The keen-eyed who follow me on Strava have noticed... they've noticed the hill repeats and big elevation gain days, they've noticed the recce's and the Bob Graham Round support stints I've been doing. They've also noticed the appearance of poles... the ultimate give away! I hear their murmurings... he's definitely up to something!
Well, it's true. I am up to something.
Truth is, I first planned to have a go at the Bob Graham Round in May 2021.
I’d been dreaming about it ever since Feet in the Clouds dropped, quite unexpected, on my doormat in March 2017: everyone has a friend who randomly buys them books, right? Well, my friend who does that is called James, many good things start with James… and James had bought me Feet in the Clouds and I devoured it.
I gradually built up my endurance and by the end of 2020, I had a reasonable baseline level of fitness. I was averaging 50 miles a week, had a significant run streak going and finally closed out the year strong with 2,705 miles on the clock... I started to increase elevation gain over the winter, put an order in for some Black Diamond Distance Carbon Z poles and was feeling unstoppable... feeling unstoppable until this run, a fairly average, in relation to what I was doing at the time, out and back to Beacon Fell (with 25 hill repeats thrown in for good measure).
Everything changed for me on White Lee Lane that Sunday. My plans (and my health) fell apart. The poles arrived Monday… and remained unopened for two years.
Suffice to say it has been a very long journey back to where I am today, I don’t take anything for granted. I am immensely lucky to have reached a place where I feel I can trust my body again.
So, what's the plan?
A minimally supported clockwise attempt in late August, early September, 2023 on a 22 hour schedule departing from the Moot Hall at 10pm on a Saturday evening.
I plan to take Halls Fell Ridge off Blencathra, do Sergeant Man before High Raise, I will avoid Broad Stand and oh yes, before all that, I’ll be taking the Sweet Temptations alleyway 😂
These dates are currently being considered:
- Saturday 26th August
- Saturday 2nd September
- Saturday 9th September
I am convinced I'm not the first person to attempt a Bob Graham Round who finds it very difficult to accept help... who finds the idea of putting others out, or worse still, letting others down, absolutely crippling. It's for this reason I have to accept the risk that comes with a minimally supported attempt... I imagine this will take the form of road support plus 1 pacer on legs 1, 2 and 5 with 2 pacers on leg 3 and 4.
Preparedness
Since April, 2023, I've accumulated 135,000ft of elevation gain (averaging over 10,000ft a week). I've been doing hill repeats whilst practicing eating and drinking every 20 minutes: I have had stomach issues during long efforts in the past and my stomach going South during the attempt is one of my major concerns.
I've done legs 4 and 5 in a single push on two occasions (once as a recce and once supporting an attempt)… on both occasions, I felt pretty grim by the time I reached Moot Hall... that was 12 months ago and recent training efforts of matched elevation and duration suggest I'm in better shape now. I've also done leg 5 support again recently.
I've done leg 2 at least three times, including a spicy night support stint in awful conditions: visibility was an issue with my glasses steaming up in the heavy, sideways rain. This is a serious problem for me and one I still need to find a solution for... contact lens won't work, they get blown out of my eyes.
I've run leg 1 just once, although I've been up Skiddaw many times. I'm happy with that.
Which leaves leg 3... I've done an out and back from Dunmail Raise to Pike O'Stickle just recently and was surprised with how easy it felt. I plan to do an out and back to Pike O'Stickle from Wasdale soon to complete the route.
Todo
With all that said, I will continue to train and focus on the following objectives:
- eat and sleep well
- maintain my daily core fitness routine
- support Bob Graham Round attempts
- assemble a crew (thank you to those who've already offered help)
- recce the more difficult legs (for me, that's leg 3 and 4) again
- continue punching for weekly elevation gain of more than 10,000ft (except for rest weeks)
- be able to run leg 2 and 3 or leg 3 and 4 in one push and feel okay
That’s that for now… right, where are those poles…
Resources
There are quite literally hundreds of resources, I’ve only linked what stood out to me as being extra useful…
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