I tell you what though....

.....it's buddy chilly out.

One year ago it was positively balmy. This year the winter has dragged on and on. The biggest problem this brings to Bob Graham Round training is the snow and ice that make progress slower than it should be, and also the intense biting cold some days when you get any height up.

Yesterday was a day with both those issues to face.

I was wanting a long run of at least 6 hours and planned out a circuitous route of about 25 miles that would see me cover some of the round and a couple of other tops I hadn't been on for a few years.

All went well initially as I left Keswick with Lee (toast) Newton, heading up to Gale Rd then over the back o' Latrigg and onto Blencathras Blease Fell. The wind was strong in the East but didn't affect us at all as we jogged along the summit ridge to Blen's famous circle for what must be at least my 12th visit of 2013.

As is my wont we dropped into Threlkeld via Doddick, stopping thereon to check out my wee lines and shortcuts to avoid rocky bits, (though whether I remember them in't dark on my actual round is another matter altogether)

At Threlkeld we were on about 15 minute mile average pace and had scarcely broke into a sweat. Ideal in my opinion. 15 min/miling is 4mph and 4mph is way more than enough complete the round inside 24 hours.

Once over the Coach Road and trudging up the steep face of Clough Head things got tough. I reckon on this occasion I should really have gone around to the back a little further and utilised the walkers path. But I stubbornly stuck to my pre-existing BG knowledge and forged on upward. On the high bit inbetween the rocky areas,  where there are now steps formed, it was just a sheet of ice covered in new snow. I naturally lowered my centre of gravity by going onto all fours and continued picking my way up. Lee didnt seem at ease at all. I was concerned he was going to freeze out of fear of going up or back down so stayed where I was a while until he got confident enough to carry on up toward me.

At this stage, despite being almost fully white with frost and snow sticking to him, and closing one eye against the raging wind that pebble-dashed everything solid with the top layer of  snowcrust and fresh hail - Scamp was hunkered down in a familiar position that I know means he had found a stick and placed it on my route to throw for him. On this occasion I declined his offer.

As we got higher, and safely onto the main drag up to the summit cairn, Lee somehow got into his bag and put on more clothes. I felt sure if  did the same I would lose them in the wind so I battered on over the summit and down t'other side. We headed for Calfhow Pike and found a bit of shelter behind one of its larger rocks. I took an absolute age to put on my £80 gloves, thicker hat and jacket.

A couple of mins later we were off up toward Gt Dodd

A couple of mins later we were coming back down from (not very far at all up) Gt Dodd.

It was hideous. Wind so strong that running was impossible despite the gentle-at-first gradient. And so cold ( I later discovered Helvellyn was -18 windchhil so I reckon we had at least minus 10 or 12). It wasn't really possible to talk to each other properly so we retreated back to Calfhow and took stock.

We considered looking across to just above Wanthwaite Crags then trying to get down to Threlkeld Knotts but its tremendously steep ground - not a safe place to go adventuring. So we took the valley out NE until we reached the Coach road again, then toured around Cloughy until we were back at our original point above Newsham House. By the time we retraced our steps to Threlkeld we'd done 16 miles. Lee suggested we could call his dad up for to come and get us and give lift to Keswick.

I'd never heard such a crazy idea in a long time. We weren't knackered or owt. Its just the weather had forced a re-think of our plans. No no no, the jog back to Keswick would help warm us up some more and would make a shortened day not too short after all. As we jogged along the old railway line at a decent enough 8mins/mile, Lee revealed that at 17 miles covered, this was now his longest run, EVER. The lad done good.

So 20 miles covered in total. The average pace of 4.37 mph (13:43 min miling)  was upped due to the flat run-in to the finish (and would have been a lot higher than that if if not for the lengthy stops at Calfhow) But to be honest as only the first couple of hours were on true BG ground, the final pace becomes much less relevant.

Note - the original plan would have seen us visit all 3 Dodds then drop down Sticks Pass to Stanah. I was then considering back o' Thirlmere and up to High Tove, High Seat, Bleaberry etc. One for another (warmer) day I reckon.



One thing I learned training for road marathons is that its important to do short fast running as well as the vital long slower stuff. I see no reason not extend this theory to BGR training and with that in mind I recently made a full scale attack on leg 1. With Andrew M the other week I'd taken 4:15 for leg 1. On my own I'd done it in 3:17 (or 3:22 if you add in Moot Hall to SpooneyGreen Lane). So I reckoned  sub 3 hours was achievable....

I ran almost all the way up Skiddaw and then ran most of the remainder of the leg too to record 2:58, comprising Skiddaw ascent in 66 mins, Calva in 32mins - Blen' in 55 and 25 off via Doddick. As this was with still some icy patches on the summits I have every confidence I will be able to go faster still. Going as fast as possible rather than retaining reserves to keep going for hour after hour was a lot of fun and much more the kind of running I enjoy and am used to, but I know that wherever possible I need to spend the days I have off work 'going long'. With this in mind I will be taking some Wednesdays off work to allow for two long runs per week to be completed.

#wecontinue