High Green near Nowton Suffollk

It was just a little to icy this morning for my run .

I ran out of Bury St Edmunds on the Horsecroft Road through Hardwick and Horsecroft. Instead of running across fields to reach Nowton Park  I continued on the road which takes you round to High Green. This is a small hamlet which is familiar to runners who take part in Saint Edmund Pacers Friday 5 as being the high point up a long drag from Nowton Park.

You could never be confident of your footing and consequently I couldn't run to my normally stride and had to pad along at a slower pace.

Lovely sunshine this morning, though the temperature was 0C.

My run was a 6.41 mile effort and I felt tired as this was third consecutive day of running.

Running in Stratford on Avon

This week I have been working in Stratford on Avon which as many of you will know is a huge tourism draw it being the birthplace of one William Shakespeare.

On the first day with time being short I decided to use the gym facilities at the Holiday Inn. Luckily the hotel had a swimming pool and gym and I took full advantage. I did a triathlon not in the usual order as I started with bike doing 11.1 km in 30 minutes, followed by the treadmill doing 4.20 miles in 35 minutes and then a casual swim where I did no more than probably 100 metres. It was really enjoyable having all of the equipment to hand and not something I have done for a long time as I don't belong to a gym. The workout measurements on the bike and treadmill are useful to know and motivational in that sense for measuring progress.

However that said give me the outdoors anytime. It was hot inside the gym and looking at euro pumped up electro r&b music is a real turn off for me. I noted several others in the gym had obviously come prepared and had ipods eyephones to overcome this.

The Holiday Inn sits on the River Avon Canal and the photo above is a view from the garden.

I have now uploaded all the photos I took at the recent Bury 5 race at Nowton Park Bury St Edmunds, you can view them on my link to flickr here or on the side panel flickr tool.







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Bury 5 at Nowton Park Bury St Edmunds

The Suffolk Friday 5 series continued with Saint Edmund Pacers turn to host the five mile road race series. This was the 4th race after events organised by Ipswich Jaffa, Felixstowe Road Racers and Stowmarket Striders.

The good weather increased the number of entries compared to last year. Wheras there were 391 finishers in 2008 this year the number was up to 451. The weather was warm , sunny but also humid and this had its effect on more than a few runners who needed help from the medical attendants due to the humidity.

I entered on the night and this year parking was easier as we were allowed to park within Nowton Park. Like many other runners I took advantage of the Lucozade Sports Mobile Stand which was providing free sports drinks and energy bars.

I am never very good with running in heat it always to sap my energy and so I knew before the start this would be more of a training run than a race. I also had in the back of my mind last years DNF!. My only ever did not finish race.

As a consequence I set off at a moderate pace and ran the first mile within the park in 7.40. The first mile has lots of bends and is narrow in places with some up hill sections and generally you have to watch your footing for mole holes.

Once you leave Nowton Park and emerge on to Fox and Pin Lane you are starting to gradually climb up hill and my second mile time had slipped to 7.57. The steepest section of the course takes you up the old town lane to High Green and through a local farm. I seem to struggle with hills and was passed by many here as my time for the 3rd mile was 8.36.

However once at the top of the hill I knew I was at least going to finish albeit in a slow time . There is a good long downhill stretch past Nowton Church and my time recovered in the fourth mile to 7.40. There is another up hill section at Nowton Road near the Nowton Village Hall but by this point you know the finish is close by and you return down Fox and Pin Lane and into the park for a sprint to the finish line. My final mile was my best in 7.33. In fact at this point I felt as if my legs had woken up and I was ready to do another five though very hot. At the finish the humidity had left me resembling a river of sweat and absolutely soaked I took the offer of a cold shower from a jug of water from one of the race helpers at the finish funnel.
My official time was 39.22 for 216th place right in the middle of the pack bearing in mind the 451 finishers. Probably my slowest ever 5 mile race but I was still happy relieved I think to get this bogey dnf out of my mind.

The junior race had a good entry and many of the photos in this entry capture the beginning of this race. I will load other races to flickr in due course


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Bury St Edmunds Friday 5

7.30pm 5 miles in 37 mins 41 secs

Week to date mileage 19 miles

Month to date mileage 5

Average weekly rate 29.3 miles

Average monthly rate 127

Year to date 636

Lifetime 10229

Tonight was the first in a series of Suffolk/Essex 5 mile evening races from Nowton Park Bury St Edmunds. The weather was surprisingly warm and dry after recent rain seemingly every day for the last couple of weeks.


Perhaps the combination of the good weather, the enjoyable location at Nowton Park and the excellent organisation all helped to swell numbers as even with a few minutes before the start of both the junior and adult races there were big line of last minute entries. The guys in the registration tent did a brilliant job as looking at the results on the Saint Edmund Pacers website it would appear the race entry must have exceeded 500.

The figure of eight course has a bit of everything - to begin with there is a mile and a bit within Nowton Park. As per usual most people belt of at a good pace partly to get good position as some of the corners are fairly narrow and with the volume of runners you can get stuck behind a group and overtaking is then not easy.

Things begin to settle down after emerging from the park and heading up hill to High Green. The course runs through a farm across rutted tracks and some puddles. . There is then a good downhill section near Nowton Church before another slight climb, more downhill before returning on to the same road and into Nowton Park for a sprint down the avenue of elm trees.

I took lap times but I haven't made much sense of them and I think I must have failed to stop my watch at the finish as my overall time seemed to be more than the official time.

Anyway my lap times were

Mile 1 7.30
Mile 2 15.42 - 8.12
Mile 3 23.49 -8.07
Mile 4 31.00 - 7.11
Mile 5 37.56 - 6.56

I was slower than last year by 13 seconds by the official time. I struggled to get going and felt hot after the 1st 2 miles. I didn't take enough drink at the half way point and would have better off stopping and having a drink. At this point the hot air balloon looked much more inviting than running.

However it was a good event and depending on work commitments I am know considering whether I can do any of the other events in this series of races.

Friday 15th June - Kirton

Friday 8th June - Ipswich

Friday 22nd June - Stowmarket (Haughley)

Friday 13th July - Great Bentley

The free race t shirts were very popular.

As per usual I will load up many other photos on my flickr site in due course.

Bury St Edmunds Friday 5 Nowton Park

7.30pm 5 miles in 37 minutes 23 seconds

Week to date mileage 16.4

Month to date mileage 5

Average weekly rate 31.4

Average Monthly rate 136

Year to Date 686

Life time 8464

Tonight I took part in the Bury Friday 5 organised by the Saint Edmunds Pacers at Nowton Park. The weather was good, dry and a little warmer than earlier in the week.

There seemed to be a very good turn out for both the juniors and adult race. Approximately 500 took part in the adult race. The race is the 2nd in the Suffolk Friday 5 mile series of races.

The course tonight was apparently one of the harder ones in the series. It certainly wasn't flat. With the big numbers it took a few seconds to reach the start and I started my watch from the orange line on the grass.

The first mile and a bit was within Nowton Park over grass with some fairly tight turns and narrow sections. It was impossible to avoid constantly running in and out between people so it made it difficult to relax into any kind of easy rhythm at the start of the race. The first marker reached showed I had run 7.32 which I was happy with but it felt as if I had put in extra effort to achieve this over the grass.

The second mile took as out of the park and along Fox Pin Mill Lane before turning left on a flat section which steadily started to climb up to High Greene. I thought the 2nd mile was the toughest on the course and it was my slowest mile which I ran in 8.05.

The 3rd mile continued up hill before running through a farm which was fairly muddy but by now the course had begun to level out and we started to descend. My time was still slow for the 3rd mile which I ran in 7.53. The 4th mile had a lot of good downhill and flat stretches and it was a chance to catch up on lost time and I ran a 7.09 mile.

My final mile again carried on down hill and has a final stretch in Nowton park which has a downhill gradient amongst the Elm trees. I finished with a 6.42 mile.

My overall time of 37.23 was 23 seconds slower than my last 5 mile race at the Sudbury 5 in April but this course was constantly variable meaning you never really could get in to any steady pace. I think this is reflected in my mile splits which were all over the place

Mile 1 7.32
Mile 2 8.05
Mile 3 7.53
Mile 4 7.09
Mile 5 6.42

At the end of the race the juniors received a nice boxed memento and the adults a teeshirt. The drinks station was well handled by Sarah, Sam and Abigail.

I will post more pictures on the flickr site as per normal.