Desert Runner Blog 2 - How Is Your Running Going? (From The Argus)

Desert Runner Blog 2 - How Is Your Running Going?

1:52pm Tuesday 15th March 2011

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How was your long run this weekend? If you're hoping to line up in Preston Park for the second Brighton Marathon, you'll probably be heavily into your weekend long runs by now. Ratcheting up those miles isn't just physically and mentally demanding, the awful weather in recent weeks makes leaving your warm bed on a Saturday or Sunday morning even more difficult. This year it has felt the weather has conspired against runners training for Spring events.

Fortunately, last Sunday presented a few hours of much-needed sunshine for my long run from Brighton up to Ditchling Beacon along the South Down's Way and into Worthing; I only just missed the rain by a few minutes. Any off-road running in this weather can, literally, be a real drag. Try getting into your running groove when you also have to deal with pulling your gleaming new running shoes through bridleways churned up by horses, footpaths decimated by bikes and stiles and gates that seem to come with their own ponds.

It may be demoralising finding yourself slowed to a walk for the hundredth time because it’s so boggy, but off-road terrain like this is marvellous for giving your feet and legs a more challenging, and relatively low-impact, workout. Just ensure you don’t stumble and perhaps tape your toes if you’re concerned about blisters.

My next run is designed to be a bit more friendly when the weather is poor, sticking to tarmac and the chalk pathways of the South Downs Way with a final descent through fields. It is around 15 miles from start to finish, but includes some long gentle uphill climbs with an epic hill in the middle as a test, therefore allow much longer than you would if you were running 15 miles on flat. The run starts in Hove Park taking you up to Devil’s Dyke along the South Down’s Way to just past the Clayton Windmills and back into Brighton via the Chattri. Again, I have mapped the route on WalkJogRun and recommend the use of a compass and OS map if you haven't run this before.

1) Starting at Hove Park, run out of the park on the west side up the Droveway, cross the road at the lights, keep running, keep left at the fork to stay on Court Farm Road and when you reach the next set of lights turn right on King George VI Avenue. A little way down the hill there is a place to cross - be very careful as the traffic is very fast here. Cross the road and run up to join Downland Drive, run to the top of the road and join the footpath on the right through trees. Follow the footpath round the edge of the school and then downhill until you reach a bridge over the A27 where you cross and join a path heading north. This section of the run is where the old Devil’s Dyke railway used to run until it was closed, so follow this all the way up to a road, cross, turn left and look for a gate on your right that leads you into Pyecombe Golf Course.

2) Be careful of golfers teeing off - concussion can prove detrimental to your running progress - and follow the footpath signs and short black and yellow markers that denote the route of the footpath around hedges and across fairways. Eventually you’ll come out at a road, cross this to join the South Downs Way chalk path (not signposted here) at Devil’s Dyke and turn right (heading east). Keep to the path until it forks, take the left fork down to the very fast road (again be careful) and cross to Saddlescombe Farm.

3) Don't go through the farm here (unless you fancy a spot of tea); here follow the path up and right, between houses and a steep ascent that emerges from trees to Nyetimber Hill. You'll know it's Nyetimber Hill because it's very tall and very steep. If you can run up this, you are officially superhuman; even walking up it at pace makes your thighs go all tingly. Go on, see how much you can run; your reward at the top is a gentle breeze down the other side sticking close to the fence on your right. You emerge through a gate onto a road, follow this down and round with the lovely hum of the A27 in your ears. Cross the road bridge over the A27 and follow SDW signs through Pyecombe and back down to the road and a pathway alongside it. Cross the road (carefully) at Pyecombe Golf Club. Staying on the SDW follow the path up until it turns sharp left through a farm and brings you close to Clayton Windmills. Turn sharp right to head uphill away from the windmills and keep going until emerge in green space with a hedge on your left.

4) If you completed the last run (To Ditchling Beacon and back), you are basically going to be running back the way you came up onto the Downs from Brighton. When the new wooden posts on your right (a fence waiting to be built) head off right, follow the edge downhill along the footpath, then through a couple of fields, past trees and through gates to pass to the Chattri on your left. From here it's a simple run down the field to the Brighton A27 roundabout. Cross carefully then head into Brighton, down to, the along Old Shoreham Road and back to Hove Park where you started.

To sponsor me on my epic 150 mile runs through the Sahara desert in six days for rare kidney disease campaign Action For Alport’s at www.jodyrunsthesahara.com

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