Rediscovering the challenge

After the Lakeland 3000 rounds I did not go back to the Lakes for some years.

I did the Pennine way on my own in 2002 in 11 days. There was a history behind this in that I had started this when at medical school with Roger but we had only got as far as Malham from Edale in the week long holiday we had before we had to start hitching back down to Southampton. I had labelled it as unfinished business and finally had a spare week of holiday (with 2 weekends either side) and decided to give it a go.
I was very lucky with the weather but I had been slightly overambitious with my schedule and I found the 25 miles plus per day to be a bit too tough for comfort. I carried some kit for basic camping but relied on bed and breakfast and youth hostels. I started in Scotland and made my way down to Edale where I was collected a day later than planned and after 270 miles pretty tired. I had lost something hideous like a stone in weight during the journey and I ended that holiday triumphant but in need of a rest and some big eating.
After this I started doing more road running. I had done several marathons but hoped to improve my personal best time to below 3 hours. My best at this stage was about 3 hours 15 minutes so it demanded a substantial improvement.
Eventually in 2006 I managed to organise my training sufficiently so that I ran 2 hours 57 minutes at the Cardiff Marathon in October. It was my 4th marathon of the year and I had also had a period of cycling training in the summer when I prepared for and successfully completed the Etape du Tour. This is a mass participation event which every year allows amateurs to ride and compete over one of the tougher hill stages of the Tour de France. In 2006 the stage ended by climbing the famous Alpe d'Huez and coming across the finishing line was a great end to a wonderful experience.
All this strength and endurance training over the year allowed me to lift myself just sufficiently to acheive my long term goal of a sub 3 hour marathon and it showed me too that it is possible to acheive much more than we would normally imagine with a mixture of dedication and determination.
I was talking to my friend Roger about all this and he told me that he had a months sabbatical in 2007 and that he was planning to devote it all to training for the Bob Graham round.
I was keen to help him as much as I could but it also reminded me of this final 'work in progress' and I wondered if I too might be able to do the round. I was keen to at least have a good go at it even if that might result in an heroic failure.
I got up to the Lakes a couple of times early on in the year but I still struggled a bit on the fells - especially with the descents. Meanwhile Roger went from strength to strength and when his moment came for the round he was very well prepared. Not only had he become fit, strong and fell hardened but he had spent so much time on the route that he knew it intimately. He had bad weather with poor visibility much of the time but he rarely put a foot wrong with route finding and even though he hurt his knee on the final descent off Robinson his round was never really in doubt and he was able to walk back to Keswick, still finishing with 20 minutes to spare.
I was impressed by his effort but felt that if I could just get him to lead me round the tricky bits then I too might have a chance.
I had some holiday in August and thought if I trained hard I might be ready for an attempt during that week. I approached Roger to see whether he might be prepared to help me on the third section - coincidentally the one I had paced and load carried for him but he was not optimistic about my chances and did not want to spend his holiday on any more Bob Graham ventures. I think to be honest he had pretty much had his fill of the Bob Graham round for the time being anyway.
I went up to the Lakes for the week and did loads of reccying. By the end I had got a pretty good idea of the route and it was only then that the real size of the undertaking fully started to dawn on me. At the end of the week I did 2 sections - from Keswick to Wasdale. I felt I could have done more but I was tired from a hard week of exploring the route and so I stopped and hitched/walked back to Keswick.
This week had awakened something in me though. I had really enjoyed being in the fells and I just loved travelling over the mountains. I was really hooked on the idea of having a 'proper' determined attempt at the round.
I started looking at anything I could find on the subject - the internet was very useful. I planned food, kit and strategy. I started to develop a training plan.
Training I knew would be hard - partly because for a challenge like the BGR it has to be and partly because of my lack of access to the fells. The other difficulty was knowing how hard to push and exactly what to do - it was very much a voyage into the unknown.
I decided to start with that I should end the year by training as if I was aiming for a marathon on the roads and that then in 2008 I would some how try to convert this into 'fell hardening'.
It had been obvious from my experiences that although it was good to be fit on the roads there was definitely a missing x factor when this fitness was dumped on the mountains - the legs just didnt work in the same way. The mantra in most of the advice I had read was 'climb climb climb' and then do some more climbing!
I spent the rest of 2007 building up the road miles to 50 per week. I built up very slowly so that come January 2008 this mileage would be 'normal' and part of my routine.
This phase went according to plan and I hit the New Year feeling good and uninjured.
Socially it was a bit of a strain to fit the running in around work, family and other commitments but I felt I had got to first base and was ready for the hills.