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.