A Moyleman For All Seasons

[OutAlongTheRiver]

Monday 25 February update

I know consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds - thanks Ralph Waldo Emerson - but the consistency of my training is proving to be quite effective.

Two more tempo/speed workouts midweek around the streets of Lewes, with Paula doing just slightly slower per km sections. These continue to prove a key part of training for speed.

Saturday saw a visit to one of the flattest quickest park runs around - as we accompanied Tom Roper and colleagues from Seaford Striders in their visit to Hove Prom. In contrast to a fog bound Lewes, the Prom was clear, cool and still, meaning conditions were near perfect. I'd decided to go out at c 4:25 and see if I could break 22 mins ... just a week after setting 22:23 as my new overall PB.

A bunched start quickly thinned out as I hit my stride quite soon, and trundled along at 4:25 ... and as we looped around and back and the first and second kms past, I found this felt OK. Still (as last week) running just within myself. So a pushed a little bit to 4:20 ... and in the last km, vying with a chap in blue I found myself crossing in 21:23. A minute quicker! Notwithstanding the flatness of the course, I was pretty pleased.

Turning to await Paula, she was soon over the line too - and she'd set a PB at 23:46, taking her under 24 for the first time. She'd given it her all. Her age grading was again better than mine and in the top 20 for Hove Prom for the day.

And then it was Sweder and Tom across the line - hitting a sub-30 time in fine style.

All round an excellent outing - topped off with the find of a superb coffee/pastry and pie shop along the front at Hove - Sourdough - where we supped welcome coffee and shared some tasty cinammon pastries.

Sunday saw a return to Twittens and then a 17km romp around the central of the Moyleman - looping from Rodmell up to Cricketing Bottom and then loop over Itford Hill and down to the bottom and back up again. 375m of climb (plus 180m from the twittens) were a great pre-Moyleman prep.

Incidentally, in doing these loops we passed Monks House (long time and final home of Virginia Woolf), Furlongs (where C20th artist Eric Ravilious stayed and painted), back of what was Asham House (first place the Woolfs lived in the area) and also current home of opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kawana.

Plus, we have been blessed with amazing weather - closer to what we might hope for in May, than February.

All in all (Liverpool poor performance against Man U excepted) a great weekend. Now the Moyleman taper starts ...