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.

Back training

February 15, 2015Trainingparkrun, Valentines parkrunadmin

After two weeks of no exercise at all, and 1 ½ weeks off work due to a lung infection, I was back doing some gentle exercise this weekend.

Having missed my weekly parkrun fix last weekend I ran an easy 5km at Valentines parkrun yesterday – it was Valentine’s Day so what better place to get back to parkrunning than Valentines Park.

And today I went out for an easy 5 mile walk beside the Thames.

The River Thames heading towards Richmond

Beside 'The Meadow' with Richmond Hill in front of me. — Beside ‘The Meadow’ with Richmond Hill in front of me.

Looking back from the top of Richmond Hill - 'The Meadow' and the Thames are in the distance — Looking back from the top of Richmond Hill towards Kingston. ‘The Meadow’ and the river are at the bottom of the hill.

My lungs probably aren’t fully recovered and mentally there is no way I would be able to recover and get fully fit in time for the Bourges 24 hour race in two weeks time. So I have decided to write February off and just ease back into some very light training this month, and then review things again in early March.