A quick run

I did something very stupid on Thursday evening after a meeting in London - I swung past a specialised running shop near Victoria Station and bought myself some running shoes. I'd had it in mind for a while to use some running as part of my fitness campaign, and I wanted to have a pair of light non Goretex shoes for use on the event itself, and figured I would get more value out of them if I got them now and started running. It was also partially bought on by Katie saying she was going to enter a 5km run on 13 April at Dorney Lake.

Anyway, I got some very nice Asics Torano Gel 2 shoes and couldn't wait to give them a test...

Come Saturday morning I was (almost) raring to go. A nice gentle jog down to the Epsom Downs race course, along one side and back - just 3 miles, 5km, how hard could it be? After all I could knock off a 12 mile walk with no problems. I'd just go slow and steady and all would be well...

I know, it was silly, truly a case of "all the gear, no idea" but I had honestly forgotten why I've never liked running! I got all of a km under my belt and I thought I was about to collapse. That's probably an exaggeration , but it wasn't good! I think in small part it was down to my forgetting to use my inhaler before I went, as I was wheezing from an early stage, but basically whilst my legs were willing my lungs were struggling. In the end I managed a couple of miles alternating walking with running and returned home (jogging the last bit in case the neighbours were watching!) with my tail very much between my legs.

I've had a look on-line about building up a level of running fitness mixing walking and running and I'm determined to continue, but I was one sorry sight on Saturday morning!

Wind, hail and rain

Trailwalker Training Walk 8 - 22/03/08 with Sasha, Anne and Lucy - 11 miles round Polesden Lacey, Effingham and the North Downs to the West of Ranmore. Av speed 2.6 mph

Damn it was cold. And wet. And windy. And muddy and slippery!

So the weather forecast wasn't good to start with but I was keen to get out and surprisingly so were the others. It all started so well, a gentle stroll from the car park down to the YHA hostel at Tanners Hatch. I suppose it was our own fault, but we missed the sharp left had turn needed at the bottom of the hill towards Polesden Farm as planned and ended up heading off towards Polesden Lacey itself! Not the best start to the day! It wasn't problem I figured, we'd just catch up with our route the other side of the estate.
The problem was, being a national trust property, the garden's boundaries were fairly solid and impregnable and for about 10 mins we must have looked like a right bunch of muppets, all togged up, in the light rain at this point, trying to find holes in the fence to crawl through. In the end we crossed over a road via a small footbridge, dodged the barbed wire at the base of the bridge and slid down the steep bank onto the road below. I think it was Sasha who nearly took out an unsuspecting cyclist who was slowly plodding his way up the steep road on his mountain bike and must have got the fright of his life to see a lycra-clad blonde sliding down the bank from under a bridge! You can see the bridge and the bank in the picture above!


Finally back on track we began to notice just how cold it was. Woolly hats and gloves were definitely in order. The cold was OK, but just as we crossed over High Barn road in Effingham we were hit full on by 90 degree hail, whipping in from the North! it only lasted 5 minutes but it certainly made up for time with ferocity and by the time we crossed over Beech Avenue and onto Effingham Golf Course it had stopped. For a while. Somewhat surprisingly as we crossed over the 12th fairway we were surprised to see a few hardy souls on the course. We looked at each other, no doubt each thinking the others were mad to be out with weather like this!!

Eventually we headed South and got back onto the Ranmore Common land. By now a couple of us were quite cold and it didn't take much persuasion for everyone to agree to cut a mile or so off the walk and head back towards the car park, which was still 4 miles or so away.

Once again the going along the North Downs was pretty soggy underfoot, with plenty of slipping and sliding. By now Anne was a very tired walker and the weather didn't do her any favours as the hail came back for the last half hour or so. Fortunately it's not as bad as rain as you don't actually get wet, and the trees took any sting out of them, but it was still a relief when we eventually got back to the car park.

This was one of the slower walks we had done. Aside from one or two small stops to slide under bridges, find short cuts etc we didn't really stop for long. I think we just walked slower. And in a positive way I could tell. A few walks into my training and I was more than happy to have continued at a faster pace, but Trailwalker is a team event (and I had the map!!) so I could hardly push on faster and leave one or two stragglers.

Once again the softshell jacket held up well in the wind and hail and rain. My feet stayed dry in my Salomon Elios XCR, and the skiing long johns under my trousers didn't chaff. Result!

The back story...

Trailwalker Training Walk 1 - 24/11/07 with Jo - 5 miles round the North Downs above Reigate. Av speed 2.97mph

Our first walk of any sort, and it was at least dry, but also freezing! We parked at the top of Reigate Hill, just off the motorway and walked along (and down and up!) the North Downs. I didn't really think about the route and poor Jo had to slog up the steepest part of the North Downs for miles around - Sorry!


I also placed a cache (http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=fc38be96-c805-42d8-a01f-2f5282e60e72) on the way round - one of a series of Trailwalker Training caches I intend to hide on my walks.

It was Jo and I who first talked each other (and then others) into doing this walk in the office one day in October I think, so it was fitting the first tentative steps were taken by us. Jo won the prize for first person to complain about chaffing. Other than that, not the most eventful occasion, but one has to start somewhere. As shown by the pale blue line on the map.





Trailwalker Training Walk 2 - 01/12/07 with Katie - 6.25 miles round the North Downs above Reigate. (Red line above) Av speed 2.96 mph

This time Katie was the unlucky victim, and was really the first time I'd properly spoken to Katie, so it was really good opportunity to learn more about our latest team member. Katie works in the same department as me but in a slightly different area of expertise so we hadn't really known each other before we started asking around for team members. She's done some walking before whilst holidaying in Africa and has been really enthusiastic and committed from the start. She's also a very good horsewoman, if that's the right word, competing at international level previously and now focusing on carriage driving. Katie is a little quiet but with an air of confidence and always with a smile on her face and I think she's a really great addition to the team.



We walked through part of Walton Heath Golf Course, a former home of the Ryder Cup in 1981 and one of the hardest courses I have played - way too much heather and wind for a hacker like me, but a lovely course and deservedly in the Worlds best courses. It is also the only English Club to have had a reigning Monarch as Captain, when the Prince of Wales became King during his Captaincy in 1935/6.




Trailwalker Training Walk 3 - 13/01/07 with Sasha and Katie - 10.3 miles round the North Downs from Ranmore Common towards (Red line below) Av speed 2.64mph


The first time that Sasha joined us on a 'walk' - or the words longest slip in poor Sasha's case!


Sasha was originally invited whilst she was on a break in her homeland of South Africa. I can only assume the sun and sea had given her a false sense of serenity when she came back and agreed to join our little walking team. Given that she had only joined our team at work at the start of the year, accepting to do this walk with us was really a case of throwing herself in at the deep end. She had worked with and knew Katie previously so it wasn't 100% blind, but still, a good effort.


Sasha had been in training for a half marathon that is imminent, and turned up for the walk in her running gear, including very clean running shoes....


The ground was absolutely soaking throughout the walk and Sasha did very well to stay on her feet for as much of the time as she did, as the paths were very muddy and even Katie and I win 'proper' walking shoes found the conditions very slippery! It was however a really fun walk with some great views down over Reigate and off towards the South Downs. We also passed through a couple of the famous Lovelace Bridges (one in the pic, along with very muddy footwear!) (http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/East-Horsleys-Lovelace-Bridges-Trail) in the area.





Trailwalker Training Walk 4 - 27/01/07 with Katie - 7.4 miles around Leith Hill area (Red route below) Av speed 2.6mph


The first of two walks round the beautiful Leith Hill area of Surrey via the Leith Hill Tower, the highest point in South East England I believe.



We started from the Plough Inn car park in Coldharbour (shame I didn't have time afterwards for a pint!) and headed NorthWest towards Wooton before turning back and walking along the Greensand Way, passing, somewhat surprisingly, a waterfall on the way, before heading uphill for a couple of miles arriving at Leith Hill (where we stopped for tea and cakes and probably ruined our average speed!) before a swift downhill back to the car park!



















Trailwalker Training Walk 5 - 10/02/07 with Katie, Anne, Sasha, Jo, Claire and Lucy - 9.2 miles around Leith Hill area (Blue route left) Av speed 2.3mph


Me and 6 women - way too outnumbered. Still, I struggled on round! Much the same as above, but with more chatter. Well, for the first couple of miles anyway! We went to see the waterfall again where Al's Angels Team posed for a pic, then back out to Friday Street. Walking past the Stephen Langton pub at about 11.30am and smelling the cooking was tough not stopping.

We did however stop at the Leith Hill Tower for cakes and a hot drink - I think the promise of cake was what got some people that far!!

I was greeted at work the next day by one anonymous walker with the comment "My **** hurts!" but aside from that, I think everyone enjoyed themselves!! Now all we have to do is that distance another 6 times and we'd have finished!

Walk no. 7 with Katie and Claire; 09-03-08

Another Leatherhead walk, again 12.5 miles, this time with Katie and Claire.

I was keen to try out my new "North Face" softshell jacket that i bought for £10 off Ebay. I use the quotation marks as I'm still not 100% sure if it is the real deal or not as it came from China! Either way, this walk was its first outing and turned out to be a pretty good test.

First off Jo bunked off, something about her boiler breaking and her having to stay in to wait for the repairman. Nothing to do with the forecast Jo?! :) Then Anne cried off, suddenly remembering that he had to go to her Godson's birthday party or something like that.... must remember that one!! :)

Sasha also couldn't make it, she has a cold and didn't want to aggravate it the week before her half marathon in Bath on Sunday. So it was just Katie and Claire and me.

The route we took is above and it's elevation profile is below.

The weather forecast didn't look great, but we headed out from Leatherhead railway station car park in fairly warm sunshine. It was reasonably windy, but the windstopper material in my jacket seemed to be doing its stuff. Certainly with just the jacket and a Helly Hansen Lifa t-shirt on I didn't feel remotely cold at any point on the walk. However as we walked along the banks of the river Mole towards the Mickleham Bends we could see we were heading into dark clouds, and so weren't too surprised that after a few miles we felt the first drops of rain. Typically it started just as I was placing a cache (Trailwalker Training cache 5 I think). I stuck a cap on and pulled the rainproof cover over my rucksack and wondered how the jacket would stand up to a good soaking. It only rained for about 20 minutes but the jacket held up fine in its first test. I know its hardly scientific, but it was good enough to give me confidence that it would do the trick for a passing shower or two, and only possibly be an issue in a big downpour.

On the other hand my legs got wet, and a little cold, but nothing serious. I've got some lightweight trousers which dried out pretty quickly once it stopped, but for a while the combination of driving wind and rain made them a little cold. But the biggest annoyance was water getting down my neck. I need to have a plan for that I think, as it was just plain irritating. maybe a scarf or a better hat? Dunno.

I didn't use my poles this time. I will try them again I think just to be sure, but I think whilst they made me walk faster for sure, they did get in the way of me playing with my iPod, GPS, food etc. I think I just like to fiddle too much to justify poles. Interesting, as from everything I had read I was pretty sure i would use poles on the walk. I guess I still might, but it's put a big question mark in my mind.

I haven't yet bought my new rucksack, (thinking about the Inov-8 RacePro 12 but likely to go for the Raidlight Endurance) but to be honest given there is no support team on the training walks, it's quite useful having a larger sack for waterproofs, gloves, food, hats etc. I know I carry more than I should, it's just in my nature to be over-prepared for something like this, but for now, and over these distances the larger 25l sack is fine and the weight hasn't been an issue. It's got an airflow back so isn't uncomfortable either.

The walk itself was pretty uneventful aside from the weather, although the rainbow was a nice sight, and the scenery throughout, even in the wet, is lovely. We had good views over Dorking, Westhumble, Ranmore and Box Hill at points, as well as over the Denbies vinyard estate. We ever walked conveniently straight past Katie's 2 ponies, so we had a small breather whilst she went in to give them some hay for the day.

I think we kept up a decent pace. The GPSr said a moving average of 3.2mph. We stopped for about 10 mins towards the end, at a gap in the hedge overlooking Bocketts Farm to watch a pig race, but apart from that we only stopped for breath a couple of times. Even so, it was enough to knock the overall average down to 2.7 mph - which thinking about it would have us home in a touch over 23 hours - that would more than do me! Although it is very sobering to realise that having spent over 4 hours marching through the Surrey countryside we'd have to do it another 4 more times to get to the race distance!

This walk means I have now done, in total training, just over the course distance. Total so far 70.8 miles walked.

Welcome

I've no idea what will appear here, or how long it will last. But I guess until I start I'll never know, so here goes.

Basically its Rowley's fault. And Jo Beesley's. But basically Rowley's. He started all this Trailwalker stuff. Without him I would never had heard of it. Would never have felt inclined to commit to it, and not be here and now writing this blog.


But I guess really I'm glad. I'm enjoying the training, though I know I haven't really started doing enough yet.

I suppose I'll detail my walks etc here and how training is going and other stuff that springs to mind. I don't imagine it will be very interesting but might be a nice record in time.