Week Ten - A timely reminder

If I ever needed reminding just how gruelling a Bob Graham Round can be, both on mind and body, I got it this weekend.  I ran with friend and winter supporting stalwart Clive King on his BGR attempt on Friday night/Saturday morning as far as Wasdale, when Clive decided enough was enough.  He was probably about 1:20 down but moving ok and I thought it was salvagable.  But I wasn't in Clive's head and so what I thought was irrelevant.  He was big enough to know that the game was up for him, and to say so.

I'm not going to enter into a post-mortem into what happened, that's for Clive to do in the fullness of time, and if he wants my advice he'll ask for it.  But I will say that every BGR you support teaches, and re-teaches you things.  The need to be comfortable mentally as well as phyisically with what's you're doing and how you're doing it is something I will take a close look at.  Up till now, the emphasis has been on getting the training in.  Also, although it isn't winter yet, Clive's September attempt brought home the difficulties of a long night and the cold (it was below freezing on the tops, and with a strong wind).

What's good to report is that I felt good right from Threlkeld to Wasdale, which is about 32 miles and involves 11,500 feet of ascent and descent.  I was comfortable thorughout and felt well at the end.  If Clive had have asked me to do leg four with him, I'd have been able and willing to carry on.  That's a good sign.

I made a decision last weekend to do no training during the week and to eat plenty on Friday so I could be ready for Clive.  Rocking up and doing one leg is ok but supporting for two legs is much harder than simply just running two legs on your own.  You're feeding and watering the contender and so you're eating and drinking less yourself.  And the stakes are higher too - i was not going to let tiredness let Clive down like it did on another round I supported in May when I was supposed to navigate a second leg after doing a good job on the first but was sore from an ankle twist and also scared that I would slow the round down fatally because i was too tired.  That was not a good moment and i didn't wish to repeat it, and so respected the request to do two legs much more this time. 

I felt very strong and capable.  Apart from a small 400 metre diversion on confusing ground in the dark between Calf Crag and Sergeant Man, i was with-it enough to navigate both legs well and also to keep Clive fed and watered.  It was a good test and I passed.

This weekend saw a 30 mile plus trip out after one last weekend too.  If i can string these sort of days together each week between now and the end of November, I'll be a very happy man and more than ready for a winter round. 

Clive, I look forward to seeing you there ;-)

Week Nine - Open to Offa's

Another 10,000' week, including a good big (ish) day, and so you'd think I'd be happy.  And I sort of am, but I still feel some way short of the fitness i'm looking for.

The Open to Offa's was great.  Paul and I rattled off the 30 miles and 6500' at a leisurely pace, with a few stops for food with no pressure at all.  I felt a bit rough at the start because I just got up and went and did it, rather than have some fluid when i got up.  I had also done plenty of running and no rest in the days leading up to it.  So to knock that off feeling ok throughout is a decent sign.

The day before the OTO I'd managed to knock out 3 cheeky railways on the way back from Nottingham, calling in at Tattenhall en route.  I'm getting into a good habit of always having fellrunning kit with me so i can do the 'suit to scruffs' change in the car whenever i get a chance.  Trvalling with work is a pain, but i can get round it.

The day before that was a 11 mile trail run in Nottingham.  The nights are drawing in now and so i guess it's roads during the week now :-(((

And the day before that was a wet and windy outing in the peak district, where I managed 13 miles and 3500' climbing by virtue of the first half of the Edale Skyline route.  I hoped to do the whole route, but the rain and wind was horrendous.  I was pleased to get as far as Mam Nick, especially as I couldn't stand up on Mam Tor.  Literally couldn't stand up.  I had to crawl over the top few feet before being able to stand again. 

The week's total was 11,000' and 59 miles.  I should be happy with that.  I'll know if I am or not when I do legs 2 and 3 of the BGR with Clive King next week.  I want that to feel easy, well, easyish.  If it does and I'm not hangning on like I was earlier in the year when helping sone other folks, I'll be happy.

Week Eight - Andrew Preview

Fans of Morecambe and Wise, in fact anyone over the age of 35 will remember Grieg's piano concerto a la Eric Morcambe and Andre Previn.  You know, 'all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order' and all that...  Well that's how my Bob Graham Round training seems to have gone this week.

The mantra for many is that contenders must ascend (and descend) 10,000 feet per week for 3-6 months in the build up to the round.  I think that's as useful a rule of thumb as anything can be when you're talking about the different physiologies and motivations amongst those that tackle challenges like this.  Well this week I knocked off the 10,000 feet, but it still wasn't right.  The reason is simple - no big day.  The ingredients were there, but not arranged as they should be.

In the same way a marathon runner will not get fit for a marathon by running 100 metres at a time (even if they do it many many times), I worry that the absence of an 8 hour plus day on the hills this week is not going to cut it.  I tried, but life and the weather got in my way, and I ran my ass off to make up for it.

Pen Yr Ole Wen - my reps route goes right up the front

Having raced twice (Tues and Thurs) and done an 11 mile trail run in Nottingham on Weds, Friday saw me fit and firing at the foot of Pen yr Ole Wen in Snowdonia in the Ogwen valley.  It seemed to be blowing a bit and raining hard but i decided that four reps of that formidable 2,200' slope in and out of Ogwen would be a cracking session of hard fell climbing.  This would qualify as a big day - nearly 9,000 feet and no respite.  Just steep up or steep down.

20 mins in and I binned it.  I could barely stand in that wind and the cloud base was at about 1,000 feet.  Horrendous.  I got back to the car and decided to sit it out.  The wind started rocking the car and so I went home, tail between legs feeling like I wasted my day off.  Not a happy bunny.

As I approached my home near Chester, I noticed that my more local hills were clear and so decided to head off for face saving run on Moel y Gamelin.  When training for my previous, almost successful winter round,  I had a regular timed run there of 9 miles and 3,200 feet of ascent.  My pb was 1:23:55.  I decided to go for that, bearing in mind I'd raced twice that week and was very fit when I ran my pb.  With heavy legs, I roared around and clocked 1:23:35.  No big day, but there is some good fitness in there and some good climbing strength.

I followed this up with 6 railway reps at Tattenhall on Sat (2,200 feet) and a long steady run on Moel Famau on Sunday, knocking 4,000 feet off in 2:35 at an brisk, so-so kind of pace.

All in all, the week saw 6 runs: two races (Wirral multi-terrain and a Club time trial), one longish trail run and three brisk/fast fell runs.  A good week's work, amassing 11,000 feet and about 50 miles.  OK, so the BGR is 66 miles and has 27,000 feet and I've 24 hours in the depths of winter, but we'll come onto that.  For now, I'm doing OK.

Next week, circumstances will see a change in tack.  My non-working day will be Wednesday rather than Friday and so I'll be doing a long day on Wednesday and Saturday.  Weds will be a solo run in Derbyshire, probably the Edale Skyline route (I might even go for a time?) whereas Sat is a Long Distance Walking Assoc event which allows runners to take part.  It's 30 miles, has about 6,000 feet ascent, and is near home on my beloved Moel Famau.  The 'Open to Offas' is a lovely event (they feed you on the way round :-)) and I'll be with good friend and the deviser of the route Paul Miller as he recovers from his  Ultra Trail de Mont Blanc experience.  I'm really looking forward to that! :-)

Week Seven - Ca va?

Most people look forward to their holidays.  Runners, especially those training for a goal, start worrying about what it'll do for their training.  Shocking isn't it?

We arranged some months ago to spend a week in Brittany with friends from running club before i decided to give winter matters another go.  No hills to run up, a pregnant wife who will want to actually see me (i work away four days a week) and friends to socialise with is all very nice, but what about my training?

We left the day after my lovely 2-BGR leg run in the lakes and i was already thinking about how i was going to train.  I realised that i should stop being such an arse and just enjoy it, get up early and do some road running so as to tick over for a week.  As it turned out, Andy, Liz and Alison were up for some running and i managed to squeeze out 30 odd miles, including two 10 mile runs.

I felt good, and decided that i'd do a fell day at the weekend, but i had already promised Alison that Fridays (my non working day) would be my long day and so being out for hours wasn't going to wash.  So i decided to head for Moel Famau and try my time trial run so test my fitness.  I have a route which i did last year with the aim of breaking 1:15.  It's 7.5 miles and has 2300' climbing on Moel Famau. I have managed to break 1:15 about 3 times on the 20+ times i've run it, so decided to give it a go.  I ran 1:13:55, a new pb.  Superb!

So, a week of tickover and a good fast fell run, but i missed the big day and that is the key ingredient to success.  I made the best of a situation that meant keeping a number of balls in the air and i'm happy with that.  As Billy Bland reputedly said, "If you're nowt at home, you're nowt anywhere".  Wise words.

Week Six - Antimatters

The Calva Trod, complete with digger

That's better!!!  After no less than three BGR supports this summer where I was supposed to support everything between Keswick and Dunmail and ended up falling short for one reason or another (bad ankle, the squits, not being fit enough etc) I rolled up at Dunmail and romped to Keswick in a shade under 8 hours.  That's almost 11,000 feet of climbing and 27 miles done with a joyful flourish - I even ran up the last bit of Skiddaw.

Confidence restored?  Not sure, but a useful step towards proper 'round' fitness. 

Going the 'other way' was weirdly novel, learning the ground all over again, despite it being all too familiar when coming the other way.  I tried a few things out to varying success.  The Cofa Pike variant between Fairfield and Dollywaggon was new to me and whilst i wouldn't fancy it clockwise, that scree run coming down is brilliant and it really is a fast descent.  Add to that a good water source en route and i'm sold, provded i can find it in the dark.  Actually, a certain Mr Charters will hopefully take care of that :-) (unless it's icy as hell, in which case we'll go the out and back way from the hause between FF and Seat Sandal). 

I stayed on the 'motorway' between Dollywaggon and Nethermost for far longer that i normally do, missing out the slight rise on the direct line over High Crag.  This was far quicker and provided you can locate the cairn (GPS wil help here!) it is the way to go.  I found myself ticking off the peaks without wanting to push remotely hard.  I wanted to know what easy paced was for me and it translates to a 22 hour pace over those peaks, which of course allows for a tired contender which i was not.  Still, good news!

Threlkeld was a welcome seat for stashed food and a 15 minute break.  It was here that the familiarity of clockwise lulled me into a silly error and reminded me that i need to relearn the route as i'm going the other way.  I have run off Hall's Fell into the village over 20 times, possibly more, and yet just strode past the end of the track and up the road.  The only time i went wrong all day was on bloody tarmac...

Leg 5, as it now is, is a real mental and physical challenge on an anticlockwise round.  It's 5,200' of ascent, tough heathery ground and on battered legs and a jaded brain.  The biggest climb on the leg, and the second biggest climb on the whole round, is Blencathra.  Add in the darkness and the possibility of ice on the ridge and you have a formidable start to this tough leg.  I will ask a couple of experienced lads to go and check it out on the day so we can make a quick decision about whether to do the longer but safer Doddick Fell route. 

I picked my way up that enjoyable ridge in no hurry and was 10 mins inside the 23 hour schedule time of 64 mins. The run off Blencthara in the grassland of what's oddly referred to as Skiddaw Forest (there are no trees!!) was pleasant which made a change from the usual plod up the opposite way.  I headed over Mungrisedale Common and to the meandering Caldew.  I decided i could see a new trod leading directly up Great Calva opposite and decided to try following it up through that heather slope rather than take the path up the east fence (longer but easier ground).  Error!!!  It was a decent enough trod, but the 'lie' of the heather meant that it would have been ok for clockwise descenders and purgatory for those going up.  Every step was a fight against the fellside and i grew fed up rather quickly.  It was a case of step, trip, step, stumble, step, fall, swear etc.  Imagine that after 21 hours!!!  I think i'll be going the other way.

Calva eventually gave up as i reached the top and off I headed to Skiddaw, a big mountain but only a 1,500 climb from this side.  I reminded myself that from here it's just like popping up Moel Famau, my local fell.  As I left Calva and popped onto the top of the BGR trod leading down to the 4*4 track, i got a shock.  I thought maybe a student night out had gone VERY wayward as a stumbled upon a road works sign at the top of the path.

Roadworks sign near the top of Calva on the BGR trod

My surprise was heightened 200 feet down the hill when i ran into a a digger merryly excavating channel created by the BGR trod and laying heather 'mats' over it.  I was gobsmacked.  There is debate amongst fellrunners about the environmental impact of the BGR, with views varying on whether little cairns and markers to show the way are cricket or not.  I've always been relaxed about the use of cairns, provided they are small and destroyed after you pass (much like Yiannis did on Emma's BGR when descending Blencathra via his parachute route - he got that spot on).  Others are less relaxed and see it as an affront.  For me, i felt BGR'ers were far less a cause of erosion that walkers and that our tracks were often rubbed out by nature in the BGR off season.  This however was the first time that I saw a fellside being repaired as a clear result of the BGR (walkers don't come this way really).  This has got me thinking about what we're doing to our playground.  I wonder which BGR trod will be next for such treatment?  The one up the front of Clough Head is looking very worn now...

More plant at the bottom of the trod

Onto Skiddaw and the now easily located trod up Hare Crag. This is harder navigationally when going clockwise as you have to ensure you take the right fork over Hare Crag and not the old quad bike track going left.  THis way round is a doddle. I plodded easily up the slope, which starts off muddy and ends up on fast short grass and then some loose rock at the summit.  As i nearer skiddaw's summit, a decided to run from the fence and felt great!! 

That final descent is going to be VERY tough though.  As i ran down into Keswick, elated after a strong and gorgeous day out, i remembered how sore my quads were coming off Scafell last year.  I resolved that I would train my quads to deal with long descents because i could end up having to push here at the end of the round to get under 24 hours and a 3000' descent is going to be a swine with battered quads.

Before i knew it, Latrigg's lovely woods were with me and it was a simple case of Fitz Park, Moot Hall, Fish and Chips.  A great day out, and in 7:55 which is a good time for those two legs.

The training is working!