Exploring fifth gear

We’ve had the pleasure of Karen’s company over the weekend and when I returned from dropping her to the station I had a coffee with some neighbours… thus it was quite late before I even thought about running.

I then had to decide whether to run outside or inside… a general time constraint helped me choose the latter.

More time was then spent trying to get my MacBook Air to play music from my PC (no chance, apparently) before I resorted to a Jackson Browne CD and cranked up the stereo.

Finally I jumped on the machine to Running on Empty and instantly felt the desire to crank up the speed… I warmed up on 7mph and had soon increased this further.

I decided to run just five miles and dialled in a different speed at each quarter mile.  Everything seems to flow nicely for me at 7.5mph… 9mph was not so flowing and I don’t have the fitness at the moment to keep that up for long.

However, as the final mile progressed I tested out 10mph, then 11mph and eventually 12mph.  My legs are plenty long enough for these speeds (I used to happily sprint at 14mph on the machine) and I reassuringly seem to have recovered some of my general fitness.  It was like exploring fifth gear on an open road, when you’ve been stuck in traffic all day.

So 5 miles took me 38.33… an average in the region of 7.75mph.

I’ll leave you with some pics of our orchid and some KriKri ceramics… great for Christmas presents!

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Back down to the coast

It was late in the morning by the time I managed to motivate myself to run and I needed a little help from Kim to decide whether to run locally or from my folks’ place… I (she) chose the latter and it was a great decision!

The sky to the south of the Downs was slightly brighter and it was almost warm down on the coast.  Nevertheless I was taking no chances and wore a really soft t-shirt under layer (we call it a bunny-rabbit, it’s that soft) under a long sleeved top and my Gore jacket.  I probably could have got away without my jacket but I was really glad of it running back up the hill into the wind.

I ran down the old track that links Woodingdean to Ovingdean and reflected that this may have been the first place that I ever went ‘running’, more than 35 years ago, thanks to an enthusiastic Scout leader.  He was also a Police Diver and thus was able to teach us about the build up of lactic acid in the lungs (aka the stitch) and how to overcome it.

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From this ridge it’s easy to see how the villages nestle into the valleys and how much green space has been left… there is space for many more houses, but the quality of life would be dramatically lower.

At Ovingdean I ran in the opposite direction to the other week, dropping down to the valley floor and running on down to the steps that lead to the Undercliff Walk.

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Protected from the chilly north wind by the cliffs, the path was a sun-trap and I could easily have run along in t-shirt & shorts… this might actually have been better because when I reached Rottingdean and turned to run up the hill, the sweat from wearing too many laters exacerbated the effect of the cold wind.

I ran up past Rottingdean windmill and back up through Ovingdean, where I deliberately included the steep hill back to the ridge.  It was then a comparatively short run back up to Woodingdean Primary School and back to my folks’ place.

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I’m guessing that the run was about the same 5.8 miles as last time and it took around the same time too at 64 minutes.

Santander Ad Remix (Proper Planning Prevents P Poor Performance)

It was a cop out and I can imagine Cliff et al shaking their heads in despair at me, but better that than no run at all.

It was raining this morning and I just couldn’t face the idea of running out into soggy mud & puddles… not today, at any rate.  Fortunately we have an alternative in the form of a running machine, which regular readers know gets used a fair amount in the winter: one year, when training for a marathon, I actually ran 20 miles on it, though my mind was numb with boredom before I even got half way.

This morning, in a bid to stave off the boredom of looking at a wall for an hour, I grabbed the iPad and found a playlist of endurance exercise music videos on YouTube.  I’m not a regular YouTube watcher so I have no idea how it works, but the concept of a playlist seemed pretty straightforward so I jumped on the machine and set off to the pumping music.

The military adage ‘proper planning prevents P poor performance’ is as relevant to this situation as it in in other areas of life: the third video was a Santander advert, the fourth an ad for a DJ (who didn’t come across as too inspiring from the endless stream of text scrolling across the screen), the fifth a track where the visuals were simply the text from the repetitive song.  I had remained hopeful, but at this point I tried to skip the track and ended up out of the playlist and back in YouTube.  And frustrated since it’s not so easy to control an iPad where you’re running.

Kim came to the rescue (of the iPad, probably, on reflection) and tried to find something to keep my mind engaged, but found only music with no video.  Since the iPad is not really loud enough to hear over the roar of the running machine, she booted up the stereo and after a couple of tries, found some energetic Jazz Funk for me to run to.

My mind was still pondering the Santander ad: I couldn’t help feeling that the client here had not got great value from their ad spend.  Aside from the fact that I’m not target market (trust me on that), the insertion was an unwelcome two-minute interruption into a music playlist.  Even though the ad was humorous, in its own way, it left me with a distinctly negative feeling towards the company.

And towards YouTube, which has presumably taken money from its client but has clearly misunderstood the reason that someone might choose to use a playlist feature.  I won’t bore you with the range of nascent solutions that I started to come up with, suffice to say that it doesn’t seem so very difficult to resolve.

Back on the running machine I had completed 50 minutes of my 60 minute run and with all the musical shenanigans was ready to give up.  However, I’m a great believer in the drive towards general resilience through the setting of realistic goals and then seeing them through, so I was forced to push on through to the end.

I was still standing in the same place at the end of an hour, though the belt beneath me had travelled 7.23 miles, an average speed of… hmmm… I’ll let you do the maths!

As a vague appeasement to Cliff, after a cold shower to cool me down, I put on my FosterRuns Gore jacket and got out into the rain to wash Kim’s car.

No photos today, alas … I’ve just bought a MacBook Air and it’s too clever to simply allow me to download photos from my iPhone into my folder for November via a USB lead…

Longs on 14

Actually, I probably could have got away with wearing shorts today, but I decided to run from my folks house so I had to guess the temperature.  At home it was decidedly chilly in the shade, but down near the coast the sun had made it a pretty warm day… I wore two layers just in case.

It was Remembrance Sunday and my Dad had my Grandfather’s medals, along with those of his siblings, from the various conflicts in the early twentieth century.  It gives me pause for thought that my Grandfather, his brothers and a good proportion of the young men of Britain were trooping off to war a hundred years ago… many not to return.  It also amazes me that my grandfather grew up with horses & carts and was in the cavalry, yet lived to see men on the moon.

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I ran down the track that leads from the Primary School that I attended to Ovingdean and then on down into Rottingdean.  The people I passed were all so friendly, smiling and saying hello as I passed.  I put this down to the sunny day… people often say hi, but not always in a happy way.

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I was surprised how sprightly I felt despite not having run for three weeks, but then it was all downhill!

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At Rottingdean I turned right and headed along the Undercliff Walk and was soon feeling tired by the flatness… exacerbated by the climb up the steps to road level at Ovingdean.  Running up Ovingdean valley was particularly hard work, maybe because its a long section of pavement and the vague gradient is against you.

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I paused at the church to pay my respects to an old friend, before chugging back up the hill to the Woodingdean path.  This super-steep hill was actually easier than the flatter stretch… maybe because it feels as if you’re getting somewhere!

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As I ran up the path so the sun disappeared behind a bank of cloud and the temperature dropped… two layers was a good idea after all!

The 5.8ish miles took me about 65 minutes, including my pause at Ovingdean Church… 5.35 mph average.

I was delighted to find that my sister had dropped in for lunch… though having caught up over a cup of tea, I left the four of them to eat.

Back down the Magical Path

The warm weather is still hanging on with it’s fingertips and this morning felt more like a summer day than an autumn one!  It seemed rude not to go out for a run in it so I ran a slightly extended version of my normal loop.

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Last time I took the Magical Path I quite literally had to wade through ferns up to my neck, but since the ferns and stinging nettles are no longer dominant, I decided it was time to get back down there.  It really is magical, hence my pet name for it.

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When I reached the end I took a path that took me out to the common road and though I opted for the path on the other side of the hedge to the road, I effectively then turned left into Hundred Acre Lane.

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I went straight down the lane and on down the path into Wivelsfield that seems the lane’s more logical end (the road bends right and makes a big loop).  Down here I found a tree that looked like it had its winter drawers on already (moss is really trendy this year).

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Then I was back onto my normal path past St Georges Retreat and back to home.  6.6 miles took me 68 minutes, an average of 5.8 mph.

The warm weather meant that the grass and the green got a cut this afternoon… all now ready for the storm that is forecast this week.  Summer better get some moss gloves to protect its exposed fingertips!

Three thirty

I was really in the zone on Friday afternoon, but I also couldn’t wait to get out of the office… my nose had been running like a tap for a couple of hours and there’s only so many times that you can escape to the toilets for a good blow!  YUK! for me and for everyone else… sorry guys!

My cold progressed yesterday, but that was okay as I had a tonne of work to do, fortunately in the privacy of my own office!

This morning I was really in two minds as to whether to run at all.  Fortunately if was a lovely morning so I went out for a short run to a least stay (coughing) fit.

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I ran down to the common and up to the top end of St Georges Retreat, before going the other way along my normal route and back down across the common.

The route was 5km, a shade over three miles in 30 minutes.

After breakfast and a shower, I got back out into the fresh air to pull weeds from the Japanese garden and noticed that one of the bamboo clumps had expanded enough to push the retaining sleeper over by more than an inch.

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I set to with a spade and a carving knife to remove the clump entirely, then cut it into four smaller clumps.  Three went into pots and I placed the remaining one back into the ground, where it looks as though nothing much has changed!

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Hopefully the fresh air and exercise will have done me some good… I’d like to be rid of this cold by tomorrow, in an ideal world!

Shorts still on

When I arose this morning there was frost on the ground and the temperature on the thermometer (inside, by a vent) read 5 degrees.  Having walked around in a t-shirt most of yesterday this was bit of a shock, though I suppose that we are now in October.

A few hours later when I finally put down my book and ventured out, there was little more than a chill in the air, in the sun at least.  I chose to wear shorts and a t-shirt on the basis that there will probably be very few more opportunities to do so this year.

My late start meant that I could only afford the time for a short run, which meant that I defaulted to my woodland circuit, despite the fact that most of it is in the shade and thus slightly on the cool side.

I soon warmed up though… or should I say that I soon felt warm, despite not really getting into the flow of the running at any stage.  It was particularly hard work today!

I was also startled twice, early on: once when a cyclist came speeding silently out of the woods ahead of me and locked up his back wheel to slow down, causing me to jump and yelp like a wimp; second when a daredevil squirrel launched himself out of a tree above me and misjudged the strength of the branch he landed on… it bent right down towards the ground and we almost looked each other in the eyes.

Okay, I exaggerate slightly, but he certainly made me jump… before he regained his composure and disappearing back into the treetops.

In lieu of much more to report, I offer some photos of the day:

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My 5.75 circuit took me 57 minutes, an average of circa 6mph, after which I collapsed onto a chair in the now-rather-hot garden.  If I hadn’t put all the rest of the garden furniture away for the winter, I probably would have fallen asleep on the lounger.  As it was I eventually made it inside and into an uncomfortably cold shower (yes, I’m still taking them, though I might relent as the temperature outside drops!) which did a pretty good job of waking me up!

Fresh weather

After the muggy summer extension that we’ve been fortunate to have, this morning was breezy and cooler.

In February, my Mother sent me an interesting book about three men who drove a 1958 milk float from Lowestoft to Lands End. Part way through their unusual journey I had started reading Richard Askwith’s new book and Three Men in a Float had thus sat on the coffee table, unfinished… as did Running Free while I was in research mode across the summer.

Yesterday I finally reached the poignant end of their journey, having over-nighted on Burgh Island, which I think I visited with Dai and the Martlet Kayak Club some years ago, and then passed very close to the home of my ancestors on the Lizard Peninsular.

This morning I started reading an intriguing little book called Tuesdays With Morrie that my pal Pete kindly gave me for my 50th… I suspect that I will have a lot more to say about this in due course!

So out into the fresh weather I went this morning, my head filled with new thoughts. I followed my now-normal route, an elliptical anticlockwise circuit, with Ditchling Common Industrial Estate at one end and the edge of Wivelsfield at the other. However, today I extended it a little by running out to and along Hundred Acre Lane and slightly further into Wivelsfield.

It was a lovely day and the cool breeze was hardly noticeable in the sun-dappled woods.

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The route was about 6.4 miles in total and it took me 62 minutes to complete it, an average of 6.2 mph.

Heavy legs

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This morning I finally finished reading Richard Askwith’s amazing book Running Free.  Running Free is beautifully written and rich in insight about not just running, but also about the way that we live today.  It’s actually taken me months to find the time to finish it (I actually started it on March 9th!), but part of me didn’t want to reach the end at all… it really is that good!

But reach the end I did, after which it seemed appropriate to go out for a run.

Being inspired was apparently not enough to prevent my legs from feeling heavy for no apparent reason.  I did cut the lawn and the grass on the green yesterday, but that is little more than walking up and down pushing the mower… hardly a recipe for heavy legs.

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Today’s route was the same 5.75 mile circuit I’ve been doing recently, so not much to report there other than I was surprised that, despite my legs, I completed the route in 58 minutes which is actually faster than some of my recent runs.

Mind you, the Bok must have been physically pulling me along last week to have got me round in 50 minutes… maybe my legs were heavy to stop me making that kind of speed a habit!

Eight Days In

I’m now eight days into my fifties… so far, so good!

My new decade started with a lovely family lunch gathering where we toasted with a particularly delicious bottle of Dom Perignon that had been patiently waiting for such an occasion since before my forties.

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Then a quiet dinner for Kim and I turned out to be a surprise gathering of close friends (mainly old school friends) at the Coach House in Brighton.  I’m being deliberate in saying ‘old’ on account of being the youngest person in my year.  It was a totally brilliant surprise… thank you guys… especially as I had seen many of them at Pete’s party two days earlier!

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A few days later I was helping my wonderful folks to reduce clutter and came across a resting butterfly and then, later the same day, a Sparrowhawk (according to my learned friend Lucas) in my garden.

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I woke up at 5am on Saturday in order to drive to the Porsche Experience Centre at Silverstone, where I spent the morning essentially going around in circles of various speeds and sizes, with Eunan MacGuinness gently correcting my foibles.  BIG GRIN!  I then spent the afternoon driving around a series of beautiful local villages with a friend in a Boxster.

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Sunday then became a day of rest (I was royally knackered) but this morning started early with the rumble of a V8 and a run with the Bok himself, Mister Broom.

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We ran my most recent normal route, but there the similarity ended.  For starters we had audible conversation, where the voices are normally only in my head.  More noticeable was the speed of progress, which was closer to the speed I was going around the ex-Lombard Rally special-stage-track at Silverstone than to any kind of running that I’ve done recently.  It must have approached Bokwarp on occasion by all accounts, which sort of explains the photos…

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5.75 miles was duly dispatched in about 50 minutes… an average of 6.9 mph.

Eight days in… may the rest of my fifties continue in a similar vein!