w/c 21st May - Experience changes everything

I mused last week about fate dealing me a good hand during my BGR preparation. This does not however mean that fate provides an easy ride as some lessons are hard learned.

This week's undisputed highlight was supporting what turned out to be a successful BGR attempt. It was a superb experience, and the single most useful outing throughout all of my preparations. For a BGR aspirant, it was a very 'complete' experience; I learned so much, I recced some more and I got in an excellent long training run.

I'm now left feeling a little uneasy though and my faith that I can actually do this has now been tested. I had been getting increasingly confident over the last few weeks with people telling me I could "get round tomorrow". Some had suggested i move the round to get it in before i got injured. Such faith was flattering, but I knew deep down i needed more time. This run confirms this.

Dave and I ran leg 2 at night and leg 3 during the early morning with Simon. Our job was to carry his stuff, feed and water him and go the right way. If we could do this to schedule without overworking him, so much the better. I was confident that we could do this, armed with a GPS repleat with BGR waypoints and some good training in the bank. We shouldered his load and ours and off we went. I immediately felt tired, within 20 mins. My legs were heavy from the 6000' i'd already done this week, esp the tough speed session I'd done 2 days before. Now I knew that I'm not a great starter so just kept on. I did feel better and moved well across the Dodds. Simon dictated the pace which after a fast climb of Clough Head was either on orjust outside 23.5 hr pace. That usually feels very easy for me, but this time it felt a little laboured. We were greeted with 2 inches of snow on Helvellyn (in late May!) and took it in our strides on a cool and clear yet drizzly night. We lost time on Fairfield (via Cofa Pike ridge, not sure i like that - more climbing and trickier in the dark to find the trod that the out and back route i've used) and decended into Dunmail and was surprised to hear one of Simon's road crew tell him that we'd made 9 mins up on that section (they'd lost a little time on leg 1). It felt like we'd lost time. I had my rice pudding, took on more food and fluid and Dave and I stuffed Simon's gear into our sacks. I felt OK, but expected to feel stronger. At least the morning greeted us clear and bright, albeit drizzly.

The first chunk of leg 3, from Dunmail to High Raise, is fairly uninspiring, and noone likes that climb on Steel Fell. 1000' straight up with food bulging in your belly. I had a badish patch, but was happy moving at Simon's pace. I was worried that we were holding him back, so i kept walking ahead of him to test that pace he wanted to move at. He would stay metronomic rather than catch up. This was all fine, but it was slightly under schedule. We lost time between Calf Crag and High Raise simply by not moving quite fast enough. I always hoped that BGR pace for 23.5 hrs would feel easy at this stage but it still felt laboured. We plodded on with me feeling OK but no better. We lost more time to Rossett PIke, but tried out a new line below Stake Pass which was an improvement which i'll adopt (nick!).

Things picked up on Bowfell. I like it there and that section of the round to Wasdale is demanding, yet interesting and grand (in good weather). The visability was OK apart from a pach of mist on Great End (Simon's route off there was excellent - must nick that too). Simon decided to use Foxes Tarn which adds 10 mins+ to the scheduled times but it is an enjoyable section. I felt better and better and was almost disapointed to find myself descending to Wasdale to finish after 11.5 hours of running. We'd lost 20 mins on that section and and Simon was about 40 down.

He seemed happy with our support (he had none for leg 3 planned), but part of me felt that he would have benefitted from a me that was less tired when we started out. Simon really pulled it out of the bag for leg 4, with a fresh pacer that seemed to know him well who pushed him. I sensed, possibly wrongly, that Simon's pacer for the next legs was unhappy with the time of our arrival and therefore the support we provided. Perhaps he has a point, but we did as Simon asked and prayed it was enough. Simon put in a great performance and I was delighted to hear he made it round in 23.11.

So, how did it go for me? I felt BGR pace to be harder that it usually is for me. I've been flying recently and needed to be bought down to earth. I'm not panicing though as I think there are a few reasons for what i felt was a lacklustre performance (and some lessons too):

- I was tired to start with. On Monday i'd done a 2500' ascent run on Moel Famau at a brisk pace, with 3000' of tough ascent on the railway climbs on Tuesday (9 reps in 1:05). I rested Weds and did a flat speed session on Thursday with the club and ran v hard. With 11,000' in the bank from the week before and the 61 mile Fellsman the week before that I had a right to be tired. Lesson: taper. Simon told me of his 3 week taper which sounds good and something i'll adopt. I'll get a massage too.

- Carrying gear. Of course, i usually run light and have done BGR legs at 21 hour pace without a worry. 2 litres of fluid and various other bits add up and slow you down. Lesson: carry nothing, use your support well.

- Not contolling the pace - mind and body are as one which means if you are not choosing the pace, it's a constant adjustment. This is mentally and therefore physically tiring. Simon quite rightly dictated the pace and clearly knew what he was doing. I didn't know him or his plans well enough to suggst that the pace should ever change. Lesson: Be in control of the pace as much as you can early on and don't be lulled into something by a fresher, fitter pacer. Help yourself and your pacers by sharing your pace plans and work together in delivering them.

There were positives too:

- I was out for 11 hours+, did 31 miles and @13,000 ascent and felt OK at the end. As i type this, my legs are a bit heavy but not at all sore (is DOMS in the post in wonder?).

- I ate and drank well enough, esp on the climbs. It's a good discipline and with pacers to help me, one i'm sure i'll get right on the day. Sports bars, marzipan and fruitcake were all good, as was nibbling those energy tablets at each summit. Should have drank a little more though.

- GPS was good and I've marked some more important points.

- Night leg was excellent and this is very significant. I'm so glad to have go one under my belt as this was a really daunting aspect of the BGR for me. This experience has convinced me to move my start time. Leg 2 in the dark is OK, esp with a GPS to help. I would like it to still be light when coming off Hall's Fell so will start at 7pm on the Friday night. I will tell my support asap (after writing this!) and hope to God they can still help me out. Some will be pleased as the pubs will be open when i get round...

- I learned that you can pull it back from Wasdale. I;d always thought that you needed to be up at Wasdale to allow for a slowing of pace on leg 4. Simon has shown me not to let the demons set in at Wasdale if i'm not where i would like to be for whatever reason. This will help mentally.

In summary, I feel now that all is left for me to do is to do one more big weekend of training and to fine tune everything else. I will speak to my support about the changes, seek some advice on my plans from closer quarters such as from the lines of Simon Ellis and Ian Lancaster and iron out some details regarding the route.

Next weekend i'm going to go up to the lakes and focus on leg 4 plus various bit of the rest of the round that I want to practice. It's all coming together now.

Week summary

Mon - MF direct from Cilcain and again from the Gully - 7M, 2300'
Tues - 9 railway reps, 1hr 5mins. 4M, 3000'
Weds - rest
Thurs - 7M, 200'? Speedwork on flat. Ran well but it hurt!
Fri - rest
Sat/Sun - Legs 2 and 3 of BGR - 31M, @13000' ascent. 11hrs 10 mins.

@50 miles, 19,000' ascent

w/c 14th May - Turned out nice again

I'm starting to think that I'm being dealt a favourable hand fate-wise when it comes to this BGR nonsense. This statement may come back to bite me, but a few things have happened this week that should really help with my BGR despite my best attempts to bugger things up. As well as a couple of strokes of luck, the training continues to go well too.

All is well with six weeks to go.

I had planned to go up to the Lakes this weekend and do legs 5,1 and 2 overnight and into the morning. The idea was to try out leg one at night. This felt more and more like the wrong thing to do as the week progressed. For one, it would mean another weekend where I lose a night's sleep, which given how rough I felt until Weds (after the Fellsman) was probably not good for my training. Also, 3 club members have each tried to talk me into starting at 6 or 7pm and doing leg 2 in the dark. This made me even more lukewarm about going up to do leg 1 overnight. Also, i had a really busy week and was tired on friday after the running club awards evening. I spent friday off work doing the presentation for that which was nerveracking and stressful - hardly good prep for 3 legs of the BGR. My plan began to feel wronger and wronger and wronger...

So as i prepared to leave on saturday, i logged onto the PC to download some stuff to the GPS. Whilst i was there, i have a peek at the FRA to find a private message there. Turns out a rather nice chap called Simon from London is doing his BGR next weekend and wanted some help - so he sent me a note having read this here blog. He's starting at 7pm on Saturday 26th and doing leg 2 at night. I replied to offer help and now i'll be pacing him on legs 2 and 3.

This solves loads of problems for me:

- I get to experience being part of a BGR round before doing mine - something i did want to try and do

- I avoid 2 weekends in a row with a missed night's sleep (although it still means 2 from 3, but that's OK)

- I get to try leg 2 and the first pt of leg 3 in the dark and can make a decision (poss a revision) about my start time

- I get big day's training in, and one that includes leg 3 (which is hard to recce on your own as it's so hard to get back to your car)

- Simon's road crew can heat stuff up, so i can practice roadside food for my round

- I get to try out the new GPS and data points (cheers Paul!) on the BGR

- Next week will be less tiring with less other stuff to do so is better suited to precede a hard weekend.

Having now spoken to simon and agreed to pace him and carry his gear for 2 legs, i'm excited about the prospect! The more i think about my original plan, the more i am convinced that fate dealt me a good hand this week.

I'm glad that the awards evening, the Borders League results and a genrally busy time for other things is starting to subside - i feel now i can really concentrate on the final and very important 6 weeks of training.

I'm actually pleased with the training i got done this week, esp as i had so much else to do and esp as i was so tired.

Monday - rest, sleepy after Fellsman
Tuesday - rest, still knackered
Weds - 1200'/4M - straight up and down Moel Famau. Calves tight (wore red innov8s - probably needed more cushioning). Felt OK apart from calves.
Thurs - club session, @7M and @1000'. Nick's session on CLosed XC and Maiden Castle route - some good hill reps where i was strong but tired. Started near the back on the long steep reps and finished at the front showing good hill strength. Just about hung on for teh short sharp reps, with Andrew and Rob with me all the way.
Fri - Rest - awards night
Sat - 7M, 2300' - Brisk Moel Famau and Llangynhafal run from Cilcain - same route as with Pete lest week, 2 mins slower but still brisk.
Sun - 17M, 6500' - glorious run in the Carneddau. Started at Aber then Moel Wnion, Drosgl, Bera Bach, steep down and up to Yr Elen (did that 1650' climb in 16 mins and not flat out - very pleased), Carnedd Llewellyn, Dafydd, Back to Llewellyn then North over Foel Grach, Ugain, Foel Fras, Drum and Y Orsedd before dropping into Aber. THe weather was great, the conditions were wonderful.

The only hitch was a freak fellrunning injury, which is fine now... I was descending a rocky path at great speed when i landed on a upturned, pointy and jaggedy stone. It felt like it had come through my studs - it was agonising. I tried to run on it for a bit but it was nothing better than a hobble. I could then feel somethig swelling on the underside of my foot - gutted! I was about 2/3 into the run and was worried i wouldn't be able to continue. It seemed so pathetic ("I banged my foot" is a feeble way of describing how you got injured). LUckily, i had some ibuprofen that was left in my KIMMsac pocket from last week. Even more luckily, i had found a full and sealed bottle of water half an hour before on Bera Bach (i had finished the stuff i brought) and so took the pruffen and crossed everything. Half an hour later i was fine and running well again. It's still a bit tender tho. I had a look at my beloved swoops and noticed that the sole was now about 1mm thick - all this traiing has almost worn them through! Time for some new shoes - hurrah!

I used the route function on the GPS for the first time on Sunday (with Paul's data) which was great. To think that i can pick a few checkpoints on the map at home, tell the GPS and it navigates me round... It is amazing and great practice for the BGR (i'll use GPS as a back up in bad weather).

Stangely - had two tunes in my head all day and we're talking about the sublime to the ridiculous here. On the steep climbs "Put your hands up for Detroit" made an unwelcome return, but for the descents and ridge-runs, "Border Song" by Elton John popped in there even though i've not heard it for years.

Next week should see a 20,000' + week, the start of a three week peak in the training before a much needed taper. All in all though, the week was better than i planned and i feel well on course for a successful outing.

I also feel like i'm getting the breaks, at least at the moment. It might be luck or it might be natural justice (perhaps they're the same thing). To blatantly steal Mike Cudahy's line, it might be that the hills do indeed reward the patient traveller... (thanks for the quote Cath!).

Summary - 35 miles, 11,100' ascent

w/c 7th May - A grand day out

Thanks to Sarah's healing hands, the calf problem that plagued me last week seems to have gone and I've been able to resume the training. My hope was that the week off would have provided some probably much needed recovery.

This was indeed the case, with an excellent week's training in the bag.

Despite three brilliant mid-week runs on Moel Famau (including a good strong run with Pete on Tuesday), the highlight of course was my first (probably only!) completion of the Fellsman - a 61 mile/12,000' grand day out in the Yorkshire Dales. The Fellsman is an annual pilgrimage for many from the fellrunning, ultra-running, long distance walking and Scouting fraternities. One such pilgrim is Paul Miller who despite deciding to postpone his BGR attempt, was still happy to guide me round his 14th Fellsman. We completed the course together in 19 hours and 2 minutes, having had to slow right down for the last 6 hours to support a slower compliment of runners in our group (competitors have to form groups of four or more during the hours of darkness).

This was not a race. It important for me to know how it felt to push quite hard for a long time, as opposed to very hard for shorter periods. So far, my longest day out running has been 9 hours. Whilst the three peaks and my training runs have demonstrated that i'm fitter physically, it was becoming increasingly apparent that the Fellsman was my main chance to train my mental strength and endurance. So the mission was to take ages and not to rush it.

Perhaps then it was fortuitous that it pissed it down for most of the day! This meant that 'rushing it' was impossible and that it was to provide a tough test.

I learned quite a lot from this event that gives me confidence.

- I can keep going for hours and hours at a consistent pace.
- I'm climbing well and continue to after a long time out (still felt like running up some of the last peak but didn't)
- Drink tea and water at rest stops really helps more than anything else.
- Rice pudding is rocket fuel.
- After over 18 hours out, i could still run 2 road miles at under 8min/mile without too much difficulty (not suggesting that i'll do the last BGR section at that pace!)
- New headtorch was great, waterproofs were great
- GPSs can be bloody useful.
- Staying positive really works, even though the bad patches.

It's SUnday night now and i'm knackered. Apart from a 2 hour nap this afternoon, i;ve not slept since waking at 6am on Saturday morning before the Fellsman. I'm going to veg out now content in the knowledge that another major test that i set myself leading up to the BGR has been passed.

Training summary:

Mon - 9.5M, 3100' - Clywdian race route. Steady, 1:45.
Tues - 7.5M, 2400' - Brisk MF run with Pete
Weds - 2.0M, 1250' - Straigh up and down MF from bottom car park
Thur and Fri - rest
Sat - Fellsman 61M, @12,000'

Totals - 80M, 18,750'

w/c 30th April – A week’s rest at base camp

I've been reading old climbing books this week - fascnating stuff. I read all about Hilary and Tensing’s ascent of Everest in May 1953, which was a superb achievement on a historic day where they climbed out of their skins. It was made possible not only by their skill, courage and fitness, but also by getting everything and everybody in position. This required masses of effort and planning starting the previous September. Much of that effort was unglamorous and tiresome, such as sailing most of the party and the kit to Bombay on a 2 week ocean voyage, having to ferry loads on foot or by yak all the way to base camp from Kathmandu (a 2 week expedition on its own) and needing to test some freaky Heath Robinson-esque equipment in some weird and wonderful places. Reading John Hunt’s account of that historic trip makes me understand that for them simply getting to base camp was a serious achievement.

And yet on its own, getting to base camp counted for nothing.

I feel a bit like that at moment. Without wishing to suggest that my BGR campaign is anything like as momentous or heroic, I feel like I’ve been slogging away to base camp, trying different things out along the way (food, clothes, GPSs, headtorches…) whilst generally getting fitter and stronger. Last week’s successful 3 Peaks marked my successful arrival at base camp. The next 8 weeks will see the final push towards the top. 30th June is summit day.

The first thing many expeditions do when they get to base camp is rest (esp. those that have slogged there with yaks and coolies from Kathmandu I imagine!). This week I’ve done the same. I’ve done no running at all: a week’s rest at base camp.

I’d like to have the confidence and vision to have planned it that way, but this week off training has been enforced. My calves were very tight after the 3 Peaks because of that dry hard packed ground and I’ve not been happy enough with them to run, esp. after tearing one last year and being out for 2 months. I warmed up to do a local 4-mile road race on Friday evening but it didn’t feel right so I bailed out and didn’t start. I was quite proud of myself for doing that, but then started to worry. I rang Sarah on Saturday morning and she very kindly told me to get myself over there for another massage. She thought there was some persisting micro-muscle damage very deep in the soleus and so pummelled my right calf into submission. It felt noticeably looser afterwards and still does this morning, but by ‘eck did it hurt! Sarah has worked miracles with my dodgy calves before – I just pray that she has again…

My hope now is that the week off has repaired me and increased my chances of success. This thought helps me through that runner’s panic that sets in whenever you are forced to take a few off, i.e. that any day without running will see a reduction in hard earned fitness. I’ve already started scrutinising my non existent belly for signs of weight gain. Honestly, I should get a grip and remember that Alison’s stunning run at Stratford after her 4 week layoff shows that base fitness and endurance do not erode in a week.

The break has provided some positives though. I’ve finally got the pacer and road support notes sorted out and will be sending them out this week. I’ve gone to town on them a bit and had to put them on CD-roms which I’ll be sending out this week. That’s a weight off my mind. I’ve also managed to get the border league stuff pretty much finished, and with my last race as results secretary out the way, I can relax. This would have been harder to do whilst training as I have been. It also meant I could go on the Running Club night out in Chester, which was excellent; a good beery affair! I said in an earlier post that I needed to have more fun. All things considered, if I would have been forced to pick a week to take off, it would have been this one.

I can’t wait to run again though. I’m excited at the prospect of going out to Moel Famau tomorrow and doing a long steady run first thing. I’ve run up that hill over 30 times this year and still love doing it. One of things that I’m happiest about is that I’m actually enjoying the training, even the hard runs. The recent weather has helped but even the memory of those cold and wet epics earlier in the year have had the edges rubbed off and are now remembered with fondness.

It’s a shame I missed the weekend up in the Lakes I had planned, but there you are – you can’t do everything. Looking back at this blog, and at my training diary, it seems that races result in a poor week afterwards. I had tight calves the week after Edale, Haweswater Half and Kinder Downfall. On Friday, Ian Lancaster told me that there comes a point in training for these rounds where you can’t race anymore. And he would know after his BGR and Ramsey heroics. His wise words and my knowledge of my reaction to long races have made decide to give Jura a miss this year. I need long days out and consistent, regular training not long races, no matter how exciting and rewarding they are. The 3 Peaks gave me much needed confidence and was worth doing. From here on in, I’ll give the hard long races a miss (with the exception of the Fellsman, which is a long walk really). I’ll exorcise my demons at Jura next year…

Most accounts of climbing expeditions usually have a bit where the already fatigued climbers express their relief about being finally in position and able to climb the mountain havng fought hard to reach the base camp at the bottom. This usually results in a new release of energy and enthusiasm as ‘real’ progress starts to be made.

Starting on Monday at Moel Famau, and next weekend at the Fellsman Hike it’s all about that final push.