Big mileage in the Lakes

I ended April and started May by easing back a bit so that I was feeling raring to go for the next four weeks. I planned this to be a fairly intense training before a three week(ish) tapering period. This was aiming for a date for the round of 21st June.
I was also going up to the Lakes that weekend and wanted to be able to do as much as possible to kick start this phase of training.
In the event I had a good but tiring and mixed weekend.
It is always a challenge just getting to the Lakes after a full days work, crossing the solent and then coaxing my little car through bank holiday weekend traffic. I was lucky though that I got away early and the hold ups were not on the M6 but the M1 and more traffic seemed to be heading south than north. I arrived in Keswick at 1100 and was in bed by midnight.
The next day I had the full monty English breakfast in the B and B and headed off to Dunmail raise just after 0900 planning to do section 3 and then maybe section 4 or take an easier route back to Honister and then make my way back to Keswick (possibly hitch).
As I arrived I noticed a couple of other cars parked in the BG spaces and when I looked up Seat Sandal I saw 3 guys coming down the fell in BG shuffle mode, They crossed the style and road and went to an obvious team of supporters by the cars.
I went across and found out they were 3 Macclesfield Harriers (Jon,Ross and Mike) on Bob Graham attempts and going well. One of them had done it before in under 22 hours and the other 2 were first timers. They were doing a self contained attempt - carrying their own stuff with roadside support and having a couple of pacers on legs 4 and 5 in case they started to get seperated later on.
I asked if they wanted me to keep out of their way but they were very friendly and suggested I came along with them - well this was wonderful so I said I would stay with them if I could. I didnt want to bust myself if they were flying - and I never find the old cooked breakfast is much good to run on for the first couple of hours. It is not too bad for the 3rd hour and after that hunger seems to set in again anyway.
In the event I had a great time with them. The weather started a bit grey but it cleared steadily as the day went on. Visibility was excellent and the sun came out in the afternoon. A far cry from the predicted rain, low cloud and gusting 70 mph winds although it was still a bit breezy early on.
We kept a good pace all day but nothing too uncomfortable and they showed me some great lines up some of the peaks. I particularly liked Billy Blands rake up Rossett Pike - which cut off quite a bit of distance at the expense of a modest bit of extra climbing. I nearly lost them at this point though due to a call of nature which left me about half a mile behind. I just spotted them in the distance though and was able to catch up going up hill. Generally I felt that I was struggling to maintain the pace down hill but was fine going up. My descending has improved considerably and I find it perfectly comfortable now but just not very rapid - I would definitely be useless in a fell race!
We didnt manage to find the best line up Bowfell although we didnt lose any time. We followed cairns but they just petered out and then we started to run out of room as a cliff appeared ahead of us. We ended up just climbing straight up and got up to the ridge short of the summit and not far from our intended arrival point but not on a very elegant line. I had problems before when I tried this last summer so maybe next time will be better.
We came down Scafell on some scree which was great but I was not sure the stony path after that was worth it and wondered whether the line on steep grass all the way might have been easier overall - interesting though.
We had a good stop in Wasdale - about 20 mins although I was a little late getting away as I had been messing around filling up with water from the stream. I soon caught them all up going up Yewbarrow. For this leg there were 3 pacers - two guys planning a BG on 15th June (Steve and Ian) and one of the contenders wives (Christine) who is no mean fell runner. It was a good fun section with stunning views and I was shown some good places to get water and a good line up Kirk Fell (to the left of the red gully). I have struggled before on that ascent ending up frightening myself with some dodgy rock climbing!
We had a couple of discussions on Brandreth and Grey Knotts about which exactly were the peaks (resolved by visiting them all) and I must find out which the official ones are.
When we got down to Honister I declined the offered lift back to Keswick as it was such a nice evening I thought I would carry on to Little Town over the remaining 3 fells. We used head torches coming off Robinson and it seemed better than Halls Fell in the dark so I have more or less decided to start at 0100 rather than midnight as I should get Halls Fell in the first light that way.
We had another pacer for this section (Jon) - he narrowly missed out on his BG last year when he injured his knee on Red Pike and had to make a difficult descent down into Wasdale on his own (his pacer had had problems too and had had to leave him earlier). I told him the story of Rogers knee giving out as he came off Robinson last year when fortunately he had loads of time to hobble back to Keswick and I commiserated with him. He is not sure if he will be able to have another crack at the BG as he has cartilage and arthritis problems in the knee but I think there may be more chapters to that story as he is very fit and driven!
When I got off the fell I had intended to get a lift back to Keswick as I didn't think I really needed a 5 mile road run in fell shoes. When the time came though I couldnt leave the party early and for completeness really I jogged back with them. We didnt go fast (used our full 3 hours for the section) and it was a good way to end the day. It was brilliant and emotional to see them finishing their BG's and celebrate with family and supporters. I had been very impressed that they had managed to stay together as a team even though they all went (and came through) their own tough times on the round. I was introduced to all their team and someone (jokingly I think) suggested that I should just carry on and do the last two sections to get it done. It was not my time though and so I thanked them for a wonderful 14 hour day out and made my way back to the B and B and a well earned sleep.
The next morning I was very slow and lethargic even after the full English. In retrospect I wonder if it was because I had nothing to eat the night before (it was 2330 and everywhere was closed) and then a protein breakfast left me lacking in carbohydrates. At the time I was not aware of this and decided just to do section 2 and get back to my car. It took me ages to get myself into gear and it was gone 1330 by the time I got to Threlkeld and it was raining and claggy on the tops. I felt rubbish all the way up Clough Head and in desparation I ate something even though I didnt feel at all hungry. Amazingly I suddenly felt ok again and I was able to do the rest of the section in standard time (apart from when I had to do a bit of map work coming off Dollywaggon). I picked up the car in by now torrential rain and drove back to Keswick for a celebratory night out at an Italian restaurant.
I was looking forward to the meal and to polishing off section 1 the next day before driving home but unusually for me I didnt finish my main course and didnt want pudding. I was in bed around 2300 feeling ok but about 0300 I woke up for the first of several trips to the loo with sickness and the runs. I dont know whether it was food poisoning or a viral thing but the enteral bit had settled down by the morning. I was left feeling really tired - like I couldnt get out of bed and felt feverish and headachy too. I kept hydrating all day but couldnt really manage solids. I was allowed to stay in my room until 1500 and then my hosts kindly offered me another room for as long as I wanted. I had a big day at work the next day though so I felt I ought to try to get back to the island and so I set off driving.
The next 12 hours are a bit of a blur.
I drove for about 40 minutes at a time and then stopped for a couple of hours sleep at a service station before continuing. Eventually I was somewhere around Manchester at 2200 and I woke up feeling the worst had past. I was less sweaty and my headache and achy joints had gone. From then on I was able to drive more or less all the way down to Portsmouth getting there about 0200 and eventually getting home at 0330 - very tired and relieved. That journey had been harder and more worrying than 3 sections of the BG!
I had porridge for breakfast and felt about 90% fit at work but definitely on the mend. I was on call the following night but thankfully it was quiet - some one was looking after me.
The following day I was more or less normal and taking stock of a highly eventful weekend.
Overall I was pleased with what I had done even though I had planned on doing the whole route in the 3 days.
I feel it would have been fine if I had not been ill and saturday was definitely a good day where I did more than I had planned.
Originally I had planned on 3 more hard weeks of training and then I have a weeks holiday in the Lakes where I was going to do some final (gentle) recces before tapering for 3 weeks before 20th June.
I have started wondering now though whether I should keep training this week and then taper for a couple of weeks and plan to make my attempt during my weeks holiday. This would give me a bigger weather window and there is virtually the same amount of daylight. I would lose a bit of time to hone my fitness levels but to be honest I think I probably have sufficient fitness and that things like mental factors, health, injuries, weather and other unpredictable eventualities probably play a bigger part. It would be sad to train for an extra couple of weeks only to end up injured.
On the other hand the extra reccying time, familiarising time, and time to prepare my food and kit would be useful.
Looks like I have a decision to make some time in the next week as by then I will have to commit to either training or tapering!

Week 18 28/4 - 4/5/08

Monday 18 miles x6 250m hill circuits 3hrs 0 min 1500m ascent
Tuesday Rest
Wednesday Rest
Thursday Rest
Friday Rest
Saturday 40 miles Legs 3,4,5 BGR 14 hrs 10 mins (2 stops 22 mins each) 5400m ascent
Sunday 13 miles Leg 2 BGR 4hrs 43 mins 1455m ascent

Total 3 runs, 70 miles, 8355m 27,500 feet ascent