2016 Half Marathon Planning

If my social media timelines are anything to go by, everyone is now planning their half marathons for 2016. Which one is good ?, which ones are hilly ?, is it on my training plan for the marathon ?(whichever marathon that might be). All these are very important factors to take into account - along with - is anyone else doing it ?
For some it's which one for the year, for others, it's which one per month, and for us it's which ones can we make.

So here's our current list of half marathons in date order that you might want to consider, where if nothing else, you'll know that we will be there to see you achieve !

DISCOUNT - the 2XU Surrey Half - 13th March 2016
I will draw your special attention to this March the 13th and the special offer we have got for you from the 2XU Surrey Half Marathon of a 20% discount before the end of January.
Use the code SSP20 here: http://bit.ly/Surrey-Half-Marathon-entry 

It's a perfectly timed spring race - just after the cold spell of winter lifts at the start of march, on totally closed roads in the Surrey countryside, starting and finishing at the Woking Sports centre - ensuring that there are plenty of facilities on hand for every eventuality.
And so far - it's always been sunny....

February	Race Name	Race Website	Start Time	Notes
Sun-07/02/2016	Watford Half	http://bit.ly/watford-half-entry	10:30	In the countryside north of Watford, closed roads from Cissbury Park
Sun-14/02/2016	Worthing Half Marathon	http://bit.ly/worthing-half-2016	09:00	New Race for 2016 - Closed roads - pancake flat
Sun-21/02/2016	Hampton Court Half Marathon	http://bit.ly/Hampton-Court-Half-Entry	08:30	Very flat race along the river to Kingston and Back
Sun-28/02/2016	Run The Streets - Kingston Half	http://bit.ly/Kingston-Half	08:00	A New Race in Kingston
March				.
Sun-06/03/2016	Berkhamsted Half Marathon	http://bit.ly/Berkhampstead-Half	10:00	A lovely race around the Berkshire countryside
Sun-06/03/2016	Steyning Stinger	http://bit.ly/Stinger-2016	08:30 Marathon 9:00 Half Marathon	The toughest off road Half Marathon we know. Plus finishers breakfast and Free Race Photos
Sun-13/03/2016	The 2XU Surrey Half (Woking) Marathon	http://bit.ly/Surrey-Half-Marathon-entry	9:00	Use Discount code SSP20 before the end of January
Sun-13/03/2016	Colchester Half	http://bit.ly/Colchester-Half	09:00	Hilly Start through town and out to the countryside for a flat run home
Sun-20/03/2016	Brentwood Half	http://bit.ly/Brentwood-Half	10:00	Gentle undulations around Essex
Sun-20/03/2016	Fleet Half Marathon	http://bit.ly/Fleet-Half-Marathon	10:30	A popular race - always sold out early
Sun-20/03/2016	Hastings Half Marathon	http://bit.ly/Hastings-Half	10:30	Half the course up, and then half the course down for a finish on the seafront
April				.
Sun-03/04/2016	Paddock Wood	http://bit.ly/Paddock-Wood-Half	09:30	Flat as it comes around the Kent countryside
Sun-03/04/2016	Richmond 13.1 Half	http://bit.ly/Richmond-Half	8:30am	A beautiful days running along the river from Richmond
Sun-03/04/2016	Bournemouth Bay	http://bit.ly/BHF-Bournemouth-Bay-Run	10:00	Bournemouths perfect spring running festival
Sun-24/04/2016	Southampton Half Marathon	http://bit.ly/southampton-half	8.30am 10k 10am half marthon	Southamptons second year - a brilliant tour of the city
May				.
Sun-01/05/2016	Ranelagh Half	http://bit.ly/Ranelagh-Half	08:30	One of the top London Club half marathons
Sun-01/05/2016	3Forts Challenge	http://bit.ly/3-Forts-Challenge	10:00	A Marathon or Half around the south downs - harder than most
Sun-08/05/2016	Seaford Half	http://bit.ly/Seaford-Half	09:00	A great challenge over the South Downs and Seaford Head
Sun-22/05/2016	The Windsor Trail Half Marathon	http://bit.ly/Windsor-Trail-Half	08:30	A lovely river run around Windsor and Maidenhead

And if that list is not enough for you - remember to look after yourself, and get yourself patched up by our friends at Mitchell and Elle at Studio57 in Hove, where you can also do that preventative analysis of your running at their Stride UK facility - and work out why your knees keep niggling you... and then do something about it.

Personally, this spring for a change I'm doing the highly recommended "couch to carpet plan", which involves thinking about doing sit-ups as a core strength exercise instead of sitting on the couch. I also need to do some pre-conditioning of my calfs and achilles tendons - because they both go bang when I start training again. This mostly consists of me stopping on the stairs half way up to do calf raises, and then forgetting what I was going upstairs for.

All this will take months, so if you're a member of the SSP Strava group - that's why you've not seen me doing much. Feel free to join us here - there's a lot of you crashing about and getting fit which is very good to see https://www.strava.com/clubs/116842 and I hope to see you on there soon.
I see a few are doing an early morning 1mile run to get the body going - very well done to you on that too !

I hope you had a great weekend thinking about your race plans - I hope the above list helps you get you entered and we will see you there !

until next time
Anthony
p.s. did I mention the 20% off the 2XU Surrey Half Marathon ? SSP20

Serpentine NYD 10k and 3k 2016 gallery now live

The Winter Wonderland grew even bigger this year (it usually only reaches the tree in the back left) - leading to the infamous prison wall of Hyde Park lining the starting pen side and blocking the view of the Ferris wheel. 

.
The Serpentine NYD 10k and 3k 2016

50m on from the start and all was forgotten of the winter wonderland as everyone zoomed off around the Park.

Our 9th year of covering the Serpentine New Years Day 10k and the gallery is now live here http://bit.ly/Serpentine-10k-Gallery-2016

If you have missed the last event - the gallery list is here - scroll down for the list of all events ever: http://gallery.sussexsportphotography.com/libraryhome.tlx?events=all 

Date	Event	Event type	Gallery Link
Mon-28/12/2015	Brutal Longmoor	XC - challenge	http://bit.ly/Brutal-Longmoor-2015-gallery
Fri-01/01/2016	The NYD Serpentine 10k and 3k	10k	http://bit.ly/Serpentine-10k-Gallery-2016
Future Events	.	.	Link to the Event via Gallery
Sun-17/01/2016	ETL Denbies10	10m	http://bit.ly/ETL-Denbies10-gallery-2015
Sat-23/01/2016	Brutal Women Only	10k	http://bit.ly/Brutal-Women-Only-Gallery-2016
Sun-24/01/2016	Brutal Men only	XC - challenge	http://bit.ly/Brutal-Men-Only-Gallery-2016
Sun-24/01/2016	Fred Hughes 10	10m	http://bit.ly/Fred-Hughes-10-Gallery-2016
Sun-07/02/2016	Watford Half	half marathon	http://bit.ly/Watford-Half-Gallery-2016
Sun-07/02/2016	ETL Bookham 10k	XC	http://bit.ly/Bookham-10k-Gallery-2016
Sat-13/02/2016	Brutal Bagshot	XC - challenge	http://bit.ly/Brutal-Bagshot-Gallery-2016
Sun-14/02/2016	*NEW* Worthing Half Marathon	half marathon	http://bit.ly/worthing-half-2016
Sun-21/02/2016	Hampton Court Half Marathon	half marathon	http://bit.ly/Hampton-Court-Half-Gallery-2016

Congratulations as ever to the Serpentine Running Club on managing to get a team of volunteers and indeed competitors to turn up on the most hungover day of the year. This is no small feat and could explain why there are not that many races on the day. 

This was one of the warmest days it has been in the last 9 times - temperatures around 10 degrees, and what wind there was came from the west helping runners in on their final push along the edge of the serpentine itself. This may be why the winning time was a fast one :

Results including your bib numbers are here on the fabulous DBmax results website: 

http://dbmaxresults.co.uk/results.aspx?CId=16421&RId=2114

Men - 

1st James McMurray #396 of St Albans Striders in 30:39, 

2nd Adam Kirk-Smith #329 of London Heathside in 32:37,  & 

3rd Mark Ryall #518 of Milton Keynes AC in 32:44; 

Women - 

1st Emma Pallant #458 of Team Dillon in 35:02, 

2nd Michelle Dillon #140 of Team Dillon in 38:16,  & 

3rd Lydia O'Donoghue #449 of Ealing Eagles in 39:08, 

The winning team were men - London Heathside and women Team Dillon - very well done to you all !

Next Weekend - County XC Champs 2016 - not there this year...

It's the county cross-country championships weekend - Sussex County Champs will be at Bexhill this year (as usual) on Saturday the 9th January - http://www.sussexathletics.org.uk/forms.php#form185

Emily enjoys slipping about in the mud

For various reasons we will NOT be there this year, so here's a shout out to all those club photographers we often see around the various courses - this is your chance to make sure you get those good shots of your friends and club mates representing your teams for a lasting memory for them. Good luck in the dark woods where all the best mud shots are !

We have covered the Sussex county XC championships every year from 2005 to 2015 and now have probably got quite a historic archive of every top club runner in Sussex from this past decade (except for the sprinters ;-) ). Everyone is findable on our archives - all you need are the results to know your race numbers...which are in the results (?) so it's a shame to not cover this year, if only for the continuing archive records. 

Last years XC champs race is on our archive here http://bit.ly/Sussex-XC-2015-champs 

It's one of our aims to get all our old archived events back online over the next few years - it's a massive task if you bear in mind we posted over 3 million images last year alone - it's all about finding an online storage solution that is affordable and workable.

Last years XC race - going fast and furious

New Year resolutions anyone ?

We haven't made any specific New Years resolutions here in the office, except to do more exercise (which shouldn't be too difficult). We have made some significant strategic changes through last year, and have some more to come into the years to come - continuous improvement continues ! (although if we win the £46M lottery roll over - those might be the first plans to hit the wall...). We have recently taken delivery of about 72Tb of data storage - so have a little bit more capacity now as backup too, which is nice.

Get your race entries in early

Around about now all I see are facebook discussions on which races everyone is entering - my only advice is to get entered into them early.

If you're a local to Sussex then the new Worthing Half Marathon is one you really ought to be getting in on - http://bit.ly/worthing-half-2016 it's just at the right time of year for marathon training, or indeed for half marathon running - February the 14th - you can't go wrong !!

Closed roads around Worthing with a bit of a classic flat out and back to finish - theoretically with the wind behind on the way home - what more do you want ? Enter now ! http://bit.ly/worthing-half-2016 

It's organised by the same Richard Xerri of  Richmond 13.1 fame, that regularly attracts over 3000 runners for their festival of running each year, so we know every eventuality will be covered and a great race will take place.

Here's a few more shots from the Serpentine NYD 10k and 3k - I hope you have all had a great break from work and a good holiday (if you have been able to !) 

Going along the serpentine on the way out. Bloke waving from the back is a bit optimistic I can see him

That "New Years Day morning" look

Spectating is quite good fun

The course is yours - when you're in the lead by so far

Checking your clubmates form for him

Don't enter the race, don't wear a number or have a chip, but run in videoing it on your phone anyway to get your time off the clock. Why not !?! meanwhile 344 was having none of it !

Powerful High5 almost took his arm off

Flag giver forgot to let go....

Compete to the last yard

GOT TO BEAT MUM ! and he did in fine style...

Mark is fit and ready for another years timekeeping

past the fountains and up to the first lap

oh dear, he jump too high !

SMILE dammit !

Ealing Eagles flew about the course in quite large numbers ! excellent show

Good team outing for the fist of the year

Double thumbs up and back to the finish

This is how you will feel if you kept your NYD fitness regime going...

Have a good week and look forwards to seeing you at Denbies 10, or indeed at the Surrey Schools XC champs in two weeks time... we're going to be planning in the rest of the year over the next two weeks - and if you're an event organiser and have not got in touch yet for this year - then please make sure you do before we are fully booked - we are already full on seven key weekends leading up to the end of June. Don't be late !

Happy New Year for 2016

until next time

Anthony