More Of This Needed

On Saturday morning I parked up at Dunmail Summit to recce the 1st section of leg 3 of the Bob Graham Round. This part of the round I have very little knowledge off ,so it was always going to be a challenge on the navigation front.
My plan was to get as far as Rossett pike and than return to Thunacar Knot and watch the leaders of the Langdale Horseshoe come through the 1st checkpoint.
The climb up Steel Fell wasn't as bad as I had imagined it to be and the summit was reached easily. To help me get round this part of the course I had printed out some route notes off the bob wightman site. An excellent idea, even better if I had remembered my map to go with it! How bloody stupid of me, but  the notes had some bearings on, so I carried on map less.
I was soon on Calf Crag and with clear skies enjoying myself, not a soul to be seen anywhere.
For the next summit I am not sure which is the best route. The route I went was Sergeant Man and then High Raise, but I found the ground a little difficult. I wonder if its better to go up to High Raise first and then drop down to Sergeant Man? Plenty of time to recce this leg again and seek advice too.
From High Raise its easy running to Thunacar Knot (I am familiar with this part of the course from the Langdale Horseshoe last year) and then on to Harrison Stickle and Pike o'stickle. This was the first time I had been on these pikes and again I need to recce them for the fastest way off them.
I had 45 Min's left before the front runners would be coming so instead of carrying on to Rossett Pike I Explored round Pavey Ark for a bit and then ran back to Thunacar, where a crowd was now gathering.

It was fantastic to see how effortless the leaders seem to run, the first 5 or so had a big lead already. I waited for a club mate to come by, gave him a gel and then decided to get back to the car. I ran all the way back the same way I came, feeling a bit better about this leg. After 2 years of looking at it on a map it certainly is alot different to how I imagined it to be.

On Sunday I was going to have an easy day but on Saturday evening I got an email of Steve Angus(aka best athlete and author of ' adventures of a cumbrian ruuner') to go for a tough fast fell run.
On Sunday morning I found myself legging it over leg 2 of the bg on a 15 hour schedule! Not the best way to prepare for an attempt, but good fun and again really enjoyed the crack with Steve.  Anybody who wants to get faster I suggest you read some of his training days on cumbrian runner. Was very pleased with the descent of Seat Sandall, taking it easy in 14 Min's.

On Monday night I did my 10 mile road circuit in 74 Min's, 4 Min's slower then I wanted but wasn't to bothered about it after all the fell miles I had covered over the weekend.
Tonight (Wednesday) it was club night and speed reps, but chickened out of them and did a steady 7 miles around town instead.
This weekend I hope to do Leg 1 again.