Caz the Hat does the Merri

Looking North towards Arenig Fawr

I meet Carwyn about 3 weeks before while supporting a Paddy and knew he was going to have a go at the Meirionnydd Round which had only had 1 sub-24 hour completion by Yannis in 1998.  Being quite local, this was an event I wanted to be part of.

I helped support leg 4 over Arenig Fawr and Rhobell Fawr. I would guess it was about 15 miles and maybe 4000ft of climb in total. However, both Bill Williamson (no mean runner of rounds himself) and I thought this leg was at least as hard as leg 3 of a BGR. There are long sections of boggy heather with no defined path and some forest. The much of the last 2 miles of descent was just heather and bog with little or no path. At least BGR plus 2 hours, no well warn paths here, this is real adventure country.

The story of the Round is for Caz to tell and he very much deserves to tell it. 23.31 was a great achievement given the challenge and the heat. He worked very hard both on the day and doing a lot of prep. in the months before. A great day with great people.

Lets hope it gets some more attempts, but maybe one of the charms of the area is that it won't get too many.

Looking forward to supporting a Leventons Line (yes, a new one on me as well) and a Paddy over the next few weeks.

Caz and hat with Moel Llyfant in background

From Moel Llyfnant toward Arenig Fawr

Now quite a Paddy

Paced some (about 1/2 the Moel Hebog leg) of a Paddy Buckley last night. Weather was fantastic(though cold when the sun went down) and was about 30 seconds too slow to get a picture of  Brocken spectre from the top of Moel Hebog. I was looking forward to the Snowdon section as well, but it was not to be. Family King decamped to camp in a great little camp site in Llanberis, so fun had by all.

The story of Keen's not quite a Paddy is his to tell. Great effort and achievement none the less.

Previous Sunday I did a early circuit of Cader Idirs with my running friend Richard who was a Cader Idris virgin. Cracking morning all round.

A firm reminder I need to start training again

I have run the Moelwyn race in 2008 and 2009. I remember being wasted after it both times, but really enjoying the descents.

I have not run much since August, so today outing was a firm reminder that I need to get back into some more serious training, in particular steep hill reps.

The race is put on by the community of Blaenau Ffestiniog and it is by my measure by far the best community run race I have been to. Soup, tea and cakes and just the general enthusiasm and friendly nature of the people and the marshals makes it a special race for me.

I did not have a great race, but quite enjoyed most of it.  Usual pattern of loosing places on the flat and gentle up hills. Slowly gaining places on the steep up hill and making lots of places going downhill.
1st for me was having to stop for 3 or 4 minutes with cramp just on the descent of Moelwyn Fach. Every runner stopped to ask if I was OK, 2 marshals came across and then made a joke that I was not going to push a rock over (I was using it to stretch against - you had to be there). Cramp cleared on the descent, but came back when I really pushed it on the flat sections towards the end. Maybe a pack of sodium, potassium, etc, maybe a lack of fitness. By the end of the race, places did not matter, but the race severed its purpose, I enjoyed most of it except the cramp and proved to I need to train far more aggressively that I was.

1 thing that was very different for 2008 and 2009 was my speed of recovery. I could have run it again if I really had to today (would not have been happy about it and would have been slow, but I could have). I remember being wiped out after the race 2 and 3 years ago and today was not. Guess we are starting again from a much higher base of endurance, though I do find going hard on gentle hills wipes me out. Time for some serious hill training.

Captin Blacketts BGR

Andy's BGR story is Andy's to tell, so read it here. Very pleased for him and he put himself through it from Pillar to the end. Suffering and sacrifice on the last 2 legs is what makes a BGR memorable and Andy did his share of both to his credit. It is not meant to be easy.

I really enjoyed walking over to Moss Trod between Great Gable and Kirk Fell on leg 4 in the moon light, brewing up coffee and hot Jelly(I thought Jim Mann were joking when I 1st heard him suggest that Andy liked liquid jelly) seeing them for 30 seconds and then disappearing again.

Leg 5 required some effort as pacers and Patrick, who I meet for the 1st time, was great company to pace with and we shared the task of getting Andy over the last section. Andy was in his own private hell dimension for most of leg 5, though did crawl out for about 20 minutes around Robinson.
As Fiona (Andy's Wife) coached him along the road at 5.30 in the morning, Patrick and I sat on the bench at Portinscale and pondered if we had any sympathy for Andy as he shuffled down the road, less than a mile from the end. We concluded that while he was clearly suffering, we had no sympathy at all, as it was his choice to do it. Provided he did not do permanent damage to himself,  we were there to get him back to the green door with no excuses. The Bob Graham Round itself plays with your mind while you are a contender, pacers are there to feed and navigate, but also deliver some tough love (figuratively of course) when the self talk gets the better of the runner.

If you are going to do a BGR, there is a lot to learn from pacing leg 5 before your round.

1st BG of the year

Back taped up by physio, but also recovered more than well enough to run now, so I hope to see Andy Blackett wobble into Honister at 1am (he is going clockwise with a 6am start) on Sunday morning.

Really looking forward a leg 5  and running into Keswick with him in the small hours of Sunday morning.

going to get the car

After 15 years of company cars, I have bought my 1st car since 1995 (tractors and diggers don't count). Such was the excitement of being able to choose anything, I got exactly the same as I have had for the last 4 years! Something about being 43 I guess where the prospect of buying a car is meet with indifference rather than excitement. Stuff you Top Gear.

However, I got the car from a garage in Aberaeron and rather than getting a lift or talking the bus to pick up the car on Friday, I used it as an excuse to run along the Coast Path from Aberystwth to Aberaeron, about 18 miles with a fair amount of up and down.

I am not as fit as I was 6 months ago. focusing on other stuff and 2 months of being ill mean it took me 4 hours rather than I would have guessed at 3 hours pre BGR 6 months ago. My legs felt the miles after about 12. Still, I am sure the fitness will return quite quick as I get back into longer runs which is getting easier as the evenings get longer, but it is still hard work and this is the 1st big step.

Her ladyship is not as fit as she was 6 months ago either. Still, cracking day and that is really what it is about.

Huff

So 6 weeks of chest infection, then 10 days in India with the obligatory 3 day of sprinting to the toilet, and I am back in the UK and still not able to run. This is getting boring. Hope to make the Tarren Hendre race next weekend, even if I am not that fit.

30@30

30 was a long time ago for me, but I was a little surprised and very pleased to be invited along to Andy Blacketts 30 birthday do where he was going to run 30 peaks across the Ulswater and Helvellin range in just about daylight.

He managed it(along with Jim Mann), despite 70 mile an hour winds.

When Clive is on top form and Andy and Jim has their legs tied together, Clive would still struggle to keep up with them. 6 weeks of chest infection, still coughing, common sense (of a sort) prevailed. 6 set off from Pooley Bridge early. We meet them for soup at the pub at Kirkstone Pass. Jim and Andy carried on from there to finish on Great Dodd where I planned to meet them.

In the morning I wondered up Cat Bells on my own, my 1st Lakeland hill that was not on the Bob Graham Round, shame on me I know. Cat Bells is quite small, but I almost got blown over while sitting down on the top.

In the afternoon I went up Great Dodd and sat in the shelter at the top as the wind blasted past. It was quite wild, but under my little nylon shelter all of me except my feet warmed up nicely. I should have a) worn a new pair of seal skin sock and b) taken a spare pair of socks with me. The SealSkins I had on have been good friends, but taken hell of a hammering, so don't keep your feet warm or dry now, so time to get a few new pairs I think.

About 30 minutes before Jim and Andy were scheduled to arrive my feet got so cold that I felt it wise to go. I tried walking towards Watson Dodd, but got blown back up the hill. Quite annoyed at myself for not taking a spare pair of socks and not being able to wait around for the lads, but going when I did was the right judgment.

Great weekend, nice to catch up with the lads, looking forward to Andy's BG which he looks very much on form to complete in a fast time and I ordered some new SealSkin socks when I got home, a complete weekend!

still coughing up green stuff

4 weeks and counting ......

3 weeks and counting

3 weeks since I have run. Chest infection remains and seems immune to Amoxycilin suggesting perhaps it is viral rather than bacterial. It is feeling a bit better, but no way I can run yet. I think patience is in order for at least a few more days.

Must resolve to use this time out to stretch and do various specific strengthening exercises. As long as I don't get out of breath I won't start coughing.

Very frustrating for me and dog who's behavior changes towards frustration when she had not had a long run for a week or so.

Winter BG's, Amoxycilin and World War 2 cake

About 2 weeks ago I started to cough, some sort of chest infection, but nothing too serious. Once of my friends who is a GP suggest a useful metric  would be to avoid running if the infection was in the chest, but to continue with head colds. So I stopped running 2 weeks ago. However, I had agreed to pace 2 winter Bob Graham attempts and if you agree to something, unless you are going to do yourself serious harm or be a liability, you still turn up and show willing in my book.

Nick Clark winter BGR attempt is better documented here than I ever could. I was lined up for leg 4 with Yiannis and indeed I has started wondering up Yewbarrow a few minutes before Nick came into Wasdale and called it a day. The reasons were very valid and understandable if you were there.

Nick did not get round, but for me it was s success. I meet a bunch of new great people [Nick, Wynn, Ian et al], had a wonder over Moses Trod with Yiannis to Honister from Wasdale  [would have been a bit packed in the car otherwise] which was fun and I picked up his view on various rounds and how hard they were in comparison to the Bob Graham. The World War 2 cake and soup at Wasdale was just out of this world.

The following week I was going to pace leg 5 for Jim Mann. Jim set off, but found his ankle/knee giving him some trouble as leg 2 wore on. Sounded like they were up on schedule, but bailing was a sensible decision.

One of my reasons for starting Fell Running and to attempt the Bob Graham was to get properly fit as a way of life. I don't get many infection, but some can slow you down. This one was a xmas present from the kids and so I visited my GP this week as 2 weeks of coughing to the point you throw up seemed enough. He put a pulse monitor on my finger and with a concerned look asked if I felt faint. I said not. He then asked if I did a lot of exercise, I explained the fell running thing and he looked a lot happier that my heart rate was below 50 and commented that it was the same region as a elite athlete. Clearly he has not seen me run! One lung has some sort of bacterial infection and so we came out with a prescription for Amoxycilin and should be back running within 4 or 5 days.

Don't underestimate a Jack Russel

Sunday morning was Corndon 3 Peaks Classic morning. A little bit of the Welsh/Shropshire boarder I had not visited and great running ground. Other than there being quite a lot of runnable ground on this race and I am not very good at running uphill runnable ground, I had a great time. Did not do well, but did not do badly. Race had the usual profile, I got passed on gentle gradients. I passed 1 or 2 folks on steep climbs. Got passed on the flat bits and passed a few on each steep descent. Congratulations to the Jack Russell who beat me and the lass who I shared a photo finish with. No doubt Al will have some pics up soon.

1 hour and 3 minutes and as usual I am sure that with some more focused training under an hour is easily within grasp. Priest Weston is one of those gems of little villages that fell races in that area introduce you to. Must go back to the Miners Arms when I am not driving and this is a reasonable route to do as a training run when returning from various places. Had a good chat with Tim Davies (he who won) after the race about training and got some useful ideas.

Monday : 6 miles on fields, lots of up and down
Tuesday : 6 miles on track while waiting for small girl Gymnastics
Wednesday : 3 miles on fields in a bitter wind
Thursday : in Manchester
Friday : 6x200ft hills reps plus a mile or so
Saturday : rest
Sunday : 6 + 2000ft Cordon Classic

Wish for better weather

I find it very easy to go out for a run when the weather is good, even in winter, snow also fine. Steady rain combined wind, much less appealing. The photo above is post run afternoon tea at Findhorn a few weeks back. It was a bit chilly, but just wonderful to sit outside even in early November having done a few miles on the beach. We have been quite lucky weather wise up until the last week or so, but getting out in all weathers is the real test and contributes to the "fell hard" state of mind that Joss etc al mentions.

Some things just sound wrong, but I shall reserve judgement until hear it. There is also a Radio 4 program about the BGR and the music on friday at 11am. The tunes on my iPod during my round was somewhat less classical. I am sure it will be good, but I do wonder if it is something you can really set to music. Guess it depends on your musical background.

Monday : rest
Tuesday : 6 miles, split into 2 bits, some hill, some track while waiting for kids at gymnastics
Wednesday : 7 miles along bank of Thames near Streatly at night. A very memorable run indeed, torch off and still light enough to run along some of the medows
Thursday : Dreadzone in Stroud. My legs were more tried post gig than if I had been running for the duration.
Friday : 2 miles 500ft
Saturday : small girls birthday
Sunday : 3 1/2 miles of wet wetness over hilly fields while it was wet.

Need a long day out.

Good to see Andy back with a plan. Getting him round his round is one of my goals for 2012.

A new focus

I have a bit of new focus in my training. I will hopefully be pacing 2 mid winter BGR attempts over the next few weeks. Nick Clark who seems to have done a little bit[!!] of this mountain running stuff before is having a mid Winter BG attempt and I am down to pace leg 5 along with the most noble BG club sec. The other attempt have yet to "come out", but is likely to be just as competitive and I can for see my efforts to keep up being in the style Pigsy of the 1970's kids program Monkey children's program.





Much of this last 2 weeks training has been done carrying a rucksack which has made it a fair bit more intense.

I was not feeling great last Sunday, so gave the Cardington Cracker a miss. Disappointed, but no point running if you are not up to it. Rest of the weak was a series of shorter and faster runs, including my 1st hill reps for a while.