Category: Short run

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I feel GOOD, la la la, la la, la laa…

I’ve been noticing that its harder work to run these days and having discounted thicker air, increased gravity and the earth tilting against me, I’ve decided it’s probably just because I need to run more.

As I fell out of bed this morning, there was an extended howl of wind from outside which was accompanied by rain drumming steadily on the roof.  I did my Chi Kung, put the coffee on and realised that somewhere in the back of my mind there lurked a desire to run.

It might have been raining, but it wasn’t cold outside and after sitting reading Edward de Bono’s Po for a while, I sprang into action.  Shorts, t-shirt, Gore jacket and a beanie… ready for anything.

The rain was lighter by the time I left and quickly desisted leaving me to enjoy a damp spring morning… particularly engaging was the beautiful smell of blossom which I periodically ran past.

The ground was firm and the mud flattened out so the rain had collected only in occasional shallow puddles making for easy running, with light mud splashing delicately onto my calves as I ran.

I did only a short circuit, out to the Royal Oak, Wivelsfield, West Wood, back via the Magical Path & across the Common.  It was a great morning for thinking, especially with Po still fresh in my mind and I made good time, completing the 5.2 miles in 45 minutes, five minutes faster than on the 8th March.  6.93mph and I wasn’t even pushing myself.

As I got back so the sun broke through the clouds, as if to accentuate just how GOOD I felt!

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To-do list

Kim and I are possibly / probably / undoubtedly weird [delete as appropriate] and one of the signs of this is that we prepare a Weekend Task list.  This might include good tasks such as sculpting or going to the cinema, but more often consists of chores to be actioned.  Bleaching and treating the mould in the shower room is a frequent one, as is cleaning the stainless steel in the kitchen, cleaning the glass on the wood burner or taking rubbish to the tip.

I’m guessing that this in itself is not highly abnormal, but the relish with which we then attack the list surely is.  And the delight in crossing the chores off when they are complete.  

This last weekend, one of the chores that was added to the list after it had been completed and ceremoniously crossed out again, was sorting out the gazebo.  The wooden structure outside my study window, with its honeysuckle creeper and bamboo-cane roof, looked really pretty, but it was covered in green lichen and the bamboo canes were well past their best.  

Kim half-jokingly suggested I tackle it and instantly had second thoughts… but too late.  Within a short space of time the roof was off and the cross-members detached.  MUCH later, the structure was reassembled, cleaned and treated but sans roof.  Whilst this was primarily because the roof had fallen to bits upon removal, I was also interested to see the effect it would have on my office.

I can report that, what was the coldest, darkest room in the house is currently flooded with sunlight and is passingly warm… I suspect the roof will not be replaced!

Two other things on the list that did not get done on the weekend were a run and the writing of the blog… the latter is clearly in progress (will have been finished if you are reading this) whilst the former was dispatched earlier this morning.

I was not feeling much like a run, but Daren pitched up at 7.30am so I had little choice.  It’s always great to run with Daren as he favours a ‘chilled out’ speed, ideal for conversation and enjoying the scenery.  We headed out via the Royal Oak to Wivelsfield, south through West Wood and then followed an arc around to the south of the town onto Wellhouse Lane.  Crossing Ockley Lane  we went past the water tower to the railway line then north back the the house.

The 6.7 miles took us one hour, five minutes, a respectable 6.2 mph bearing in mind we were aimlessly chatting as we went.

I’ve been suffering from hay-fever lately so it was also good to find some more nettles to grasp… I still can’t categorically state that the old wives tale works, but I can report that it makes your hands tingle (even now) and it most certainly amused Daren!

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Wednesday run

One of the great things about getting up at six every morning coming out of winter was watching the dawn break earlier and earlier.  Now when I get up it’s already light and this morning was clear and bright and spring-like.  From inside, at least.  Outside, there was a keen edge to the wind which made me change my Rono long sleeve top for my Gore jacket at the last minute.  The super-soft Rono under-layer stayed firmly in place, as did the shorts… my token gesture to acknowledge it’s slowly getting warmer.

The aftermath of my Sunday run was not pretty… the back end of Sunday and pretty much all of Monday were spent energy-less… stuffing verily knocked out.  However, Daren encouraged me to run this morning so out I went.

The first thing I noticed was that it was not as cold as I’d thought.  I followed the same route as March 8th, being Royal Oak, Wivelsfield, West Wood, Industrial Estate, Magical Path, Common back and en-route came across Lew standing in his back field supping coffee.  If I was a serious runner I would have waved and carried on, but I’m not.  People are far more important and so we stood & chatted for a while over his garden fence, if that’s what he calls it!  I was glad I had worn my jacket, standing chatting.

En route back I realised why it had seemed warmer… I had been running with the light wind.  With it in my face across the Common it was way colder and once again the protection of the jacket was appreciated.

Mud-wise, the ground was springy, firm and beaten flat, with a small amount of surface mud from the rain yesterday.  I’m sure I’ll find a lot more mud as the Spring develops, but I had brushed off the caked-on mud after my Sunday run so at least today my uppers were clean.  Ish.

The 5.2 mile route took me 55 minutes, somewhat longer than on the 8th, but I had stood chatting for a while… if it was longer than 5 minutes, which I suspect it was, then I’m running faster than I was then.  That makes the exertion of Sunday more worthwhile.

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Monday Mirth (and legs finally out)

Last weekend was a little jam-packed for a run.  We made the most of the weather on Saturday by spending it clearing winter out of the garden.  I scarified and cut (and scarified again) the grass, cut out dead wood from shrubs where appropriate and moved the pots back out from their winter shelter.  Kim, meanwhile, patiently excavated the huge and complex root of an old philadelphus, thus finally removing this once pretty, but long overgrown shrub from sight.

Knackered and ready for a G&T, I then substantially modified a storage cabinet that I had created for my study on Friday night.  The cabinet, which includes a simple distribution board to hide the myriad of plugs & cables and a home for the computer box, is now installed and working in a most pleasing way.  However, by the time I was done, I really was done!

Sunday morning Kim went for a run while I caught up on some work and then we went to north London for a family lunch & dinner.

Then it was Monday and at 7.30am on the nose, the BIG man Daren arrived to take me for a run.  He claimed that it had been frosty, but all I could see was a weak sun trying to break through an early morning mist.  Irrespective of the temperature, I had guessed correctly that he would be wearing shorts regardless and thus I went out for the first time this year wearing shorts and two layers… without my trusty Gore jacket or gloves.

It was a little chilly to start with, but as the sun broke through the mist, our clothing began to make more sense… or at least not seem quite so crazy.

Daren was on good form, having managed to lose some of his excess girth by visiting the gym more regularly over the last few months and generally trying to avoid walking through the galley!  One can only hope that the girth reduction was limited to his waist, otherwise we might have to start calling him Little man Daren, which really doesn’t sound quite right.

Our run took us gently out to Ote Hall, past the llama fields and into Wivelsfileld, then up Hundred Acre Lane and through the West Wood to the industrial estate.  We returned down the magical path & across the common.  7.25 miles in one hour ten minutes makes 6.2mph.

The run and bonhomie, allied to sitting out in the garden in the sun to eat breakfast, made a great way to start the week!

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Spring forth!

This morning was BEAUTIFUL, although the wind has since blown up and brought rain!  I couldn’t wait to get out and as you can see above, it really was gorgeous!

I did my default circuit, out to the Royal Oak, across to Wivelsfield, up through the woods to Ditchling Industrial Estate and back along the magical path & across the Common.  I probably would have gone further if I had remembered it’s only 5.2 miles and the 50 minutes time shows how out of shape I am.  6.25mph.

Still, it was stunning out there!

And in contrast to Jason’s new shoes, this is what mine look like!

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Quick run and long conversation

I had a really lovely 6 mile run today along an old favourite route that took me out to Hundred Acre Lane.  The run itself took 58 minutes (6.2mph), but I arrived back after an hour and a half… go figure.

En route I had seen my good friend Lew and stopped to catch up on life, the universe and everything and it was great to put the world to rights.

Most of the water had drained away from last weekend or turned into a light surface mud, but there were clay pockets of deep water along the way into which my feet occasionally disappeared.  This is probably the reason that I didn’t get invited in for a coffee!

The fact that we’d had a LOT of water was evidenced by what was left of one of the bridges I crossed, shown above.  YIKES!

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Splashy mud

I had a genuine desire to do something other than run this morning.

I’d got into a creative zone on a work challenge last night & ended up sliding quietly into bed at gone 3am.  Not quietly enough though, I’m assured!  It was nice & bright this morning and easy-ish to get up, but it was cold outside and I’m reading a totally absorbing book at the moment that I couldn’t wait to get back to.  

It’s called 1421 and is written by a former US Navy submarine captain about his theory that the Chinese circumnavigated and mapped the world a century before Magellan, reached America 70 years before Columbus and Australia 350 years before Cook.  The evidence is compelling and those of you who know how much I admire the Chinese will realise why I it’s hard for me to put the book down!

However, after a large espresso and an hour or so of reading, I reluctantly donned my running gear and got out into quite a bright, if cold morning.   In short, I ran to the south west of Burgess Hill to Hammonds Mill Farm, towards Hurstpierpoint but turning eastward to reach the crossroads at Hassocks, through the village to Keymer, then north along the road and up the private road to Oldlands Mill (where the photos of the South Downs above were taken) and back on my normal path.

The going was wettish, with splashy surface mud left over from the snow and ice of the last week and my legs were sufficiently covered in mud to impress one of my neighbours when I got back.  As I write, so Kim is washing my kit out (a task that I normally do) and has just exclaimed ‘I can’t believe how much mud you’ve got in your socks!’

Anyway, 8.3 miles on one hour 19 minutes is almost 6.3mph, better than I’ve been managing recently and not bad bearing in the mind the weekend off.

By the way, for those of you interested in old mills, here are the dates for Oldlands Mill open days in 2009.

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Water run

The forecast was for wet weather today and I can’t say that I was particularly excited about going out into it this morning.  But I have faith in my gear and particularly in the ability of my Gore jacket to keep me warm in inclement conditions.

This is all very well, but before it had started to do this (it’s always cold when you first put it on) I had to run up the road into the wind with the rain biting at my face.  Fortunately I have a range of directions that I can go that are more sheltered, although coming across a tree that had come down across the path at least gave me pause for thought.

It was already clear that there was a lot of standing water, but just a little further on this point was reiterated… the small pond to the right of the path in the picture is normally a narrow channel.

For those sensitive souls who treasure their running shoes and keep them speck and span, this was not a day to be out and about.  In fact wellingtons or even waders would have been a more appropriate choice of footwear… it’s a good job that I care not about getting my runners wet and muddy.  

At one point I started to think about the ancient Britons and why they used to wash with mud.  Maybe it was not so much that they wanted to, but more that they were constantly covered in the stuff and just had to wash it off.  I suddenly realised that because the surface was more water than mud, my trainers were actually cleaner than they had been for an age (since new?)… strangely, the mud seemed to have migrated upwards and onto my calves!

There were several occasions when the mud tried to suck my shoes off (I’m not a great one for tightly lacing my feet in) and the mud eventually succeeded as I squelched across a field that seems to be wet even when the weather is dry.

In short, I ran out to the Royal Oak, across to Wivesfield and up through the woods to the top of Spatham Lane, then southeast and across to Wellhouse Lane, past the water tower and across the railway line, then north to the station and home again.  6.5 miles in 1 hour 10 is pretty poor going, but I did stop a few times to take photos and once to re-apply my shoe and tighten my laces.

I think I need to run more than once a week to really get back into the zone, but I’ve changed my work schedule so this is not so easy at the moment.  Maybe when the evenings get lighter… once the boys have come back from Prague and have finally worked out that I wasn’t there… maybe then I can safely increase my frequency!

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Exercise

Nigel & Kristin, as our lovely house guests over the Christmas break, may well report me as being a lazy git.  And they would be right.  The only time I went into the great ‘cold & wet outside’ during the three weeks they were here, was to paddle up the River Cuckmere with Debbie, Kim and them on New Years Day… a really still, flat grey day.  This was the first time my little Kendo had seen the water for ahem… years, but start the year as you mean to go on… that’s what I say!

Since they returned to Seattle on the 6th, I’ve been hard at work catching up.  The first thing I did was to go wimmin (that’s swimming for those of you unaccustomed to my obtuseness) for half an hour… although Kim swore that I was only in there for 20 minutes before I dragged myself out like a jelly.  Since then I went a further two times, for 30 minutes and 40 minutes, with my muscles starting to remember the strokes that I worked on before my collar-bone was so rudely broken whist skiing three (?) years ago.  By the way, does anyone else think that the lane-swimming at the Triangle is slightly over-priced, with the evening sub-one-hour sessions being priced at £3.80?

And since this is a running blog, I thought it would be remiss of me not to do some of that too.  Last Sunday I ran out into the remnants of the cold weather and returned an hour and ten minutes later in the start of the warm spell.  I did the 7.1 mile loop out past Ote Hall, the pyjamas, Wivelsfield village, Hundred Acre Lane & woods, Ditchling Common industrial estate, the Magical Path and back across the Common.  It was delightful running weather and I even had to wear my shades.

Yesterday morning was so beautiful, it was almost spring-like here and we made the most of it by doing all our outside chores… although by the time I had washed the cars I was pretty much done in and the weather had turned cold.

It chucked it down with rain last night and I was not looking forward to running in a storm, but this morning dawned bright and clear again and it was a pleasure to don my running gear on and get out into it.  Despite the ongoing twice-daily chi-kung exercises and the swimming, I wasn’t sure that I felt any fitter than last weekend, so I ran the same route to see whether there was any time difference.  Alas not… the same 1 hour ten as before… 6mph.  Although, to be fair, the ground was a little more, er, liquid than last week.

The sun was streaming into the house when I got back and I just had to sit and soak up the rays.  Inside, of course!

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Fweezin!

Based on the temperature forecast for this morning, I had decided last night that I wouldn’t run.  But when it came to it, the lure of a perfectly clear, if pre-dawn, sky was too much for me to pass up.

There certainly was a heavy frost, but I’m guessing the humidity was low as the cold really wasn’t pervasive… and not all the mud & puddles were frozen.  Once I got off the slippery pavements, it was a GLORIOUS morning for a run!

Half way round I stopped for three of four minutes to chat with the Best brothers of Middleton Farm Shop without even starting to feel cold.

The route was the same 5.2 miles as last Friday and I managed it in 48 minutes.  Bearing in mind that I had stopped to chat within this time-frame, I was actually on top form!