Observations of an occasional runner
Kurt at Run has just emailed me to say he’s managed to get hold of a pair of Woolen Thorlos for me – to keep my toes warm through the winter. Man! I just love that shop! Review to follow when the weather turns cold.
PS if your toes are jealous, speak to Kurt…
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.
It’s hard to know where to start, other than to confess that I’m having difficulty settling on a name for this week’s post. Candidates were: Debb’s pyjamas, Old MacDonald’s farm (remix version), Richard Pierce to the rescue, Sore arches, Lost AGAIN! or Wellington runners. As you can see, I settled for something completely different, referring to something Nick said whilst pished the other evening!
This morning started late (again) and with a slight mist shrouding a clearly beautiful day. Mistrustful of the temperature that this suggested, I kitted up with my longs and two layers up top and got out into it. I had decided over coffee that I would take a different route today and had poured over the map trying to memorise a potential route. The route took me up to Ote Hall, with it’s stunning chimneys, across to where Wivelsfield church is (in a future life I think I’d like to come back as the Rev for Wivelsfield church as the Vicarage must have one of the most gorgeous southerly views in this whole area!) and around to the north of Wivelsfield.
Debbs, one of Daren’s crazy American friends (and now ours too!!), had tried to convince us that she’d seen Llamas whilst out on a walk… we knew that this was a WMD-esque story so had not believed her, but here they were, running around like short-necked giraffes, or maybe long-necked mules.
The countryside on this side of Wivelsfield is beautiful and it was a real joy to be running through on this stunning morning. From there I dropped down through the middle of the village and on to Hundred Acre Lane for a short way, before disappearing into the woods that make up part of my more normal route. This will definitely be a lovely run once autumn really kicks in, as there will be piles of leaves to crunch through! The path eventually spat me out at the northern end of Spatham Lane on Ditchling Common. I was in the process of pausing, wanting to continue on unfamiliar terrain but unsure where to go, when along the road came a runner who turned down it.
Richard Pierce agreed that I could tag along for a while and we chatted amiably as he took me steadily away from home. In training for the New York marathon, he was doing a regular 20 mile training run and was clearly on top of the task, keeping a perfectly steady pace all the way down the lane.
Scared that I might end up at the top of Ditchling Beacon with Richard if I didn’t look sharp, I took my leave and headed down a path going west towards Ditchling, hoping to catch one going straight back to the Hill. Instead I found a sign saying, Danger: Archery in Progress. They seemed slightly grumpy (at least no-one said good morning back to me!) so I decided they must be protecting the path that I wanted to take. Prudence being the better part of valour, I continued on the one passing behind them that seemed only mildly dangerous.
Somewhere here I must have gone slightly wrong, as I quickly found myself crossing Spatham Lane in an easterly direction. I might have gone wrong where I had to unhook and re-hook five electric fences in a field of horses, or maybe where I had to persuade some cows to move out of the way of a style, but more likely in the scary field of freelance chickens (what does Nick mean, I wonder?) where I really feared for my life.
A few years ago I was paddling with Cliff & Dai in the Wye valley when the thousand or so sheep on the hillside above us started baaa-ing. It was a VERY SPOOKY sound and made us all a little uncomfortable… and the chickens in this field did something similar. Imagine the first part of a clucking sound, where it kind of winds up to the cluck itself… the whole field of chickens started making this noise, sounding a little like a not too distant racing car getting up to speed.
To the east of Spatham Lane is Mid Sussex Golf Cluband I now found myself running through this, though there were too many stray balls laying on the path to be really comfortable about it. I was now heading almost due east, very much not the ideal direction, but eventually I found the lovely path from Westmeston which sneaks under the railway line by an idyllic cottage with its own ford and gives access to Blackbrook Wood, Ditchling Common and home!
Although I had commented to a couple of dog walkers that I was hot at around the 35 minute mark, it was only now that I twigged there was something I could do about it, taking off my hat and top layer and unzipping my longs to make flairs!
Bearing in mind I went out for an hour or so to break some new ground, I was quite pleased to come back strong at 2 hours, four minutes, whilst my dodgy distance calculations showed just over twelve miles, or 19.5km. I’ve finally twigged that the reason for my slow pace is because I’m forever running on muddy tracks, so I feel confident of a sub two-hour time on the country roads that make up the Barns Green Half.
There’s still time to sign up, but if it’s really too much, then at least come along on the 28th and cheer the rest of us along. So far I think it’ll be Dai, Nick, Cliff, Kim and I… and I’m hoping that Kurt will be there with my socks too!
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!
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!
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!
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!
Our good friend and Italian walking guide Lorenzo Gariano sent an email around today with some photo’s from our summer jaunt to Italy… La Via Marenca Ultra Trail.
It’s fair to say that Dai and I only did the half marathon (you might have read Dai’s comment that it was actually around 25km long and about 1km in height gain), but Cliff, Pete, Lorenzo, Steve and Colin all completed the Ultra at around 99km!
Anyway, the photo is me finishing in a relaxed 4 hours 13 minutes or so (good for a half marathon, no?) and you can see all the other photos at the site of Adolfo Ranise.
I feel exhausted just remembering!
There are several effective ways to get the heart rate over 120 beats per minute, which is a good cardio zone for someone of my tender years: interval training is my usual way but yesterday I decided to scarify the grass.
Now, those gardeners amongst you will know that scarifying by hand is a long and tedious task, but essential to keep your lawn looking great. The combination of planting the legs, exerting downward pressure with the arms and twisting the trunk whilst pulling the rake through the grass pushes the heart rate quickly skyward… in fact after every ten minutes of rigorous work, I need a break and I’m sure that someone else could count my heart beats just by listening. I certainly could.
So, three hours and lots of breaks later and I had reached a decision… to buy an electric scarifier!
This morning my shoulders, back and arms were all (more than) a little tight and I thought a run would be the perfect antidote. The weather was beautiful and I set out on one of the short run routes. Twenty minutes was all I managed however before I was walking for five, another twenty and I had decided to walk home. My legs were heavy, but that’s not normally a problem: it was actually my mind that wasn’t in gear. They say that grass can do that.
Walking back did give me an ideal opportunity to gaze at lots of beautiful houses, either admiring them or silently assessing how they might redesign their house or garden to add value or panache… although I dare say that people passing me must have thought I was just a weirdo walking along in my shorts!
So, hardly a run this morning, but I do now own an electric scarifier. I only mention this in case anybody would like to borrow it!
After yesterday, the run this morning was always going to be a slightly more genteel event! I had the privilege of being joined (though that may have been followed) by Kim as we vaguely followed Daren’s route on a gorgeous, sunny morning.
Kim looks very appealing in her running stuff and as a result we almost got eaten by a herd of growing calves who thought that she might be a tasty snack. Dai had carefully explained how to whisper to a horse yesterday and so we (sufficiently savvy to know that these were not horses) ran away. In a straight line!
We also surprised a railway engineer laying down on the job in a most dangerous fashion… face down along the parapet of a railway bridge with no safety harness, pointing the brickwork below him! He almost jumped out of his skin when I said good morning! Sorry chap!
Between our bovine escape and Kim stopping to chat up a few people en route, our time was not great, but it was a lovely run nevertheless. 9km or just over five and a half miles in one hour ten minutes.