Training Log Archive: cousteau

Astonishingly, today its 6 months since Tom, Rachel, Chirs and Una were tragically killed in Glencoe. So, I wanted to go somewhere with a nice view to spend a few minutes remembering them all, and thinking about how much they are missed. So I rode down to the beach, and found a quiet spot there for a few minutes.

RIP.

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A really good hash from Newton Poppleford on a really nice and warm (but not hot, as it was only 25 degrees C when we started, and here in the south, its not 'hot' until it reaches 30!!) evening. Plenty of good fast running, and some nasty little climbs in Harpford Woods. Towards the end we had a glorious river crossing, which was a nice way to end an excellent hash.

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Another beautiful run with the running club. It was meant to be the time trial tonight, but I couldn't be arsed to do that (bored mindless of the route, which is the same one they've been using for years!!), so I just joined the other group for a social and steady run. We basically went for a tour of the view points from Mutters Moor, finishing up with a climb up to the High Peak Trig point - amazing views along the coast and inland as far as Dartmoor and Exmoor. Just so lucky that this place is home!! :-)

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Too nice to resist another trip to the beach! Its just awesome to have it so close to home!! :-D

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A beautiful run with running club from Salcombe Hill. We headed straight to the coast path, and went east to Dunscombe, though the Salcombe Valley. Then inland back to Salcombe Hill. A nice social run - just what running at this time of year is about. Awesome views everywhere!.....in my opinion, there is nowhere in the world that beats the running scenery around East Devon!! :-)

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Stretching.

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Another beautiful day.....and other trip to the beach!! Love it when the summer weather coincides with my summer break from training and orienteering!! :-)

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Another glorious summer day - up to 33 degrees C in my back garden, and not a cloud in the sky! So, what better to do than head to the beach for the day?! :-D

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A nice summer evening bike ride to the beach and back from home! :-)

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Laying the Otter Hash from Salcombe Hill. As its another glorious summer evening, I've decided the edit the route to have the re-group on the beach!! :-)

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Running around the hash with the pack. Everyone was well confused by the bit where, after about 2k, we almost came back to the cars several times when running around the woods around it! The beach went down a treat too!! :-)

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A nice social run with the running club from Salcombe Hill on an awesome summer evening. We took the inland route to Weston, and then went back along the coast path - so there were one or two 'slight inclines', but it was well worth it for the views! Enjoying having a few weeks of not running anywhere far or fast, and just running for the the sheer enjoyment of it as well as for the social.

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Stretching.

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A nice running club session from Otterton on a lovely summer evening. Jason and I led the way, but kept it at a fairly steady pace as it was just too nice to do anything else - definitely one of those evenings where you run for the sheer enjoyment of running in such an awesome place, rather than to get anywhere fast. We had a few short burn-ups, but nothing too hard. I led the group through the tracks to Sea View Farm, where Jason and I took a longer route, and met the others for a chilled out re-group on the beach at Ladram Bay. Then along the coast for a bit, before heading down to, and back up, the River Otter. If only all running evenings could be this nice!....the views were awesome in every direction!! I was still a bit shafted after Saturdays efforts though! - which I'd imagine was probably the hardest run available in the south-west last weekend!.....certainly harder than the light-weight Charmouth Challenge Fell Race that some hashers wimped out onto!! ;-)

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Stretching.

No orienteering or hashing to go to today, so I spent the day enjoying the sun and getting outdoors things done. One of which was mending the chain on my mountain bike, which broke when Tom and I went out together on Christmas Day. One of the very last things Tom and I ever did together was for him to tell me which bit to buy, and what to do with it. But, after the shock of his death, I've not been able to face up to going anywhere near my mountain bike, let along making the repair, until today. Removing the tape Tom had put on the ends of the chain was quite emotional - seems silly, but seeing his finger prints in the oil on the tape was hard....but I guess thats just what such a shocking event does to you. Anyhow, having made the repair, I had take the bike out for a ride - so I went up East Hill and around Core Copse from my parents house. Many happy memories of the Christmas Day ride, but awesome views too. Very pleased to get my first mountain bike ride since Toms death done.

This is the first of a number of tough "first time since Tom died" things which have either just happened, or are soon to happen - my birthday last week, first trip to Scotland in a couple of weeks time, then Tom's birthday while I'm in Scotland, followed soon after that by my first trip back to the Alps and, in particular, to Bike Village. All these will be/were hard, but also fun and bring back some happy memories but, obviously, some very sad thoughts too. Sometimes, I still can't believe he's gone - RIP Tom.

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Laying the A2B hash from the Council Offices in Sidmouth. I laid the first and last quarters, while Emperor Ming laid the middle bit. Nice warm day and stunning views on the coast!

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Running the A2B hash. Everything seemed to go really well and everyone loved the trail. The 8 long/short splits seemed to keep everyone together. The views from the whole trail were amazing, but the coastal ones were particularly special. Nice swim in the the sea at point B, which was Sidmouth Beach!!

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Its such a gorgeous summer evening that I couldn't resist a bit ride down The Byes to the beach and back again! :-)

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A good hash from JY Kelly's farm on the edge of Woodbury Common. We went up onto the common through some of the lanes towards Hawkerland, then around on the common for a bit before the awesome fast run back to the farm. It was a really nice warm summer evening, with fantastic views along the coast, and up the Otter Valley, from on the common.

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Warm up stuff for the Woodland Relay from Wheathill on Woodbury Common.

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I ran second leg for Sidmouth Running Club Team in the Senior Mens Class with Jason on first leg and Justin on last leg. This kind of thing is a bit short for me but, generally speaking, I ran fairly well and actually quite enjoyed it. Overall we finished 2nd, not too far down on the leaders (which was a shit hot team from AVR), and miles ahead of the next Sidmouth RC team.

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A short and steady run to check out some bits of the A2B hash I'm laying on Saturday. Can't say where I went because that might give away where the trail is going!!

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A social running club session from Tipton. I led the group and took us down the old railway into Harpford, off the railway and through the tunnel for a laugh. Then we climbed up to near the top of Four Elms Hill before dropping down through the woods to Harpford. From there, we did a loop around to Newton Pop before running back up the river.

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Stretching.

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