Author: FosterRuns

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Long on resolve

After a late and boozy evening in London on Friday night, and a freezing walk home from the station, Saturday dawned bright and sunny.  One of the great things about having your own sun-trap is that it’s possible to sit outside on otherwise quite chilly days and since the sculpture that I had started last year was calling to me, I sat outside and tapped away for a while.

Within an hour or so I had shed fleece, socks, sweatshirt, T-shirt and jeans in favour of an old pair of shorts, it was that warm, although I had to put more clothes on to cut the grass as the micro climate did not extend more than a few feet away from the house.

An hour of sculpting turned into four or five in the end at the end of which the still-really-unfinished piece returned to the house as polished as it had started, just a little lighter!

This morning I would have been quite happy to replay the whole of yesterday, maybe just sitting quietly reading in the sun, but the longer you don’t run, the more difficult it is to persuade yourself to go.  So on went the running shorts and my caked-in-mud trainers and out I went into another chilly, but bright morning.

Oh boy, it was hard running down the road!  Neither mind nor body were totally enamoured by the idea, and it was a good ten minutes before I managed to put those feelings behind me.  By then I had run down towards Oldlands Mill, with the loose goal of running into Ditchling and back again.

Ditchling Beacon is on the other side of the village and I was not entirely surprised to find myself running towards it, feet following well-run paths, almost before I realised what was happening.  

I always think of the climb as a test of resolve, something which is a really useful attribute when you run your own company… and especially one that specialises in change management.  I make myself run every last step to the very top… people must think I’m mad!

I think that one day last year I made the top in 45 minutes, so to get there in 52 was pretty pleasing bearing in mind how little running I’ve been doing. 

I then retraced my steps home again, pausing only to take a couple of photos of the view, making it back in one hour 42 minutes… pretty much 6mph for the 10.25 miles.

That’s the first long run since December, which is pretty appalling, but maybe now I can get back into the swing of things!

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Monday Mirth (and legs finally out)

Last weekend was a little jam-packed for a run.  We made the most of the weather on Saturday by spending it clearing winter out of the garden.  I scarified and cut (and scarified again) the grass, cut out dead wood from shrubs where appropriate and moved the pots back out from their winter shelter.  Kim, meanwhile, patiently excavated the huge and complex root of an old philadelphus, thus finally removing this once pretty, but long overgrown shrub from sight.

Knackered and ready for a G&T, I then substantially modified a storage cabinet that I had created for my study on Friday night.  The cabinet, which includes a simple distribution board to hide the myriad of plugs & cables and a home for the computer box, is now installed and working in a most pleasing way.  However, by the time I was done, I really was done!

Sunday morning Kim went for a run while I caught up on some work and then we went to north London for a family lunch & dinner.

Then it was Monday and at 7.30am on the nose, the BIG man Daren arrived to take me for a run.  He claimed that it had been frosty, but all I could see was a weak sun trying to break through an early morning mist.  Irrespective of the temperature, I had guessed correctly that he would be wearing shorts regardless and thus I went out for the first time this year wearing shorts and two layers… without my trusty Gore jacket or gloves.

It was a little chilly to start with, but as the sun broke through the mist, our clothing began to make more sense… or at least not seem quite so crazy.

Daren was on good form, having managed to lose some of his excess girth by visiting the gym more regularly over the last few months and generally trying to avoid walking through the galley!  One can only hope that the girth reduction was limited to his waist, otherwise we might have to start calling him Little man Daren, which really doesn’t sound quite right.

Our run took us gently out to Ote Hall, past the llama fields and into Wivelsfileld, then up Hundred Acre Lane and through the West Wood to the industrial estate.  We returned down the magical path & across the common.  7.25 miles in one hour ten minutes makes 6.2mph.

The run and bonhomie, allied to sitting out in the garden in the sun to eat breakfast, made a great way to start the week!

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Spring forth!

This morning was BEAUTIFUL, although the wind has since blown up and brought rain!  I couldn’t wait to get out and as you can see above, it really was gorgeous!

I did my default circuit, out to the Royal Oak, across to Wivelsfield, up through the woods to Ditchling Industrial Estate and back along the magical path & across the Common.  I probably would have gone further if I had remembered it’s only 5.2 miles and the 50 minutes time shows how out of shape I am.  6.25mph.

Still, it was stunning out there!

And in contrast to Jason’s new shoes, this is what mine look like!

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New starters & runner-returners

For those of you getting into running, or back into running, here are a few tips.

First & foremost, get some decent gear.  This will make the whole running experience WAY more enjoyable and whilst you don’t instantly need to go to the expense of breathable fabrics and gore waterproofs (although they do help with the desire to go running in inclement conditions), a decent pair of runners is essential.  We swear by Run in Hove (you hadn’t guessed?), but any small running-focused store staffed by enthusiasts rather than shop assistants is probably okay.

We took Kim’s son Jason into Run yesterday for a pair of trainers and having assessed his needs, Kurt explained why Jason sometimes experiences painful knees.  He then offered a specific choice of shoes that would help him prevent injury, the chosen pair (above) weighing in at less that the price of a run-of-the-mill pair from a high street chain, despite being the latest technology.

So now you can go running, right?  Yup, it’s that easy and having warmed up gently, there are three things that are worth focusing on: your breathing, the point of contact and relaxing your jaw.  This is not exhaustive, but it’s good to have a simple, initial focus.

Breathing.  To start with, try to run no faster than you can while breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth.  Aside from helping prevent over-exertion, this means you get into a good breathing habit early on.  Later, when you want an additional burst of speed, you can breath in through your nose and mouth together and will really notice the effect.

Point of contact.  Your heels and modern running shoes are generally designed so that you land on the outside corner of the heel.  The foot / shoe is then rolled onto its sole before departing from the toe.  When running, focus on the heel landing and the big toe departing as this will help you adopt a good running gait.

Relax your jaw.  In order for your jaw to be relaxed, you have to relax your shoulders, arms, hands and upper torso and since most of the running power comes from the legs, there is no need for the rest of you to be tense.  Later, when you want an additional burst of speed, you can straighten your fingers and with your hands pointing forwards, pump your arms forward and backward.  You’ll see what I mean when you try it.

You can look on the running blogs for more things to focus on as you start to get the running bug, but for now there is just one other thing that will make your experience a positive one.  Stretching.  

It’s a great habit to get into when you’re doing anything physical and especially running.  Start as soon as you get back, while your muscles are all still warm.  The key muscles to focus on are the calves, the quads, the buttocks and those tricky muscles that seem to join the two legs together, which I get to by squatting down, knees apart with my hands on the floor and elbows propped against the inside of my knees.  As I transfer the weight forward onto my hands, the elbows push the knees apart and stretch the said muscles.

Get someone to show you the other stretches (I could be here a long time trying to explain them without a diagram) and get into the habit of spending five to ten minutes stretching after each run.  Running and stretching both release endorphins so you should feel GREAT by the time you’re done.  

And if you then go and eat some protein, it will help to build the muscles that you’ve just been working, ready for next time you go out.

Enjoy!

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Floor idea

I’m quite aware that there’s a big chunk of time missing from the blog at the moment… in fact, there’s been a total absence of running going on and precious little other exercise too, on account of our having been AWAY!

After a couple of weeks with temperatures in the 70’s and 80’s in sunny Florida, I’ve been super-cold this week and glugging a mouthful of swimming pool water the other evening hasn’t helped how I feel.  That being the only exercise to write home about at the moment, I swam 32 lengths in a super-short session of about half an hour.  8 lengths were crawled… not counting me crawling out of the pool afterwards.

I think that it’s now safe to start running again, what with the weather likely to improve and the fact that, over lunch the other day, Cliff seems to have tacitly accepted that I won’t make it to Prague!

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Quick run and long conversation

I had a really lovely 6 mile run today along an old favourite route that took me out to Hundred Acre Lane.  The run itself took 58 minutes (6.2mph), but I arrived back after an hour and a half… go figure.

En route I had seen my good friend Lew and stopped to catch up on life, the universe and everything and it was great to put the world to rights.

Most of the water had drained away from last weekend or turned into a light surface mud, but there were clay pockets of deep water along the way into which my feet occasionally disappeared.  This is probably the reason that I didn’t get invited in for a coffee!

The fact that we’d had a LOT of water was evidenced by what was left of one of the bridges I crossed, shown above.  YIKES!

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Crawling towards The Soul Katz

Managed to get back in the pool on Thursday night for 45 minutes and found that it’s easier to count in sets of four than singly.  Three breast-stroked and a length crawled.  At the end of the session I did an extra crawl, so out of 56 lengths I managed 15 crawlies.  Still pretty knacked at the end, but it’s all starting to hang together a little better than it was.

Having swum, we beat it back to base for a quick pit-stop before hurtling off to Bar Nun at the Priory in Haywards Heath for a gig.  Our good friend & neighbour Andrew has been playing in The Soul Katz for about 15 years (it was a Commitments-style tribute band), but they have apparently not played for a while.

Knowing how good a player he is I was not at all surprised to find the venue pretty much splitting at the seams… the place was rammed!  The band comprises eleven excellent musicians (and one sound guy) and they played BRILLIANTLY.  What DID amaze us was how long they played for… they must have started just after half eight and aside from a short break, they ran right through until a quarter to twelve!

I took a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO3ChBLgGuQ of one of the numbers which gives a sense of what they play and how good Andrew is on the harmonica, although my camera does NO justice to the sound, alas!

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Now I know

A few weeks ago I pondered why everyone else seemed able to swim faster than me, before realising I could actually keep up with them if I crawled, like them.  Tonight there was a guy that I don’t think I could have kept up with even if I had been running.  

Towards the end of the session I asked what his secret was.  ‘Hmmm’, came the reply, ‘I haven’t swum for years and I’m just getting into shape again, but at 13 I swam for England… ‘

Cliff & Pete apparently braved the winter weather last weekend to run 50 miles (no, that’s not a typo… fifty miles) along the River Thames.  With winter precipitation, surfaces ranging from snow to slush and sub-zero temperatures, one really has to ask the question… WHY?  I suspect that there is no sanity in any of the possible answers that they might give, so I guess the answer must be Tree Fox Six.

Yes, I know it doesn’t make sense… it’s an analogy of foxiresex, which also means nothing whatsoever.

Cliff & Pete’s race details were garnered from a surprise visit by Cliff & Nessie on Sunday night… who are now able to confirm that we do actually live like slobs in a house full of laundry and unwashed dishes when there’s no-one around!  

Fortunately we were so horrified at being caught in this state of under-duress that we tidied up… just as well because when we got back from swimming tonight we found Debbie and John on the doorstep waiting to buy us dinner in exchange for Champagne & chocolates.  Fair do’s!

Before I forget, I think I managed 36 lengths tonight in just over 30 minutes… not great, but hey, I’ve not swum very much for ages and I could only swim 10 yards at 13.

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Splashy mud

I had a genuine desire to do something other than run this morning.

I’d got into a creative zone on a work challenge last night & ended up sliding quietly into bed at gone 3am.  Not quietly enough though, I’m assured!  It was nice & bright this morning and easy-ish to get up, but it was cold outside and I’m reading a totally absorbing book at the moment that I couldn’t wait to get back to.  

It’s called 1421 and is written by a former US Navy submarine captain about his theory that the Chinese circumnavigated and mapped the world a century before Magellan, reached America 70 years before Columbus and Australia 350 years before Cook.  The evidence is compelling and those of you who know how much I admire the Chinese will realise why I it’s hard for me to put the book down!

However, after a large espresso and an hour or so of reading, I reluctantly donned my running gear and got out into quite a bright, if cold morning.   In short, I ran to the south west of Burgess Hill to Hammonds Mill Farm, towards Hurstpierpoint but turning eastward to reach the crossroads at Hassocks, through the village to Keymer, then north along the road and up the private road to Oldlands Mill (where the photos of the South Downs above were taken) and back on my normal path.

The going was wettish, with splashy surface mud left over from the snow and ice of the last week and my legs were sufficiently covered in mud to impress one of my neighbours when I got back.  As I write, so Kim is washing my kit out (a task that I normally do) and has just exclaimed ‘I can’t believe how much mud you’ve got in your socks!’

Anyway, 8.3 miles on one hour 19 minutes is almost 6.3mph, better than I’ve been managing recently and not bad bearing in the mind the weekend off.

By the way, for those of you interested in old mills, here are the dates for Oldlands Mill open days in 2009.

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Last weekend you trecked

You may have gathered from my post earlier this week that we disappeared off to Holland last weekend to see our friends Adam & Sandra, celebrate their son Thomas’s second birthday and deliberately surprise Thomas’s grandparents, Tim & Anna, who were also visiting.

 The outgoing leg was really straightforward, with great roads right up til about half a mile from their place.  The we spent a frustrating half hour following Tom-Tom as it tried in vain to get us to the new-build on roads that have either been abandoned in a large area of development, or have yet to be built!

Utrecht is a really pretty place, with a deep set canal winding through the town with its cobbled streets and wonky houses.  The weather was gloriously bright & sunny and perilously cold, but it was a great introduction to what is probably well off the tourist trail for most people from the UK.

Adam & Sandra were generous hosts, putting us in mind of our friends Scott & Carolyn in Seattle.  In fact both Adam & Scott LOVE their coffee, but while Scott has a really smart stainless steel cafetiere, Adam has an espresso machine that grinds beans at from the top to make totally amazing and pretty much instantanteous coffee.

Their house backs on to a canal that was frozen the whole weekend, to such an extent that Adam had been walking on it the previous week.  THAT’s cold!

Most of our return trip was straightforward and we pottered back to the tunnel via some very quiet seaside villages along the French coast – one can imagine that in the summer, the glorious sandy beaches will be heaving with holiday-makers.  As soon as we unloaded in the UK we realised that the weather had changed, hence the previous pictures and the additional two and a half hours it took us to get home.

But Utrecht is well work a visit!