A Much Better Saturday at Lancing

Beachy Head Half Marathon 2026 Training Block - Week 8/11

9km Easy Run - Lancing Beach Green parkrun

Saturdays are parkrun days. Unfortunately, Worthing parkrun is currently out of action while work takes place along the promenade, so this morning it was over to my next closest parkrun at Lancing Beach Green. It actually worked out pretty well. I had an easy 9km on the plan today, and with the 4km run to Lancing, I could get some distance in before parkrun without having to worry about adding extra miles afterwards.

More importantly, after the last couple of sessions not quite feeling as good as they should, the legs finally felt fresher this morning. The easy pace genuinely felt easy. That was a welcome change.

I arrived with plenty of time for a quick catch-up with some club mates before we all headed off for the parkrun. As ever, Lancing had a great community atmosphere. There was plenty of support from the marshals around the course, and unusually for this course, there was barely any wind. The out-and-back section can be pretty brutal when the wind gets involved.

I had planned to keep the parkrun at around 6:05/km, but as usual, that plan lasted about five minutes. I inevitably got pulled along by the runners in front of me and ended up closer to 5:50/km. The good thing was that it still felt easy. So that'll do me.

After the struggles of the last couple of sessions, today felt much more like normal running again. The legs were fresher, the pace was comfortable and I finished the run feeling like I'd got exactly what I needed from it. There is one small thing to keep an eye on, though: a slight niggle in my left ankle. Nothing particularly concerning at the moment, but tomorrow's run could be a rather different proposition.

The plan for tomorrow is for 17km or more, hilly and partly on the trails. That should certainly give the ankle something to think about.