Category: Short run

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Warm toes

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It was SO cold out this morning that it seemed appropriate to roll out my new woolen Thorlo’s for their inaugural voyage!  And before I get distracted with other matters, let me tell you they were FAB…. really toasty!  Although the real test, I guess, is when they get wet and there were no puddles at all this morning… just lumps of ice!

Nick and his additional X pounds of weight had returned from Oman and after yesterdays false start, he duly arrived this morning at 7.30 and we ran off into a wonderfully crisp, clear morning.  I think that he must have called in a favour with the National Coal Board, as his power-hungry watch-thingummy was fully charged and rearing to go.

We ran out to the Royal Oak, then along the magical path where I always seem to have more energy, then down and across to Wellhouse Lane, past the water tower and back along the railway.  As always with the Bok, it felt hellishly quick and very much like he was dragging me along most of the way.  When we were almost back he muttered something about having got me to carry his extra weight around for him, hence the reason that he was able to bounce along like his jacket was filled with helium, whilst my legs felt like lead… I almost think that he wasn’t joking!

Our circuit this morning was 6.5 miles according to the digital navigator, but having given us that great news it then changed its mind (or Nick’s eyes started functioning again as they warmed up), deciding it was only 6.3!  No matter, at 55 minutes (by my reckoning) the overall speed was 6.87mph.

Nick kindly took a couple of photos on my mobile to show how beautiful the morning was… I’ll upload them with the ones I took the other day when I figure out how to send emails on it!

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Circuit training

I joined Burgess Hill Runners at the Lewes track last night for their monthly session there.  Despite being an interloper (this is Kim’s club) I was once again made to feel very welcome indeed… they truly are a wonderful bunch of people and Stuart is an excellent coach!

I warmed up with a gentle 1600m, although when I say warmed up I mean just my muscles – my hands started to get incrementally colder with every passing minute from the moment I got out of the car!  It was fweezing!

Next came hops, skips, jumps, scissors, running backwards and a stretching session to create a little pliability from the part-frozen bodies present.  This was followed by a session where we ran slow until the whistle, then fast until the next, slow, fast, turning round to run the other way when it sounded twice.  This enabled everyone to run at their own pace without stretching too far around the track.

The main course of the evening was the interval session, with 1,000m sprints followed by 200m walks, or staggers in my case as the session progressed.  I started by trying to hang onto Stuart’s coat-tails but quickly found Jo’s pace (a few seconds slower at 3 minutes 55) more to my liking… at least for the first three intervals.  The last two intervals I hung onto Jo until the 500m mark, then fell away to come in 100m back and then only 50m back.

Next came all-out 100m sprints with teams of three relaying.  600m later and I was very grateful when the circuit lights were extinguished!

We stretched out comprehensively by the light of the swimming pool (they looked oh SO warm in there!) and it’s a testament to Stuart’s stretches that I can still walk this morning!  My hands even got warm again.  But only after about 20 minutes in the car on the way home!

I’m already looking forward to the next session – if my behaviour in the meantime is good enough to get invited again!

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Going in circles

I had this strange feeling this morning that I had forgotten something as I ran down the road around 8am.  But it was a lovely morning and I did a quick double check to make sure I had all my clothes on, which I did, so that was okay.  There’s nothing worse than forgetting your clothes, or a trainer or two, when you go out in the morning… unless of course you happen to live in a Travelodge hotel.

I had a plan this morning, the thinking behind which was seeing a field up on the Downs last weekend that looked like the right size and gradient to run around.  Unfortunately it’s a bit of a schlapp to get there, but there is a poor facsimile on the common and I thought I’d at least give it a try.  It’s about a ten minute jog to get there so I was just about warmed up by the time I arrived.

I reckon that the ‘track’ is about a half mile oblong, sloping gently up to one corner.  The going underfoot is soft and fairly even but not level by any stretch of the imagination, which means that it’s a good work out for the ankles even when you’re concentrating on where you place your feet!

I started off by doing two laps where I sprinted, well, er… ran faster at least… along the uphill back straight, gasping my way down the next short side and jogging back round to recover.  After two of these circuits I was, er, I was tired (it’s before the watershed and this is a family show) and had to the walk slowly round two sides to recover before jogging the next two.

Next time around I jogged the first long side, ran fast up the shorter end, jogged the long side to recover and ran fast down the other shorter end.  I repeated this a second time and then somehow managed to persuade myself to go around a third time, despite feeling well past my prime by then.

 A gentle ten minute jog back to the house completed the session which was a total of 55 minutes.  Distance-wise I have no idea and this was one occasion where Nick’s supercomputer would have… hang on a minute… Nick… where was Nick?  I knew I’d forgotten something!

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Nick’s training clinic

The great thing about sharing your thoughts is that people tend to share right back.  Building on the focus on your foot-falls and on your breathing, here is a couple of further tips, this time from the Bok himself, Nick! 

For running, the focus of our energy should be in our legs, whilst the upper body should be relaxed as in skiing or Tai Chi.  To help achieve this, focus on relaxing your arms, your shoulders and most importantly, your jaw.

Once you are relaxed it is easier to tense in a positive way, particularly by stretching your fingers forward and using your arms like the connectors on the side of a steam train.  This will propel you forward in a most amazing way when you need that extra punch of speed.

Yesterday morning was beautiful and despite initially cold hands, it was a lovely run.  People who don’t run, or at least don’t run in the morning, are really missing out on some magnificent views!  We followed a route out past Wivelsfield Church and then got lost to the north of Wivelsfield Green, circumnavigating a wet field before going back the way we had come!  It’s reassuring that I don’t just get lost on my own, although Nick wanted to go the other way first time around!

Once we hit the village we got lost again, trying to find a path that wasn’t there (the ‘this could be a path that’s here so that this guy can keep his hedge trimmed’ turned out to be just that!) and backtracking, although looking on the map afterwards it was clear that we didn’t go quite far enough… to the other side of the house with the nice hedge!

We came back through Hundred Acre wood (as I think of it) and back across the common in the warm sun.

The pace was generally quite fast, although the errors meant that this is not reflected in the time.  There were also several faster sprints which again left me feeling ill by the time we got back!  We ran about 7.75 miles (possibly a little more with the switchbacks) and came back in 1 hour 17… a mere 6.2mph.

Nick’s GPS would have been excellent to give us a better feel for what we had really done, but I feel duty bound to report that it won’t hold a charge! 

That’s a bit like me when I’m racing Nick!

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A big gamble, little Lambkins!

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You can tell that Nick and Daren spent many formative years running together because they both bound along, almost playfully, when they run with me.  There is more than a hint of reserve energy that can be turned on, in Nick’s case particularly, the moment there is the merest hint of competition.  Is this man competitive?  Nah, not much! 

In trying to describe his running style, we started thinking along the lines of a deer, maybe Bambi, but he’s not that uncoordinated; he certainly has the energy of a big puppy, but he doesn’t slobber so that’s not right; we decided that he’s a little like a lamb when he gambols (a good reason not to gamble in my opinion) but they’s mighty big gambols for a tiny lickle lamb.  The closest so far I think (other suggestions welcome) is a Springbok, with it’s endless energy and fast changes of direction.

All of which neatly segways into why I’m so knackered again this morning, which is that I went for a run with Nick!

The morning started darn early and even the sun wasn’t out of bed when the coffee pot went on.  How did I ever get up far earlier than this for so many years?!  Fortunately the overnight cloud cover had sent the hard frost packing, so the twelve layers of thermal clothing set out ready were not to be required. 

Now, having worked with thousands of field staff over the years, I am seldom stunned by the creativity of the excuses that people give when pitching up late or not at all so when Nick called aroundabout sunrise with some c&b story about a flat battery on his van, I knew he was just getting out of bed and that I was lucky that he was phoning, let alone going to turn up.

He duly arrived and what did stun me was that he had actually remembered to charge his watch – though why he actually did this twice I didn’t manage to get to the bottom of.  And duh!, was the van really the best place to charge it from?

We eventually set off and within minutes I was out of breath and realising that I should have started at the correct time and let him catch up.  Have you ever tried keeping up with a gambling springbok?  Normally we have a nice even-tempo chat as we enjoy the fresh air, but today my

sentences

were

truncated by

big

gasping breaths!

The going was quite firm and though my hands were pretty cold, two layers were actually sufficient, me having been persuaded to leave a third behind on threat of being called a wuss!

I tried to outrun the ‘bok on three occasions, all fruitlessly, and the van-powered watch recorded a fastest sprint time equivalent to a 4 minute 35 second mile… although whichever occasion that was, it was nowhere near a mile and was followed by an increasingly long recovery time whilst trying to stave off the nauseous feeling in my stomach!

I am quite pleased that the heart-rate element of the Swiss-army watch beeped on two occasions to warn of impending heart failure… and relieved that I wan’t wearing one because I’m sure the constant beeping would have drained the battery.

So, 6.67 miles were covered according to the on-board satellite navigation department in just under 58 minutes which I make to be an average speed of 6.97mph. 

Keep that up on Sunday and I’ll come in at 1 hour 52 minutes… on a stretcher, of course as it’s twice as far!  Definitely three of us joining Kurt  (and 1,300 other folk) at the start line and I hear tell that Cliff may be persuaded to grace us with his presence too.  Anyone else not got a good excuse?

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Repetitive Power Outage Syndrome

It pains me to share this, but Nick is a much faster runner that me. 

I would like to believe his assertion that he charges the batteries in his shoes rather than his watch before he comes round, but frankly, I don’t think he would remember to do this even if he could. 

In my vivid imagination, I have read research into satellite positioning technology that claims that it can adversely affect the memory of the user… apparently aliens are hiding under the cover of trees and using them as a kind of wi-fi port to access the inner workings of the runners mind.  This might help explain why the dumb things never work properly in wooded areas.  I reiterate that this is all in my mind.

Although… I note with interest that Dai is suffering from a similar memory loss, as per his comments on October 15th about his Sunday Roast.

What can I tell you about our run this morning?  Well, the weather was beautiful, the sun came out and it was wet-muddy underfoot, to such an extent that the rear of my longs and the front of my top (that I hung around my waist as it was that warm) were liberally spattered! 

Kim’s instructions to me were fairly clear, that I was to run Nick ragged.  Alas the tables were well and truly turned, with Nick sauntering ahead at high speed several times and nonchalantly slowing to wait for me, most especially during the full-out sprint challenge when we were almost back where I just couldn’t keep it going!

I’m tempted to unfairly take the wind out of his sails by telling you it was only six miles that we covered in one hour, five minutes, but I couldn’t carry it off.  In fact we ran 7.2 miles, or 11.5km in European money, making 6.65mph.

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Technological firepower

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We all lurve gadgets and most of us have a selection of redundant kit from various generations sitting gathering dust, while we proudly sport the latest model.  There is no doubt, however, that the latest kit is totally awesome and Nick’s Garmin Forerunner 305-8RR II is a case in point here. 

Not only does it read your heart-rate, but it has a satellite dish that enables it to work out your global position, your speed, the distance you’ve run, the calories you’ve used (how does it do that?), your body weight, the amount of urine you pass en route, a sweat meter… in fact it’s so fully loaded that it will even find its own way to your computer to download files.  Just awesome!

Unless, of course, you forget to charge the battery, in which case it’s pretty er, useless.  Though why not lugging this fairly heavy wrist-weight around should make Nick run slower, I can’t profess to understand.

But there you have it.

My Gore-tex jacket made its first outing this morning and whilst it was only drizzling, saturation would have occurred quickly without it.  The going underfoot was slidey in places, making it challenging & fun, but the mud was not yet deep enough to grab your shoes.  The long grass en-route had reached 100% humidity though so it felt a little like running through a puddle… in socks.

Overall I calculate, long-hand and without the benefit of space-race technology, that we ran six and a half miles in exactly one hour… making a speed of, er… 6.5mph.  I’m no heavier than I was, but Nick did stop for a five-minute pee and the toast consumed has not filled my stomach so I clearly used… more calories than however many are in that.

Strangely, although we were both running more slowly than normal, it was far faster than I wanted to run… in short, sitting here a couple of hours later, I am knackered. 

Don’t tell Nick though!

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Dirty dancin’

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Kurt was really pleased to see my old trainers caked in mud yesterday, so I thought I’d get right at it with the new ones.  It wasn’t splish-splosh out there but I did find enough mud to take the edge off the sparkly bits!  As I started out, I wondered whether the combination of a mid-week training session, allied to new runners and Kurt’s encouraging comments about my running (you know how I feel about the power of the mind!) would make a difference to my speed and/or endurance.

I don’t think I would have kept up with Cliff’s whippet-like starting pace, but I still started quickly like last Sunday.  I slowed a little from time to time, but unlike last week I didn’t run out of steam – overall, I felt pretty good.  I also felt just warm enough with my new under-layer and an old Rono long-sleeve on top and longs below… and sporting my new beanie, of course!

My route this morning took in the Royal Oak, the corner of Wivelsfield Green, Hundred Acre Lane, Wellhouse Lane (with its large group of perambulators, though none with spare tea-cakes for me to scoff!), the water tower and back along the railway.  I made it 7.5 miles overall and the time was…

…65 minutes, which means an increase from last weeks 6.77mph to 6.92mph.  I was hoping that it would have been faster, but never mind.  I have a run scheduled with Nick on Wednesday and if he doesn’t knacker me out I might go for a run the with Burgess Hill Runners again that night.  It would be great to break 7mph net Sunday.

Kurt suggested that I enter Barns Green half marathon on 28th October, saying that it’s a lovely run through beautiful countryside… Kim is yet to be persuaded, but Dai said he might sign up, so are there any other takers?  Hey Nick!  You must live round the corner, so no excuses there… unless you want to get the teacakes in afterwards!

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Mid-week exercise

We joined the Burgess Hill Runners on Wednesday night for some track work at Lewes sports centre and my, what a track it is!  Floodlit and in great condition, the slightly springy surface is a dream to run on. 

From the people I met, the club has a really broad mix of members but all keen to improve their running… and their banter!  It was a really fun hour and despite being newcomers, we were welcomed like good friends!

The downside?  We now need to go to the Run shop and buy some new winter kit… we were really lucky as although dark, it was quite mild, but I think that the warmer weather has now been washed and folded up into a drawer so that it doesn’t get dirty until the Spring needs it!  I definitely need one of those rain jackety things (damp is okay, cold is okay, cold and damp… ugh!) and both my pairs of Saucony’s are showing signs of distress… even the newer pair has no splodge left after the Ligurian descents!

Okay… so I just looked out the window to see a gorgeous day sitting in my garden, but you know what I mean!  Soon it will be winter drawers on, mark my words!  ‘Til then… I must go and see if it really is warm out there!

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Longs on

I had no inclination at all to run this morning and it wasn’t until I had consumed my huge espresso that I could even countenance it!  This lack of inclination, in addition to a chilly wind, meant that the longs came out for the first time since the spring.

The mind is fascinating though, as when I actually started running it was at a far brisker pace than normal… my legs were on good form, only my mind had been in denial! 

I took a shorter route rather than push myself too hard and there were several times when I needed to pause for breath or slow down, but each time I got to an uphill I would push against it, almost racing myself (gently) to the top.

Despite the slow bits and the pauses, I managed 6.2 miles in 55 minutes, which is an average speed of 6.77mph… not bad, bearing in mind how little I’ve really been running and that I was running on my own.

Kim and I are planning to do some circuit work this week, so we’ll see what effect it has!  Good I hope, as Nick is about to make a reappearance after his rib recuperation and it would be nice to run him ragged for a change!