|
RE: Govember
Running the Twittens
Before I start my mutterings about Twittens I wanted to start with a little chat about running kit. I’m not really interested in running kit… in-fact the only reason I wear it is because I’ve been threatened with arrest if I head out into the hills (or around town) naked… again.
However, having joined the herd in the winter months, I am doing a lot of road running (yep, I know, I have previously announced that I would NEVER run on the road). This has been quite harsh for my delicate feet, which aren’t use to the hard top, particularly in my beloved trail shoes. .. which are great off-road, but don’t provide much cushioning on the tarmac. However, I also have a pair of Hoka running shoes – from experiments past - which since the spring have been languishing at the bottom of the ever increasing pile of family footwear. It only occurred to me this week to put these back on for my forays around the streets… and what a revelation they are. Lovely cushioning for my poor sensitive feet. I am sure they improved my performance as well. Anyway that’s enough of running kit… back to the Twittens.
For those of you who don’t know Lewes (and perhaps for those of you who do), Lewes is full of Twittens. These are Saxon lanes which run parallel from the high street to Southover, usually (always) in a steep drop. They are pretty narrow and there are ten in total. They also vary in length and steepness, and are things of beauty.
On Tuesday I was working at home and around mid-morning an email arrived from the club explaining that Tuesday night’s running excursions were changing a little. Instead of a general run around town, each evening from now on would be themed… and tonight’s theme was hill running. Immediately I started to panic… hill running is hill running… I like hill running… but knowing the club like I am beginning to know the club tells me that this will be a new type of extreme hill running.
So at 7pm I was standing there in the cool autumn air waiting for instructions. Four groups, mixed abilities, shuffling ready to go. By chance I had joined the group that was heading out to run the Twittens. I love the Twittens, this was quite exciting.
We set off at a gentle pace, and I was so busy chatting to my good friend Nick, that I wasn’t really aware of the direction we were heading, so it was quite a surprise to find myself, five minutes later, at the bottom of the first Twitten. The idea is a really simply one… you run up the Twitten as fast as possible, maintaining an even pace… and then jog along the top and back down the next, before running up the next one. When the Twittens run out, we run a flat circuit to cool down a little, before doing the whole thing in reverse… racing up the ones we had previously jogged down.
It is bloody tough… but very enjoyable… and something that I'm fairly good at. I couldn’t match the really fast guys (who are unbelievable), but I wasn’t that far behind them.
Before I knew it, we had finished and were standing back where we started, rasping for breath and trying not to fall over… when somebody (I’m not mentioning names, but I will have my revenge one day… if I can ever catch them) suggested that we finished with a sprint up the high street. Christ!
Hey big man (BGG)… if you’re ever at a loose end… let’s go and run the Twittens… it’s great fun… and you get a whole lump of history thrown in for free.
|
