Race Review – The Jog Shop Jog

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After yesterday’s Taper Tantrum today was the Big One – 20 miles on the Downs around Brighton for the Jog Shop Jog. The Jog Shop is an independent running shop in Brighton, I popped in the other day and chatted to Sam Lambourne, who is a little bit of a local running legend, and he assured me the race ‘wasn’t that hilly’…only today did I realise he was joking…

I decided to tackle the Jog Shop Jog on the advice of runner and blogger @IsobelMHove. I was looking for something off-road with a few hills that I could just enjoy and not focus on a specific time. This race ticked every box.

So, at 9 am today we all set off under sunny skies from the glamorous surroundings of ASDA car park! It was less than 100meters until we found our first climb and zig-zagged up along the path taking us to the cliff tops. The first 4 or 5 miles were fairly flat, we cruised along towards Rottingdean, overlooking the sea, then dropped down on the under-cliff path plodding along with the ocean lapping away close by. A sharp left brought us into Saltdean and then onto the Downs.

The Downs must have been named by an eternal optimist, surely someone more realistic would have called them the Ups? Because that’s what they do, they go up and up and up. The first major hill was our initiation. A long sloping climb but one with the reward of stunning views. As we reached the top and headed down towards The North Face we could see the sleepy town of Lewes in the distance, shrouded in a thin blanket of mist and to our right the sea, glistening in the early morning sun.

(Note – photos were taken on a training run, I didn’t stop for pictures today!)

A challenging sloppy decent lead to the first ‘named’ section. There are several on this race, each indicating an area of particular difficulty. The North Face is a steep relatively long climb that saps the legs, undeterred I jogged on up it, blissfully unaware how hard things would get later on!

At the top, we joined the South Downs Way, dodged some cows (one of which stood stubbornly across the path and just refused to move!) and then headed onto the Yellow Brick Road. Considering Brighton has many ‘friends of Dorothy’ it should be no surprise that it has its own yellow brick road. Sadly this one wasn’t populated by Judy Garland or a Tin Man with a heart defect! Although I may have seen some Munchkins but it’s possible they were just sheep.

Anyhow, the Yellow Brick Road is a concrete path that leads you up a very long gradual climb. Undoubtedly had Dorothy encountered this road on her route she’d have saved herself all the hassle and just ordered a taxi instead. The major bonus of this road is its wonderful views on either side, the ocean and cliff tops to your left and undulating Downs to your right.

As soon as you’ve beaten the Yellow Brick Road you’re faced with an incredible section of the route that really has to be seen to be believed. It’s called ‘The Big W’ and is supposedly shaped like one. You start by descending a steep, tractor path down into the valley. The path is a strip of grass with rutted concrete on either side, I kept swapping between each part to see what was kinder on the legs – none of them was! The descent is bittersweet, it allows you to pick up speed but works the quads to a pulp and with every step down you know you’ll be coming back up again. As we reached the bottom we swung a sharp left and found the ascent. Bugger. Gone was the tractor path, replaced with a mix of chalk, and clay (I think), a never-ending steep and tricky climb. This is when it dawned on me what the ‘W’ really stood for – Walk.

I’ve heard ultra runners say it’s best to walk to save energy on routes like this and really with a climb this steep and long before we’d even reached halfway it seemed the best plan. One chap did run-up, and hats off to him! But I have to say it made him very little ground and he remained in my sights throughout, even though I walked up.

As I approached the top I thought for a moment that I completed the Big W. The path had been roughly W-shaped and I hoped we’d have a respite from the hills for a mo. I was wrong. Shortly up the track, we started the second V of the Big W, another long, somewhat treacherous descent, picking a path among slippery patches and the odd pointy rock. At the bottom, my GPS told me I’d reached halfway, 10 miles in 1:25ish – on track for my target of finishing sub 3 hours. I slurped down a gel pack and started the climb. It was heartening to see that 95% of the runners were walking, I didn’t feel I was letting the side down!

Eventually, I conquered the Big W and picked up a gently slopping track, once again on top of the Downs. Next up was Death Valley, which seemed harshly named at first, maybe A Little Unwell Valley or He’ll Probably Pull Through Gorge. But soon enough I realised its challenge. The initial descent then long flat section invited you to up your speed, which I did and by the end of the valley I’d overdone it and hit a mini ‘wall’. It wasn’t a proper wall like at mile 21 in the Brighton marathon, maybe more of a picket fence, but I felt that flush of exhaustion and the sticky mud beneath my feet did nothing to raise my spirits.

Lucky then that I soon started the next challenge ‘The Snake’. This is where you have to run while simultaneous playing snake on an old Nokia 3210. Bloody hard work.

Ok, I might have made that up. The Snake is a long wiggly climb from the bottom of the Downs, back on to the top. It goes on forever. It’s one of those climbs where just when you feel you’re reaching the top another section appears. The hill, combined with my mini wall meant I needed a recovery plan – out came ‘plod mode’ and a series of long draws on my Camelbak. Plod mode is when you drop your pace to roughly the speed your dad jogs at if he’s in a hurry. For me, this is around 9-minute miles. I plodded, drank, plodded some more and slowly but surely the snake was slain.

The top of the snake is roughly the 15-mile mark and most of the final 5 miles are either downhill or fairly flat. Most, but not all. While I may have beaten the snake, it certainly took a good bite out of me. I managed to progress from plod mode to 8-minute mileage but not without a struggle. We hit muddy paths, managed some expert puddle dodging and crossed a field to reach the 16-mile mark where a race marshal told me I was 18th. Awesome. I could, however, hear the sound of runners behind me closing in and ‘plod mode’ had seen a few overtake. As we reached the top of a long steady descent I decided to go for it!

Sometimes when you’re exhausted or battling the wall an increase of speed can actually help. Aided by the downhill I got up to below 7-minute mileage, cruising down into Rottingdean. Sadly my burst of speed was short-lived when I hit the final hill. It was tiny really in comparison to what had come before, but it might as well have been Everest. My heart sank (as did my feet, it was quite muddy). Ahead of me, runners were walking once more and I joined them. My legs were gone and I had the overwhelming desire to just sit down. As if to taunt me a comfy looking bench sat just near the top of the climb.

I reached the top but knew it would have to be ‘plod mode’ again for the last 2.5 miles. I had nothing more to give. Wiser, more experienced runners had left a little for the last hill and swiftly whizzed past me. I entered the last 2 miles floundering. I hit a series of walls, which I’ve depicted graphically on my Shitometer – a measure of how shit bad you feel. What I’ve noticed is that feeling of total exhaustion, where a little voice keeps saying “walk for a bit”, is actually quite fleeting. When it comes, it can feel overwhelming but it goes and you can pick back up again. As you near the end though it starts to become more frequent and it becomes harder to pick yourself up.

The last 2 miles were torturous! I kept plodding away but just kept wanting to rest. I didn’t though, in fact occasionally I’d try a little burst to shake me out of my funk. That only works for a short while, luckily just when I was feeling totally broken, the end appeared on site! Never has ASDA car park filled me with such joy! The final hurdle was descending the zig-zag slope we tackled early on, as I approached the top I heard FMG and her little band of friends cheering me on – “Go Goom!” – and that gave me a lift. I crossed the line in 27th out of around 200 in 2:47:04. I’m delighted with my time and place, a lot of seasoned runners were aiming around the 3-hour mark so I’m very pleased.

Final thoughts; the Jog Shop Jog is a fantastic race that attracts a really nice group of runners. 2 guys were particularly friendly – Andy and Darren, from Arena 80 AC. Both did really well and Darren used it as a ‘warm up’ for the Beachy Head Marathon! The course is the most challenging I’ve done and will push even experienced trail runners but the views are breathtaking and overall I highly recommend it.

Map and stats….

Average pace: 8:32 minutes/ mile

Elevation gain: 2009ft

Further details here