March: Building to the Lakes

I had ended February with a rest week. It would have been good to say that this was planned but in reality it just seemed the sensible thing at the time.

I had enjoyed a good week skiing in France with sunny weather, good company and plenty of snow left over from big falls earlier in the season. I started the week on a snowboard as for many years I had wanted to have a go on one and it always seemed to me a very pure and elegant way of getting down the mountain (when performed by experts). I had had a go a few years earlier for one day with my son in Bulgaria but to be honest we had not done much - really just balancing on a very shallow and icy beginners slope.

Well I enjoyed the challenge of snow boarding but did find it much harder than I imagined. I was able to sideslip down the mountain on the heel edge of the board fairly well by the end of the first day although this was very hard work when going down a long green 'road' of a run such as there were several of in Les Deux Alpes. My inability to turn meant that incredible tension seemed to build up in my legs during the course of a long descent and I had no way of relieving it except by stopping (and I didnt want to be left behind).

It was obvious I had to be able to ride on the toe edge of the board as well and I also had to be able to turn. Over the next 3 days I worked hard on these things and was starting to make some decent progress - able to turn more or less fluently and get down basic blue runs at a reasonable rate. I was very prone to falling though and although I hadn't had any major crashes the number of tumbles was starting to make me feel a bit battered.

On the 4th day - either side of lunch - I had 2 heavier falls landing on hard ice on my backside with a sickening pelvis jolting crunch. The second of these in particular left me almost breathless with pain and it was all I could do to hobble back to the accomodation. I spent the rest of the afternoon lying on my bed followed by a hot bath soak. When I got out of the bath there was quite a satisfying crunching click in my lower back and pelvis area and the pain subsided quite dramatically so much so that I found myself laughing almost hysterically at the relief from pain. I was able to go out to enjoy a meal out with my family that night but it was obvious that I could not afford to take any more hits like that - I had definitely had my public warning.

I spent the rest of the week on skis (where I am much more confident) and slowly got myself moving - avoiding falling again.

When I got home I went for a long walk on the beautiful Isle of Wight coast path and although I felt fine, whenever I started to jog my pelvis felt uncomfortable and unstable.

As a result I determined to have a complete rest week to try to allow things to settle down. It has been my experience that if things are pushed too much too early then a containable injury can easily turn into a chronic one. This having been said it is not very glamorous having a rest week especially as I had not done much the previous week when I was skiing.

The following week I was on a mixture of work and holiday in Cape Town, South Africa.

I was attending the World Congress of Anaesthesiologists four yearly (like the Olympics) meeting. The meeting itself was very exciting - huge with 8000 delegates but it was also a wonderful opportunity to see a bit of this exciting and vibrant country.

The weather was positively balmy at nearly 30 degrees celsius on some days. The city is overlooked by the spectacular Table Mountain and a combination of the rest which I had had, the weather and the location meant that I was champing at the bit to get out again.

I had a really good week in which I climbed Table Mountain 5 times and also found time to get out to the Cape of Good Hope national park and had a good look around Cape town itself. A country with amazing natural resources, fantastic people but some really difficult problems with huge poverty and chronic illness - particularly AIDS.

The following week saw me back down to earth with a bump. My flight back to the UK was cancelled due to bad weather and I spent Monday trapped at the airport in Paris before finally getting back to the Island late that night. That week I was quite busy at work and I only managed three smallish runs before I went to Jersey at the weekend to see my sister and her family.

It is always good when we meet up and sadly it isnt that often as we are both busy and living on seperate islands makes travelling tricky and somewhat costly.

On the Saturday I walked round Jersey which is reckoned to be about 48 miles on the coastal path with a fair amount of ascent and descent as you travel up and down the cliffs - particularly on the north side of the island. Anually - around the time of the longest day in June - there is an organised walk on this path and it is very popular I understand. Many of the entrants complete the whole walk which is no mean acheivement considering its length and ruggedness. Anyway I had superb day with mixed weather. My brother in law joined me for some of the walk on the north side and I really enjoyed the beautiful scenary. The walk took me exactly 12 hours and I was pleased to get so much time on my feet as apart from climbing this seems to be the other key to success in the Bob Graham.

The following week I had a few days off and then had a couple of big climbing days back to back and followed by a 7 mile road race which I took fairly easily as I was quite tired.

Easter Bank holiday 2 days later I did an 8 mile mixed terrain race - the 3 hills - and was pleased that I was feeling much recovered after just one days rest. I was quite close to my strongest and I did a PB for the course whch was a real confidence booster.

I was pleased with my fitness and the way things were going but I still had no real idea how I would be on the real fells in the Lake district. I know from past experience just how tough and unforgiving they can be. I had deliberately not gone up there earlier as it is such a long way. I wanted to maximise the benefit of trips and to me that meant going up later on in the year when I hoped the weather would be better and I would be able to get more done.

I did feel nervous about how I would go when I was up there. After Easter I had the rest of the week off resting so that I would be as recovered as possible for my first long weekend staying in Keswick.

I drove up after work and had a reasonable journey - arriving just before midnight. I had the full English breakfast in the morning and then set off fully kitted up in rather rainy weather on Leg 1 clockwise of the BG.

There was a lots of snow around which made progress up Skiddaw hard work but before the top I met Dave who was a fell runner I think from Skelmersdale who turned out to be on a similar route to me. He was very friendly and we spent the rest of the walk/run together - jogging on the railway track together back to Keswick once we had descended Blencathra. He showed me a number of good routes - especially from Great Calva down to the Caldew. His route being along the fence line and then keeping above the stream, through the heather, to the big bend in the Caldew - directly across (wet feet) and then up Mungrisedale common and under the screes to the summit of Blencathra. We went off Blencathra by dropping immediately off the side to the west of Halls Fell Ridge. After contouring a bit we got back to the ridge below the scrambling bits. It was tricky in the snow - my Walshes had very little studded sole left on them and I was slithering around rather alarmingly. Overall it was a good route but I wasn't sure how easy I would find it in the dark. My feet were very cold in the snow after they got wet - I lost all sensation in them for about half an hour until they warmed up a bit when we started jogging again.

I had a great day and was reassured that I could manage the Lakeland fells albeit only just inside the time allowed for the section. It was wonderful to spend the time with Dave - such a difference from being alone - and I hope that we may meet up on the fells another time.

The next day I was a bit slow getting away but I had a good day doing the second leg of the BG.

The weather steadily improved and it ended up very cold but with wonderful views. There was loads of snow especially on the peaks around Helvellyn and at times moving through it was very hard work. Again I was not very fast but I just about managed to keep to the schedule and did not feel too bad at the end.

The following day I repeated section 1 before driving back to the Isle of Wight. I was abit slower on my own but still around the BG 23.5 hour schedule.

I ended the weekend and the month fairly satisfied that my training was on track and that I more or less had the kit I needed for my Bob Graham attempt. My back/pelvis injury seemed to have healed and certainly wasn't causing me any problem even though my right hip occasionally clicked a bit.



Week 10 3-9/3/08

Monday 6 miles road 43mins
Tuesday 4 miles Table mountain Platterklip Gorge 3 quarters up and down 1hr 400m ascent
Wednesday 5 miles Table mountain Platterklip Gorge 1 1/4 up and down 1hr 40mins 700m ascent
Thursday 10 miles Table mountain x2 up and down 3 hrs 1300m ascent
Friday 5 miles Table mountain up and down 2 hrs 650m ascent
Saturday Rest
Sunday Rest

Total 5 runs, 30 miles, 3150m 10,300 feet ascent


Week 11 10-16/3/08

Monday Rest
Tuesday 4 miles road 35.00
Wednesday 5 miles x5 65m hills 54.00 410m ascent
Thursday 2 miles 240m hill ascent
Friday Rest
Saturday Round Jersey coast path 50 miles in all, 12 hrs ?1500m ascent
Sunday Rest

Total 4 runs, 61 miles, 2150m 7150 feet ascent


Week 12 17-23/3/08

Monday Rest
Tuesday Rest
Wednesday Rest
Thursday 18 miles x6 250m hills 3hrs 18 mins 1500m ascent
Friday 18 miles x6 250m hills 3hrs 16 mins 1500m ascent
Saturday 7.2 miles road race Newport- Ryde 50.30 100m ascent
Sunday Rest

Total 3 runs, 45miles, 3100m 10,200 feet ascent


Week 13 24-30/3/08

Monday 8 miles mixed terrain road race 54.51 300m ascent
Tuesday Rest
Wednesday Rest
Thursday Rest
Friday Rest
Saturday 12.5 +4 miles Leg 1 BG 3hrs 45 mins + jog back to Keswick 40 mins 1550m ascent
Sunday 13miles Leg 2 BG 4 hrs 28 mins 1800m ascent

Total 3 runs, 38 miles, 3,600m 12,000 feet ascent


31/3/08 Monday 12.5 + 4 miles walk Leg 1 BG 4hrs 7 mins 1,550m 5,150 feet ascent