Training Log Archive: Mark3

Since race cancelled this year and someone from the club said they were going to do it anyway; good use of a BH and all that; thought I'd have a go. Since was in the Lakes on Weds and Pennines on Sat, it was between this and Wales. And I wanted to show off to my clubmates.

They set off at 6am from the race start, I set off from home at 7:15 ish meaning I got to the start at 8am and so was 2 hours behind. I had vague 10-11 hour expectations whereas they were aiming at 14, so I expected to catch them fairly near the end.

Some getting lost encapsulated in the below;
Whiteley OK
HG where is it best to leave MWW?
Bow need to cut corner from Poynton better; FP and ROW diverge at Towers Yard Farm. Got a bit lost and had to climb some fences
CC my route after Bowstones (down up) better here
EX Slight difference coming down just before Coldwell, immaterial
Edale From Upper Booth, road route is shorter depending on CP location in Edale
Castle Castleton, depends on location of CP again; my route is grassier though
Peak Western route is better than Cavedale unless CP is in centre. Path cuts diag across 2 fields before Old Dam Lane
Millers My route less ascent and less road but more involved. Depending on CP location, better to stay on main path to main road then under E bridge through dale
Chel Long Lane and then Limestone way would be slightly longer but safer than the main road
Earl Footpath through Limestone works does not exist!!
Brand Tracks rather than FP just before Brand Top safer
Cumberland OK
Walker OK
(Bollington) OK

Main issue was at ES where there is no trace whatsoever of an FP; I tried to go that way anyway but was discouraged by angry cows and had to backtrack. Looking at overhead view, really glad I did as there is no way at all through the limestone quarry and so I'd have got stuck later on anyway. The OS really needs updating for that as the quarry has clearly been there for ages. I have reported this to OS (never done that before, so no idea if anything will happen; but why not?). Anyway probably lost c.15 mins here, so without that I'd have got under my 11-hour target.

Emma met me at Millers Date for 500ml water (should've got a litre dammit; drank 2.5L but 3 was required really). Maybe I'd have been a bit faster in a race situation (ie not carrying 2L from the start). Starting to really feel pretty dreadful from around Chelmorton (c.60k/37miles?) onward. Still managed to keep going though, although definitely walking any uphill after that, whereas ran everything beforehand other than up to Hollins Cross.

Changed Clif bar interval from 75 to 90 mins which worked well I think. 6, interspersed with 2 packets SBs.

No desire to do the race next year now really although the fact that I've set a target is somewhat worrying and will be hard to ignore.

Not that tired actually but spent the day wandering around the Treacle Market (treacle stalls: zero) and eating eggs Benedict, pie, macarons, pear & ginger cake and fish finger sandwiches.

Can't complain.

Been meaning to come up here for a while as it's the highest point in England outside the lakes. When planning a route it was actually quite hard to find somewhere to start from; the tiny villages are are narrow roads and no parking. Eventually chose Knock as the place with the best name.

I flirted with 3/4s due to the minus 5 degree wind chill forecast, but decided not to believe that so went with standard shorts. Very pleased with this on the way up when the sun came out, but as got higher and higher into the clag it became more and more windy and unpleasant... After 90 mins when I got to Cross Fell shelter I had to ask a walker to do my coat up as my hands were too cold to function. Really need to sort the Raynaud's.

Lovely downhill all the way to Kirkland and then it was the choice between going back up again or the 5k flat back to the car...couldn't face bailing on a route two runs in a row though, so did the long slog back up again into the clag. Didn't seem quite as bad the second time. Another really nice downhill down the PW.

Probably underestimated this run too much. Took quite a lot longer than expected. Need to remember that now I've run 65miles it doesn't mean any run shorter than that is somehow easy!

Doubt I'll be coming back here though; terrain is similar to the Dales which is closer; if I'm driving for more than 2 hours I'll be going to the lakes (like everyone else, judging by the c.5 people I saw in 5 hours today).

Lazy. Long(ish) runs planned for tomorrow and Monday, though.

It's been raining the whole day, plus I had a lot of work. Didn't feel the need to go out.

Attempt at this route;
https://www.gofar.org.uk/no-cure-always-hope
with Allen.

Got 19/25ths of the way around but bailed based on a few factors;
- Allen was basically dead
- One of Allen's shoes was falling apart
- If we continued at our current pace it was likely to be dark when still up high and we weren't adequately prepared for that

Bit annoying, but hey ho. The weather was pretty good, but the wet rock made the rocky sections very treacherous and slow. There were more rock sections than I was expecting.

To Buttermere was fine and straightforward. Claggy on the Red Pike Ridge and very rocky up to Haystacks (no wonder the racing line on all the fell races which don't actually have it as a checkpoint is always to avoid it as far as possible) but very nice at the top scenery-wise. Down from Seat, there's a nice line to the N of the main path to Scarth gap which I haven't found before; good to remember. From Haystacks, basically straight-line from S end of Blackbeck tarn to Grey Knotts (went to the other one from my BG for a bit of variety; it doesn't have a cairn which fits with it being marginally lower as per Rob's research on the day) and then all fine up to Green Gable.

Down from GG was really slow due to the wet rocky scree and steps which aren't readily avoidable (that we could see). Straight up seathwaite was very picturesque, then down the other side, and a bit of slog to Allen (not been there before). Then the ridge between there and Glaramara was much rocker than expected, again this was new to me. Good views and good running down to Thornythwaite and then into Borrowdate, though.

Castle Crag was weird; apparently used to be a Hill Fort but it looked like it was entirely build of slate, the hill was like a slate mountain. Surprisingly, this was the busiest peak of the day (maybe because it's 290m).
Post-Castle crag looking at the ground it looked like the best way up to Maiden might be to go slightly diagonally up to Low Scawdel; ie between Goat Crag and Lobstone Band Door. That looked possible from below, anyway. There was also a trod up the wall from the forest corner 400m N on the path, although we aborted at this point and so don't know where it leads; but the originally intention had been S of Nitting Haws. It also looked like it would be possible to go all the way up the track to Swanesty How and then straight up to the trig from there. So lots of options if I was going to have another go at this - might do, since it was quite a good route actually.

Good day out. Only new summit missed out on was High Snockrigg...

Splits:
Causey 51
Sail 1:18
Crag Hill 1:28
Wandope 1:38
Whiteless 1:48
Dodd 2:59
Red Pike 3:10
High Stile 3:27
High Crag 3:43
Seat 3:56
Haystacks 4:17
Grey Knotts 4:56
Brandreth 5:04
Green Gable 5:21
Seathwaite 5:57
Allen 6:27
Glaramara 6:59
ThornyThwaite 7:19
Castle 8:20

...so we got to Castle in about the FKT for the whole round. I don't think I'll be challenging that any time soon.

Trying and failing to get back before more rain.

Legs still feeling good.

Legs feel pretty amazing after a week off.

Lovely evening.

Just lazy. This week has been really poor in running terms. Must try harder.

First time with MapRunG. Actually worked really well, and great not having to carry a phone around. Only one control didn't work first time and I had to turn round and go back; all the rest; perfect. Synced with MapRunF fine afterwards too.

As to the O, straightforward but still managed to miss a couple of diagonals and one uncrossable, and some 55/45 route choices incorrect. But good to be back at 1:5k and properly navigating for a change.

No after effects from the illness. Cruising around rather than pushing super hard; main problem with virtual events imho.

Surprisingly dry! Chatting pace.

Felt a lot better in the morning, but worse later on. Sigh.

I feel like tomorrow I might be able to leave the house.

Defo a water thing. Bought some purifying tablets for future; don't want to go through this again! Will have to get used to carrying more water in summer to suit my delicate constitution.

Possibly from drinking from a very low level river... I did use a filter though!

Not very appealing (heavy rain, heavy legs) but my car was at Emma's and had to get there somehow.
As per, fine once running although pretty tired.

First chance to enter a race in ages so obvs had to be done. Changed from LM42 to LM40 due to covid and United utilities, and only found out about the change last night so there was frantic route planning late last night before the 3:30 alarm this morning.
Further changes made in the car park moved one of the CPs - also we were 'advised' not to come down Swirrel or Striding Edges. I decided immediately to ignore this advice, having got used to ignoring government advice this kind of thing now comes easily to me.

Set of 12 mins before N. Kept running all the way from the start to High Street which was about 2 hours, and caught by N. Ran down to the isthmus on Angle Tarn together but got I got away to the CP at Patterdale. Didn't stop as I had 500ish ml left. But it was hot and getting hotter. The spectacular cloud inversions of the morning were long gone.

Got to Grisedale Tarn still ahead of N and had to stop to fill a bottle. Managed to eke this out up Dollywaggon (crazily hot climb) to Helvellyn and down via Hole In The Wall (which is a stile) back to Patterdale where I filled both bottles. Thought this would be fine but had drunk them both with an eclectic route up Place Fell (shorter but steeper).
There was some kind of race on Place Fell; some guy giving a speech and everyone clapping, and a drone. No idea.

Left before High Dodd for the gentler descent, but not confident enough the trod was the right trod and so bailed early to the large track. At the bottom of the trod, saw it actually had a signpost. Nice footpaths across to Howtown and filled another bottle in the stream, taking me up to 3L. Managed not to fracture a rib on the run back (same path as TdH in Dec where I was not so fortunate).

No idea on results but no better than third - possibly third. Pretty pleased. Mainly due to being nearly an hour ahead of N. Tired but happy.

Easy in the sunshine.

Very easy with some BH guys, chatting about one of their forthcoming BG attempts. Naturally I'm am expert now.

He's far less organised than I was. Feeling half smug and half concerned.

Started in the final group; just 4 of of us. Leading for the first few hundred metres to get to the stile first, but Allen and N soon passed me on the climb and pretty much disappeared. Chris passed me too but was always within touching distance.
Found the ascent tough especially in the heat. Weird to be trying to run so fast but wanted to keep Chris close so I could pass on the descent. Actually caught him on the climb just before the technical stuff but got away from him on that. No sign of the other two so just maintained pace, could feel myself overheating which was a bit worrying. Managed to hold it together until the end; so third, a few mins down on the front two.

Good fun...sort of.

Easy run. Felt ok other than massive heat again.

Nice walk with Em around Glossop, with a picnic stop.

Was going to run in the eve but just feeling really tired; probably due to sunnyness.

Just not as excited about the PB as the BG.

The roughness of the terrain on the first climb didn't help with this. Nice whilst on the ridge, though; although some rocky bits would've been really tough in the rain. Glad I recce'd before Stefan's attempt in a few weeks.

Good to get up Moel Hebog again after my previous attempt when I was about six.

EDIT:
Route notes for actual, now that it's been postponed until next year, don't want to forget:
(1) First climb, cross the footbridge so on W of river and then just go uphill
(2) After leaving the forest, stay on edge of forest. It's boggy and rubbish, but the whole area is boggy and rubbish anyway
(3) When get to forest tip, just take direct bearing to wall junction
(4) There should be a trod to pick up coming off Bryn Banog; leave ridge soon after summit
(5) Take R choice on Model Hebog - shorter but steeper
(6) On Y Gyrn, follow wall up, probably on W side

Edit: Allen's book says E side, and whenever you get to a crag go around to the right. I suspect it doesn't make much difference.

(7) Off Y Gyrn, stay on ridge for as long as is reasonable before turning left, aim for wall junction
(8) Due S after crossing the wall after Y Garn summit, can follow trod round and avoid the scree at the top

Rather warm day; second in a row wearing a vest...sweating a lot by the end despite taking it pretty easy.

Went to try and find a tree in the horizon that you can see from Emma's house and she's always wondered which one it was.

I took a bearing and made a guess - but getting there, don't think it was the right one. C'est la vie.

It was a thousand degrees. Felt ok other than that, though.

Hot. Tired.

Back on it. Found the climb tough but felt ok for the rest really - just still feeling the after effects of no sleep for two days and yawning since about 3pm. Lovely weather at kinder, 30 mins of drizzle then some amazing views.

The massive sugar highs probably aren't helping with the tiredness although that should improve now I've run out of scones.

Basically fine.

Ate my weight in scones, jam, clotted cream, chocolate and salted caramel fudge, 100% dark chocolate, brie and Parma ham croissant, hot buttered crumpets and strawberries.

Levered myself out of the house for a short walk in the evening. Not feeling too bad.

Bit stiff! And really tired after no sleep. Only actual injury is blisters on my hands from the poles though, so can't complain...

BGR Report – Mark Burley
1st Aug 2020, 1:30am start, Clockwise

Road Support – Emma Mason, Emma Beveridge, Angela Drakeford
Moral Support – Allen Bunyan, David Vincent, Barrie Thomason, Bernard McCarron, Emma Vincent Tom Whittington, Carl Hanaghan

Leg 1 – Target 3:14, Actual 3:20
Support – Col Allott
The weather forecast, which had been mixed at the beginning of the week, gradually solidified into something promising. The hottest day of the year the day before the attempt could have meant thunderstorms so I was a little worried, but MWIS just promised fog in the morning and possible remnants of showers, light winds, followed by a 70% chance of cloud-free summits later in the day.
I’d booked an AirBnB to attempt to get some sleep from 6pm until midnight – unsurprisingly it wasn’t to be, but I felt I knew the route pretty well after going over and over it in my imagination for six hours.
After some (very) early morning stretches and suncream application (always weird in the dark), Emma picked me up at quarter to one. We arrived in Keswick in plenty of time to watch the inebriated teenagers emerge from the pubs and bars and return to their cars. I’ve never seen someone punch a hanging basket before.
Met Col at Moot Hall, arranged kit, and then a tense couple of minutes wait until 01:30 spent discussing the first route choice – which alleyway to take through to the car park? But we were away on time, and wished well by a local youth; “wheeeeeeey I know what you guys are doin’; twenty-four hours mate; good luck boys”.
No problems for the first mile or so, other than psychological from Col’s horror stories of everything that went wrong on his (successful; amazingly so, based on the stories!) attempt. We ascended into the clag around Jenkin Hill and from thereon it only got thicker – despite the path being pretty well defined we were still leaving it every so often as it was difficult to discern the edges. It also became increasingly windy, although it was quite a warm wind so this wasn’t a massive problem; I never felt too cold in a long-sleeve. Despite the conditions we reached Skiddaw bang-on the totally arbitrary 20-hour schedule. From there down to Hare Crag and up to Great Calva was straightforward although much boggier than on my recce a few weeks before. Near the top it was difficult to stay on the path again, but lower down the visibility improved, and we remained on schedule. The fenceline down from Calva was much better running than the more direct line I’d taken on the recce, and we had no issues until halfway up Mungrisdale when we were in the clag again and didn’t see the small tarn until we were knee-deep in it, and had to backtrack slightly. This and losing the trod a few times meant we were a few minutes down at Blencathra, despite Col’s prescience anticipating the tarn on the ridge before we fell into it this time.
Doddick on the way down is further than Hall’s, but it’s nicely runnable the whole way and nowhere near as dangerous – also much easier on the quads. Sent Col off to increase the water allowance for Leg 2 and was feeling good at the changeover; 5-ish minutes behind schedule.
Leg 2 – Target 3:36, Actual 3:33
Support – Nathanael Booker, Billy Parkinson
Col had thought the changeover would be the carpark rather than the lane (understandably – despite the car park not being on the racing line…) and so since there was no rest time scheduled, Emma drove up the lane to catch us up with an extra softflask. Definitely a good call! It was much warmer than I’d expected. Changed from my damp long-sleeve into a t-shirt at this point which was a little strange in itself before 5am. Especially along the road, it was fine to see now without torches and so timing had worked perfectly from that point of view – very happy with choice of 01:30 start time.
Back into the clag up to Clough Head, but near-perfect navigation (a few issues on the Dodds but corrected within seconds) meant that we were adhering magnificently to the (again – perfectly arbitrary) schedule. My biggest worries had been accidentally missing one of the Dodds or going up Calfhow by mistake, but we reached Dollywaggon without incident and I was still feeling good.
On the recce I’d come down the steep grassy slope to Grisedale Tarn, but today I decided the grass was too slippery for trail shoes and so stuck to the rocky path – probably slower but safer, and again, easier on the quads. Followed the steep trod up to Fairfield via the col between it and Cofa Pike.
Nathanael and I dropped Billy two thirds of the way up the climb. In the thick clag of Fairfield, we decided Nathanael would drop back down a bit and he and Billy could then contour around to the scree descent down to the Seat Sandal Col – then catch me up again before Seat Sandal summit. In the excitement of worrying about this I took a bad line of Fairfield myself and ended up to the South of the path, with a slippery boulderfield between me and the scree. Since I wasn’t sure what would happen if I carried on, I had no choice but to do a bit of clambering – luckily this wasn’t too far and I was soon back on track. I had a brief worry that I would now be behind Nathanael and Billy rather than ahead of them, but Nathanael caught me just after the col. I didn’t see Billy again – he’d wanted to do the entire leg rather than skipping the top of Fairfield, and so Nathanael had abandoned him in favour of the attempt (the right call, obviously). I didn’t know this at the time – but Billy got down to Dunmail c.40 minutes later than us, having not wanted to end up in Ambleside (understandable) and so descended Fairfield via Cofa Pike (less understandable) and then contoured round the scree to get the to Seat Sandal col. Definitely a less well-travelled route.
Enjoyed the fast descent down to Dunmail and glad to have gained back a few minutes on the leg. Still feeling good at this point.

Leg 3 – Target 5:38, Actual 5:43
Support – Nic Barber, Matt Johnson
Nice to see a big crowd at Dunmail, and had a few extra people to run sections of Leg 3 with – David joined me for the ascent of Steel Fell, and Allen and Nathanael used the logistical support we had in place as a good opportunity to recce the whole leg.
Clag was gradually clearing and Steel Fell climb felt okay. Started to get some lovely views from the top. Made up some time vs. the schedule across the rough terrain to High Raise – I’ve never recce’d the Sergeant-Man-first route but I’ve always been happy with the straight line – and feeling optimistic at High Raise despite the clag closing in again. Nic took us on a lovely grassy trod to Sergeant Man which didn’t quite end up in the right place – I think if we’d have cut off a bit sooner, it would still have been a better route than the main path, which is rockier and more undulating. It felt like we lost more time than it looks like we did, and we were soon back on track and a few minutes up on the schedule.
Despite falling over a few times across Martcrag Moor, I remained positive. Some great views down into Langdale from Black Crags, and the first time I’ve seen Rossett not in the clag and so successfully avoided going to the subsidiary cairn before the main summit. On the climb to Bowell, now after around eleven hours, I had a bit of a bad patch and found it tough. But Nic found a great line (starting with the first shelf rather than the second) and we emerged much nearer the summit than I ever have before. I didn’t know this at the time, but we were now ten minutes up, which is the most we would ever deviate from the (arbitrary, genuinely!) schedule.
The next few summits passed without incident although it was still claggy from Great End onward. Lost time at Ill Crag and Broad Crag, unsurprisingly as the very rocky sections have always been my weak point. As usual, despite seeing very few people thus far, Scafell Pike was very busy. Although I’d wanted to try Lord’s Rake and the West Wall traverse, Nic told me it wasn’t very nice at the moment and I wouldn’t like it very much. I thought he was probably right and so elected to go via Foxes Tarn but try and find a trod which led us to a higher way into the gully. Retrospectively that was a bad call – should just have taken the hit – so lost a bit of time cutting across higher up and then having to lose the height anyway. Consequently we were a few minutes down at Scafell.
The rocky section at the top of the descent wasn’t as bad as I remembered, and the scree lower down was a delight as it has been the previous two times I’ve done it. Stopped to empty my shoes after sending the support on ahead, but due to moisture it proved impossible to fully extricate all the small stones. Based on this I stopped again at Wasdale (chair, fresh socks and fresh shoes all nicely laid out; perfect) for a couple of minutes. This did mean that I’d gone from being the most up vs. the schedule to the most down (eight minutes on leaving Wasdale) within two and half hours; all on the same leg. Still feeling good at this point though, as I was now pretty confident of making it back within the 24-hour window, even if I had to walk most of the rest of the route.

Leg 4 – Target 4:53, Actual 4:48
Support – Rob Gittins, Stefan Bramwell
Disappointed not to have Tom with me on this leg, but an injury on the Wednesday evening fell group training run (which it seems was a sensible idea for me to miss out on!) meant a last-minute substitution to Rob – who ironically, was also a last minute leg four substitute for Tom’s own BG when someone else dropped out!
I was still feeling good on the Yewbarrow climb and was spurred on by leaving Nathanael behind (he has loads of perfectly valid excuses, but this is my report so I don’t have to mention them) as I’m so used to seeing him disappearing off into the distance in races. This kept me going up Yewbarrow and Red Pike and gained time on both those legs, only losing a bit of time on Steeple after stopping for a poo (it had, after all, been 16 hours by now).
Pillar and Kirkfell were both fine although I was definitely starting to find it tough – not so much in the legs (although my knees didn’t feel like they would take too much more punishment) but my stomach wasn’t overly happy with the constant diet of Clif bars which had always worked so well in the past. Red Gully up to Kirkfell definitely seemed a better route to going around to the right like I did on my recce, and I gained some more time on this leg. Even on Great Gable – my least favourite mountain since getting hypothermia here on the Lake District Mountain Trail a few years ago and being genuinely scared for my survival – I gained a couple of minutes despite it feeling glacially slow going. Probably my worst time psychologically during the whole round, but Stefan and Rob got me through it; largely by keeping their own pace up and knowing I’d have to keep going if I wanted to stay with them!
The weather atop Great Gable was amazing and there were some glorious views down onto Seathwaite Fell, which is probably my favourite place in the Lakes. I was now seven minutes up and feeling confident, but the rocky descent off Great Gable reminded me of another reason I don’t like it, and I lost half of that time here. The rest was lost with another bathroom break on the way to Brandreth, so with Honister in sight I was pretty much exactly on schedule, arriving just one minute behind target.

Leg 5 – Target 2:36, Actual 2:29
Support – Rob Gittins, Matt Lynas
I thought the ascent of Dale Head felt pretty speedy but it was a couple of minutes behind what I was hoping for. This made me feel pretty despondent – but Matt was excellent at some motivational chat, and having David along too (“maybe I’ll just do a bit of the leg and see how I feel”) really helped lift my spirits. Across to Hindscarth started putting in some real effort as I knew the last big climb was out of the way, and got a minute back. Similarly to Robinson – revived by the sugar hit from some emergency Shot Bloks I got back another two minutes and was suddenly back on schedule. The sight of Barry and Bernard at the summit (who I’d totally forgotten were going to be there) telling me I was perfectly on time buoyed me up again and suddenly, beginning the descent which is the same as the descent on the anti-clockwise tea round (on which as far as I know I still hold the anti-clockwise course record and that I know really well) I felt amazing again. I flew down the top half of that hill, stopped for another quick poo (didn’t want to, but it was necessary!) and then flew down the second half, with my support struggling to keep up at times. From the top of High Snab Bank (I prefer the ridge run to dropping down early as it’s a much gentler descent) I could see Emma waiting with my change of shoes and socks. As soon as I got down, she confirmed that a sub-20 was still possible (in fact I was five minutes early to the changeover) and I set off at a great pace on the start of the road section feeling really positive.
As soon as we reached the first uphill on the road though, my body reminded me were reaching 100k (which is a good 15k further than I’d ever run before, not even considering the 8,300m+ of ascent which is a good 3,000m more than I’d ever done before as well) and began to rebel. I could feel my pace slowing. Matt was keeping up the motivation which I thought was working pretty well – only found out afterwards that Emma and Rob were worrying about the pace and deciding which strategies would work best to keep me going. Whatever they did worked anyway, and got me from Little Town to just before Portinscale. At this point we were back to the Tea Round route and suddenly I could visualise exactly how far was left – and that sub-20 was definitely on. I knew I had to keep a reasonable pace but equally I knew I didn’t have to wreck myself. And that gave me the confidence to speed up – after not really being bothered about the 20-hour thing the whole way around, it being a time pretty-much randomly picked as a nice round number that nobody thought was out of the question; suddenly a time starting with 19- became incredibly important and it mattered just how far under 20 I could get. When we got to Keswick and I saw Emma B and Stefan waiting and clapping, I found an extra gear somehow and sped up again, and as soon as I saw Moot Hall in the distance I started to sprint, just because I could, and it felt right. Finishing was far more emotional for me than I expected. The support from everyone mentioned in this report was outstanding and I couldn’t have done it without them – thanks guys.
The pepperoni, garlic and chilli pizza from the place right next to Moot Hall was possibly the best I’ve ever tasted.
Overall – Target 20:00, Actual 19:53

C • Great time 7