Tom Roper's Running Training

Week fifteen: one week to go, lambs

There is but one week to go before the Brighton Half. In a week’s time I will be relaxing with my first alcohol for four weeks, while those around me top up my glass and feed me the choicest and daintiest food to be had in the whole of Sussex.

This was a good week; I ran two three miles in the week, a parkrun on Saturday and six and a half miles today, which is probably about the right level of effort. I shall take next week easy too, so as to be like a coiled spring on the start line at 9 am on Sunday 26th February.

The parkrun was noteworthy, as I came with in two seconds of my PB for the hilly Bevendean Down course. To put this in context, go and read the adventures of @Sweder and @RobKRead on the Running Commentary forum, who not only ran the parkrun itself, but ran there and back from Lewes, a round trip of 29K including some fearsome hills. I'm grateful to Rob for this photo of my finish

As for today, I went out towards the Cuckmere and around. Encounters of note including many lambs on the hill Seaford Striders call Sheep Hill, and a party of German tourists puzzled by a stile. I urged them on, trying to explain it in my limited German, but the verb for to climb deserted me — afterwards I thought aufsteigen might have done the trick. The language of gesture seemed to suffice.

Total mileage this week: 15.72  miles
7 days till the Brighton Half.

I’m running the Brighton Half for the Stroke Association. Find out more and sponsor me

Week fourteen: two weeks to go, and it's all Humphrey Repton's fault

This was a good week; using up some annual leave, I had four days at home, allowing two five mile runs, and two swims, rather than the customary one. The first five miler, over Seaford Head, took place in mild weather on Tuesday, but then the cold weather started. Thursday’s seafront run took place in temperatures of 2°C, while a return to Bevendean Down for a Saturday parkrun, in the company of Rob Read, saw snow. The week climaxed with a bitterly cold, muddy and hilly cross-country race on a new course, in Heathfield Park.  Heathfield Park was laid out by Humprey Repton, who doubtless foresaw that his landscaping would provide features of interest for runners in centuries to come, to wit streams of freezing water, long ascents up muddy tracks, and, the coup de grâce for many of us, a steep and slippery descent into a valley, a stream to leap and an equally steep and slippery ascent on the other side, within the last mile. This was a character-builiding run, and I hope that hard cross-country will prove suitable preparation for an urban half-marathon.

Total mileage this week: 18.17 miles 14 days till the Brighton Half. I’m running the Brighton Half for the Stroke Association. Find out more and sponsor me

Week thirteen: the longest run

 

Eleven miles today, the longest distance I’ll run in training. It was hard work, grey skies, a cold northerly, and I plodded to Newhaven and back, running up the hill to St Michael’s. I couldn’t see a way in, but it might be up Nun’s Walk. I’m not a nun, wasn’t walking, and nor did I have time for Betjeman- or Larkin-esque church visiting, (in spite of the fact that it has the only apse springing directly from the east side of the tower in Sussex).so I pressed on and back. One of the points of long runs in training is to exorcise demons. I hope this did the trick. Meanwhile, others, that is most of the Moyleman committee and the Lewes twitten runs, were suffering in Iberian heat in Almeria, 

Team UK in finishers shirts #almeria #mediomaratonxx pic.twitter.com/4O8UtKRJUJ

— Sweder (@Sweder)

5 February 2017

As for the rest of the week, I participated in the first birthday of the Bevendean Down #parkrun on Saturday, breaking my no-running-on-consecutive-days rule, and ran a five-miler with the Striders on Wednesday.

Total mileage this week: 19.74 miles

21 days till the Brighton Half.

I’m running the Brighton Half for the Stroke Association. Find out more and sponsor me - and thanks for all the donations that came in this week. 

Week twelve of training: back on track

I ran for the first time today in my Stroke Association vest: eight miles around Seaford, in a cool wind, but nowhere near as cold as it has been. 

I was pleased, as I had no knee pain, and I seem to have returned to the sort of weekly mileage I need for a half-marathon four weeks away. Other runs this week included a long one with the Striders on Wednesday, notable for my attempt to run through a chain-link fence - I didn’t see it in the dark and still have a bruise on my hand. 

And on Saturday night, it was the Seaford Striders awards evening, at which I was delighted to win a Sussex Grand Prix prize, given to all club members who run eight or more of the Grand Prix races, and the Jo Jo Gunne award, for running three races on three consecutive days at the August Bank Holiday weekend. 

Total mileage this week: 16.97 miles

28 days till the Brighton Half.

I’m running the Brighton Half for the Stroke Association. Find out more and sponsor me.

Week eleven of training, of which we shall say as little as possible

There was not much training this week, a family visit preventing anything but a short outing on Sunday. When I did finally run, I found it hard after a week’s lay-off, and it was only towards the end of a three and a half mile outing that fluency of some sort returned. Nevertheless, this week will be different. I’m not worried about a week off, at this stage. I can still build with a couple of long runs between now and half-marathon day, consistent effort on weekdays and, my secret weapon, abstinence from alcohol between next weekend and race day. 

Total mileage this week: 3.65 miles

35 days till the Brighton Half.

I’m running the Brighton Half for the Stroke Association. Find out more and sponsor me.

Week ten of training: an insight into Eeyore's psyche

Week ten being at an end, that means there are six weeks to go. This week wasn’t a hard week, only three runs, two short ones round Seaford and today’s cross-country event at Ashdown Forest.  A.A. Milne lived at Cotchford Farm, not far from the race starts, and the forest is supposed to be the setting for the Winnie the Pooh books. Certainly one can understand Eeyore’s melancholia, if he had to endure conditions like today’s. The mud was bottomless, and it rained, though not enough to shift the snow still lying on the ground.  It was cold; I began to shiver the moment I left my car. 

The race was run clockwise, rather than counter-clockwise as in previous years. Whether this is any better or not, I find hard to say. I was slower than last year; unsurprising, probably. It must be said that my fellow Striders turned out in force, and when the results are out I think we shall we see some strong performances. In other news, my knee was reasonably well-behaved, though on the long ascent in the last stages, my back played up. I attribute this to attempts to do bridges. Indeed, this afternoon, I unwisely attempted a one-legged bridge. 

Total mileage this week: 11.11 miles

42 days till the Brighton Half.

I’m running the Brighton Half for the Stroke Association. Find out more and sponsor me.

Week nine of training

 A much better week, thanks to a bank holiday on Monday, so I could fit in an extra run, the Peacehaven Resolution Run, a dry-run for a Peacehaven #parkrun, which is in development. It was cold, and the north wind did blow, but there were some lovely views on a course on a mixture of path and grass. Some of the grassy sections were very boggy, although there hadn’t been much rain. According to my Garmin, the course was a little short of the necessary 5k, and some of the faster runners were misdirected near the finish. That’s the reason for trial runs like this, so I’m confident the organisers will make the necessary improvements.

Today’s long run was seven miles along Seaford front, to the end of Newhaven East Pier and back. I haven’t run this far since early November. My knee held up well. I’ll be increasing the distance of the long runs between now and a couple of weeks before half-marathon day, when I’ll start my taper. 

Total mileage this week: 18.04 miles

49 days till the Brighton Half.

I’m running the Brighton Half for the Stroke Association. Find out more and sponsor me.

Week eight of training

Week eight of sixteen weeks means I’m half-way through. Broadly speaking, I’m pleased with the way things have gone. I need to start covering longer distances, but I’ve wisely taken it easy with the knee. From now on, Sunday long runs start to become long. I’ve also had some useful advice about fartlek surges, which I intend to apply. 

Total mileage this week: 15.39 miles

56 days till the Brighton Half.

I’m running the Brighton Half for the Stroke Association. Find out more and sponsor me.

Last run of 2016

That was the last run of 2016, a short jog on the foggy seafront. I ran 690 miles in the year. That’s further than I’ve run in any year since 2012, when I ran 691 miles. In the intervening years the figures are 582 in 2015, 395 in 2014, 406 in 2013  I probably ran in too many races, to wit:

• half-marathons: 1
• ten miles: 2
• five miles: 1
• 10ks: 8
• 5ks: 1
• cross-country races (varying lengths, usually around 5 miles): 7
• parkruns (not races, I know): 20 at Bevendean Down, 1 at Wimpole Estate and 1 at Preston Park 
• Twitten runs: 16

I have already resolved to run fewer races in 2017; the Brighton half-marathon in the first quarter, and something equally challenging in each of the remaining three quarters.

If you’d like to sponsor me for the Brighton Half, I’d be very grateful. I’m running for the Stroke Association.

Week seven of training

I have completed seven weeks out of sixteen of half-marathon training, and festivities meant that this week’s mileage was low, and consisted of only two runs, a Striders run on Wednesday, refreshed by satsumas served by the club captain on the way round, and ruled wine at the finish, and a return to Bevendean Down #parkrun in the company of Sweder. My companion had looked long upon the grape the night before, in the company of Seafront Plodder and other Seaford rakes. Yet, after a relaxed pace at first, at the top of the hill he opened the throttle and completed the course nearly four minutes ahead of me. I did win my age group though; truth to tell, I was the only VM60-64. I couldn’t take part in the Christmas morning Twitten run, but it went well, if Twitter is to be believed. 

My knee is still painful, but I think I have overcome my fear of damaging it through running when it hurts. And in the week ahead of me I have only three days at work, so more running become possible.

Total mileage this week: 7.66 miles

63 days till the Brighton Half.

I’m running the Brighton Half for the Stroke Association. Find out more and sponsor me.