Southwater to Steyning

I managed to swap my day off yesterday so that Holly and I could go running together.

It is only just over 4 weeks now until the Henfield Half Marathon.. so we need to start increasing the distances a bit..

The route we ran yesterday was down the Downs Link. For most of the way this follows the disused railway line. This has one big advantage in that most of it is flat ! There is still the old station at West Grinstead and it did seem a bit odd to be running below platform level... There are some great views in places, I didn't have my camera with me yesterday. I opted to take a bit more water in my bum bag and didn't really want the extra weight of the camera as well.

We are also using these runs to test various refuelling strategies that we will use for the Brighton marathon next year.

My aim for the marathon is to finish. That is it. Nothing more complicated than that, just get round the whole 26.2 miles.

Yesterday we tried running for two miles and then walking while we drank water, on the marathon the first drinks stop is at 3 miles and then every two miles after that. I know from experience that I find it very difficult to drink from bottles whilst running so I will need to walk to make sure that I drink properly.

I'm reading a very good book at the moment "The Non-Runners Marathon Trainer" that has loads of useful advice on preparing for the marathon mentally as well as a training plan. A lot of what they say seems to make sense so we have been starting to put the "mental" training in to practice in the build up for the half marathon.

We also tested out a couple of gels yesterday. My favourites are the Sis Go gels; they are not as sickly as the others I have tried, more with the consistency of unset jelly..... and because they are isotonic you don't need to take water with them....

So, yesterdays run was 12.37 miles.... It was more than I had planned to do yesterday so I'm taking today off :)