Tempo Run in the Snow - Bury St Edmunds Suffolk

Day 3 of my 11 week Runners World Smart Coach Schedule saw me venture out in the snow. Compared to much of the country I think we have got of lightly so far as snow fell in Suffolk today at lunch time and for a while was heavy but at the moment I think we have had around 7-8 cm so not too bad. The Met Office forecast for tomorow in Bury St Edmunds is much the same with the possibility of more heavy snow and icy roads.

Once I had layered up with hat and thick gloves two tops and tracksters my schedule called for me to do a "warm up" mile! Which I did and to be honest apart from the inevitable slipping effect the snow was ok to run in.

I then had a go at the 4 mile tempo run but to be expected I couldn't run at the suggested pace which was 7.54 miles. Instead overall I ran 8.45 miles. I did put in tempo type effort in to the run but a combination of my lack of fitness/sharpness , lack of previous tempo running and the snow conditions lead to my downfall. However I am taking the positive from this run firstly I got out there when it would have been so easy to giveit a miss, running in the snow must effect your pace so perhaps my 8.45's were worth a little more and practice makes perfect so each week I might see some improvement in my tempo running.

Times were warm up 8.56.Tempo miles 8.30,8.44,8.50,8.53. Warm down mile 9.35

So I definitely slowed on the tempo miles as I tired.

Timworth Suffolk

An out and back run today to Timworth in Suffolk. I am running slowly at the moment and today was no different. My main objective was to do a long run of over 10 miles.

I am trying to include a regular run of over 10 miles in my training schedule every week. I would hope to build the length of my long run up to around 13 miles in the coming weeks perhaps with an autumn half marathon as the plan.

Today I had one eye on the search for a plentiful supply of elderflowers. After watching Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall River Cottage TV Series we were taken by the idea of making some Elderflower Champagne. On the route I ran I didn't see an awful lot of elderflowers and those that I did see were not in full bloom. I am a little early but I guess in a week or two the time will be right to give this a go. From what I can tell you are likely to be more successful in finding elderflowers around more urban areas such as town centre car parks.



















Choosing to run in my lunch time between work meant I was running at 1pm in the best of the sunshine. I listened to a podcast today from the National Archives at Kew. The National Archives is the official archive of the UK Government and if you have an interest in social history or genealogy then you are sure to be interested. The podcast I listened to related to the 2nd World War and one of the most famous escapes made by allied airmen.

During the night of 24 March 1944, 76 airmen escaped from the Prisoner of War camp Stalag Luft III. Only three made it home and, of the remainder, 50 were murdered on Hitler's orders. This podcast explained what actually happened in the so-called Great Escape as compared to the famous film. The film starred Steve McQueen in reality no Americans were involved in the escape attempt as all American pow's had been moved to another camp.




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