The first week of unemployment was sailing week at Newhaven and Seaford Sailing Club. We descend on the clubhouse by the sea and camp. The days are given over to sailing, the nights to debauchery of the lowest kind. I can't actually confess to having sailed at all this week, due to complicated tiller issues, but I did manage daily swims in some demanding seas, and a session as rescue boat crew when demands to collect or move buoys and pull up their anchors exposed my lack of upper body strength.
On the running front, I managed four runs, as follows:
Tuesday: a morning run from the sailing club to Splash Point. Agreeable, though hard work.
Wednesday: an afternoon run along the same route, but my first speed session for many a day. I threw in some 100m sprints.
Saturday: a short 2.5 miles to Newhaven East pier and back by way of Tidemills.
Sunday, and worthiest of note: 8 miles, along Seaford front, then inland to Bishopstone and Fiveways, a route I last ran in winter and in reverse. After a couple of flat miles, the turn inland leads to a long slow ascent. Here I felt weak. I've often tried to solve the conundrum of what I think about when I run; the difficulty is that I so rarely remember my wistful thoughts about past races and past loves. But when the climb became hard, I determined to run like an automaton, with no thoughts whatsoever. I ran to the background noise of the harvest, as combines whirred up and down the fields around me.
Miles this week: 17.48
Seven weeks till the Firle half marathon.
Thirty five weeks till the Brighton marathon
