Category: Long run

It had been my intention to get up and out this morning, but a broken night’s sleep finally yielded to the day shortly after 9am and it then took me two hours to get to the start of my run… physically, yes but particularly mentally.

I ran from my folks place down to Rottingdean and then along to the Palace Pier… and back again.  It was the first day that I felt like taking a chance on the weather so it was shorts on, 2011.  The chilly wind blasting up the valley into my face caused me to ponder my decision, but once I warmed up there was no question that it was a good call.

The runners of Brighton were out in force and some of them were even friendly enough to return my greeting… the rest either being focused intently on their running, having a policy of not acknowledging strange looking men, or just being miserable gits.

Between Rottingdean and the Marina I ran along the grass rather than the road, so the views were great.

And it was presumably the day of the London to Brighton ‘old bikes’ ride, as Brighton was heaving with people and motorbikes… most of them contemporary!

It wasn’t the fastest run, to be fair.  Going out I averaged 6.6mph, but with the gradient against me coming back I managed only 5.85mph.  Overall a nice comfortable run of 12.5 miles in 2.01, 6.2mph, 9.68 minutes per mile.

It’s really interesting considering the variables that influence speed.  I always seem to run faster when I am slightly cooler, like last week: this afternoon however I was wearing an extra layer, to ward off a cooler day, which made me feel slightly too warm.  I’m not sure what effect getting up late has, but I suspect that an 11am start is always going to slow me down, not least as it meant I didn’t particularly want to go running at all!  But the big variable is how focused I am and it was running along thinking about all this stuff (and way more) that I reckon actually slowed me down.

I ran the same route as last week which, in short, took me around Burgess Hill and then down to Clayton and back… 11 miles in total.  I had a rough sense about where the mile markers were and whilst I wasn’t slavish in trying to remember the time at the different mile points, I noted enough to be interesting.  The great thing about data, as I am forever telling my clients, is the ability to get a sense of what was going on… albeit in this case, after the fact.

The first seven miles, while I allowed my mind wandered hither & thither, I ran at 6.5mph, or 9.2 minute miles.  Then I picked up the pace, pretending I was running downhill and ran the next 3 miles at 7.2mph, or 8.3 minute miles.  All of which left one final mile and no chance of equalling last weeks’ time.  No matter, as I was still determined to beat an average of 9 minutes per mile (in effect, racing Phil), so I picked up my skirts and flew, even up the hill from Wivelsfield Station, managing this final mile in 7 minutes, 8.5mph.  This gave me an overall time of 1.37 for the 11 miles, average 6.8mph or 8.8 minutes per mile.

One of the reasons that I tend to vary my route is that I don’t actually like racing myself (as a paratelic it is the journey that is of more interest), but I was curious to see whether I could repeat the time from last week.  Alas not, which means that I’ll almost certainly be returning to this route again!

On occasions I am SO ready to run on a Sunday morning, but yesterday was not one of these.  I knew that I had to be showered and ready to leave the house by 2pm and it was interesting to observe how my mind sank into Flotsametrics, the book that Nigel & Kristin gave me for Christmas, thus shortening the time available to run.

It’s a double edged sword though, as with less time you need more focus and where I would normally run out and follow my nose, I instead planned where I would run to maximum benefit.

I’ve been running sub-Phil Stupples (as in slower than) for some time now (although to be fair I do usually run off-road) and I wanted to see whether this was reversible.  So my planned route went down to Wivelsfield Station, along to London Road and then south to Clayton, where I went up the lane 400m or so to make up the mileage.  And back again, obviously.

The advantage of pre-planning was that I knew roughly where the miles fell and could thus see how I was doing for a change.  It also allowed me to be more deliberate in my choice of clothing, going for cotton socks and no jacket… all the better for running slightly faster!

En route I passed a surprised-looking Mister Matt Beermatt and also the guys from Crawley Community Payback who were tidying the grass verges.

You may be surprised at how delighted I was to see someone edging the grass, but I have been agitating with the local council, my local MP and central government since last year for this very task to be engaged with.  My suggested strategy was deeper and more involving, but this is at least a great start!

My lite set-up worked well, as though I was cold to start with, it enabled me to keep up a good pace and arrive back quite literally steaming.

The pace was not the 10 minute-miles that was my backstop to get back in time to go out.  Not even Mister Stupples 9.12 pace, but 8.64 miles per minute.

This is not far off the 8.57 pace that I used to run the 7 miles to work from Earls Court in 2004, though then I used to arrive in London Bridge ready to collapse, whereas yesterday I returned having merely enjoyed a fun run.

So 11 miles, 1.35, 6.95mph.

Okay, okay, so it’s not often (ever?) that I’ve been called oi sexy! by someone from a car while I’m running, but I haven’t let it go to my head on account of who shouted it… a couple of twelve year-old Longhillian boys in the mould of a young Mister Richard Marsh!

I’d started from Woodingdean and was planning to be out for a couple of hours and the first decision I had to make in Rottingdean, once I’d stopped laughing, was whether to turn right towards Brighton, or left towards Saltdean.

It was a super-windy grey day and ordinarily I would have headed into the wind on the outward leg, but I felt like some new scenery so I turned left.

With the wind behind me I made light work of the hills and by the time I had run for an hour, I had covered almost 7 miles, through Telscombe, Peacehaven and onto Rusby Hill above Newhaven.  Now all I needed was a convenient marker to turn around, but I couldn’t see anything suitable so I just carried on.

For the sake of a view across the bay to the next headland I followed a cycle path sign and ended up at the docks, turning right again to reach Newhaven Fort.

With the easy half of the run over (outbound with the gradient and wind behind me), I set about running back a more convoluted way, starting with a cliff-top path back to Peacehaven Heights.

When I say cliff-top, it was a little like running along the top of a grassy cornice in places and I was glad that, whilst the wind was pretty forceful, it was at least on-shore and blowing me away from the edge!

Chatting to Cliff a while ago he mentioned making his circuit-training group run up and down a load of steps at the eastern end of the Undercliff and I was about to discover what he was talking about… it certainly made no sense at the time!

I carefully descended the somewhat treacherous steps and found myself in alien territory… I didn’t even know this place existed!  This presumably newer undercliff walk wasn’t more than a mile and a half long, but it was a pretty awesome place, especially in this weather and bar the one solitary guy I saw, I had it all to myself.

Had the tide been lower and the weather more clement, I might have been inclined to continue along the beach, but instead I turned around and retraced my steps to a roadway which brought me steeply back up to Peacehaven, where I set about retracing my steps back to the start.

The hill you can see in the photo above, which takes you from Satdean into Rottingdean, was particularly hard work, with tired legs and the wind full against, but at least I managed to overtake two cyclists.  Okay, so they were walking… and in their seventies… but a cyclist is a cyclist!

I arrived at Rottingdean in the full knowledge that it would be heavy going ascending to Woodindgean.  But though my legs were tired, they seemed to have more power than this time last year and it was less of a drag that I had envisaged.  Either that, or my pain threshold has increased!

I reached the end of a wholesome 16.5 miles in 2.55.  This was an average of only 5.66mph, disappointing after the speed early on, but this was not really surprising with all the twists and turns I took.

A GREAT run… I shall definitely go that way again!

This time last year, when I was in training for the Brighton marathon, the weather was almost identical as today… gloriously bright sunshine and cold as ice.  This year I waited inside, comfortably reading and let the temperature rise a little before setting out.

On bright days I like to be on the top of the Downs (or as last year, on the sea front) so the question was only how to get there.  This I decided as I reached the bottom of the road, opting to run to Wivelsfield Station, along to the London Road and then all the way south out of Burgess Hill, past Hassocks to Clayton.

It was actually hot in the sun and I removed my jacket for a while, but put it straight back on as soon as I started to run up the hill to Jack & Jill.  It was fweezin, which was borne out by the layer of ice on the pond at the top of Home Hill.

I ran on to Ditchling Beacon where I found someone standing on the trig point… where I otherwise would have stood!  Jan and Kate were up from Hove and he’s one of those mad folk who do triathlons… sea swimming and all.  Respect!

Now the problem was how to get home and while I was thinking (and still buoyed up by the conversation with Jan) I decided to run down Westmeston Bostal and back up the steep path that I tackled last weekend… and the one before that too I think.

Back at the top I opted to descend on the path that runs down below the road, following it all the way down to Sporting Cars where I turned right along the road and then left into Spatham Lane.

Although I’d not quite reached the 2-hour mark, I was already starting to feel tired and had no jelly-babies to revive me.  By the time I ran past the Common car park it was only mental muscle that kept me moving, like impulse power for the USS Enterprise, reiterated by a runner who glided past me even though he was not going fast himself.

I ran down through the housing estate and back to the house, the most direct route I could easily conceive, ending the run in 2.31, 14.38 miles, 5.7mph.  This contrasts poorly with the similarly glorious run on 31st January last year which was 13.5 miles at a speed of 6.48mph… what can I say, other than I don’t give a hoot as I’m not in training for the marathon!

When it comes to planning to run with other people, I realise that I tend to put it off until the last minute to see how I feel on the day.  Just as well that I’d not planned anything today as I didn’t roll out of bed until the normal kick-off time.

A couple of hours later, having stimulated my mind with a challenging work book, I finally set off, alone, with the aim of running to the Beacon.  The route, which took in Ockley Lane, Oldlands Mill and Ditchling, is pretty much exactly 5 miles and I was disappointed to run it in 52 minutes… I’m sure in the distant annals of these pages I have run it in 45, maybe even 44, but not for some time!

I did stop for a few moments to see how my favourite new build was coming along… it’s not in Odette & Michael’s  league, but tres avante garde for Burgess Hill, nevertheless.  I would most certainly like to live there!

Feeling in need of another hill, I ran down Westmeston Bostal and on reaching the path back up to the left, the one that Pete, Mark & I ran up last week, I took it.  At the top I ran back down the bostal and may well have run up again but for a well-timed call from Cliff.

At the road I turned right, then left across the fields past a dilapidated barn that is very much in need of my design imagination.  Dreaming on, I ran down past Middleton Manor, then realising how thick the mud would be further along this path, turned right up to Streat church.

I first ran down Streat Lane only a matter of weeks ago and it was fun to revisit it in the opposite direction… some of the properties are gorgeous.

At the end I did a left-right into Hundred Acre Lane and then ran to the left across the fields, around behind the industrial estate and onto the Magical Path where I surprised a young canoodling couple sitting on a tree-stump… actually, they surprised me too, so unused am I to seeing anyone down there at all.

It was a short hop back across the Common to home which I reached in 2.16.  13 miles on the map gives a speed of 5.74mph which is fast becoming my default speed these days!

No company, not quite a half marathon distance and not half slow either!  Just perfect for a paratelic!