Tom Roper's Running Training

Hove Prom 10K

Sunday 20 September was a great day for sport. I don;t refer to the antics of overpaid morons with a round ball, nor the Great North Run, nor even the first day of a new season of racing over fences at Plumpton, nor the magnificent achievement of those who did the London to Brighton 56 mile run. The Hove Prom 10K starts and finishes at Hove Lagoon, and, apart from a brief inland stretch alongside the A259, goes east along the front towards Brighton, returning to a beacon and then repeating. I ran with the Striders and was grateful for their encouragement. On such a course, there are frequent opportunities to pass and greet one's fellow runners going in the opposite direction.

To my surprise, I realised that I had not run a 10K for nearly a year: the last one was the Brighton 10K last November. I was ten minutes slower than my personal best for this distance. I also realised, with a shock, that it is only two weeks till the Lewes Downland Ten Mile.

Time: 56:11
Distance: 6.26
Pace: 8:59

Slow short run

Feeling rotten, I nevertheless forced myself out over Seaford Head by the shortest route, on a cloudy yet warm Sunday afternoon.

My Garmin had ridiculously lost all charge: it was last charged about ten days ago and used for a six mile run, then left idle. I tried to use my old 301, but while that still had 70% charge, though idle for months. But when I got it outside it took an age to pick up a GPS signal, so I ran without.

On the way up Seaford Head, I met a Strider who was out for a recovery stroll after that morning's Hellingly 10k, and I had a discussion with a dog walker about the weather as we both toiled up the last stretch of the ascent.

Distance: 2.5 miles or thereabouts

The female of the species, and Tom Roper's new fitness workout

I have a run with the Striders to write up from last week. In very windy and wet conditions, the leadership of the group I joined fell to two women, who took us up Seaford Head the hard way, that is to say by the steepest possible route.
Time: 1:08:52
Distance: 6.44
Pace: 10:42

I didn't manage a weekend run, but found a new form of exercise: I spent Saturday and Sunday as part of the beach party at the UK Laser Association's autumn qualifier, which Newhaven and Seaford Sailing Club were hosting. A beach party has two tasks to perform:

1. To carry 140 boats off their launching trolleys, carry them into the surf and past the first waves, encourage the helm to jump into the boat at the right moment and push them off

2. When they return at the end of racing, to run into the surf, catch the boat, pick it up, carry it out of the water and place it on its trolley.

We did this twice, on Saturday in heavy seas, and on Sunday in easier conditions. Apart from early retirees, the boats arrive all together. It is rather like a game of rugby, except that one is standing in a rough sea on shifting shingle rather than on dry land, and instead of having to stop a human with a ball in his hand, one has to stop a heavy boat propelled by wind and waves with a human sitting in top of it.

One's team consist, theoretically of three. In fact we needed more: first of all, some of the team may not be in the correct position to catch the boat, and it's hard to move quickly up to your waist or neck in a heavy surf; secondly, some of the team are bound to be knocked down by waves; thirdly, as time passes muscles tire and we need more of us to lift the boats, made heavier by water in the cockpit.

Most of the boats come in correctly, bow first, but some end up coming in sideways and there is a risk of becoming trapped between boat and beach. I have rarely been so tired.

Alfriston Festival Fun Run 6K

This enjoyable event came to my rescue. I said I would take part in a race every month from June to December, but in the event it looked as if I would miss August, until I found out about this.

Assembling on the Tye, with maypole dancers, bagpipes and vintage motor-cars as rival attractions, were many Striders and others. There was a 2K race for juniors, with impressive performance, followed by the 6K race. Going south on the west bank of the Cuckmere as far as the Litlington brigde, we crossed and returned on the other bank, going as far as a hump-back bridge to the north of the village and returning to the Tye on the west bank once more.

I was not fast, indeed I was the last-but-one adult home, and the last adult was only slower than me because she slowed to run with a child. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Time: 30:04
Distance: 3.04 (I think that's 4.89K but no matter)
Pace: 9:31