Training Log Archive: Frostbite

Beamsley Beacon, Round Hill, Foldshaw Ridge, Badgers Gate, Beamsley Beacon again. Moving ok. Fell over quite heavily. Now I have a sore and bloody elbow, but I survived pretty well considering how hard I hit the floor. Late in the day with the sun sinking.

Back to normal, more or less. A bit tired but the bloated feeling has gone and legs feel fine. I weigh half a stone less than I did 2 days ago. Stupid body.

Howell Wood and West Haigh Wood. Lovely late afternoon sunshine. Pretty dark towards the end. Felt a bit better than yesterday.

Headingley Hill, Kirkstall Hill and the Normans.

Very very terrible. Everything wrong. Legs sore, breathing laboured, but worst of all feeling incredibly fat. Like I had a sack of potatoes strapped to my front squeezing my torso.

Slow at the start, slow in the middle, slow at the end. It's not like I wasn't trying - this was as fast as I could go.

Walking in the Rhinogs. Bontddu, Diffwys, Y Lethr, Rhinog Fach, Rhinog Fawr, Roman Steps, Cwm Bychan, Llanbedr. It was supposed to dry out from 10am but it didn't, so the whole 8 hours was in wet wet rain, and everything everywhere was very wet. Not too bad as far as Y Llethr, from there on it is very rough, and every step was slippy so I slipped a lot. I've not been up Rhinog Fawr before. I was knackered, I could barely stand up, it is a ridiculously steep climb and then a dodgy descent. Visibility was never more than a couple of hundred metres and I had a bit of trouble finding the right way down via Llyn Du. Eventually I found my way to the Roman Steps and they weren't much better. The Romans should have made them less slippy. After Cwm Bychan I had been planning to find my way to Llanbedr by way of footpaths, but tarmac seemed like the much better option. It was so nice not slipping every step I took. Sod the Romans, McAdam new what he was doing. I also needed to step on it to catch the bus back to Barmouth.

18 mile, 7.75 hours, 1500m of climb. Rough.