of the route and running along the Embankment through the heart of London. But the best part is ending at Whole Foods for some great coffee and food. (There is seating outside and upstairs.) The entire route is 6.5 miles but you can also take the tube from Blackfriars or Temple which is 5 miles. Wednesday we’re in Kensal Rise and Friday back up to the Heath.

Good Luck Racers!
Congratulations to Meg Stone who ran the Copenhagen Half Marathon last weekend. Good luck to Darcy Fautz and her daughter who are running the Windsor Half Marathon this weekend.

NEW WEBSITE – https://womenrunningtheworld.com
A huge “Thank You” to Amy Grace for the tremendous amount of work she did all last year to find an improved website platform for us and then to transfer all the existing data to the new site. The website is a great resource for the group but it’s also very fun! Two things to note this week:
Maps- Just a reminder that by Sunday evening, this email is posted on our website. On the website, you can zoom in on the maps and see the street names. If you need to brush up on any of the routes or if you are new to running in London, please take a look at the maps before we set out.
Photos- Amy posted a great collection of photos from many years of WRW. Check out the “Photo Galleries” under the “About Us” tab.

2017 HALF MARATHON
I sent out an email Thursday announcing that the group will be travelling to Warsaw, Poland to run a half marathon on Sunday 26 March 2017. 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 SPAM. If not, please let me know so I can check the distribution. Registration for the race has not opened yet. 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 at the end of 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 (8:45-9:00 min/mile)
Leaders: Karen Marsico, Marissa O’Malia and McKenzie Webster,

The “Nines” Group
Leaders: Shan Mercer (9:00-9:20 min/mile)
Leaders: Amy Grace, Megan Marine and Kathy McMahon (9:20-10:00 min/mile)

The “Tens” Group (10:00-10:45 min/mile)
Leaders: Darcy Fautz, Maureen Fossum, Jane Novak and Carolyn Perlmuter

The “Elevens” Group (10:45-11:30 min/mile)
Leaders: Melissa Kay and Stephanie Vauclain

The “Twelves” Group (11:30-12:30 min/mile)
Leaders: Magali Kivatinetz and Tamara Smith

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, 26 September – Wholefoods Piccadilly (6.5 miles)

This is fun destination route. How can you resist a fun run that ends up with delicious and healthy food options to bring home? Don’t forget your cash and tube card! We start out heading east on the canal and run to the Wall. We’ll exit the canal there and turn right onto Rodney, which will turn into Penton Rise, then King’s Cross Road, and eventually Farringdon, which we will stay on until we reach the embankment. We then turn right and run along Victoria Embankment to Northumberland (just past Embankment Tube Station). Turn Right onto Northumberland and run through Trafalgar Square onto Cockspur and then turn right onto Haymarket. Take Haymarket into Piccadilly Circus and turn left onto Coventry. Run through Piccadilly Circus, across the street and onto Glasshouse Street, where you will see Whole Foods Market.

Wednesday 28 September – 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 30 September – 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
6+ miles: The reverse Heath route
7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles: The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

19 – 23 Sept 2016 Running Info

Well done to our intrepid runners who met at Barclays on a very rainy Friday! You all get extra credit for a great effort. (True confession, I was there to take the photo but I wasn’t in running clothes!) I’ve written some more about London weather below. For everyone, it was another great week of running! Keep up the good work! This week we return to some of our classic routes that offer lots of options in terms of mileage. Monday is Hyde Park, Wednesday is The Wall and Friday is the The Heath. For the new folks, please let me know if you have any questions or need any help finding a pace group.

London Weather
This week was particularly extreme weather for London. We don’t usually have 85 degrees, thunder/lightening and heavy rain ever, let alone in the same week. That being said, our weather is very changeable and we get lots of days that include clouds, showers and sun. Don’t let a bad forecast discourage you from running. If you wait for the perfect day, you’d never get out the door. We had many days last year where the forecast was for rain, but it didn’t actually start raining until we were finished with our run. In any case, it does make sense to invest in a good breathable running jacket for wet weather.

Why Should Long Runs Be Slower?
For a great answer to that question, read the following Runner’s World article that gives a clear, concise summary of the science behind training with a slower, long run. We’ll return to this concept a few times throughout the year. When you tackle a new distance, your mile pace should be 45 – 90 seconds slower than your race pace. “When we overload the body in gradual, incremental increases, it responds positively by becoming stronger. If we overload the body too rapidly or too heavily too soon, it doesn’t have time to adapt and we risk poor performance, injury, illness and/or mental burnout.” Long slow runs also help build Mitochondria. They are the “powerhouse” of the cell because they are responsible for producing the energy required for muscle contraction. All important stuff if you want to run an endurance race! Right now during the early fall, we’re not worrying too much about race pace and training pace. The most important thing is to run, build up your fitness, get to know the people in the group and have fun! In general, you should be running at a pace that enables you to comfortably chat and have a conversation. Next week we’ll be sharing more information about the pace groups. The pace groups will play an important role in our training schedule when we start to gradually tick up the mileage and when we’ll be doing our long slower runs.

Be Careful
I know we’re all tempted to dash across the street to stay with the group. Please be careful! In the past, we had a runner hit by a motorcycle and we also had a runner hit by a car (on a weekend run). They were both OK, thank goodness, but I’m reminding you that in London you can’t depend on the traffic to stop for you. Also be mindful of pedestrians and bikes. We are a big group and we’re often running on narrow sidewalks. If you notice that a pedestrian has stopped and stepped to the side to let you pass, please remember to say “Thank You.”

Husbands Group
If any husbands or male friends would be interested in running with a group of men, please email Liane at [email protected]. Liane is new to WRW this year and her husband is hoping to connect with some fellow runners. Thanks!

Keep running,
Jane

ROUTES

Monday, 19 September – Hyde Park  – always versatile! (3 – 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.

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

5 Milers:  Follow the 3 mile run. At Hyde Park Corner continue back up/north on the carriage drive.  Exit the park at the Animals in War memorial and follow Upper Brook Street.  Turn left on Park Street, which becomes Gloucester Place and then Park Road back to SJW.

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.  Exit the park at the Animals in War memorial and follow Upper Brook Street.  Turn left on Park Street, which becomes Gloucester Place and then Park Road back to 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 of the traffic] and follow until you reach the large broad walk 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 of the park.  Exit the park at the Animals in War memorial and follow Upper Brook Street.  Turn left on Park Street, which becomes Gloucester Place and then Park Road back to SJW.

Create Maps or search from 80 million at MapMyRun

Wednesday 21 September – The Wall (3 to 6 miles)

We head down towards Regents Park, then enter the canal at the Charlbert entrance and run east [left] cutting through Camden Lock Market until we run out of canal path at Islington.  Since the canal is blocked here, we call it “The Wall.”  At The Wall, we turn around and head back to St. John’s Wood.  This is a great route to do a tempo run because there are no traffic lights.  But please be careful and aware of the bikes on the path.

If you run all the way to The Wall and back it is 6 miles.  But it is very easy to run half the distance if you want and turn around and head home.  As a marker, if you run to the Camden market (where we have to exit the canal path and run past the food stalls for a minute) and return home it is a 3 mile round trip.

Friday 23 September – 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
6+ miles:  The reverse Heath route
7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.