Long Run Sunday from Bury St Edmunds to Sicklesmere, Gt Whelnethum and Stanningfield and back

This morning was misty, overnight there had been a thin covering of snow but nothing to really affect my footing and I didn't find it too slippery. I decided to repeat the same long run distance as last week and do 12 miles. I am very much still getting used to the distance again after such a long period when my long run was 7 miles. My weakest point is climbing hills I am very skow climbing these.

However hill training is something I am not going to work on until after my half marathon training has been completed at the end of March. By then if I remain injury free I wil have had 3 months of good training and this will provide a base to start adding a quality session such as hill training.

My route today was all along pavements initially heading out of Bury St Edmunds to Sicklesmere. At Sicklesmere you pass a round house which is a reminder of the days of coach and horses. One of the coaching routes ran between Norwich and London 4 times a day and used to run through Sicklesmere. The toll house was built by a Turnpike Trust in the 19th century as a lodge house. To use the road you would have had to pay a toll.

After Sicklesmere I headed slighlty up hill for a mile or so through Gt Whelnethum a village which ajoins Sicklesmere.

At about this point I removed a layer of clothes and my hat and gloves. I had been feeling slightly hot and bothered but felt much better after this.

The Jelly Belly Super Sours were also a welcome treat on this long run.

It was a snowy,frosty murky world when I entered the village of Stanningfield. Very few cars or people to be seen today.


I turned at 6 miles and returned home feeling a lot better in the middle of the run without the hat and gloves.

My mile splits were 8.50,8.56,9,8.50,9.22,8.41,8.37,8.12,8.41,8.50,9,8.56 this was an average of 8.50 per mile.

My total time was 1hr 46 mins and this compares well with my last 12 miles a week ago when I ran 1.49.16.

I am now half way through my 12 week Runners World SMART Coach Training schedule. So far so good no injuries.

George Parrott, known affectionately as "Coach George" on the Dead  Runners Society, presented this idea a couple of years ago.  He suggests  that a runner can run no faster in the Marathon than he runs his fastest 26.2 miles in a week during training.

At the end of week 6 my Parrott Predictator shows a time of 3.47.37 this compares well with last week 3.49.11 and week 1 of my training which showed 3.53.07.