At the end of June, Commando took me along for the ride when he went to a training event at Up and Running in Chandler’s Ford. Obviously, I wasn’t interested in learning about running shoes, but the nearby footpath leading to Valley Park and five (or six according to some sources) parcels of woodland did capture my attention, especially as Monks brook ran through them. So, I waved goodbye to Commando, then set off to find the footpath and make the most of the next hour or so.
My walk on 28 September had taken me as far along Monks Brook as I could go without leaving Fleming Park and getting hopelessly lost, but I still had time on my hands before Commando was due to finish his run. Time for some aimless wandering along the paths and trails I knew well from several CC6s. So, I returned to the gravel path and began a circuit of what had once been a golf course. Huge pylons dominate the northern edge of the park. They rather spoil the view. The M3, on the other side of the trees to my right, didn’t help much either. The hum of traffic was a constant irritation.
Monks Brook has been a feature of my walks for many years. Regular readers of this blog will have followed me more than once as I walked beside it from Woodmill to Swaythling or Eastleigh. I have mentioned it in passing when I’ve been at running events in Eastleigh or crossed it, heading from Lakeside to Stoneham Lane. Originally, it was called Swaethling Well, swaethling, being an old English word meaning misty stream, and the modern area of Swaythling took its name from the brook. In the fourteenth century, the water upstream of Swaythling was renamed Monks Brook after the monks of Hyde Abbey near Winchester. The stretch between Swaythling and Woodmill was still known as the Swaethling Well. This is the part of the brook I know best, but I have long wanted to explore more of this seven-mile stretch of water. On 28 September, when Commando said he was going for a run at Fleming Park, I grasped at the chance to follow the course of the brook further upstream. How far I’d be able to get remained to be seen.
Back in the summer of 2018, when I was having regular torture sessions at The Running School, I often walked across Monks Brook Meadows to Stoneham Lane. It was a place I discovered, back in April 2015, on a nature and history walk organised by a local councillor. Finding this wonderful alternative to walking along Wide Lane felt like a huge bonus, and I took advantage of it regularly. Even in 2018, I knew things were about to change, and I suspected not for the better. On 20 April 2022, Commando had a session at the Running School. It was a beautiful sunny day, so I went along to have a walk while he was being beasted. I hadn’t walked that way since late summer 2019 when Kim and I were training for the Clarendon Marathon, so I was interested to see what had changed.
When I set out this morning to meet Kim it was perfect walking weather, dry, cool and slightly overcast. This was good news because we had a very long walk ahead of us. Marathon training plans suggest a longest run or walk of between twenty and twenty two miles, followed by a tapering period of around three weeks. As we have just over three weeks left before the big day, today woul be our last really long walk. The plan was to cover twenty miles.
Plotting routes for long training walks isn’t always easy, especially if you want to keep things interesting. An out and back route is the easiest but it means covering the same ground twice and I much prefer a circular walk. After a lot of messing about with maps I thought I had a fairly interesting eighteen mile route planned but there was one fly in the ointment. Avoiding walking along Wide Lane twice meant taking the trail across Monks Brook Meadows and, with all the building work going on there, I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to get through. Luckily, Commando had a session at the Running School this afternoon so I thought I’d check out the footpath while he was being tortured.
Sixteen miles isn’t an easy distance to walk, at least not for most normal mortals. It’s the point when everything starts to feel tough and muscles start to protest. Knowing this, I’d spent some time planning an interesting route with some really pretty bits in the second half to take Kim’s mind off her aching legs and feet. In fact I was looking forward to it because I’d found an unexplored footpath that I was fairly sure would take us onto the Itchen Navigation at Kiln Lane. It was one I’d passed many times but had never actually walked.
Today was my penultimate Running School session and it was yet another very hot, humid day. Luckily, as it was a later appointment, Commando was picking me up so I’d only have to walk one way. Due to Paul being on holiday it had been two weeks since my last session but I’d been practicing like mad trying to keep my fitness up. So far, it seemed to be working. The pain in my leg has been much diminished and walking feels much less of a chore and more of a pleasure. This didn’t mean I was looking forward to a work out with Paul though. Continue reading The Running School part five and a bit of a dilemma
Every session at the Running School seems to be harder than the last and my fourth session was no exception. It wasn’t helped by the extremely hot and longer than planned walk to get there. It seems that, no matter how much I practise the exercises at home, Paul always comes up with something new to torture me. Continue reading Four of six at the Running School
My fourth Running School appointment fell on what felt like the hottest day yet. The temperature was in the thirties when I left home and the humidity level was off the scale. In my rucksack a big camelback water bottle was slowly defrosting. When I got up this morning I filled it and put it in the freezer. Somehow I didn’t think it was going to last the whole walk so I was desperately trying to ration my sips. Unlike my previous two sessions, which were both early afternoon, this one was at midday so I was going to have to walk home too. Continue reading The hottest walk and a bad descision
