Juneathon Day 3 - Saxongate Nature Reserve

On a warm summers day the Saxongate Nature Reserve in Bury St Edmunds is a good spot for a run with plenty of shade to be found under the cover of tall trees. It also has the benefit of being next to the Greene King Brewery site and this morning I am sure I was breathing in the pleasant smells of Speckled Hen.

The only problem is the nature reserve is rather small so you do have to run up and down the site several times to do a run of any distance. 

It was a warmer morning than yesterday at 8am and it was a little more effort to get out of bed  to go for a run. Once out of the door I easily managed another 4 miles bringing my Juneathon total to 12 miles.

Six Mile run at the Saxongate Water Meadows Bury St Edmunds Suffolk

It was a cloudy grey morning as I set off for an easy 6 mile run. I decided to run around the Saxongate Water Meadows in Bury St Edmunds.

Water meadows in Britain are an endangered shrinking habitat constantly under pressure from road and housing development. The Saxongate Water Meadows depend on volunteer support for their general upkeep and well worth it is as it home to many wildlife species. The water meadows here surround the River Linnet and once belonged to the Church and the Abbots in the Benedictine Monastery in Bury.

Wildlife to be found here include

• great crested newts
• palmate newts
• smooth newts
• frogs
• toads
  

Wildfowl:

• coot
• mallard
• moorhen

Mammals:

• water shrew
• water vole
  

Birds in the area include:

• blackcap
• great spotted woodpecker
• heron
• kingfisher
• coal tit

I ran slowly this morning and felt tired from the off. The Runners World SMART schedule is leading me to increase my mileage every week and I am already at 36 miles a week if I complete  my long run tomorrow with no problems. Last year in 2009 I only ran higher mileage than this on 2 weeks of the year. I average 23.5 miles a week last year so the schedule I am following  is a significant increase. No wonder I am a little tired.

My 6 mile to day were run in 54 minutes exactly 9 minute miling so it certainly wasn't quick for me. My splits show 8.19,9.02,9.11,9.20,8.56,9.10

The 3rd photo on my post shows a lost childs umbrella probably dropped and then blown by the wind into the water.


I also completed the 1st session of week 6 of the hundred push ups programme. I stuggled a bit with this as well today and did sets of 40,30,25,25 and 40. I was supposed to do 50 on the 2nd and last set so I will need to repeat this session or go back a week before  I move on again.

Saxongate Water Meadows Bury St Edmunds

4.20pm 10 miles in 1 hour 20 minutes 2 seconds

Week to date mileage 34

Month to date mileage 23

Average weekly rate 31.8

AverageMonthly rate 138

Year to Date 704

Life time 8482

I was still feeling tired as I set out on this run and a little unsure where I was going to go. The weather changed and turned to showers but it was very pleasant and personally I don't mind rain whilst running.

I set of towards Horringer Farm and did a complete circuit of the fields. I would have gone on to Ickworth Park but the road looked busy in the rain so I decided to head back into town. I took the path opposite the Spread Eagle Pub which leads through to the new housing in Cathedral Meadows.

I spent the rest of my run visiting the various footpaths around the water meadows. Some of them are on latched gates and there are mown grassy paths surrounded by dense foilage of wild flowers and trees. Elsewhere you can often run with the water lapping around your ankles as the paths are prone to flood . It is an absolutley beautiful site and a great credit to the many volunteers who have and continue to work on this important restoration project.

Next Sunday really at a whim I have decided to enter the City of Norwich Half Marathon.

This is really a bit too far for me based on my level of training but it presents an opportunity to go shopping in Norwich with the family. It is a run over the border in Norfolk and a chance for me to promote Suffolk and Ipswich Town! I will be as popular as bird flu to Bernard Matthews turkies.

Bury St Edmunds Town Centre

8.30am 9 miles in 1 hour 15 minutes

Week to date mileage 20.4

Month to date mileage 119

Average weekly rate 31.4

Average Monthly rate 136

Year to Date 659

Life time 8437

This morning I chose to run around the town centre. It is surprising how there always seems to be new places to visit and run where I haven't ventured before even in a small town like Bury. Today I visited the Saxon Gate Nature reserve which runs along Cullum Road. Although I have seen some of this I haven't run all of this before.

I also visited No Mans Meadow and the Cathedral Graveyard.

I watched the Da Vinci Code at Cine world today. The cinema was packed. Rather lengthy didn't compare with the book as it struggled to put across so many details and facts. Some of the acting came across as rather wooden. Six out of Ten.