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Connecting parkruns plus some sightseeing at Olympic Park

March 1, 2015TrainingOlympic Park, parkrunadmin

It was parkrunday again today, and for the fourth time this year I headed out towards North East London for a parkrun. This time I ran Barking parkrun in 22:14 – my best time for the year.

I arrived early – 8am – so started the day with an easy 5km walk before parkrun. But the main plan for the day was to walk a 15 mile loop taking in the venues for all four of the parkruns I have run this year in the North East and East London area – Barking (today), Valentines (on Valentine’s Day 2 weeks ago), Wanstead Flats (on New Year’s Day), and Mile End (3^rd of January).

Today's map - four parkrun venues and a detour through Olympic Park — Today’s map – four parkrun venues and a detour through Olympic Park

What I didn’t intend to do, but ended up doing anyway, was take a detour and check out Olympic Park in between Wanstead Flats and Mile End, but I am glad I did. It was the first time I had seen Olympic Park and what an amazing venue! I took heaps of photos, some of which are below, but as a result of that and a little bit of getting lost, my planned 3 hour 15 mile walk ended up being 23 ½ miles in 4 hours 50 minutes.

When I sent my wife a txt message to tell her that I had got lost but was now back at the car in Barking, she replied that maybe we should change the name of this blog to “Richard gets lost in London” as that seems to be a recurring theme of most of my long walks 🙂

Overall I was happy with the walk. I faded a little over the last 60 to 90 minutes, but I hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since breakfast at 6am, and in total I covered 30 miles today so maybe that was to be expected.

The original plan for this weekend, until I got sick a month ago, was to race the Bourges 24 hour race in France. Based on today’s walk I am glad I decided not to do the race as I don’t think I am in the shape I was in before getting sick. But hopefully two weeks of long walks followed by two weeks easy will see me in shape for a good 24 hour race at Château-Thierry in 4 weeks time.

Photos from today:

Barking Park - the start of my walk — Barking Park – the start of my walk

The lake at Valentines Park with the clocktower in the background

A muddy Wanstead Flats – it was muddy the day I ran there too

The Aquatic Center – which was just across the river from the Olympic Stadium

And after 4 hours and 50 minutes we are back at Barking Park again!

Lost in Twickenham

February 22, 2015TrainingTwickenham Stadiumadmin

This afternoon I decided to check out the venue where the All Blacks will successfully defend their Rugby World Cup later this year – Twickenham Stadium.

I wanted to walk 3 hours (about 15 miles) in total so took a roundabout route out to the stadium via Hounslow, following the River Crane for a while and then a trail through Hounslow Heath. It always amazes me how easy it is to find off-road trails and I enjoy looking at my Gamin map after I get home to see where I actually went.

Twickenham Stadium is the largest dedicated rugby stadium in the world, seating 82,000 people. The All Blacks have played England at Twickenham 22 times since 1925, winning 16 times, drawing once (26 all in 1997), and losing just 5 times. Not a bad ‘away’ record. In total the All Blacks have played England 40 times over the last 110 years and have won 32 (80%) of those matches with the one draw and 7 losses in total.

After leaving the stadium I planned on taking a semi-direct route home as it has started to rain and if I walked home via Richmond I figured I would still end up with about 13 to 14 miles.

But I have a habit of going exploring when I see signs ‘advertising’ public walkways, and today was no exception. Except this time I got horribly lost and 45 minutes after leaving the stadium I realised that I was walking back towards it again!

I ended up completing a total of 17 ½ miles in 3 hours and 28 minutes. This was my longest walk since getting sick three weeks ago and whilst I am not ready to do any fast walking yet, I feel that my fitness is back.

I am not doing the 24 hour race in Bourges next week though as I don’t want to overdo it, but I am seriously considering the possibility of competing in the Château-Thierry 24 hour race in France in five weeks time.

Richmond Park on a beautiful (almost) spring afternoon

February 21, 2015TrainingRichmond Parkadmin

I absolutely love Richmond Park!

It was thanks to a run in Richmond Park when we were over here on holiday in January 2007 that we ended up moving to England. My wife, Ruth, used to live in England in the late 80’s and early 90’s, and had always wanted to move back. But I was a loyal kiwi who couldn’t understand why anyone would want to live anywhere else other than New Zealand – until I ran in Richmond Park.

I am sure that Ruth knew what she was doing when she suggested that I do my long run in Richmond Park. I had never run in such beautiful surroundings and fell in love with the place. After moving to England for the first time in mid 2008 I became a regular runner, and now walker, in Richmond Park and have spent many, many hours training all over the park – as well as running or walking Richmond parkrun 61 times during the last 6 1/2 years.

Today is Saturday which is otherwise known as parkrunday. So the day started off with a 5km run at 9am. This time at a brand new parkrun in Oxfordshire by the name of Didcot parkrun.

Richmond Park map And then this afternoon I headed up into Richmond Park for the first time in daylight since I can’t remember when. There are hundreds of trails within the park and often I will just wander through the middle of the park following the various trails, but my favourite route is around the parameter. A lap of the park following the parameter trail is about 7 ½ miles and depending on the direction you go you have a steep hill in either the first half or the second half, and a more gradual hill in the other half. I went anti-clockwise which gave me the steep hill during the 3^rd mile but also presented me with a great view looking out over Twickenham, Teddington, and down towards Kingston during the last part of the lap.

And the best news from today’s walk was that I was back to normal training pace. I won’t get too excited yet. I tried to walk a fast mile during my walk on Thursday night and struggled to increase my pace. So I am not planning on doing anything strenuous just yet, but am looking forward to hopefully getting out for another easy 2 or 3 hours tomorrow afternoon.