Monday 24 January 2011

Bob Graham training


I’m training for the Bob Graham Round again this year and have an attempt planned for June 17. After spending nine months training I was halted by twelve hours of continuous rain and high winds in July last year, managing to get to Great End but ninety minutes or so behind schedule, with no sign of a break in the weather. A hose-pipe ban was announced the day before my run so there was certain inevitability about what happened! Five weeks later I tried again but found it very difficult and bailed out after just two legs. Getting lost in clag coming off Skiddaw in the dark broke my spirits I think. It’s terribly demoralising to find yourself thirty minutes down at the start of leg two in Threlkeld and a bad climb up Clough head after running through Threlkheld virtually without stopping didn’t help. For a back of the pack fell runner like me there is a large amount of luck needed in a successful round and I just didn’t seem to get any during my 2010 attempts

Training has gone well this year so far and I’ve already done the Hardmoors 30 ultra marathon on New Years day as well as increasing my weekly mileage and more importantly, climb. This weekend was the Hebden LDWA challenge event (23miles / 4500+ft) on Saturday and Stanbury Splash fell race yesterday on Penistone Hill near Haworth (7miles / 1200ft). Both events went well as training runs and it was great to catch up with many friends over the weekend. The only sad news was hearing from Alan Greenwood (the organiser of the excellent Hebden) that a fatality had occurred early on in the event. My thoughts go out to the family of the deceased

4 comments:

  1. Hope you have better luck this year.
    If you believed the fra forum it is nigh on impossible to lose your way on the skiddaw section nowadays!!!!
    The best of luck!

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  2. Hey, only just found this!! Good stuff Andy, keep updating, it gives you focus and something wonderful to look back on afterwards.
    As for the year so far....last year started with 21 miles on New Year's Day then a cracking run at the Hebden....so I reckon you're right on course!

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  3. Thanks for the comments and kind thoughts guys. I think I must have taken the wrong lane on the motorways last August coming off Skiddaw Stu

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  4. Good luck with the BG training Andy. I saw you after The Hebden but never got around to moving to your table for a chat. I suppose a bash at Long Tour of Bradwell might be out of the question this year under the circumstances?!

    Good job with the blog. I'll follow your BG progress.

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