Hi Everyone,
London summer has arrived! Friday was a glorious day to run to Borough Market. Hopefully the great weather will stick around for awhile.

This week we return to some of our old favourite routes to give our ex-beginners a chance to get familiar with them. Monday we’re going to Hyde Park and there are many options in terms of mileage. Wednesday we’re doing the Notting Hill route and Friday we’re back up the hill.

I’m looking at the calendar and it’s hard to believe we only have 5 more weeks of official routes before our summer holiday. I know this time of year is so busy, but try to give yourself a break from everyday stuff and schedule the time to run. We have some fun runs on the calendar, join us!

Save the Date
Mon May 16 – Sloane Square, Embankment, Westminster
Wed May 18 – Going to see the Queen (9:45 start) or Kensal Rise
Fri May 20 – Happening Bagel
Mon May 23 – Brick Lane – Beigel Bake
Wed May 25 – Sights of London and Leaver’s Coffee
Friday June 3 – Borough Market
Mon June 6 – Adventure Run (more details to follow) or Big Ben
Wed June 8 – Last official run of the year

Are you moving this summer?
If you’re moving this summer, or you have a good friend that is moving, can you let us know?  We want to make sure that we can properly recognise you at our Leavers Coffee on May 25. (We’ll miss you!)

Jury Duty!
I’ve been called for Jury Duty starting Monday. Ugh! I’m really hoping that my service is short and that I’ll be back running with you very soon. Remember to look out for each other, especially our ex-beginners.

Keep running,

Jane

ROUTES

Monday 9 May – Hyde Park (3 to 8 miles)

Click here for all of the Hyde Park interactive route maps

I think you all know this route by now.

Start:  Everybody starts the same way… head west on Circus Road, turn left on Grove End Road and follow south as it becomes Lisson Grove.  Cross over Marylebone Road and continue on Seymour Place until the end.  Turn right and cross over Edgware Road and then take the first left on Stanhope Place to enter Hyde Park at the intersection with Stanhope Place. Cross into the Park—you’ll see a silver orb just inside the Park.

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

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

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

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

Wednesday 11 May – 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 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 [across from Paddington Station].  Go back along the canal and out where you entered, then run back to Starbucks.

You also have the option of a shorter run by not getting off the canal. Run half the distance you want, turn around and head home. As a rule of thumb, the two mile mark is the Westway overpass.

Friday 13 May – The Heath (4-8 miles)
We run up the hill on Fridays–it’s tradition!

5 miles: The Betsy Route
6-7miles:  The partial Heath route
7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

Hi Runners,

I hope you’re all recovered from our amazing race and ready to get back to some fun runs in London. Monday is a bank holiday so for anyone who wants to run we’ll meet at 8:30 and decide on the route in the morning. Wednesday we’re doing one of our standard routes – The Wall! Feel free to turn before the wall if you want a shorter route. On Friday let’s do something fun and head to Borough Market. For anyone who isn’t up for a destination run, you can always do the Hill.

Good Luck WRW Racers!
Good luck to the US WRW crew that is gathering in Nashville this weekend for the Half Marathon. Good luck to Jody Adams, Colleen Crescenti, Linda Dolan, Tania Grade, Catherine Henson, Julie Hersh, Lisa Hill, Emily Hillsman, Lynne Hodge, Michele Mandel, Carol Mark, Dorrie Marks, Paula Mitchell, Ariadne Petrucelli, Danja Roberts, Sue Rushmore, Diane Schlinkert, Malu Tan, and Kim Ursery (sorry if I forgot anyone). We hope you have a great race and most importantly, have fun!

Save The Date – Sights of London Run and Leaver’s Coffee Wednesday 25 May
Please mark your calendar for Wednesday 25 May for our annual Sights of London run and afterwards our coffee gathering to say “good-bye and best wishes on the next adventure” to some of our dear friends. (Sigh, I hate saying good-bye.) For anyone who is new to this, we run to Big Ben and stop along the way for some group photos at key London landmarks. Then we take the tube home to St. John’s Wood for coffee upstairs at Richoux. If you are leaving, can you let us know?

Save the Date – Running to See the Queen Wednesday 18 May
On May 18 the Queen officially opens Parliament and there is a whole splendid royal procession as she travels from Buckingham Palace to Westminster. Last year we ran down to the Mall to watch the festivities and we saw the Queen in her carriage drive by and wave to us. It was great fun! For those who want to go see the Queen, we’ll meet at Barclays at 9:45 that day. We’ll also have a regular route for those runners who want to meet at the normal time.

Save the Date – Night Out June 13
We’re planning an end-of-year evening social with spouses on Monday June 13 probably at Crocker’s Folly pub. Stay tuned for more details.

Keep Running
I know it’s tempting now that our big race has finished to take a break from running. Especially as life gets increasingly busy as the end of the school year approaches. However, the best thing you could do for yourself is to keep running over these last few months and over the summer. You’ll hang on to the fitness level you built for the race and you’ll start the fall ready to run.

Spring, Summer or Fall race?
One of the best ways to keep running is to sign up for a race. Having that race on your calendar will motivate you to train. Even a short local race can make a difference. Or you may want to consider signing up for a half marathon in the fall. We have a group that is doing the London Royal Parks Half Marathon on Sunday 9 October. The lottery spots for that race are full but there are still charity openings if you want to commit to raise money for a charity. The Windsor Half Marathon is on 25 September. This is supposed to be a beautiful race, but it is a bit hilly.

Thanks for reading a long email!

Keep running,

Jane

ROUTES

Monday, 2 May – BANK HOLIDAY
Meet at Barclays at 8:30 and decide as a group where to run!

Wednesday 4 May – The Wall (up to 6 miles)
Run South on Finchley/Wellington Road to the SJW Church Roundabout, follow the sidewalk to the left and cross Prince Albert Road at the crosswalk just beyond the SJW Church.  Continue east and enter the canal at the Charlbert entrance.  Run east [left], cutting through the Camden Lock Market until you run out of canal path at Islington. Touch the canal boat tunnel wall—this is The Wall!—then turn around and re-trace your steps back to SJW.  When you come of the canal at Regents Park, take Charlbert to Allitsen to SJW High Street to Starbucks. You can turn around before the wall if you want to have a shorter run.

Friday 6 May –

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 Thames until 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 – The Heath (4-8 miles)
Even after the ½ marathon we run up the hill on Fridays–it’s tradition!

5 miles: The Betsy Route
6-7miles:  The partial Heath route
7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

Hi Everyone,

Love those orange hats! I’m still floating on a happy cloud about the weekend and feeling very grateful to know all of you. The group dynamic was very positive, supportive, welcoming, fun, appreciative and happy! What a beautiful city to spend the weekend and run a race – I LOVED jumping into the ocean after the race. (I may try to make that a requirement for future race locations!) Some women had a great race and some women had a difficult race, but I hope you see that the race is really just a small part of the whole group experience. WRW is mostly about the friendship and on that metric we totally rocked it! Thank you so much for my amazing gifts! I just love my bracelet and scarf. They are so beautiful and will always be a wonderful reminder of you and our weekend together in Nice. THANK YOU.

Finally another gigantic thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this year at WRW and the race weekend in Nice such a huge success! We are all so appreciative! And because we want to capture all those wonderful memories, Amy is in the process of setting up a photo sharing account for us so we can download and share the photos from the trip. More details on that to come soon.

This week is about enjoying WRW and doing a bit of running if you are up for it. We have an easy and fun run for tomorrow Wednesday. We’re taking the short route to Whole Foods in South Kensington. Plan on a slow, easy 4-mile run (and if you cut through the park, it could probably be around 3.5 miles – I won’t tell on you). It might feel good to get your legs moving again and shake out some of the post-race rust. Upstairs at Whole Foods, there is a big space for us to have coffee and you can do some shopping afterwards. If you are really not up for a run, you could also come meet us at Whole Foods.

Friday we’re back up the hill but if you can’t face the hill, come meet at Barclays and you can organise a group to do a flat run.

Welcome Ex-Beginners – Class of 2016!
Love that name! We’re excited to have the ex-beginners join our MWF group! As a reminder, we have five pace groups (8s, 9s, 10s, 11s, and 12s) but the groups are really just a simple way to organise folks who run at roughly the same pace. Most beginners start in the 11s or 12s. There is a big group of ex-beginners, so wherever you end up there will be other ex-beginners with you. We all know that joining the big group can be intimidating at first, but please know that the first day is the hardest. Everyone is so friendly that you will quickly fit right in. The beginner coaches also help you to get settled into the MWF group. If you find that on the first day the group that you are in is too fast or too slow, don’t worry. It may take a few tries to get a sense of where you should be. (It’s easier to join the MWF group in the spring, because in the fall there are many new runners that just moved to London.) As a reminder we meet at Barclays at 8:15, and we try to start running at 8:20. Let me know if you have any questions about the pace groups or the MWF group. We know that leaving the beginner group and joining the MWF group can feel a bit scary, but we’ll help you make the transition. I promise!

We’d love your help!
Please let us know if you’d like to help in any way with WRW next year. There are lots of jobs, both big and small.

That’s all for now – except to keep running!

Jane

ROUTES

Monday, 25 April – Travel day back from Nice ½ marathon

Wednesday 27 April – Wholefoods S. Kensington thru Hyde Park (4 miles)

This route heads to Hyde Park in the usual way, heading down Lisson Grove to Seymour Place, taking a right at the end of the Seymour Place to cross over Edgware Road, then taking a left on Stanhope Place to the park entrance. We will then run to the left, heading towards Hyde Park Corner, but before we get to the corner we will head off to the right and run along an inner path towards Carriage Drive. Here we cross the road and continue on Flower Walk until we reach the south west corner of Kensington Gardens. We can cross Kensington High Street at Kensington Church Street to get to Whole Foods, which will be directly in front of us, where we can enjoy a coffee together and do a bit of shopping!

Friday 29 April – The Heath (4-8 miles)

Even after the ½ marathon we run up the hill on Fridays–it’s tradition!

5 miles: The Betsy Route
6 – 7miles:  The partial Heath route
7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

Hi Everyone,

This is our last week of training before the race! Well done to everyone who ran to Kew Gardens last week. On Monday, we have a 5-6 mile loop through Hyde Park and on Wednesday we have a 4-mile loop through Regent’s Park. Most of us will be gone on Friday and next Monday, but if you’re not going to the race please meet as usual and you can decide a route on the day. The next weekly email will go out on Tuesday April 26 after the race.

Nice, France details

Please look out for a series of emails with details about the trip including an itinerary, flight list and the famous photo book (THANK YOU AMY!). Let us know if you have any questions.

Keep running,

Jane

ROUTES

Monday, 18 April – Hyde Park (5 – 6 miles)
It is race week so the run in Hyde Park is a shorter loop than previous runs.

5 Mile:  Everybody starts the same way and by now you know the way to Hyde Park.  After entering the Park, turn right and run towards Speaker’s Corner. Continue south through Hyde Park, past the Serpentine and at the Carriage drive, make a left and head back toward Hyde Park Corner and 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 Mile: 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.

Wednesday 20 April – Regents Park loop (4 miles)
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 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.

Friday 22 April – We leave for Nice!
All others – up the hill or whatever you would like.

Hi Everyone,
We’ve made it to our longest training run of the season – 11 miles to Kew Gardens! I hope the photo above inspires you. Once again our route takes us to a beautiful part of London as we run along the Thames. Don’t forget your Oyster card, water and gels. Remember, nothing new on race day. Now is the time to test your clothes, gels, water belt or anything else you might use or wear on race day. Please take a minute to read the route and especially note the directions for entering and exiting the Thames path. Please be on time to Barclays and get into your pace groups right away. We’ll do a staggered start since we’ll be a very large group and we don’t want to overwhelm the sidewalks.

SUBMIT YOUR VIDEO AND PHOTOS
Thank you to everyone for participating in the filming this week! Please email your video and photos ASAP to [email protected] or Erin Roth  or Kate Worrell. We are also collecting all WRW photos from throughout the year. Please send your video and photos in as large a size as possible, ideally in the actual or original size. Thanks again!

Nice Race Medical Form
Chris Roberts is in the process of following up with everyone who had some sort of issue with their medical form. The Nice race website has a page to confirm that your registration is complete. If there is an issue, there will be a red X next to your name. If you are all set, there will be a green check next to your name. We want to get on the plane with everyone having a green check! If you go to the following link, you can enter your last name and check your registration.
LINK: http://www.sport-up.fr/site/partenaire/inscription/verif-31729.htm

Please make it a priority to confirm your registration is complete this week. The race organisers won’t give you a race number if there is any issue with your medical certificate!

Keep running,
Jane

ROUTES

Monday 11 April – Kew 11 miles

Bring your Oyster or contactless card!

You’ll be feeling exhilarated as we do our 11 mile run to the cute village of Kew. We start out the normal way running to Hyde Park. Once in the park, we’ll turn to the left and run down the main walkway as we regularly do, to Hyde Park Corner. At the end of the walk, turn right to follow the main cross route in the park—beware of the bike lane! When this ends at West Carriage Drive, cross the road at the crossing and continue on the pathway towards the southwest corner of Kensington Gardens. We’ll run out of the park at the Broadwalk, turning right onto Kensington High Street and continue for about two miles until we reach the Hammersmith Tube gyratory. Run counter clockwise towards the left, ending up on Queen Caroline Street which gets you to St. Paul’s Church green. Run along the green to the right, heading to and crossing over Hammersmith Bridge. Exit Hammersmith Bridge Road to your left, go down the stairs and run under the bridge onto the Thames footpath. Now it’s time to enjoy the view as we run along the Thames for almost four miles—it’s beautiful! We will exit at the Kew Bridge, see photo below:

Run UNDER the bridge and then turn left, past a couple of tiny shops and garages. Run through the small parking lot until you see the stone steps leading to the top of the bridge.

At the top of the steps turn right towards town (not back over the river) and run along this road [Kew Road] for about a third of a mile until you reach a 3-way intersection. Here there are two options. Option 1 is on the route map but option 2 may be easier to remember. The distance is the same.

Option 1 – At the 3-way intersection, veer left on Mortlake Road, then shortly thereafter turn right on Cumberland Road, which will merge into Kew Gardens Road. You’ll do a turn to the left onto Station Approach [follow the Kew Gardens Station signs]. There is a Starbucks around the small bend where we’ll all meet up to congratulate ourselves on such a great run!

Option 2 – At the 3-way intersection, veer right and follow Kew Road along the boundary wall to Kew Gardens until you reach the first main pedestrian entrance to Kew Gardens, the Victoria Gate. Across from Victoria Gate, is Lichfield Road (it is only sign posted on the left-hand corner). Follow Lichfield Road straight into Kew village. Starbucks is on the left where we’ll all meet up to congratulate ourselves on such a great run!

Wednesday 13 April – Camden/Morningside Crescent/Regent’s Park Loop 5 miles

We start out on the canal 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 and past the nice fountains. When we get onto Triton Street stay on the right side, cross Osnaburgh and continue to the zebra crossing to cross Albany Street. Run to the corner at Euston Road, take a right and the next right to enter the 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.

Friday 15 April – Heath

It’s Friday again, so everyone up Fitzjohn’s. You can pick your distance and whatever you choose, there will certainly be someone else interested in running that distance. All of these routes are on the website.

4 miles: Run up to the Hampstead tube station and back.
5 miles: The Betsy Route
6-7miles: The partial Heath route
7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles: The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.

Hi Everyone,

Well done to everyone who ran to Canary Wharf last week! I loved hearing your positive reports. My favourite story was from Maureen’s friend who was visiting from Alaska. After hearing our cries of “BIKE” on the canal, she remarked that when they are biking on trails in Alaska they shout, “BEAR”! That’s an interesting reminder of our urban jungle!

We’re off to Greenford this week for our long run. The photo above is from our run to Greenford last year and I hope it gives you a bit of inspiration. We head west out the canal for almost 10 miles and the stretch past Wembley is very rural in parts. You can leave the hustle and bustle of London behind you. This is an excellent training run with no traffic lights.  Watch your pace – don’t be tempted to go too fast. Remember long slow runs are the best way to build fuel. This is also a good route to test your gels. The photos of the exit in the route section are from last year as well, so hopefully they aren’t building a new apartment building or something crazy at the site. We’re going to assume the Black Horse pub is still there! The important thing is to look for the numbers on the bridges, we’re exiting at bridge number 15 – NOT 15a, don’t be fooled.  Wednesday we’re going to The Wall. You can decide to do tempo work along the canal or have a more standard training run depending on how you’re feeling. This is our last official tempo run before the race!

Friday is the first day of spring break! If you’re in London this week we’ll plan to meet at Barclays at 8:30 and decide our route on the day. The plan is to maintain fitness by doing 6-mile runs. If you’re unable to run this week because you’re in the middle of the jungle or the ocean, you’ll still be fine for the race. Any type of cross training (2-3 sessions over the week) will be a bonus. If you’re really pushing for your best time during the half marathon, you may want to use the runs this week to practice your race pace or faster. One option would be to run your race pace less 30-60 seconds. That will be a good work out!

Looking ahead, our first official day back after the break will be Monday 4 April and we’re getting close to race day. We have the following routes on the schedule:

April 4 – Big Ben loop, 8 miles
April 11 – Kew Gardens destination, 10-11 miles
April 18 – Hyde Park loop, 5-6 miles
April 24 – RACE DAY

Enjoy your break – and keep running,

Jane

ROUTES

Monday 21 March  Greenford 9.75 miles

We start out the regular way to get on the canal path at Maida Vale heading west. We’ll then run along the canal for about 8 more miles until we exit the canal at Oldfield Lane which is the next exit after Greenford Road.  We’re looking for the following bridge which is pretty plain but does have a small black “15” in the center.

Just underneath the bridge there are steps leading up to the The Black Horse Pub.

At the top of the steps turn right and run along Oldfield Lane which is fairly industrial area until you reach the Greenford Station on the right just under the railway bridge.  Tube home via the Central Line.  If you want to stop for coffee, food or the bathroom, there is a little place with the great name of the Friendly Cafe just past the station on the left.  (If you want fancy coffee, turn left at the railway bridge (instead of going under) and following the road until the next intersection where there is a mall with a Costa Coffee.)  Note, there is no guarantee these coffee places are still there!

Wednesday 23 March The Wall 6 miles

Turn this into a speed workout by running a negative split! Run faster on the way back to SJW than you ran heading out to the wall.

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

Friday 25 March  ASL Spring Break

Meet at Barclays at 8:30 and decide as a group where to run!

______________________________________

Website:  https://womenrunningtheworld.commm
Facebook Group:  Women Running The World (request to join)
Email: [email protected]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the great feedback on the new Canal-Holland Park-Green Park route from last Monday. We’ll definitely add that one into the mix going forward. Monday we’re going to Canary Wharf. This is a change of plans from the original schedule due to the construction and general sidewalk mayhem in Farringdon at the moment. Please be early to Barclays on Monday and get into your pace groups right away. We’ll have a staggered start like we did the last time we ran to Canary Wharf a few weeks ago. This helps ease crowding on the canal and we can keep track of each other in the pace groups. Wednesday we’re in Regents Park doing tempo diamonds and Friday we’re back up the hill.

Good Luck Racers!
Good luck to Darcy Fautz, Poornima Guruprasad, Beth Keaveny and Rekha Kumar who are running the Bath Half Marathon on Sunday. We hope you have a great race and we can’t wait to hear about it!

Recycle your unwanted bras! Monday 14 March
The charity, Against Breast Cancer, researches improved detection, treatment and how to increase survival rate after breast cancer diagnosis. One of the ways they are funded is through a bra collection and recycling scheme where the charity receives £1000 per tonne of bras donated to them. The bras are then sent by their recycling partner to Africa. Second-hand bras are very popular amongst the women in West African villages where they do not have the funds to buy new ones.

So if you have any unloved bras in your home, please donate them to this scheme. Wearable bras in all conditions are welcome. Emma Hill will be collecting from Barclays Bank, WRW start point, on Monday 14 March from 8 am until 8.30 am, in case there are any donations from non runners. Emma will then deposit them at the collection point at the Cumberland Tennis Club. Please email Emma at [email protected] just to let her know that you have something to be collected on the 14th March or if you have any questions.

WRW Shirts
We have two extra WRW shirts size medium. The cost is £25. If you would like one, email me. First come, first served. Thanks!

Keep running,

Jane

ROUTES

Monday, 14 March – 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.  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 March –  Regent’s Park Tempo Diamonds

We’re continuing with our focused tempo running.  This week we will do “diamonds’.

Head over to Regents Park, the normal way (down Wellington Road, left at SJW Church roundabout, cross the zebra crossing before the High Street and enter park at the Charlbert entrance).  Enter the park and veer to the left path. When you reach the first intersection with the other sidewalk, it is time to turn on your running jets.  You will run hard for 1 minute, then recover by running slowly for 3 minutes; then run hard for 2 minutes and recover by running slowly for 3 minutes; then run hard for 3 minutes, recover run slowly for 3 minutes; run hard to 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 minute hard  3 minutes jogging recovery
3 minute hard  3 minutes jogging recovery
2 minute hard  3 minutes jogging recovery
1 minute hard  3 minutes jogging recovery

If you need to extend the amount of time for the jogging recovery, that’s fine, you can jog up to twice the amount of the hard run time (so 6 minutes max recovery jog for the 3 min hard run)

This type of running is best down within the park so you don’t have to contend with driveways, etc.  If you find you need more mileage in Regent’s Park, just keep looping however you see fit.

Friday 18 March – The Heath

It’s Friday [again!], so everyone up Fitzjohn’s.  You can pick your distance and whatever you choose, there will certainly be someone else interested in running that distance.  All of these routes are on the website.

5 miles: The Betsy Route
6-7miles:  The partial Heath route
7.5 miles: The Highgate route
8 miles:  The full Heath route

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.
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Website:  https://womenrunningtheworld.commm
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Email: [email protected]

Hi everyone,

I really missed running with you last week! I picked up a small injury so I had to take some time off. This experience has been a clear reminder that it’s very important to STRETCH! Not just before and after the run, but also at other points in the day and on days when you don’t run. This is the point in our training when we’re tackling longer mileage so it’s very important to take care of yourself.

Monday we’re doing a new 8-mile route but the good news is that it’s a combination of a few of our familiar routes. We’re taking the canal west, following the start of the Notting Hill route. Then instead of turning toward Paddington, we continue on through Holland Park and then along Kensington High Street to the south edge of Hyde Park and on to Green Park. We’re taking the tube home from Green Park so remember your Oyster card. Please take a look at the map so you’re familiar with the route. Wednesday we’re in Hyde Park doing tempo triangles and Friday we’re encouraging everyone to do the 7.5 mile Highgate Heath route.

As a reminder we have the following upcoming runs:

March 7 – Canal, Holland Park, Ken High Street, Green Park, 8 miles
March 14 – Canal, Farringdon, Embankment loop, 9 miles
March 21 – Canal to Greenford destination, 10 miles
March 28 – Spring Break
April 4 – Big Ben loop, 8 miles
April 11 – Kew Gardens destination, 10-11 miles
April 18 – Hyde Park loop, 5-6 miles
April 24 – RACE DAY

CHANGE OF DATE – Bra Recycling Pick-up now on Monday March 14
In last week’s email we announced that Emma Hill will do a collection of old bras to contribute to the charity Against Breast Cancer. We’ve had to change the date for the collection to Monday March 14. If you have any questions or if you’re planning to bring anything to the collection, please email Emma Hill at [email protected].

WRW VIDEO
Every year members of the running group put together a silly little WRW video to show at the half marathon as entertainment. Everyone is encouraged to participate, even those who can’t make the trip to Nice. This year we are doing our own version of a parody that many of you already know about — check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYRENWT8lz8. We will be doing most of the filming (that sounds professional but it really isn’t!) during the week of April 4th. Please stay tuned for more information…and, in the meantime, if you see someone aiming a video camera at you during the run, just smile!

Keep running,

Jane

ROUTES

Monday 7 March – Holland Park to Green Park (8 miles)  New Route

We start out the same as our traditional Notting Hill Route [Circus Rd to Grove End, to St Johns Wood Rd to Cunningham, to Blomfield to the Canal, going west past the Westway to Ladbroke Grove].  Once on Ladbroke Grove, run south all the way until it ends at Holland Park Avenue.  Cross Holland Park Avenue, take a right and then a left on Holland Walk [just past Aubrey Road].  Holland Walk is a pedestrian way.  Run up Holland Walk until the first entrance into Holland Park on your left [opposite the Duchess of Bedford Walk].  Run into the park and then turn left on the broad walk which goes the length of Holland Park until it ends at Kensington High Street; turn left and run along Ken High Street.  For a shorter run, you can leave at the Ken High St Tube which makes it about a 5 mi run.  Otherwise, continue on until you reach Kensington Park, where you enter it at the junction with the Broad Walk [just before Palace Gate road]. Take the Broad Walk to the first path on the right which turns into So Carriage Dr. You’ll run past The Albert Memorial and cross West Carriage Dr at the light. Continue on So Carriage Dr all the way to Apsley House/Hyde Park Corner.   Cross over Piccadilly and run under Wellington Arch, then cross at the light to run along the path to the left of Constitution Hill [the same route we take in going to Big Ben],  At the Mall, turn left to run to the easternmost path of Green Park [again, familiar from other routes], turn left and run by Lancaster House to Green Park Tube. Hop on the Tube back to SJW and meet up at Starbucks!

Wednesday 9 March – Hyde Park Tempo Triangle

Head down to Hyde Park the usual way at a very gentle pace. Once you reach the park pick up the pace a bit around Speaker’s Corner, and then run very fast down to the SE corner of the park. Jog slowly around the corner while you try to bring your heart rate back down to a recovered rate. Once you reach the straightaway, run hard again to Carriage Road. Slow down to a recover rate again as you cross over the bridge and up to the path, where you will turn right and run hard along the diagonal back to Speaker’s Corner. Jog very slowly back to SJW or, even better, hop on the bus or tube from Marble Arch. If you are not doing tempo work, you can do this run at a regular pace (if you go back to SJW it is about 6.5 miles).

Friday 11 March – HIGHGATE (7.5 miles)

This hill run avoids most of the mud in the Heath and gets the hills out of the way by the halfway point of the run. As the race nears, the hill runs become even more important and this is a step up from the regular 6 mile Heath run we’ve been doing.
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 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. (Due to works on the Heath there are closures of some paths which may change weekly. We may have to run on the outside of some of the ponds and cross over further down the Heath.) When the sidewalk dead ends, take a right to run along the exercise fields, track and swimming pool. Exit the Heath past the swimming pool, crossing over the bridge onto Constantine Road. Take a right, running past South End Rd/Fleet Rd, past the Royal Free Hospital and cutting to the left just past the Royal Free’s entrance driveway to take a short cut to Haverstock Hill. Go left on Haverstock Hill to Belsize Avenue, veering to the left to stay onto Buckland Crescent and take this to Fitzjohn’s. Left on Fitzjohn’s to Swiss Cottage, then scoot over to St Johns Wood Park Road and back to Starbucks.

Click here for maps of all of the Heath routes.