The best laid plans of mice and men . . .

. . . oft go awry.

Or in other words things didn’t quite go to plan today. I was supposed to be repeating Monday’s run, but this time taking the Orbana energy drink before I set off to see if it improved performance.

Unfortunately, it had been raining all night and all morning. It eased off slightly around 10:30 so decided to knock back the drink and head out, suitably attired for the weather of course. By the time I got to the far end of Stonebarrow car park it was so misty that I could only see about 30 yards! What the heck. Set off anyway, but after about 10 yards of the first field I was up to my ankles in water . . . and this is at the top of the hill. So there was no way I could do any sort of normal route. The comparison run will have to wait for next week. Sorry Annabel.

Decided to just run back down the length of the car park, down Stonebarrow Lane, then turn round and come back. 5km in all, so a short run with a big hill. Total run took 32m 10s, but the important kilometer up Stonebarrow Lane took 8m 58s with 123m of climb. On the last occasion that I tried that climb it took 9m 55s. So am I getting better, or was it the Orbana. Impossible to say when I’m comparing two runs that are three months apart. And that’s why I need to do a repeat of Monday’s 9km route as soon as possible. Looks like maybe next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Just over six weeks to Southbourne 10k.

Not so hard

Despite having a cold, and despite the weather, managed to do the loop from Stonebarrow to Golden Cap and back. Only had to walk up the few steps near the top of each climb. Nearly cut it short as the wind and rain were pretty bad just after I set off, but once I got down off the ridge it wasn’t so bad. Pretty muddy and slippery after 24 hours of rain.

Did it in 1hr 9m 4s, so not bad given the conditions, my cold, and the fact that it’s the first time I’ve tried it. So if I assume an extra 30 minutes for the missing bit between Stonebarrow and the school, that’s about 1hr 40m for the whole course. A good starting point.

Will continue with loops of different sizes for the next few weeks, then do the whole thing just to see where I stand.