Still Plodding

The week after Buttermere was a recovery week for me. I was surprised how much it took out of me, but what could I expect with so little road training.. So not surprising that the following week I only managed 28 fell miles, 18 of these was leg 1 on a foul morning where I was lost on Blencathra summit in a total white out and decided to retreat back down towards Mungrisdale Common (I thought I was heading towards Skiddaw House) and to the Cloven Stone where I joined the path back to Threlkeld. It was quite a shock to me and a good reminder how quickly conditions can change, no matter how well you know a particular fell, how quickly you can become disorientated. After saying that tho I must of been moving well , because I still got back to my car in Threlkeld in less then 4 hours after setting off from there!.


The following week was not so exciting. 52 miles ran. If anything I got a bit down this week about the bg. The reason was I enjoy fell racing more then anything. It does not matter what position I come, but they is always a point in the race where I cant think off anything more then I would rather be doing at that particular moment. I  suppose I  was thinking off some off the great fell races I was going to miss leading up to my attempt and just after it. Hopefully it will be worth it though.


This week has seen me doing 59 miles. On Tuesday I met up with Clive King, who is also attempting the bg this year. Clive had never seen leg 1 in day light so I suggested we do the 1st 2 legs, leaving a car in Keswick and the other in Dunmail. The going was fairly tough with a fresh dump of snow the night before, making the climb of Clough Head interesting to say the least. Clive is also 1 speed, which thinking about it, is what you need to be to get you round the Bob Graham. Plodding away, 1 foot in front of the other, constant speed, up and down, perfect. I have not got that discipline though, more off a crash, bang, wallop, oh shit sort of a runner. A very good day out and good crack with Clive.

Great Calva Summit

Seat with a view

Ullswater 

Wednesday was club night and 200m reps, in which I once again declined and opted to run a fast 7 miles with Steve. Good thing running with Steve is it always ends up a speed session and feels more like a race, good training. I always run to and from the club too.


No prizes for guessing what I did on Saturday then..... Legs 1 and 2 again with Steve. This time though I wanted to run the 1st 2 legs at the pace Im going to do it on the day. Dont think I got this quite right though, doing leg 1 in 3.14, with a fair bit of snow on the ground too. What pleased me was my descent from Blencathra summit to Threlkeld CC, 22 mins, my fastest yet. We were joined by Mark Nicholson for leg 2, who wanted to show me a different line up Fairfield to what I am used to. Once again the climb up Clough Head proved challenging  with all the snow and on reaching the summit Steve had decided he had had enough and would run back to Keswick and leave my car at Dunmail for me and Mark. 
I always go to the right of the tarn, up to the col and then trudge/crawl up fairfield. This time tho Mark took me left of the tarn and showed me a more direct line up. Too much snow today for that line though so we ran to the col and climbed Seat Sandall, missing out Fairfield all together, I tried to convince myself with all the snow on the tops it equalled the climb of Fairfield for effort! 7Hours 15 mins including a 15-20 stop at Threlkeld waiting for Mark. Still too fast but all good training. When the clocks change I intend to recce Marks way on a night time, timing both ascents to see which one I prefer.