Guess where I am ... again?! Here's a clue:
Yup, down on the South Coast again. This is my last big weekend of training before I begin to taper off a bit, which is both exciting and absolutely terrifying.
Today I had a run on the schedule which is designed to mimic, as closely as possible, the event conditions. Cornwall is like super-far from London! It costs about £150 to get down there by train and it takes forever either on the train or driving, so I can't actually get down there to train. However, the course maps are online, and Day 1, which can be found here, is 27.5 miles (or 44km to me) with 2,152ft / 655m of elevation. Rightio then - I figured a few times over the South Downs Way would be as close as I could get to that. I decided to stay down in Eastbourne so that I could repeat the same run tomorrow, since Day 2 is really really similar, and it meant that I could do a back to back to get the real, ya know, authentic experience. God help me.
So down I came this morning on the earliest train from Victoria and, after dropping my bag off at the hotel, I set off. I had thought it would take me about eight hours so I was figuring on being back for about 18:00. The way to the South Downs Way is now super-familiar, but one thing was definitely new ... a SteamPunk festival on the waterfront! I've never seen SteamPunks before but let me tell you, they are SO COOL! According to the mighty Google SteamPunk
"refers to a subgenre of science fiction and sometimes fantasy that incorporates technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery"
Okaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy ... that's not what I would have picked up; basically it's people wearing awesome black and purple Victoriana kit with what look to me like flying goggles. And top hats. With these awesome stalls with handmade goods ranging from fudge to backpacks. It is SO cool and everyone was so friendly! Happily it will be there tomorrow too, cos I was on a bit of a mission today so I didn't get to stop.
I had some interesting food choices with me today ... namely, mini-wraps with peanut butter (again) and raisins (not again) and apple (definitely not again). I decided to get involved in a peanut butter and apple one and immediately applauded myself on this choice! In fact, I couldn't really taste the apple but the wrap was a million times better than bread because it was loads lighter. Having had that, I got up (just about, since the wind was getting worse!) and carried on. Last week I'd stopped at about the same point and returned because I was doing a shorter run, so I hadn't seen the rest of the Seven Sisters for ages and it was nice to see them again! I'd forgotten how steep they were though and that came as a bit of a shock. However, I find this the easiest bit of the run and there were loads of people about so it made it really interesting, and it didn't feel like much time at all before I was on the last Sister and heading down to Cuckmere Haven. I tell ya what, that is one GORGEOUS beach from this angle - I hadn't seen it before this way, because I'd only ever done this part heading east. It was well worth the pain of getting up the last Sister, look at this!
My trip back across the Sisters was notable mainly for the tailwind ... you know how you can never feel a tailwind; it's all about the headwind? Well this one was literally blowing me up the hill, together with everyone else who was out. It was IN.SANE ... there I was, walking up the hill, and suddenly a gust woudl come and just lift me a few paces forward. This was an excellent bonus! I also met a lovely Belgian couple, Paul and Tone, who were massively into running which made the next lil bit loads easier as I had them to chat to. Paul was 69 and had been a member of his running club for 54 years! 54! He had loads of tips for me which was awesome, including bending my knees on the downhill more to save my poor quads (a tip I'd gotten from George earlier in the week and had thought I was employing, but plainly not). I tried my best after that and it was helpful, even though I thought I'd been doing it anyway.
I stopped at Birling Gap for another wrap, then headed back over Beachy Head. I think I must've been on drugs the first time I did this because it didn't feel like it was that far. Believe me, it really really feels like far now! Once I'd done it, it was a quick stop at the kiosk at the bottom to grab a bit more water and then straight back over. Great. Loved that ... NOT. Especially as over the previous 10 kilometres I'd forgotten how bad that head wind was ... but it was interesting at least. I vaguely noticed that there were a lot of people out, but I didn't really think much of it - I just figured it was a nice Saturday afternoon and that was that. The nice news was that I ran into Paul and Tone again! They were so nice, and I love a bit of human contact on these training runs because it is a bit lonely running for six or seven hours with just my iPhone for company ... so that was super-nice. I decided to go straight past Birling Gap this time and continue on because I knew I wouldn't be going much further before I turned around and that meant it was pointless stopping twice.
However, it soon became clear as to why ... I pootled up and over the next hill and, at the bottom was an absolute raft of people with cameras, all pointing out to sea. I had no idea what was happening, but since I am not English and therefore have no issues in questioning people, I selected a friendly looking lady with her daughter and asked what was happening. She told me that "the Vulcan was doing a fly-by" which left me none the wiser, so I looked back out to sea. She giggled wildly and said "No, look up! Into the sky!" which I did and ... it was amazing! This triangular plane (painted in very fetching cow print) (which is possibly camo, but looks much more like a very sartorial cow) was heading straight for me. My new buddy explained that this was the Vulcan's last flight before she retired, and therefore it was kind of a big deal. I couldn't get a good picture on my iPhone but the event was covered here. I also had a great chat with her and her daughter - turns out they are big airshow fans and were very sadly at Shoreham a couple of weeks ago. They'd come out today to banish some of the Shoreham memories, so it was an emotional time for them, but they were loving it.
I left them to it and began to toil up Beachy Head for the last time today. That is one BIG HILL. It was alleviated by the Vulcan coming overhead a bunch more times which was lovely - I felt so lucky to be part of it, even if I hadn't known a thing about it and it was just coincidence!
I had my final pitstop at the top of Beachy Head, just before the descent into Eastbourne. I scarfed my last wrap and headed down the hill ... luckily wind-aided again as I was knackered by this point. I don't know why but the final 3km into Eastbourne town kills me every time ... maybe it's because it's a shallow hill and it's on tarmac, so my trail shoes don't love it? I dunno, but I know I hate it! I managed to sort of run down the hill, but as soon as I got to the flat I employed my tactic from last week and fartleked my way through town. It was a relief to hit the hotel ... exactly 43km and 739m / 2,424 ft after I left it! I was so pleased with how that worked out because it's a little shorter, but also a little steeper, than Day 1 of the ACC. So now I know what it's like! I managed it in 06:52 which I was pleased with as I'd time-budgetted eight hours for it, so now I know I can manage in sub-07:00 ... this week at least ...! My goal is still eight hours for the event so we'll see how I get on.
I'm doing it all again tomorrow, so I hit the local Italian for a tagliatelle bolognese which was just the ticket. I'm now wrapped up in my compression kit watching ET (but luckily it finishes later than my bedtime so I'll miss the sad bit as I am emotional enough already today after such a long run!). I can't wait to be asleep!
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