Great Gable from Wasdale - will I make it here in the light on the big day?
It's a bit of a stretch to conceive of a winter round in August. Right now, i'm just trying to get fit. But sooner or later, I need to think hard about how I'm going to approach the logistics of getting round this magnificent round mostly in the dark.
I'm no stranger to nights of the fells, in fact I'm getting rather typecast as a 'night leg' runner on Bob Grahams and Paddy Buckleys. I like the navigation and judgement elements for sure, but what i love most is watching the sun come up whilst moving along my beloved fells.
But deep into my long run on Friday on Wasdale to Honister leg I started to question what I was doing. After all, i've done the BGR so why do it again? Why do a round that's mostly in the dark? Why ask people to help you at a time when they are building up to Christmas and could probably do without the weekend before being spent on the fells in the dark helping someone with their indulgences? I started to have doubts about this whole enterprise, which seems born out of the fact i've got time to train hard all of a sudden. I mean, why do a winter round? Sure I'll be the first person in my running club to have done a winter round, but so what? That's like puffing my chest at being the best fellrunner in Rossett (my village).
Of course, the answer lies in your own head and not in how the achivement may or may not be perceived by others. The fact is that my recent experiences of working hard in a poisonous and intergrity-testing environment before taking redundancy has severely damaged my confidence and I need a boost. I need this year to contain an achivement that outweighs the failure that characterises 2009 to date. I got out of that place with my integrity intact, which I'm kind of proud of, but it hurts nonetheless, and did throughout all of my time there. This winter round is a salve for my shattered confidence, and whether I get round or not, it's a chance to get back to a level of fitness that brings confidence and pleasure gained from long hard days in the hills.
I had such a day on Friday, with a jaunt around leg four (clockwise) of the BGR with some extra climbing thrown in for good measure. It was a superb run, starting at Honister, running easily to Wasdale over the beautuful Moses Trod and then back along those lofty leg four fells including the steep and testing Yewbarrow, the mighty Pillar and Great Gable and the pain in the ass Kirk Fell which always seems tougher than it looks.
Lingmell and Broad Crag from slopes of Great Gable
Great and Green Gable from Moses Trod
Buttermere from Moses Trod
The weather was kind until Gable, when the clag dropped very quickly and i had to get the compass out. I was well inside the BGR 23 hour splits without busting a gut, apart from the trip from Yewbarrow where a fall and some sitting arond meant i did that split dead on the scheduled 50 mins. Still, the cut and bruise on my thigh justifies the whinge.
Ouch!
The swelling has gone down but it's still real sore. The slip had me fully in mid air before my whole bodyweight landed on a sharp flake of rock through my poor thigh. Descending was painful after this, but it could have been worse. It did mean staying off it for a couple of days but i'd got enough climbing in the bank this week already - 14000' to be precise!
Last week I was lamenting the lack of obvious improvements to my fitness after three weeks of hard training. Well i needn't have worried, this week has seen some much better, faster runs and much faster recovery from them - it's working!
I've been doing two particular runs each week as a measure of progress, and i'll do at least one of them every week right up until the taper to see where i'm at. This week, my 'twice up Moel Famau' run, which is over 7 miles and climbs and descends 2300' took 1:18. The three previous weeks saw times of 1:23, 1:33 and 1:34. When i did the BG in summer 2007, i got this run down to 1:15. Hopefully next week will see me hit this landmark. The other litmus-paper run is the Moel y Gamelin ridge run, which is an out and back from Llangollen's horseshoe pass. It's 7.5 miles and climbs 3000' on some steep but entirely runnable paths. Last week i ran this in 1:36, this week I felt strong and ran 1:27! I was delighted with this as i was feeling a little leg weary and know there's more there. My pre-BGR form has me doing this in 1:24 so again, after four weeks of tough training, i'm getting there...
I like monitoring the times of my training runs, something i don;t normally do. One lesson is to get into that habit in all my training. It makes you run harder and helps you to concentrate. It makes for really stimulating running.
Things are going well then. Being the best fellrunner in Rossett might not be anything to write home about, but great runs on the fells are and i'm thankful that i'm getting plenty of them in.
Week summary:
Mon - MF*2 run, 7M, 2300' - 1:18 - cracking run
Tues - MF from bottom car park, 1000' up in 15:28 - a record for me on that short run
Weds - Moel y Gamelin ridge, 7.5M, 3000' - 1:27
Thurs - speed session with Trev's group at club - sprinting hurts!
Fri - BGR leg four+ circular run from Honister - 19M, 8000'
Total - 14,300' climbing, @45 miles
Tune in head - A mixture this week, some AC/DC in there (Back in Black, resisted air guitar mid-climb!), some Pink Floyd too (plodding to the 7/8 of 'Money' works on big climbs i find!) and various 80's bilge filtering in and out, oddly....
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