Photos – Page 32 – Foster Runs

August 23, 2009August 24, 2009

Short Sunday run

The alarm was set for 7.30 this morning and I woke up ten minutes before it went off and went downstairs to find it was only twenty past six. But I minded not, as it was a stunningly beautiful morning and the extra hour meant that I got to sit outside in the teahouse with my quadspresso and read the paper.

I duly met Andy & Paula at Jack & Jill and we were joined this morning by Ade and Garth, both of whom are also signed up for the Brighton marathon. We contemplated a tortuous route across to Wolstenbury and all points West, but settled for a more straightforward out and back so that Ade could easily turn round at any point… this being one of his first runs after a long absence.

It was clearly going to be a hot day, but a brisk southerly kept us at a great temperature for running. We ran along to Blackcap and the views were stunning… even if my panning suggests major tectonic activity!

It took us 47 minutes to get to Blackcap and we then set about trying to catch Ade, who had turned around early. This was easier said than done, as he had a good head start and he wasn’t any much slower than us!

En route back we stopped to find out what the radio hams were doing on the Beacon, other than listening to the cricket and then caught up with Kjell and Gill from Burgess Hill Runners, out for a gentle run with their dog.

As we neared the end, Paula scooted into the distance on her bike and Garth also disappeared ahead on his younger legs. Andy and I did our best to catch him, careering down the hill like madmen. We reeled him in but he was fast and was clearly not even trying, as he took the slower route around the windmills. This left the way open for us to be sitting on the wall by the cars when he sauntered up. Little things!

The distance was about 15km, or 9.35 miles and it had taken us 1 hour 35 minutes… at a pretty consistent, conversational 5.9mph, as it took us almost exactly the same 47 minutes each way. So a short run for a Sunday, but it was warming up and I was still pooped, so that was okay.

August 18, 2009August 18, 2009

A hill or three before breakfast

Daren, Andy and I met at Jack & Jill windmills this morning for a quick run before (a late) breakfast. It was a beautiful morning, as can be seen from the photos.

We ran up to the top of the first hill and left down the tank tracks to the gate at the bottom. We made out to Andy that the gate was locked and ran back up the tank tracks to the top.

Despite being knackered towards the top, the testosterone still kicked in and Andy & I ended up sprinting for the gate! Meanwhile Mister P was much more circumspect and gracefully gave me just enough time to take a photo of him.

Gluttons for punishment, we dropped down Burnhouse Bostal with a view to coming back up that too, but on reaching the bottom changed our mind & ran along Underhill Lane to go up the Beacon path instead.

This time Andy left nothing to chance and gently pulled away from us towards the top, saving all of us some energy!

We then pottered gently back along the top of the Downs to the cars. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable run with a gratifying height gain of over 340 metres!

Our 6.25 mile (just over 10k) run took us one hour 17 minutes (4.87mph), which was clearly slightly slower than the 13.88mph of Kenenisa Bekele from Ethiopia who ran 10k in under 27 minutes in the World Championships in Berlin yesterday.

However, for the race to be a little more equal we would need to tilt his 400m running track to have one end 5m higher than the other and then make the surface a lot less pristine… let’s see him do 60-odd laps of that!

Speaking of which, Cliff & Pete are off to do some crazy race next weekend where they will have a gain in height of about 60 times our run today whilst completing a third of the distance I have run in the last year! I have to sit down just to think about it! Good luck boys!

Ooops… I almost forgot.

August 16, 2009September 20, 2009

Six go to Stamner

This morning I drove down to Stamner Park to go for a run with a bunch of friends… Cliff, Andy, Paula, Nikki and the ever elusive Daren, whose head I seem to have squished in order to get Nikki & Cliff in!

You’ll notice a couple of things from the photos below… Cliff is wearing a red shirt to match his red shoes , whilst twins Daren and I apparently share the same tailor… and quite independently bought new Omni 8’s from Kurt at Run yesterday.

Also of considerable note is the sheer girth of my leg (in the white socks) compared to skinny Daren’s! How totally bizarre!

We six ran out of Stamner Park, around the back of Sussex University and on up the hill past Granny’s Belt, through Moon’s Bottom and up to the dip between the Brows of Western and Home on the top of the Downs.

We then passed Ditchling Beacon and turned left to North Bottom… which is a very deep bottom indeed. Here there lies a steep hill, which Andy ended up pushing Paula’s bike up, having persuaded her that Cliff must have been pulling her leg when he suggested she stick to the contours and miss out the big hole! Freud may have had something to say about all that, but he didn’t make it along today.

Then it was back along a grassy sprint and into Stamner Park, with it’s long gratifying downhill section back to the cars.

Of course, at this point Andy & I turned around & ran back up that very same (now) not so downhill section to the limit of the park, where he carried on along the Downs back to his house. I meanwhile turned around yet again and dropped down into Stamner Village (where I mourned the fact that I had no money for an ice cream) and ran back down the park road to the car.

11.1 miles in two hours and two minute s is not the fastest time in the world, but it was such great fun running with a bunch of old friends.

August 15, 2009August 17, 2009

Happy Second Blogthday

YES indeedie, two years have passed since I started writing this blog and if you’ve been reading it all this time, you probably deserve a drink! To celebrate, of course!

Without the enigmatic Bok to keep me going through the winter, my results have been down on the first year, but only a touch. In fact, I have been surprisingly consistent.

A quick run down on the comparisons show the following:

Writing is down from 156 to 102 posts, reducing the weekly average from 3 to 2, but then the first year there were a series of posts about films (we’ve not been going so often) and about the building of the tea-house.

Total mileage is also down, but only from 538 miles to 512, a reduction of just 2 miles per month… but WOW, that makes over 1050 miles in the last two years! And if you take out all the time in between (that I was probably sitting down) it only took me 172 hours… a little over a week!

The slackest months were January 09 with 13.6 miles and February 09 with 14.3 miles compared to 22.3 miles in February 08 but, in my defence, I did do quite a lot of swimming in that period this year whereas last year we were away ice driving and skiing.

There were five months this year that I ran more than 50 miles (plus one at 49.3) compared to 4 the year before, but the best I managed was 62.75, where there were 3 over 66 miles last year.

Overall my average run was 8.14 miles in a time of 1 hour 20 minutes… just over 6mph, and 0.1mph slower year on year. Of course what the figures don’t show is that I have been tackling more challenging runs. For example, more than half of the difference in the average speed is accounted for by just one run: The Blighty Grouse Grind on the 26th July.

Since I have not replaced my splodge since the beginning of July last year, I thought today would be an appropriate day to visit Kurt at Run in Hove. And as you can see, I now have a bright and shiny new pair of Saucony runners to add to the other four pairs I have bought from Run (and then slowly destroyed) in the last five or six years.

So another great big THANK YOU to all the readers of FosterRuns.com, especially the people who have made hilarious comments and the myriad of amazing folk who have allowed me to run with them. I sincerely hope that you will continue to both read and run with me as we sprint, energenetically, into year three!

August 14, 2009January 10, 2010

No sweat!

I wish that were true, but it’s not!

A local girl friend of mine has a running machine and she has agreed to let me use it whenever I like in exchange for a small charge to cover running costs.

So since I’d not had a midweek run this week I tried it out this lunchtime.

The view above was not as inspiring as my normal runs, but the result was 6.2 miles in one hour and this should be a useful facility in order to help me add an extra run to my current two a week… especially as the winter training push starts to kick in ahead of our April marathon.

Who am I kidding… I’m only trying find ways to get ahead of the Pac-Man in the local men’s fitness league!

Right now though I need to replace the 336 calories I used up, along with about a gallon of sweat… I’d forgotten how warm you get when you’re not outside!

August 2, 2009

Five go to Falmer

I pulled up at Falmer pond behind a guy limbering up to go running and asked him if he was running with Andy? ‘Yes’, came the reply, ‘but how did you know to come here?’ It turned out that he had only just changed the meeting point and was waiting for a different Andy to me!

Cliff, Lydia, Andy and Paula duly arrived and we set off up the path alongside the Falmer road, Paula riding her mountain bike to make sure we kept a good pace… down the hills, at least! Half way up the Falmer Road, the path turns left across to Newmarket Copse and you can see what we were in for. For those keen enough to follow me on a map, Loose Bottom is in front of us at this point.

Paula had ridden half way up the next hill but we kept left and followed the South Downs Way down the hill to the main road… she had to work SO hard, for about a nanosecond, to catch us back up again, before racing on down the hill ahead of us.

On the north side of the road, the path ascends the ironically named Long Hill, which it is and at the top I found these to old men sitting down for a breather… though they reckoned they were just about to do sit-ups!

I didn’t wait to find out and after a steep descent through Bunkershill Plantation, I had a good head start up Balmer Down… which was a little like Long Hill, only longer and hillier. About half way up I turned round & ran back down to rejoin the others and then ran back up again with them to the next gate.

Here we saved a father & son, out for a two-day cycle from Amberley to Eastbourne, from going the wrong way.

We turned left and ran down Buckland Bank, bearing right to Waterpit Hill and back down to Falmer… I make it about 7.25 miles.

Here I left the others to stretch out and set out to run for a while longer. I went back up the Falmer Road and back across to Newmarket Copse, where I passed the original runner coming the other way on his own… I’m guessing that his Andy didn’t manage to find him after all. I then ran around inside Newmarket Copse, trying to recall whether or not I had actually overnighted there as a Scout thirty years ago!

Then I continued down the hill to the main road as before, passing as I did a somewhat surprised father & son cycling up the other way… I have to conclude that it was they who had taken their time, as I was not going that fast!

At the A27 I turned left up the disused carriageway that serves the houses there. It was here, in about 1980, that Ric, Tony and I were cycling, weaving around the cats eyes along the middle of the recently redundant road, when Tony ran over my back wheel.

The quiet road ended and I had the choice of running alongside the dual carriageway, or turning right up towards Balmer Farm. I chose the latter, but having reached the trees, a horse rider kindly confirmed that the only way back across to Falmer way right to the top of Balmer Down where we had been earlier.

I tuned back down the hill & ran alongside the dual carriageway instead… not at all nice, but more direct. When I got to Falmer I ran around to Cliff’s old house/shop, which to my surprise looked like a newly built house, or possibly two. I then crossed the A27 on the road bridge and ran around the pond before finishing back at the car.

Two hours twenty minutes to do 12.8 miles is not that fast (5.5mph) but it was a REALLY enjoyable run. It was a beautiful day with gorgeous scenery and GREAT company, which helped carry me effortlessly around the second loop.

July 30, 2009

More falling

After two hot & sticky days in London and an evening of torrential rain, I escaped out earlier into a clear, cool, sunny morning. I did my quick 5.2 mile circuit… not so quickly it turned out, as it took me 50 minutes this morning. 6.24mph.

I was aware that I was running more slowly, so I set about enjoying the scenery which was beautiful. To such an extent that at one point, looking to the side and miles away in thought, I tripped heavily on an exposed root and landed on my palms & elbows!

July 26, 2009February 24, 2013

Soothsayers

The forecasters’ prediction for today was very wet, but as it turned out it was instead very warm. I found this out as I ran down the road carrying both my Gore jacket and beanie hat as insurance against being caught out in the rain.

I had decided against driving to the Downs as there was a 30-mile race starting from Clayton & I thought the car-park might be busy… or I might get dragged in! Instead I ran out with no clear plan, which I intuitively think makes it more difficult and easier at the same time. More difficult as you’re not quite sure how hard to push, but easier as you can kid your unconscious that you’re only going around the block!

I ran out across the Common and on down through the woods to Westmeston at the base of the Downs. The going was mostly baked dry, but there were several points that were incongruously muddy – all sections that are generally knee-deep in mud in the winter!

The going might have been relatively easy, but I mad hard work of it, having to resort to jellybabies after only 20 minutes… although to be fair, this was partly because of IronMan Jim’s advice about sugar intake from last week. He said that you need to get sugar in your system before you need it, otherwise the body produces insulin which counters the effect… or something like that.

I started up the Westmeston Bostall having snuck a couple more jellybabies, but opted to then turn right for the more direct ascent… this must be a comparable gradient to the Grouse Grind because the isobars on the map are too close together to read the heights!

I reached the Beacon at one hour ten minutes and turned for home down the nearest path before any of the 30-milers came past to make me look slow!

The return leg was through Ditchling village, up to Oldlands Mill and then back via Ockley Lane and took me 48 minutes, which is a passable time. Overall, one hour 58 minutes to do 11.35 miles. 5.35mph on the way out and 6.4mph on the way back… more to do with the initially favourable gradient and a larger proportion of road running in the second half than anything else.

Judging by the paltry amount of rain we’ve subsequently had this afternoon, I may actually need to go out & water the pots later! Forecasters? Fraudulent soothsayers morelike!

July 19, 2009

Back to the Tank Tracks

I was lax again this week and didn’t manage to get a mid-week run in. This despite Cliff asking me if I wanted to join him & Andy P in a run around water-world, aka the Downs on a super-wet Friday evening! Unlike last week when I couldn’t walk, let alone run, this week’s excuse was one of scheduling… that’s my story anyway. Certainly, on Friday, I HAD to go to Waitrose!

And so I found myself parked at the bottom of the tank tracks chatting to another runner in the car-park. As I ran off I overheard him saying to his running partner ‘that’s the loon who we saw running up and down the tank tracks the other week!’. Oh to be so famous!

I made it to the top in ten minutes, as before. This meant that I was still slower than Daren and thus didn’t need to do any more ascents to try to beat his time, so instead I turned left to run along towards the Beacon. Ahead of me was another runner, so I picked up my skirts and set about closing the gap. By the next gate I’d made scant progress, but I managed to reel him in on the next hill.

Jim, the crazy fool, turned out to be in training for an IronMan in two weeks time which, according to Wikipedia (he did tell me but, for good reason, my mind decided to blank the information) carries the exhortation “Swim 2.4 miles! Bike 112 miles! Run 26.2 miles! Brag for the rest of your life” Tall order bearing in mind that, whilst he was a competent cyclist (which I usually measure by the number of bikes someone has… six or seven in Jim’s case) he had only run his first marathon last year and was not a confident swimmer!

He turned down his iPod and kindly allowed me to tuck in beside him and we chatted as we ran past countless people staggering along under the weight of their race numbers, which I later discovered made them part of the Oxfam Trailwalker 62.5 mile walk. Make that a 62.5 mile stagger, looking at some of them!

We ran past Blackcap and down to the next gate before turning around, which was the 50 minute mark for me. We’d been making good time, but around this point Jim let on that he had already been out on his bike this morning, I think for a couple of hours! Fit!

I wasn’t looking forward to the run back against the wind, but you really don’t notice it so much when you’re chatting away with someone else and the miles just disappeared.

Towards the end, rather than dive off right, back down the tank tracks, I decided to continue down to Jack & Jill where we parted, before running back up the hill again. This way I figured I would make the run last two hours.

In the event, despite pain above my knees and an uncomfortable inner thigh, I managed to get back to the car at 1 hour 58 minutes, not bad for the 12.15 mile circuit. In fact, although the speed was 6.2mph, if you remove the initial 1km climb, which took me 10 minutes, the balance of the loop was run at an average of 6.4mph, a merest tad faster than my shorter run with Mark last weekend. Result!

No wonder I fell asleep on the sofa when I got back!

July 5, 2009

The Blighty Grouse Grind

Inspired by Daren’s recent ascent of the Grouse Grind in Vancouver, which rises 933m in a distance of 2.9km, I [stupidly] decided to replicate his feat right here in Blighty.

I scoured the map for likely candidates and the only hill that I could find with that gradient was Wolstonbury, which I stormed back in April (archive post). Remembering how treacherous it was descending the grassy north face, I looked for an alternative, settling on the tank tracks that lead to the top of the hill above Jack & Jill.

The track is 1km long and rises about 140m, so I figured that if I did the climb 7 times, I would have a vaguely comparable height gain to challenge Daren with… he claims to have finished the Grouse Grind in less than one hour… and was going back with his trainers to try to beat that… so I had my work cut out!

I parked at Jack & Jill and warmed up on the gentle hill, giving me an initial 60m tally. At the top I found some radio masts and a bunch of cars and a sign warning of vehicles using the track.

I ran down ‘the hill’ encountering one of the vehicles coming slowly up the incline… the driver kindly informed me that it was the Mid Sussex Amateur Radio Society who were camped out for an annual worldwide competition to see who can reach the furthest distance. Apparently they had been talking to someone in Trinidad & Tobago last night, which is pretty impressive.

His eyes widened when I said what I was planning to do.

I ran on down to the gate at the bottom and turned round and started grinding up the hill myself. Ten minutes later, I knew Daren had beaten me… I would have needed to have beaten 9 minutes to stand a chance. I thought I would do a second loop before I headed for home and off I went.

The second climb was way harder than the first, but I managed it in about the same time. Unfortunately, the guys at the top were now rooting for me, which meant that I couldn’t really give up after only two climbs. The third was really painful, but I thought I had better do four… for some reason that completely escapes me now. The guys said they would have a cup of tea waiting for me.

I had passed some youngsters who were doing a dry run for their Duke of Edinburgh Silver award a couple of times up and down the hill and I chatted to them while I supped my mug of tea. They were really impressed with what I was doing and so I felt I had to complete at least one more circuit… by which time they would be gone and I could head for home.

As I neared the top so the MSARS guys cheered me and said only two more to go and I then I knew I was going to have to finish it, somehow. Coming up for the 6th time, I was barely moving in places, although I was still (I think) technically running. Going down for the last time, I took this video to show you the view and the path. Alas it is once again very jerky… and worse still, it looks flat! WAAAAAAH!

May I just say… it is NOT FLAT!

And then I was on to my 7th climb and I rather think it took me about 15 minutes, so slow and painful was it. I even had to stop momentarily, twice, on the final hill… just because. There was a big cheer from the guys at the top and I would like to say a hearty thank you to them, as I wouldn’t have made it without them. Although I wouldn’t have had to have finished it if they hadn’t been there!

I stretched out as best I could back down the gentle hill to the windmills, getting back to the car at 2 hours 33 minutes. 980m plus the 60m to the top from the car park gives 1040m in total height gain (WAY more than Daren, you’ll note) and 16.7km / 10.5miles… well the gradient doesn’t compare either!

I estimate that the downhills were completed at an average speed of 6.1mph, while I managed only 3mph on the uphills. At an average speed of less than 4.1mph though, it would take me about 6 and a half hours to complete a marathon… furrgeddit!