Category: Short run

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Monday run-off

After I pointed out the extreme clemency of the season yesterday, the weather made a half-hearted effort at producing winter last night.

The sky was so clear that the stars shone like LED’s and there was already a frost on the deck when I went to bed.  Likewise this morning at 6am there was a heavy frost on the cars outside, but as I write two hours later it is melting fast, ahead of another week of mild weather and heavy rain… the latter albeit in all parts of the UK except here, where the water companies are already talking about a hosepipe ban!

Despite only running 10km yesterday, my legs had that tell-tale stiffness this morning that suggested that I’d be back to walking like a penguin tomorrow… which is exactly what happened for what felt like a week after my token short run three weeks ago.

The only antidote that I know is to get my legs moving again the morning after the run before, so I duly climbed aboard the machine this morning for a gentle jog.

It’s a good way to warm up on a cold day and I was reminded of the time two years ago when I ran 20 miles whilst staring inanely at the white wall in front of me and the leaves of the overgrown cheese plant!

My barefoot Monday run-off covered a mile and took just over ten minutes.

Have a GREAT week peops!

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Back to the beach

It had been stormy overnight and I awoke to a wet, grey day… not an especially appealing prospect for a run.  Fortunately it was still unseasonally warm here, so at least I wasn’t going to get cold and wet.

I quite like running from my folks’ place in the winter and so it was 10am before I was there and ready to leave… into a most beautiful sunny day that had somehow emerged from the gloom!

So glorious in fact that I opted to wear the shorts and shades that I had somewhat ironically taken along for the drive!

My folks live in a village on a hill behind Brighton and most routes out involve going down… in this case two miles down to the Saxon settlement of Rottingdean.  It was an easy way to ease myself back into the running, but after a little gardening yesterday my back was still a little tender.

Rottingdean is such a pretty village, with its pond, windmill and mix of tiny cottages and grand houses… one of which housed Rudyard Kipling for five years at the turn of the previous century.

One of the reasons that I particularly wanted to come down this way was to see the sea after last night’s storm… I was not disappointed!  And I wasn’t the only one admiring the view of the whitecaps along towards Brighton.

A mile westwards from Rottingdean are the Ovingdean steps, which descend 25m to the Undercliff Walk below.  Originally constructed in the 1930’s as part of sea defences, this is still an impressive construction… though not quite as daunting as the vertiginous and more recently constructed steps at Peacehaven, which can be seen in my post earlier this year

Once down at sea level the power of the waves became apparent… I’m pretty sure that Curtis Ebbesmeyer and Eric Scigliano’s book Flotsametrics passes comment on just how much force each wave exerts (alas, I can’t locate my copy on my bookshelves right now) but the clap of sound as each wave hit home was thunderous.

Fortunately the wind was offshore (so the undercliff was sheltered) so whilst the waves breaking against the seawall below me were producing a curtain of water ten feet above my head, they were then dropping straight back down… otherwise I would have surely been drenched on numerous occasions as I ran along.

In the late sixties and early seventies when I was a child, we used to go down to Rottingdean and play on the beach and in the sheltered sitting areas.  I’ve not noticed these sitting areas for years, but now I ran up through them and the combination of this and the baking hot sun transported me back in time in a most delightful way.

Then all that was left to do was run the two or so miles back up the hill.  It’s not such a bad hill and it wasn’t as if I’d run the eight or nine miles to Shoreham harbour & then back again like I did last year, but after a few weeks off running it was still good workout.

I arrived back in 1.07 having completed 6.4 miles… a paltry 5.7mph, but a very enjoyable entrée back into the running world and I couldn’t have wished for a more glorious day to do it!

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Gazelle-like

Cliff’s offer of a run on Sunday morning was highly tempting, but my head presumably knew that I wasn’t yet ready for a long run so it didn’t wake me up until after he had started running… just in case!  Though if he had said there were going to be bacon butties afterwards, then I wonder if it might just have tipped the balance of my cognitive alarm clock!

But Cliff did plant a seed in my mind which germinated this morning with my first run in over three weeks.  Okay, so it was a short run on the running machine, but the poor thing hasn’t had much use lately either so it was probably good for both of us!

I started at a slow 5mph to see how painful it was going to be, but everything seemed to be working so I ramped up the speed to 6mph and then increased it each quarter-mile until I reached 8mph.  The three mile run left me sweating profusely but in all other respects my body took it in its stride.

3 miles in 26 minutes 53 is not exactly gazelle-like (thank you Russell… you know gazelles can hit 50mph?) but 6.8mph is not bad for me!  It may yet be a couple of weeks before I’m back on the Downs, but it’s entirely possible that there will be a couple more of these short runs in the meantime.

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Five at seven

When I was staggering down the stairs at six o’clock this morning with stiff legs from Sunday and a painful back, the idea of going for a run seemed a little silly.

However, I had arranged to meet the Bok for a slow run (HA, there’s two words that rarely appear in such close proximity!) so I hobbled off down the road to meet him just after seven.

His latest road route took us around the town and whilst conversation helped the pace flow, it was clear that he could have sprinted off ahead at any point… such that we were two minutes down on his normal time after just two miles!

We still managed 5.34 miles in 45 minutes… which at 7.12mph is pretty good for me!

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A return to Downland running

This time last week, BIG man Daren & I were returning from the Alps, where we completed the Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB) in 4 days and 20 hours.  This is fast compared to the numerous walkers who take a luxurious 11 days over the route, but nigh on 4 days longer than the winner of this years UTMB race!

There is an account of our trip on this site on the page menu above with pictures and a narrative for those who are interested.

Since returning, neither Daren nor I had run anywhere, so this morning was designed to get back into the swing of things and though we had thought we might do a vertical 1000m odyssey of cross stitch along the scarp face of the Downs, in the event we opted for a shorter route.

We met at Jack & Jill and headed down across Pyecombe golf course to the village.  From here the route to Wolstenbury Hill rises (though not by comparison to the Alps!) and we made good time.

The hill down again is steeper and eventually took us down to Clayton, where we followed Underhill Lane to the bottom of the tank tracks.  This is a steep hill in anyone’s books and we ran bottom to top without stopping (as usual) possibly gaining an admiring glance from a couple of runners coming down the hill past us.

The final mile is downhill back to Jack & Jill and we reached the end of 6.2 miles (it’s a perfect 10km route) in 1.12.  5.2mph is not fast, but as usual we had a great time and after a couple of weeks, er… ‘off’, it was great to be back running again!

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Tank Tracks (Alternative) route

There are many downsides to being currently underutilised workwise, but one major upside is being able to run with friends on a beautiful weekday morning… a little like a male version of the ladies who do coffee, but without the challenge of parking prams in the coffee shop.

The run this morning was also a little more poignant as our very good friend Penny’s dad Brian passed away suddenly last week and he has touched each of our lives. I’ve known Penny since Primary school and Brian was like a bright red, fun thread weaving its way through life’s rich tapestry.

Probably like most people, I regret not spending more time with my family and friends, but thankfully my last memory of Brian is only from April this year and is a great way to remember him. He was standing in their flat with the sun streaming through the open doors, chatting comfortably with us about an irrepressible burst pipe, whilst wearing only his underpants. He was a sensibly uninhibited man endowed with the loveliest of families, a real sense of fun and, well, let’s just say that he was clearly, well, well endowed! Too much information, maybe, but that’s good memories for you!

So four of us met for a run at Jack & Jill in the high humidity of a bright, sunny morning… Daren, Dai, Henna and I. Dai was keen not to do any hills so we gratefully followed his lead (though maybe it was really Henna’s lead)… which took us down the hill to Clayton, along Underhill Lane and up the path to the right of the Tank Tracks. Having reached the top we decided the correct notation should be Tank Tracks (Alternative), as it’s almost steep enough to be a climbing route!

At the top we turned left and ran towards the Beacon, with much conversation about how to stay more or less on the flat stuff. There’s a small pond alongside the path and it being hot, Henna suddenly hurled herself in to cool down… some people are just born crazy! Then Dai led us to the flat South, down towards Patcham and around in a grand sweep of hot, dry hills back to Pyecombe Golf Course and the cars.

Opinions varied as to the distance, depending on whether the satnav had been started at the car park, or five minutes into the run at the bottom of the hill, but we finally agreed that it was 6.3 miles, which we had covered in an amiable 1.23.

We did discuss elongating the run as we had done on Sunday, but the new MUM rule (Made Up Mileage) states that we can only do that if the distance is over the .5 mile mark. Frankly it’s a fairly elitist rule though, as without a satnav I generally have no idea how far I’ve run in the first place!

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Bitten Bok bottom

After weeks of running once a week and on my own, I’ve now run with two different friends in three days.  This morning I met the Bok at 6.30am (eeek) for a quick run around the local area… and quick it was too.

We ran 7 miles in 1.01 which actually equates to an average speed in excess of 7mph if you take out the time spent trying not to be eaten by two big, poorly behaved dogs.

I actually felt teeth on my elbow at one point as the two dogs jumped angrily around us, whilst the Bok came away with skin missing on his butt… it was a really scary moment and difficult to erase from my mind so I really hope that he doesn’t inflict the view on anyone else!

I suspect that what happened was the owner saw us running up the field behind her and called her dogs to her, fearing for our safety… the dogs heard the fear in her voice and misinterpreted it.  Easily done, as we humans know all too well and no harm done, bar the lingering picture of a bitten Bok bottom!

Our route, for the memory banks, was out past Ote Hall and the pyjama-llamas, down Hundred Acre Lane and back down the Magical Path to the Bok sanctuary.  We were deep in conversation the entire way around, such that I was surprised both by the distance and the speed… and whilst I didn’t even think to take any photos, it actually felt like a walk in the park.  Must do that again… sans the dog bite, obviously.

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Le retour de le Bok

Bonjour tout le monde!

After a particularly slow, frustrating afternoon yesterday, I actually contemplated going out for a run (and I can’t remember the last time that happened of an evening!), whilst dinner was cooking in the oven.

Unfortunately I got sidetracked, but the irrepressible Bok must have picked up the vibes, as about an hour later and completely out of the blue, he suddenly thought to call… to arrange a run!

And so at 7am this morning we set out for a delightful run around one of the old circuits: out to the (recently refurbished but now starting to look decidedly dilapidated again) Royal Oak, through West Wood to the industrial estate and back again via the Magical Path and Ditchling Common.

It was a lovely natterful run but, as in the excellent film Le Retour de Martin Guerre, I had to wonder whether this was really the same Bok that I used to run with… and like the film, in an entirely positive way.

I won’t bore you with the important stuff, but this Bok (quite possibly an imposter) did not lead the charge, actually stopped to catch his breath at one point and though he initiated a final sprint to the end, then didn’t have the famous speed of old.

And yet it took about the same 45 minutes to complete the 5.23 mile circuit as we quite often used to complete it in.  A merest snip under 7mph.

It took me quite a while to work my way back through all the references to the Bok in my blog, to the last time I actually ran with him.  I’m glad I was sitting down when I finally figured it out: 6th December, 2008… WOW!

That’s 2 years and 7 months ago… it may have felt almost like yesterday, but no wonder he seemed a little different!

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Tuesday mile

After a Bank Holiday Monday feeling wan and lifeless (which didn’t stop me cutting the hedge, edging and cutting the grass, teak-oiling the floor of the tea-house and poly-filling some irritating holes around the place) I woke up with stiff shoulders and calves this morning.

The only thing I could think of to start to loosen me off was a quick run on the machine, so I completed a mile in 9:06.

It being a crisp and beautiful morning, we then had breakfast on the deck… all in all a glorious start to a short week!

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Insurance

With a delicious tell-tale stiffness in my legs after all the hills yesterday and to save myself from a repeat of last week’s silly walks, I returned to the running machine for the first time in ages this morning.

1 mile in 9 minutes flat followed by a whole ten press-ups (wow, but I have to start somewhere) has left me wide awake and ready for the busy day ahead.

Have a great week peops!