Berry's Green Circular Run Walk

I'm still taking it easy but I love running in the countryside. The last couple of weeks I have been up at 5am for 4 hour runs. Today I fancy a quick hour or so.

I find my leaflet on the Berry's Green Circular Walk. These circular walks can be tricky to follow. I decide to try and pre-plot the route using some online maps into GPS format. I struggle. Google Maps does not have footpaths, Open Street Map has huge blank spots and in some places looks plain wrong. In the end I have ViewRanger and the 1:250000 OS maps on my Phone. I plot what looks like a good version of the route (my first attempt using ViewRanger)

I start soon after first light (no need for expensive flashy head torches today) I soon see a number of points I recognize from Jerry's fiendish night run. That was a great run, but the hills were to die for. But that's Cudham and that's how it was today.

The other problem today was the mud. In my road shoes I spent much of the time slipping. Which is energy sapping and you have to concentrate to avoid falling over.

In the end I start following the live map on the GPS route I had uploaded onto the phone. It saves me a couple of times when I go massively wrong. This seems to be a good way to do this kind of run, phone in one hand keeping me on track. Then it starts to rain. Fortunately I have a plastic sandwich bag and the phone works happily (including the touchscreen) in there. Maybe I need to get myself a case...

At one point I run across the North Downs way. I feel on top of the roof of Kent as I look down on Westerham. This is running at its absolute best.

As it turns out my GPS route was spot on in each and every case. All footpaths are shown on the OS map. Some are bare tracks through the middle of a field you would not know they were there. The GPS sees it all though. Once I have exhausted the Circular Walks it will be fairly easy to plot some great routes which I can then just follow. ViewRanger is the business.

On the final slog back to the car I see the Wheelbarrow we had all laughed at on the night run and stop to take a picture. It has taken me far longer to do the run than I had expected. It was also much harder with all the climbs and mud. But I loved it.

Lots of stops to stare and maps and scratch my head.

13.74km 1"55

Slippy Park Run

I'm still tapering for the 32 mile moonlight challenge. I have to work from home Saturday morning and sink quite a few coffees. I finish sooner than expected and realise I can make park-run.

My last outing I had finished one second outside Davids time. I decide to go for it.

I start off fast. I run neck and neck with Sabina from the club for a while. Then the problem start to become apparent. I have my road shoes on but it is slip, slippery-muddy. I flail my arms as I struggle to keep my balance.
"Get some trail shoes" yells Sabina. And she's right.

Thursday night's "team bonding" exercise also starts to take it's toll. The strong wind down the back straight saps my motivation further. Then all the coffee starts to slosh. My stomach aches and by the second lap I ease off.

I manage a token sprint towards the end. Slipping in the mud really saps the energy. the time though is still reasonable (just sub 23 minutes) I vow to come back another day when it is warmer, less slippy, no wind and without gallons of coffee in me.

Still, after the run I stop and take the time for a chat and a coffee!

5km 22:58

Taking it easy in group 5

As you can see from the missing entry from yesterday, I took an extra day off as I could still feel Sunday's 4 hours in my legs. Tonight I head off for club night.

I need to be tapering ahead of the 32 mile ultra in a couple of weeks. I bravely decide to go with group 5. Initially it is good but there are some faster people here intent on pushing, pushing the pace. I decide that it's not worth mixing it up and stay rooted to the back. The pack splits and reconvenes, but in reality some of the faster runners should probably form a group 6.

I never really hit the heights of the other weeks group 5 run, partly because I am trying to be disciplined and partly because I can still feel Sunday.

At 5 minute km (8 minute miles) the pace is still pretty decent.

I saw Jerry before the race who is also doing the moonlight challenge(the 32 miles) We chatted about the logistics of the run. This has just built my excitement.

13.39km 1'06:00 5:00/km

Once again, the 3x3 Commons Circular Walk Run

It's my last long, long run before tapering for the 32mile moonlight challenge. Last week's 3 laps of the 3 commons circular walk run was so successful I decide to tackle it again.

Right from the start I struggle. As night time turns into broad-daylight I continue to suffer. I keep going, dreaming of last week when it was all so easy.

On the run back through Hayes I stop to get a drink from the shop. The guy says, do you want to buy another one for 20p? I say, "No because then I'll have to carry it..."

Today was more mental training than fitness training. Most importantly, I held on.

When I get home, I weigh myself. I am just under 80kg, which puts my BMI into the normal range rather than the usual overweight. Once I refuel and rehydrate I'm sure it will be back in the land of the feckless porkers.

33.13km 3:51:00

Massaging recovery run down to the half finished shard

My legs still feel tired. I have a four hour run planned for early Saturday, so I decide to go for a recovery run. A recovery run is best done in the near-barefoot aqua shoes.

And it was lovely to run in them. When my legs are sore, running almost barefoot seems to make them better. It as if not running in shoes loosens my legs and massages . Hard to explain.

I decide to go down across London Bridge and take a look at the new "Shard" building which will be the tallest in Europe outside Moscow. They are still building it but it already dominates the Skyline. At the base though it doesn't seem so tall. (The World Trade Center Towers always looked huge, even when you stood at the base)

I didn't really try to run fast today; I just played with more form. And most importantly it felt good.

4km 25'48

Hints of Spring

I biked to work yesterday on my fixed wheel bike. I could feel it today on my lunch time run. I start of okay but after 1km I start to struggle on my way down to the Wapping Canals.

I have my coat on expecting it to be cold. But despite the clear sunny skies it's quite mild for a winter's day. So at Tobacco Dock (half way) I tie it round my waist.

The final km I pick up the pace and dodge in and out of the lunchtime crowds.

I have a slightly sore calf muscle possibly from the biking.

On sunny mild-ish day like today, I can imagine how good Spring is going to feel when it arrives. Still, a long way to go yet. Not sure how conducive the biking is to good running

6 or 7km 37'10

Grey London Town

It's a grey drizzly day in London. I have a theory that London is a grey city and is at its very best on a grey day. The buildings are grey, the river is grey and often the sky is grey. A spectrum of every possible shade of grey.

I could probably get away without running given that I had done the 4 hours on Sunday. I want to run though.

I zip out on to the streets and I am off. There is no residue from the weekend so I pick up the pace. I go down to Blackfriars Bridge and across to the South Bank. I then run down to Charing Cross/Hungerford Footbridge. The pace briefly lulls but on the other side of the river I go again.

I flow down Victoria Embankment and back to the office.

When I get back to my desk, my colleague Ben asks if I spotted him. It would appear I was so focussed on my run that I had flown past without noticing him! Perhaps I was enjoying the grey too much.

6km 27'51