Curricking Hell, it's the inaugural Currick Round*!

I'm sure that nobody remembers my farcical first attempt at this round during february 2012. You can read about it here.

http://tickinghills.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/should-have-studied-currickulum.html

For the last 8 months I have fancied having another crack and Sunday 30th September 2012 presented the opportunity when Nic Barber suggested a long run together to prepare for the OMM.

The round is roughly circular, I did it anticlockwise, with a couple of out and backs. It visits all** of the curricks I have found on the OL31 (East Sheet) 1:25000 map, starting on Hamsterley Common and heading west into the North Pennines. A currick is defined here http://tinyurl.com/9zvz4vm as a small enclosure made from stones used as a lookout by shepherds. Having completed*** my round I would define a currick as "some rocks, which might be in a pile".

We started out from the parking spot on the B6278 just after 11am, rough going through the heather to #1 and #2 on the slopes of Long Man gives a taste of things to come. Next heading east past Pawlaw Pike onto the good track for 3km run out to #3, back along the track for a couple of km before climbing through easy heather to #4 near the trig point on Five Pikes. #5 didn't seem to exist where it was marked on the map, so we counted the cairn in the same general area before descending to the road crossing at Bollihope.

Next was the climb to #6, which is a rather uninspiring pile of rocks east of the trig point of Catterick, the going on this section wasn't too bad with short heather/rocks and a track to follow down to the road near Washpool Crags.

The next section is a monster, after following the track along Bolli Hope it is rough going through bogs and heather for the 28 km to the end with only 500m along a road for relief. After climbing to #7, Ewestone Currick, which again is an uninspiring pile of rocks we headed generally west following fence lines through the bog. There was a fierce headwind and the pace really slowed at this point, we were both happy that we didn't have a time in mind to beat as each step was difficult. It's a long way to #8 only gaining some relief from the bog past the trig of James's Hill with a small section of wooden track on the south side of the fence. #8 is an impressive structure, with a sister currick around 100m away, #9 is rather less impressive being again a lose pile of rocks a few hundred metres further on.

It is again a long slog back to #10, which is rather excitingly described as the plural "curricks" on the map. Now with the wind on our backs we picked up some decent speed and covered the 8km to the trig on Harnisha Hill in about an hour. Being very careful to set a bearing to the curricks we found various rocks, none of which had been assembled into even a loose pile. What a let down.

Down the hill and back up to Monks Moor was the plan, but we followed the wrong wall and ended up 500m too far NW, we were both tired now, had a bit of food behind the wall before spotting out mistake and heading back towards Monk's Moor to pick up #11, 12 and 13, Monk's Currick and it's neighbours.

It is only now looking back at the map I realise that we missed out the currick SW of Monk's Moor. Bugger. 

Anyhow, Monk's Currick was where it should be, but we could only find one of #12 and 13, pick any of the grouse buts hereabouts for the other one if you like. Down the hill, along the road and the final rough climb up to #14, more rough boggy ground over to #15, over Islington Hill to #16 and follow the sheep trods back to the car.

I have just spotted another one on the western slopes of Eggleston Common, double bugger.

We got back to the car in 6 hours 39 minutes after 43km of the roughest ground I have ever run on, with 1100m of ascent. One of the most exhausting days I have ever run in windy and showery conditions. Having just noticed that I missed out a couple of curricks I present The Currick Round as an unfinished project for somebody else to finish off.

List of Curricks, timings and discriptions based on the Currick Scale (0 = doesn't exist, 1 = rocks on ground, 2 = pile of rocks, 3 = impressive rock tower)

Start - 997307 - car park

1 - 995313 - 0:07 - 2

2 - 995315 - 0:09 - 2

3 - 034323 - 0:24 - 3

4 - 013329 - 0:17 - 2

5 - 010323 - 0:07 - 0 (so use the cairn further SE)

6 - 002358 - 0:27 - 1

7 - 957351 - 0:45 - 1

8 - 918330 - 1:06 - 3+ (found 2 impressive curricks here)

9 - 914333 - 0:07 - 1

10 - 968317 - 1:07 - 1

11 - 963291 - 0:51 - 2

12/13 - 968287 - 0:06 - 2 (we could only find one here that wasn't a grouse butt)

13b - 961283 - (omitted)

13c - 997274 - (omitted)

14 - 999291 - 0:40 - 3

15 - 005295 - 0:07 - 1

16 - 999299 - 0:10 - 2

End - 997307 - 0:08 - car park.

Total of 6:39

*attempt.

**most.

***nearly completed.

Motivational issues following goal achievement in a goal orientated runner

Firstly a short back story. I attempted the Bob Graham Round when living in London in 2006, it was perhaps the least prepared and most ill fated BG attempt in history. I was an accountant, had never run further than 13 miles and bored in the office one afternoon a plan was hatched for myself and 3 colleagues to have a crack at the Bob Graham, 2.5 miles an hour for 24 hours can't be that hard if we can stay awake right? Wrong. L1 woefully behind schedule with various ailments and injuries besetting the 4 team members we retreated to Keswick in awe of what we had failed to achieve.

September 2010 and my wife, Fiona Blackett joins DFR, I come along to see what it is all about and find that i'm not a bad fell runner. I decide that the Bob Graham is worth another go and from that point to the early hours of April 1^st 2012 every step I ran was in pursuit of that objective. Of being the hero I had been in awe of in 2006.

I completed the round at 0536 on 1^st April 2012 in a time of 23:36, not quick, but I never had ambition to run a quick BG, just to get round in less than the allotted 24 hours. You can read about my round in my previous post.

I now have no ambition. No goals. No reason to run?

Next weekend I have no plans. I don't have to go out and run all day. I might climb if the weather is good. I might run if I fancy it, but I don't have to. I haven't had a weekend like that for over a year. What am I to do with my time if I don't have goals?

Option A – construct some goals.

I would like to finish in the top 10 of an English Fell Running Championships race next year.

There. That's a goal and it is a SMART goal – my performance manager at work will be pleased. Problem is that I have a whole year to get quick enough for that, no need to get quick now. Perhaps a more important point is that this is a constructed goal, something I have said just for the sake of something to say, thinking that if I say it out loud it might become true. I know that I wouldn't be satisfied having got into the top 10. I would be pissed off that I wasn't in the top 5. So what's the point?

Option B – financially commit to some goals.

Enter a couple of mountain marathons, that sort of thing. I have bought a Terra Nova tent which will never see active service outside of a MM, so I had better get myself in gear and enter one. Problem here is that I entered and enjoyed mountain marathons before I was fit, so what's the point in slogging myself in training up loads of hills to finish a few places higher. It's not achievable for me to win these events at the moment so why should I try?

Option C – drift.

Get fat, get slow, go out for a run when I fancy it, do a few races and get beaten by people whom I used to beat, that might get me going again. Only one way to find out. Now, where's the remote control.....

Hold on a second. Perhaps this is all rubbish, a self constructed problem put together for the purposes of filling a bit of web space, but I was asked to write something and these were the first words that came out.

One thing I have neglected to mention thus far, is that in July I have entered as a team of three to run the Lakeland 100 race. This is something i'm not sure how I feel about at the moment, being awake for 24 hours was hard and running 100 miles will take longer than that. I'm not sure I want to do it. But I have committed to my team members to run it, and as a team we have discussed the goal of being the quickest team of 3 around the course so I will do my training and I will be fit to complete the race this July.

I honestly wasn't sure how that previous paragraph was going to end when I started it. I hesitated for a good few minutes before starting to write it, nervous of what the ending would be. Nervous of letting down my team mates.

It helps me to discuss things, even if it is with myself. Now, where did I leave my fell shoes!

Report of Bob Graham Round

Report of Andy Blackett's Bob Graham Round, Saturday 31^st March 2012

After failing to get round the BG last year I was very keen that the outcome would be different this time. All the analysis of last years failure came down to a few things to do differently this time which I discussed in my first blog post http://tickinghills.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/getting-my-head-in-shape.html. It basically boiled down to more 8+ hour training days, setting off in the morning, using pain killers and avoiding caffeine.

3 weeks ago I saw that a good area of high pressure was developing on the weather forecast and this was enough to spur me into action, I felt strong but had a few niggling injuries which I feared would get worse with more prolonged training so I wanted to go for a round at the first available good weather window. I contacted some people who I consider reliable enough and foolhardy enough to come out for a leg or 2 of support and when I had a team, I set the date of Saturday 31^st March and the start time of 6am. This was all arranged with the proviso that it would be called off if the weather was windy or rainy.

The start time of 6am clockwise raised a few eyebrows as everyone else going clockwise chooses to go between 7pm and 3am. Looking back on the day it was the right time for me to start. I got tired at about 2am, so much so that I was falling asleep on my feet. Had I started between 7pm and 3am I wouldn't have coped with the lack of sleep and wouldn't have got round. The main problem with a 6am start c/w at this time of year is that L4 is navigated in the dark, I had an incredible team for L4 of Jim Mann and Simon Noble in whom I had confidence they could find the right lines through the rocky ground at night, so I set the start time for 6am.

L1

Dave Swift and my wife, Fiona Blackett were my support crew for L1 both along to carry and banter. I can't remember ever running in the Lakes in more perfect conditions, blue sky and little wind made for a perfect start to the day. 2 minutes up on the 22hr schedule on Skiddaw and a further few minutes on Great Calva and Blencathra got us into Threlkeld 10 minutes up on my 22hr schedule.

L2

Running into Threlkeld and seeing a team of 6 support runners rather took me by surprise. I hope I wasn't rude when I asked “was I expecting you all?”. As it turned out it was just a miscommunication that led to there being 6 runners rather than 4 and, as soon as I had checked logistics wouldn't be a problem for my road crew I was happy to have them all along.

The chat was good, and I don't think I will ever think of the tv show Gladiators without also thinking of all 7 of us climbing the “travellator of scree” to the top of Fairfield, while following a line which I included just for my own amusement. The clag came down, as forecast from Great Dodd to Dollywaggon but nav was never a problem and spirits remained high as we took a few minutes out of the schedule here and there to leave us jogging into Dunmail Raise 25 minutes up.

L3

Duncan Archer joind me for L3 with Andy Kirkup, Martin and Brad along for the extra miles after L2. In perfect conditions Duncan delivered a flawless support leg. He took me on good lines, fed me when I needed it rather than when I wanted it, kept an eye on the schedule and carried my clobber. We lost a few minutes on Calf Crag, gained a few here and there, lost 5 at Esk Hause eating a picnic brought up by Dom, who had walked all the way up just to deliver a bit of food and moral support – top effort Dom. We lost another 5 on Scafell, taking the Climbers East Wall traverse rather than Broad Stand bringing us down to Wasdale after the fantastic scree run descent 15 minutes up.

L4

L4 started well gaining 5 minutes on the climb of Yewbarrow as the dusk turned to dark, after that “not so well” would be my appraisal. I couldn't get going on the descents and I slowed to an almost halt on the climbs. I honestly didn't realise it was possible to move that slowly through the hills. My L4 team of Jim Mann and Simon Noble did a fantastic job with Jim concentrating on getting some food down my neck, which I really didn't want at this stage, and Simon going ahead to check we were on the right line and light the way. I wasn't in a happy place as I realised that if things didn't pick up there was no way I was going to make it back to Keswick in 24 hours. Jim, Simon and later Dave Swift all attempted to convince me that all I had to do was keep moving, but there seemed a slim chance of managing that for the next 5 hours given the way I was feeling.

My knees were sore and every muscle in my legs screamed at me on each step. I ate energy gels fairly frequently but didn't eat much else, preferring the risky strategy of just gels to the certainty of throwing my guts up and the subsequent time delays. Clive King met us just before Great Gable which provided a psychological boost for the climb and Dave Swift met us at the top of Gable to join us for the descent. I should take this opportunity to apologise to Dave for throwing away a Torque Bar in disgust at my inability to eat it and it hitting Dave square in the chest – sorry. A Torque Bar is quite a dense food and it must have given Dave a hell of a fright to be hit by one in the middle of the night on the ascent of Green Gable.

A quick stop to vomit on the climb of Green Gable, an experiment with jogging backwards on the way to Brandreth and the agonisingly slow descent to Honister and L4 was over. Now 55 minutes down on the 22 hour schedule I had 4:05 to get to Keswick. In any normal circumstances it would have been in the bank, but I didn't feel in the bank yet.

I met Fiona on the way into the car park and had a quick cry and told her how much I was suffering, looking back it wasn't the pain, but the knowledge that nearly 2 years of training would have been wasted if I wasn't able to find enough energy to get to Keswick in the next 4 hours. I had convinced myself that regardless of the outcome I wasn't coming back for another go, so it was now or never.

L5

I didn't stop at Honister and set off with a pan of pasta in my hand (my first proper food since Wasdale) with Clive King and Patrick Bonnett, leading the way with Fiona along to retrieve the pan and change me into my down jacket as I went.

I managed to maintain a steady pace on the climb only loosing another 15 minutes on the 24 hour schedule – that should just get me there so long as I can keep moving on the road. Somewhere on the climb of Hindscarth, Clive managed to convince me to take some more pain killers and an energy gel, loosing another 6 minutes to the 24 hour schedule wasn't a problem - so long as I could keep moving on the road! Then on the descent of Hindscarth something magic happened in my legs and I got going again – Clive is taking full credit for this, and I am in no position to argue. I climbed Robinson (the final hill) on the 24 hour schedule, a minor miracle given the previous 6 hours of constant losses! On the final slopes I was falling asleep closing my eyes, wobbling and then righting myself again before I hit the floor. To remedy this I started running hard up the climb to get my heart going and hopefully prevent me falling asleep. Checking my watch I was going at 3Mph, which doesn't sound much, but on the steepest part of the climb of hill 42 it had the desired effect.

150 minutes to get back to Keswick should be easy given the 100 minutes allowed on the 24 hour schedule and I briefly toyed with the idea of trying to run 10 minute miles which would give me a time of under 23 hours. This plan fell apart when I realised I couldn't hit 10 minute mile pace flat out, so I dropped to a walk and jog as I was able in order to get it finished as soon as possible with no time in mind other than being finished by 6am.

Fiona joined us at Little Town Church for the last 5 miles, which was very much appreciated. I kept drifting in and out of semi-sleep and wobbling all over the road, again fearful that I would hit the deck and damage myself I started jumping around, shouting, making silly noises and generally doing whatever I could to keep myself awake, it was a real battle. I think at some points my actions made it look like I was having a full scale physical and mental breakdown, but it did the job. Dad joined us at Portinscale – full credit to Fiona and Dad for running the last section after a full day of road support - an unbelievable effort from them both.

Turn right at Portinscale. 1 mile to go. A few silent tears when I finally allowed myself to acknowledge that this was going to happen. Avoid running into the lamp posts. Hand in hand with Fiona and bang on the doors of the Moot Hall. 23 hours and 36 minutes.

Thanks and final thoughts.

To all my support runners – Dave, Fiona, Martin, Andy, Brad, Helen, Martin, Roger, Duncan, Jim, Simon, Patrick and Clive. Huge thanks to you all. Special thanks to Dave and Clive who went above and beyond what I had asked by meeting me on L4 as well as running a leg. Apologies and special thanks to Patrick, Clive, Jim and Simon who had to deal with me in my “grumpy teenager” mode on L4 and L5. I owe you all one, please get in touch when you need me for any future supports.

Many thanks to Dom, for supplying us with a picnic at Esk Hause.

And to Fiona and Chris, for doing my road support and running the final sections with me. It takes a special person to drive round the Lake District all day and night purely for my benefit. I couldn't have done it without you.

The reason I started running 18 months ago, was because I wanted to do the Bob Graham Round. It has been one hell of a journey and along the way I have found that I am a pretty decent fell runner on the short races and that i'm not cut out for 24 hour challenges! I have met dozens of people, many of whom seem to have a life which revolves around these 42 lakeland hills and some of whom I now class as my closest friends. I have got no idea what I am going to do next, but i'm sure I will have a lot of fun finding out.

Andy Blackett 01/04/2012

Times and schedule is here -
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqoVmiNFt7fmdGM3U190WmZvZWNBRnkxTHRnTjQ5elE

I have the GPX tracks of my route, contact me @andyblackett on twitter if you want them.

Great Calva, Dave Swift and Fiona Blackett - perfect conditions for L1

Descending Great Calva

Top of Blencathra

Descending from Blencathra via Doddick Fell Route

Following Fiona down Doddick Fell descent

Enjoying breakfast at Threlkeld

Enjoying the run over the Dodds

Descending Fairfield

The climb of Steel Fell

Picnic at Esk Hause

Top of hill 42 - Robinson

1 week to go

Weeks until BG – 1

Weeks until Lakeland 100 - 18

Monday – Nothing

Tuesday – 9 miles around Bowes Moor with 400m of ascent

Wednesday – climb

Thursday – 8 miles Hamsterley with 500m of ascent

Friday – Nothing

Saturday – 10 miles, 1000m of ascent, Newlands Valley, BG L5 hills.

Sunday – Dig out old fence posts.

Total of 27 miles and 1900m of ascent.

Cracking week, lovely weather and some steady miles, no injury worries, just winding down for my BG attempt on Saturday, 6am start, 31^st March.

The reason for the 6am start are two fold. Firstly I don't cope well with lack of sleep, I think that one of the things that went wrong last year (11pm start) was just that I got tired and my body had a bit of a fit. Perhaps that wasn't an issue, but I would like to change the start time so I set off fresh and see if it makes a difference. Secondly I have 2 great men supporting L4 which is the tricky night section with a 6am start. Jim Mann and Simon Noble, I couldn't wish for a stronger support crew for L4, I understand I am giving them a hell of a task to get me round L4 in the dark but if it goes wrong and we don't find the right lines I hope we will have a couple of hours spare so it won't be a major problem.

The team I have got in place is phenomenal considering I only gave myself 3 weeks notice to get things in place.

L1 – Dave Swift (Seasoned BGer) and Fiona Blackett (Wife and top 10 in English Chaps race) + Dave's mate

L2 – Andy Kirkup (very strong BG aspirant) and friend plus Roger Taylor (hero drummer from Queen), or perhaps it is another Roger Taylor, I have no idea?

L3 – Duncan Archer (OMM and LAMM winner)

L4 – Jim Mann (Double BG completer and strong contender for this years ultra series) Simon Noble (Local all round BG encyclopedia)

L5 – Clive King (BG completer who is insistent enough to keep me moving on L5) and Patrick Bonnett (who got round the BG route last year in horrid conditions)

So as you can see a fantastic bunch of runner, so if I don't get round it will be because something went wrong or because I did something wrong.

Fingers crossed. Weather looks good so lets see what happens next Saturday.

If I can I will update on twitter during the day I will #andyblackettBG @AndyBlackett.

2 weeks to go

Weeks until BG – 2.

Weeks until Lakeland 100 – 19.

Mon – 2 miles to loosen the legs

Tuesday – 10 miles, 500m ascent – cockfield Fell.

Wed – climb

Thurs – 6 miles, 700m ascent, Hamsterley

Friday – nothing

Saturday – 16 miles, 1000 ascent, Pennine way to Bleaklow, then 6 miles, 600m ascent, Lads Leap race.

Sunday – rested sore achilles.

Total of 40 miles, 2800m ascent.

With 2 weeks to go till I plan to have a crack at the Bob Graham I didn't want to exhaust myself this week or make my achilles any worse. I have concentrated entirely on steady miles and not done anything super long. Last weeks long run gave me a lot of confidence for 2 weeks time and I don't want to blow it by going off too fast in the race that I had entered on Saturday.

The race was the first in the English Championships, I entered to keep Fiona company and thought I would have a crack at the race, but really enjoyed just trotting round - taking chunks out of the field on every climb and loosing dozens of places as I took it easy on the descents made for an entertaining race, finished well outside the points in about 130th place.  

I did as much as I wanted to do this week. Take it easy for the next 2 weeks and if the weather is good I will try to get the BG done. If not I will do the Allendale challenge race and try to win back my big grouse trophy that I have had for the last 12 months.

Achilles feels better today, it's not right but I reckon it is right enough to keep me going for 24 hours in 2 weeks time.

Fingers crossed for the weather.

Spanked the schedule and slapped by a grouse.

Weeks until BG – 3.

Weeks until Lakeland 100 – 20.

Monday – nothing

Tuesday – 15 miles, 400m ascent, Bowes moor and along A66.

Wednesday – climb

Thursday – steady hill work at Hamsterley, 9 miles, 500m

Friday – rest

Saturday – L2 and L3 of BG, 35 miles, 4000m of ascent.

Sunday – sore achilles.

Total of 59 miles, 4900m of ascent.

Last 4 weeks have been an average of 52miles and 4800m of ascent.

Tuesday was supposed to be the first evening run I had done in daylight this year, but I got held up at work, so got the head torch on and went out on Bowes Moor. Running 4 miles of known ground and then 3.5 miles along the A66 rather than faff around with unknown ground north of the A66. A grouse obviously didn't expect to see me there as he got a fright, flew up and hit me in the face. Other than that and falling into a ditch on the way back an uneventful run.

Thursday I decided not to put in the fast hill reps and save myself for a long run on Saturday.

Saturday was a big day, 11 hours, nearly 60km (sounds further than 35 miles) and 4000m of ascent, all in about half a BG. I got tired on the run back from Scafell Pike to Borrowdale down the breathtakingly beautiful Langstrath Beck, but this was to be expected as I stopped eating properly thinking the day was over.

Saturday was a great day, L2 solo faster than 20 hour pace and L3 with Andy Kirkup on 22 hour pace. It was great to run with Andy whom I met on Gable a few weeks ago, he is a quality runner, with an apparently photographic memory for the route and he seems to understand what he is getting into so I have no doubt he can get round and look forward to helping out on his support crew if I can fit it in.

The only downside of the run on Saturday was a sore right achiles – a bit of me that hasn't been sore before. I had planned to walk up Scafell Pike with some workmates on Sunday, but they bailed on me and rather than push the injury I drove home for a well deserved day off.

Timings from Saturday for the record.

(24 hour schedule in brackets)

Clough Head	50	(59)
Great Dodd	26	(30)
Watson Dodd	10	(9)
Stybarrow Dodd	9	(9)
Raise	15	(18)
White Side	7	(8)
Helvellyn Lower Man	13	(18)
Helvellyn	5	(6)
Nethermost Pike	7	(10)
Dollywaggon Pike	10	(12)
Fairfield	38	(42)
Seat Sandal	23	(25)
Dunmail Raise - Arrive	16	(25)
Steel Fell	24	(25)
Calf Crag	21	(20)
Sergeant Man	32	(35)
High Raise	8	(9)
Thunacar Knott	15	(15)
Harrison Stickle	9	(10)
Pike o Stickle	13	(12)
Rossett Pike	39	(45)
Bowfell	32	(35)
Esk Pike	21	(25)
Great End	25	(25)
Ill Crag	15	(15)
Broad Crag	10	(10)
Scafell Pike	12	(12)

As you can see, I stormed almost all the splits, especially pleasing are the climb of Clough Head, and Fairfield – where I tried a new line and ended up climbing a travellator of scree for the top 50m. I am struggling to believe I took nearly 10m out of the 24 hour schedule on a steady descent of Seat Sandal, perhaps this has got easier as the BG path has developed over the past couple of years.

Another positive was finding the lines on and off Great End (on – follow the first sign of a path up, off due south and follow a line of cairns).

I have an outline of a team for an attempt in 3 weeks time, fingers crossed for the weather!

A great run to Brandreth.

Weeks until BG – 4?

Weeks until Lakeland 100 - 21

Mon – 1.5 miles, 150m of ascent – cockfield fell, nice loosener after last sunday.

Tue - Climb

Wed – 18 miles, 500m of ascent, Hamsterley

Thurs – Parents evening

Fri - Nothing

Sat – 18 miles, 2300 ascent 7:21, BG Leg 3

Sun – 11.5 miles, 1500m ascent 5:30, BG Leg 4

Total of 48 miles, 4450m ascent. A good week, but with no long day of over 8 hours.

I reckon that with another 3 good weeks of training and a good weather window I might be ready for a crack at the BG at the start of my Easter holidays in 4 weeks time if the weather is right.

A good run on Wednesday evening this week, loop around Hamsterley common, via elephant trees, west to the road and then back along the valley, a bit of messing around with the nav, but the SatNav iphone got me round!

After my blog post of a couple of weeks ago, when I realised I wasn't doing enough ascent or enough long training days I focussed my efforts around both of these and decided I wanted to look at BG leg 3 and 4 this weekend. Fortuitously I saw on the BG FRA forum that Andy Gibson was planning just such a reccy, so I contacted him, booked into Wasdale YHA and set off on Saturday morning. It was a great run, very steady pace, but with some atrocious weather, which I can say with some confidence was the worst I have ever been out in, when hail storm hit on Great End and we had to hunker down behind a rock to avoid having the skin sand blasted off our face.

Some nav deliberation, lots of positives such as finding a great line on the climbers traverse to Foxes Tarn route and a good line up to Broad Crag, couple of negatives such as finding the worst line possible off Great End but a very successful day.

Things cleared up beautifully after “the storm” and we got some amazing views off Scafell, to run into Wasdale in the spring sunshine. Special mention to Andy Gibson and Chris Baynham-Hughes for having me along all weekend. Hopefully some photos to follow.

Sunday was to be L4, we planned to meet “Keswick” Simon Noble at the start of the leg, but snow meant he couldn't park at Honister as planned so didn't make it until near Pillar. It was great to have him along to show us some L4 short cuts, the snow made it heavy going but another good day was had.

Split times. (23 hour splits)

Steel Fell -24 (24)

Calf Crag – 25 (20)

Sergeant Man – 46 (34)

High Raise – 11 (9)

Thunacar Knott – 16 (15)

Harrison Stickle – 20 (10)

Pike O Stickle – 14 (12)

Rossett Pike – 47 (44)

BowFell – 39 (34)

Esk Pike - 23(24)

Great End – 35 (24)

Ill Crag – 25 (15)

Broad Crag – 11 (10)

Scafell Pike – 16 (12)

Scafell – 43 (31)

Wasdale – 46 (34)

Yewbarrow – 46 (49)

Red Pike – 51 (49)

Steeple – 26 (23)

Pillar – 38 (33)

Kirk Fell – 65 (49)

Great Gable – 47 (42)

Green Gable – 17 (15)

Brandreth – 14 (18)

Grey Knotts – 8 (8)

Honister – 13 (13)

So you can see that we had a great run to Brandreth! I'm not concerned about the slow splits, a combination of factors weather, nav, pissing about and general chit chat slowed things down a lot.

Next week a big day of Saturday and perhaps a walk with work mates up Scafell Pike on Sunday.

Another good week.

? Weeks until BG

22 weeks until lakeland 100

Mon – Nothing

Tues – 5 miles and 200m of ascent, on cockfield fell.

Wed – Nothing

Thurs – 12 miles, 800m of ascent, Hamsterley forest then home.

Friday – Nothing

Saturday – 5 miles 250m of ascent, Kinder Scout

Sunday – 27 miles, 3500m of ascent, BG leg 1 and 2.

Total of 49 miles and 4750m of ascent.

After giving myself a stern talking to last week I felt that I had to meet 2 targets this week. 3000m of ascent and 1 day over 8 hours of running. Both of which were achieved.

Ran home on the road from Hamsterley on Thursday and had a sore right foot on friday and sunday, hurt to walk, but not to run. I believe it was mild plantar fasciitis, didn't hurt to run so ran on Saturday with no obvious ill effects and on sunday it felt fine again. Lesson learnt though – don't do anything different, such as road running it will lead to problems!

Sunday Jim Mann took me out on BG leg 1 and 2, I find it hard to motivate myself for such a long run on my own, so it was good to have Jim along. Andy Charles came along for L2 and although he won't mind me saying he struggled with the first 2 climbs (courtesy of 2 silly direct lines pioneered by Jim) he coped very well considering it was his first time doing a full BG leg.

Times weren't quick, but leg times are here for the record. (23 hour schedule in brackets)

Skiddaw – 70 (83)

Great Calva – 44 (44)

Blencathra 64 (69)

Threlkeld 28 (30)

Clough Head 60 – including 4 minutes faff (58)

Great Dodd 36 (29) – silly slow line picked by Jim

Watson Dodd 9 (9)

Stybarrow 10 (9)

Raise 17 (18)

White Side 8 (8)

Lower Mann 14 (18)

Helvellyn 7 (6)

Nethermost 8 (10)

Dollywaggon 14 (12)

Fairfield 47 (41)

Seat Sandal 26 (24)

Dunmail 23 (24)

So Me and Jim ran at 21 hour schedule for L1 including picking a very silly and slow direct line off Skiddaw - my line this one, not Jim's, worth looking at again in the snow or the dry to make the screes more runnable. Jim, Andy Charles and I ran at around 23 hour schedule for L2 if you take off the silly slow line on Great Dodd.

Importantly for me I felt really strong after 2 legs, Jim jokingly suggested we carry on and do the whole round, I honestly think that I would have done if I didn't have to be at work on Monday.

A good week. Feel like I am back on track, next week I will do another 8 hour day and at least 3000m of ascent.

A lot is not enough. Must try harder.

2 weeks of blog this week – I didn't think last week was worth blogging about.

23 weeks till the lakeland 100

? Weeks till BG

Mon – Sat: Nothing, resting sore left heal and recovering from a cold.

Sunday – BG leg 4 reconnaissance with Jim. 13 miles, 1800m of ascent, kept cocking up the nav on the way to Wasdale, see picture. 3 cockups in about 5 miles is going some. But in our defence it was claggy and snowy, good to get a bit of climbing in the legs after a week off.

Total of 13 miles and 1800m of ascent – not enough.

Can you spot the 3 cockups? - prize for anyone who can explain cockup 2 to me - I don't know what we were thinking.

Mon – Nothing

Tue – BG L1 reccy – 13 miles, 1800m of ascent.

Wed – Run with Fiona around Langdale – 9 miles, 1200m of ascent.

Thursday – Clough Head reccy – 7 miles 800m.

Saturday – Kinder Scout run – 22 miles, 1400m.

Langdale running down The Band

Kinder Downfall blowing up.

Total of 51 miles and 5200m of ascent – biggest week for a long time (ever?)

Not a huge about to say this post except the obvious that the first week wasn't enough and the second was big.

I have managed my heal problem by running in my knackered old innov8 X-talons, which seems to have let it settle down despite the big week I have just had.

I thought I would take this week to look back on my highlighted issues from blog post 1.

• Not being prepared for running out of energy.  Sounds silly, but when I hit empty on the way to Bow Fell I collapsed so spectacularly that I must have done something wrong.  More days training on little or no food to get me used to it this time.

Mixed success with this, I have tried several runs on no food and generally bottled out and eaten something when I started to fall apart – I did manage 2.5 hours without food or breakfast a couple of weeks ago, so perhaps progress here – I will keep on with this over the next few weeks.

• Bad weather - don't set off in shit weather next time.  Have a small moveable team.

I reckon I can do a BG with a running team of 3 – L1/2, L3, L4/5 and I hope that I have 3 good enough guys who are reliable and generally available to put this plan in place.

• Pain killers, play around with paracetamol and ibuprofen to get used to how it works with me on long days.

Ibuprofen seems to work well – felt really strong on my 30 after a couple of Ibuprofen half way around, and this has fixed a small pain behind my knee cap on another occasion.

Good progress on all these points I think.

The other thing in blog post 1 was this.

•  “Not enough long training days, I didn't get out for over 8 hours enough times, so when I did, it was a shock to my system.  I figured if I could do 55 miles and feel fine, then I could get around the BGR, I was wrong.  More long days this time. “

I count a good training day as 8 hours+, looking back I see the rather disappointing tally of 1 good training day, and 1 day that came in at around 7 hours. Not good enough, I told Jim yesterday that I would be BG ready if I managed 6 good training days in the next 6 weeks and I do believe that. So that's the target. Six 8+ hour days in the next 6 weeks, then I am ready for the first spring weather window that comes up.

Something else that has been nagging away at me is that the BG gold training standard is 3000m of ascent a week. Counting up now I realise that of the last 12 weeks I have only managed 3000m of ascent 4 times. This is a body blow for me to realise this.

I thought things were going well with the training for the BG and writing the last 2 paragraphs makes me realise how I have been kidding myself.

Must try harder. I want to do other things, but feel I need to get round a BG first, I can't explain why, but it is something I need to do.

6 weeks good training and I have a chance.

Should have studied the Currickulum!

Mon – nothing

Tuesday – Sprint reps  on Cockfield Fell. 7 Miles, 200m of ascent.

Wednesday – nothing

Thursday – DFR hill reps, 6 miles, 500m of ascent

Friday – nothing

Saturday – Hamsterley run, 11 miles, 500m of ascent,

Sunday – 21 miles, 1000m of ascent – more on this later.

45 miles, 2200m of ascent.

Really busy with work this week, but managed to get out 4 times, so quite a good week. Not enough ascent, but a good workout on Sunday makes me fell like it was a decent week.

Not convinced by sprint reps, hard work and quite dull. Thursday reps were fun, turned up late so only did 4 sets, but felt strong. Saturday morning was fun to get out on a glorious winters day.

Sunday, I didn't want to drive all the way to the Lakes with the snowy road conditions and the early start, so decided to have a go at a silly idea of mine. A round of all the curricks on Hamsterley Common. For those of you who haven't met Stuart Ferguson, a currick is a pile of stones, the ones I had seen prior to today were like a well constructed cairn, about 5-6 feet tall, after today I think the definition is “a pile of stones, which may or may not have once been a well constructed cairn used by ancient shepherds, and perhaps might just be a couple of rocks on the floor.”

At around 10pm on Saturday night I started planning the route. Quickly realising I didn't know where the boundaries of Hamsterley Common were, I expanded my currick search to cover the whole east sheet of OL31 (Teesdale and Weardale). I found 15 Currick or Curricks marked on and with a bit of string reckoned the route was about 40 miles – see above, I didn't run 40 miles. That was the planning done.

Setting off at 7:30am the weather looked perfect, the ground conditions less so, with thick snow covering all the fells, I realised this was ridiculous, but fancied giving it a go.

Things were going well, at around 13 miles I started to get tired, trying to take a traverse around James's Hill rather than going up and over was a mistake, the running was atrocious, with deep drifts and gullys every few yards some drifts knee deep and some chest deep and requiring a swimming motion to get through. I was knackered, starting to get cold and on my own, 5 miles from the car it wasn't time to get exhausted so I plodded up to the top of James's hill and set off back to the car, disappointed but happy that the day hadn't ended up with a rescue or hyperthermia.

I got back to the car after 21 miles and 5:50 minutes.

It is only now, that I have looked at the second part of the route that I have realised that to pick up the extra curricks I was planning would have only been 5 or 6 miles longer than the direct route back to the car. I had mis-measured my route. Thinking it was 40 miles there was no way I was going to get round, so came home. Had I realised that my route was only 27 miles I would have plodded on through the snow and probably made it.

Bugger.

Anyone who has an interest in this sort of thing, I would appreciate it if you give me a few months to have another crack at this “OL31 (east sheet) Currick Round”, so I can complete the inaugural round and perhaps get rid of some of the disappointment of cocking up the planning so badly today!

Sunrise on the drive over

Currick 1, not in the right place, but looked like a currick

Currick 3, very curricky

The Ewestone currick - not a good currick.

Turning around, James's Hill, feeling pretty tired.

Lunch at Dinner

Mon – Rest

Tue – 4 miles on the fell with Fiona

Wed – Climb

Thurs – Durham Fell Runners on Tour (Cockfield Fell!) 8.7 miles

Friday – Rest

Saturday – Lunch at “Dinner” By Heston Blumenthal, then Cirque Du Soleil

Sunday - 4.5miles around Finsbury Park.

Total of only 17 miles.

I wasn't planning on doing much this week after the long run I had last Saturday, I was pleased that I could walk straight after the way I felt on Sunday morning, everything felt fine except for my right achilles which wouldn't stretch, even far enough for me to put my heal on the ground. That has got better all week and felt fine by tuesday for a steady run.

After that I fell remarkably good.

Thursday was great fun showing DFR my local stomping ground, we all got good and muddy and the locals didn't let our tyres down when we were out running, so a huge success! Thanks to everyone who turned out.

Saturday saw the culmination of my 30^th Birthday celebrations, driving to london to have lunch at “Dinner”. Magnificent. This blog isn't about food, it's about running, so I won't say much but it was a cracking good feast. Went to see Totem by Cirque Du Soleil later, again magnificent, one of the best Cirque shows I have seen and a wonderful experience.

Meat Fruit - is it meat or is it fruit???

Spit roasted pineapple - delicious!

Sunday, 4.5 miles around finsbury, not much to say about that.

My left achilles is giving me some grief, feels bruised, not a problem when on long runs, but feels sore in work shoes and on short runs. Invested in some Inov8 Baregrips so will try them out on thursday and report back. I am on the look out for some super comfortable work shoes, something black and cheapish, might get some vibram fivefingers, but not sure if they will put pressure on the sore left achilles? Any thoughts???

Thanks for reading, back on it next week if work allows it!

Andy