Cant Sleep so lets get in on..............

I have been in bed since 4.30 ish and had a couple of hours of dozing. I am now wasting my time a little so I have decided to get up and get sorted.

The weather will do what it will do. I will just deal with it. I feel OK. Ready for it.

I would like to thank everyone at this point for all their support and the guys coming out with me. Also my Dad & Niv for doing the vehicle support.

I hope to get someone to update the blog as I go.

Let get it on...

Its Time. (or is it?)

Everything is in place. The food is just about sorted, the kit is all sorted. The pacers are all in place and understand where to be etc. That only leaves me & the weather to get right.

Me- I dont feel 100%. I have had a slight sore throat/swelling in my neck and tonight felt a little bit of a temperature. I have took some medicine so hopefully will feel better in the morning.

Weather - The Met office site now gives it as very wet on sat with gales on tops???? Whereas the MWIS site gives it as showers & 15-25mph winds. I will just have to wait till tomorrow & see I guess.

My mind is set to go, tomorrow night but if the weather looks bad or if I dont feel OK, then my head needs to be strong and knock back the start date. 

Here we go, Here we go, Here we go............

4 days to go and we are just about ready. I can't do anything more about my hill fitness or control the weather. The only things I can influence now are my state of mind, my wellbeing at the start line and the organisation of the food etc.

My head is OK. I know how I will feel at Dunmail having done 1&2 overnight last year. My intention is to have my normal breakfast at Dunmail so as to trick my body into thinking its morning and time to wake up. I know leg 3 will be tough and I know that the challenge of Yewbarrow when sitting at Wasdale will be daunting. There will be low times which I will get through by sheer determination and the voice of Pete Kremer in my head. Nothing will stop me putting one foot in front of another. That's all I have to do.

I went up Halls fell in the dark with Berni last week and recced the top section, which I think we have down to a T. I also went up for a gentle trot up Lords Seat on Thursday and on Friday had a gentle walk up Helvellyn from Thirlmere, with my 6 year old son, Louie. I can t believe how busy it was up there but I suppose the good weather brings everyone out. All in all about 8000 ft of gentle climb. I am doing nothing this week.

As I type this, there is a slight swelling in my throat indicating that my cold may still be lingering. Hopefully by resting for the remainder of this week. It will totally go. On that note, best get to bed as its 10 pm.

Easy Does It!!

Its been a while since my last post so I thought I had better get something put down. After doing the 46 miler I acquired a cold and a heavy chest. This has lasted for the last 20 days and I am now only starting to feel that my lungs are clear. This has obviously affected my plans with regards to training and tapering down.

My big day on the 8th only turned into legs 1& 2 which I struggled with. I was away working in Stalybridge last week so I stayed at Crowden campsite and managed to get 3 runs in though the week along the pennine way. Last Saturday saw me, Rich Ellwood (leg 5), Clare McKeown (leg 4) & Simon Vietch (leg2) go out from seathwaite just to tackle Bowfell. This is the one peak that I never managed to get up in the winter weather when I had previously been in this area. We managed to get up Bowfell from Rosset Pike OK but not on quite the right line. I am confident that my Leg 3 pacers Keiran Hodgson & Dave Jack will know the way up intimately.

I did 8000ft last week over 30 miles. This week so far I have been working in Stalybridge (Mon/Tue) and Telford (wed) so I have just been running mainly on the flat. I am hoping to get up Halls Fell on Thursday night with Berni to confirm the route I am taking in the dark.

With 10 days to go I am fairly happy with everything but I do hope that the last remnants of the cold I have had does disappear. I also hope that my right ankle eases off seeing as though I am no longer pounding it with long, fast downhills at the moment. Am working locally over next few days (or not at all) so no more early mornings or long travelling distances from Thursday onwards.

Looking back I could maybe have covered more distance in my training but I have definitely been getting enough climbing in. I just hope that the weather is OK, although there is a hot spell forecast over the next few days which may not ne a good thing. We'll see..........

27 Days- The clock is ticking.........

Since my last post I did the Annie Waltz last saturday and was very happy to get under 2 hours. That was a rough target I had set myself prior to starting. I ran round with my Garmin HR alarm set to 166. This helped to stop me from setting off too quick and blowing up at the end. I set off near the front and quite happily let people pass me on the lanes whilst I stuck to my max heart rate of 166. I passed most of them back on the later climbs & descents. I finished comfortably but felt I could have gone quicker had it not been for my knees hurting. (probably from all the climbing I have been doing). I was chuffed with being placed 30th but this was slightly devalued by the fact that the TWA was running & also the three peaks. Looking at last years results I would have come 52nd.

With the 28th May getting closer I had it in my head to go out and do some big mileage this week. To help my knees recover I went for a gentle bike ride on Sunday after waltzing & then did some gentle 5 milers on Mon, Tue & Wed. On Thursday, however I decided to up the ante a little and do the Ullswater watershed setting off from my home in Clifton.

I woke up at about 4.30am, my sleep disturbed by the local loudmouthed Thrush. The little bird (nearly typed something else) kept me awake so I decided to set off on my way at 5.15am. I really enjoyed the first few miles running through the Lowther parklands. I saw 3 deer, 1 Buzzard, a red squirrel & a great big Hare. All before I got to Askham. I had decided to go a BG pace as much as possible, i.e. walking the uphills and running the flats & downhills. I was moving well, but the weather changed approaching Loadpot. The clag came down and visibility was reduced to less than 50 yrds.

I got to Kirkstone Pass Inn, via Thornthwaite Crag & Stony Cove Pike, and sat down in one of the alcoves to shelter from the rain as I tucked into my bait. One of the things I wanted to try on this run was to experiment with different foods. I tucked into the Peanut Butter Sandwiches, Pork Pie & Eccles cake. All of which were consumed easily. Picking myself up, I set off in the general direction of Red Screes.

Faced with a white wall of mist I could work out where the path was so set off in the genreal direction hoping to stumble across it. I managed to not only stumble across the path but also one of the felltop footpath fixer fellas, fixing the footpath. After a brief chat I set off up the hill following the line of 1t Dumpy bags filled with the stone that would later form the new footpath.

Now normally I am quite festidious when it comes to safety on the fells, especially when I am on my own. I was a little complacent in that the map I was carrying stopped short of Kirkstone Pass Inn and therefore didnt show Red Screes or how I was to get to Dove Crag. I knew in general what direction I was supposed to be going so set off in the clag using my compass as a general guide. After what seemed like too many up's & downs through gullies etc I found myself on Hart Crag. I was back on the Map and was now familiar with the ground.... Or so I thought?

From Hart Crag I made my way over Fairfield, then up Dollywagon & onto Big H. I managed to make an error when coming off Hellvelyn by taking the path down towards Thirlmere instead of Whiteside. After some cursing and scrambling about on some crags I ascended the footpath back up to Lowerman then got back on my way but this time in the right direction. As I dropped down from Raise into Sticks Pass the clouds began to clear and the visibilty began to return.

From Sticks pass I returned back via Glencoyne, Dockray, Gowbarrow, Pooleybridge & finally back over Askham Fell and home. All in all 46 miles & 12000ft in just over 13 hours. I completed the round quite comfortably and feeling quite strong.

At the time of writing ( 2 days later) I am absolutely knackered. I think I undersestimated how much it would take out of me. This coming week my intention is to have a relatively easy week and have one last big day out on Sat 8th May. No plans as yet as to what to do but may do Legs 1, 2 & onto Great End before dropping into Seathwaite. Will suss it out this week.

Body wise- I feel generally fit and my body has changed shape. I have lost loads of weight. 10kg in all. My back no longer bothers me but I do need to stretch more and try and increase my suppleness over the next 4 weeks. My knees hurt when I descend and my right ankle hurts badly occasionaly when I jar it. I hope both of these recover over the 3 weeks I have allowed for tapering down. I also hope that by not having to carry  a bag, that my knees wont suffer as much.

The date is now getting close and I feel that I am ready. I know it will be difficult but I am ready to accept the pain. Bring it on!!

Its the final countdown, da da derrr duh, da da derr da da - 38 days

Since struggling on legs 4 & 5 a week last Saturday I have come to realise that I am fit enough to complete the BG, but at my own pace with plenty of carbs & fluid.

Last week I did a couple of easyish runs to recover from the Saturday then last Tues, did Halls Fell,  3 times off the belt. Went up Arthurs Pike on the Wednesday. Nothing Thursday.

Friday I finally tackled broadstand. Having read "Feet in the clouds", Broadstand has become legendary. People fear it? I was glad to final face & climb up that bit of rock. To be honest its a little overhyped. I would feel comfortable soloing it but I am not sure how I would feel with 16hrs or so in my legs. I went up with Bernie with full climbing kit in the bag to protect the climb. It was good to get my hands on the climbing kit & rock again. It was a good reminder that there are other things to do in the Lakes other than run up and down hills.

I couldn't train Saturday or Sunday due to taking my son to a mini rugby tournament on both days.

Yesterday I had only enough spare time to run up & down Halls Fell once.
Today I decided to repeat Halls Fell 3 times again. I was really chuffed with first effort. I got to summit in under 37 mins and down in 16 mins. The second 2 reps (if you can call them that) were slightly slower. Having been up & down 7/8 times in the last 7 days I have begun to get a really good intimate knowledge of the best way down. I can keep mainly to grass & runnable track so hopefully can find my way on the night of the 28th.

I have entered the Annie Waltz this week which I am really up for. My intention last week was to just plod round comfortably. However, after feeling strong today I have decided to go out all guns blazing and go for a good position/time. Will have to see how I feel on Sat morning mind.

Unfortunatley Dave Jacks has had to pull out of his attempt at the BG on 7th May due to his broken arm. I was down to Nav leg 2 for him and then tag along for 3 & 4 to get a really long day out on the fell. Think I am going to still go out and do the 3 legs on the 7th so may need to organise a bit of help and sort out the logistics.

Still feeling confident. Just know I need to keep going and going and going and goi..............................

Leg 4 & 5 Superfast Headgame

Its been a while since I wrote anything mainly due to the bug thing which returned but now seems to have gone. I have been working away so the training has suffered a little, that coupled with the tiring 1:40 - 2  hour eachway drive and 5am get ups everyday has made taining les enjoyable.

I ran Askham last weekend and was pleased with 15th in a much faster time than last year.

Today I have just  been round legs 4 & 5 from Seathwaite at what felt like breakneck speed. I went with Kim Collison, Stu Stoddart & Clare McKeown. (who sawpped with Anja Phoenix at Honister). We got to Wasdale in just over an hour from Seathwaite and set off on Leg 4 in glorious morning sunshine. Reaching Yewbarrow in 35 mins I realised I might aswell scrap the 23 hour schedule that was in my pocket. However I continued to record the summit times on the paper for nostalgia. We carried on round leg 4 at a good pace arriving at Honister in 4 Hrs. Bloomin quick.

After a quick pitstop we set off up the climb to Dale Head. The pace seemed to have quickened and now with fresh legged Anja joining us, I was now the back marker. Determined not to drop away I dug deep on the climb to reach the summit in 27 minutes. I think this was the start of of the suffering. Up until then I had felt quite good but now I was starting to struggle.

We continued on finally reaching tarmac and putting on road shoes. I cramped up a little when putting on the trainers so I knew the final run-in was going to be difficult.

This is where the head games began. I was determined to keep going & pushing myself to the finish. The guys kindly waited for me at Portinscale and we ran into Keswick together dodging the market stalls & tourists. We finally finished leg 5 in 2 hours 18 mins. Again bloomin quick.

I am really chuffed to have got round that quick and persevered through the pain. For me it was too quick but I kept at it without giving in so I am happy to have ticked that box.

Post run we picked up some food & drinks from Greggs  and I really struggled to eat, finally heaving on my last mouthful of sausage & bean (but not quite being sick). I guess this is how some people fail by getting that feeling and not being able to eat.

I am 100% confident of success but I do realise that this is based on luck with weather etc but also that at a slower pace I will be able to eat OK.

Thanks guys for the workout.