The Late from the Lakes weekly report

So firstly apologies for the lack of Sunday reporting! We were in the Lakes (shock horror, i know, it WASN’T Snowdonia!?) and realised it was our turn on report writing. I didn’t feel too guilty once I saw Coach J didnt fancy getting drenched tomorrow night so called off the coached sesh 😉 and also on checking the inbox, it was bare -save for one absolute treat! So anyway here you have it – your Monday bi-weekly report!

Going to save the best till last and get some short n sweet stuff out the way first:

GDH Virtual Champs

Recces and efforts a-plenty going on for this month’s race cracker – the Glossop 10k. Don’t forget this one starts and ends at the LC – nice cheeky bit of climb up Victoria Street and then it’s a nice long descent down all the way to Woolly bridge roundabout pretty much – then the fun starts again 😉 

Lots of folk know this route inside out, so if it’s one you haven’t done before then stick something on FB and am sure you’ll find some company! All champs related info can be found here: https://www.glossopdaleharriers.org.uk/club-championship/

Thanks to the champs team inc Ian for his number crunching and Excel wizardy updating all the results.

EA Club Run Virtual Session

Just a reminder that this week sees the third and FINAL session of the EA Club Run Virtual programme!

Topic: Strength and Conditioning for Injury Prevention

Don’t miss out on this great chance to have some online run related coaching from an EA Level 4 coach. Don’t worry if you get subjected to dull Zoom calls during your working day, can assure you this will be nothing of the sort! These sessions are fun, informative, full of interesting content and with plenty of time to ask any questions you’ve like – doesn’t even matter if it’s “off topic”- this is your chance to get some advice on that burning run related question you have!

The general theme of this session is:

Strength and Conditioning for Injury Prevention – with a bit about what we can do with advancing age

There will also be a bit on running technique and some info on NURVV – so if you haven’t used those insoles for a while, get stuck in now! 

The Zoom joining link is on the FB event page. We don’t put it visible on the website just in case get any random gatecrashers who fancy heckling a run club session (unlikely but you just never know eh!?). If you haven’t got access to FB then please email club.secgdh@gmail.com and am sure Vicki will pass your email onto me so I can share the details with you.

Be great to hear what you thought of these sessions, and if it’s the kind of the thing you’d want the club to apply for in future. Obviously in non COVID times these sessions would have been face to face, and there is something about virtual sessions that just aren’t the same – but don’t despair, having had the opportunity to get involved virtually does NOT stop us applying for this again the future… and hopefully being accepted onto the programme!

Committee update on group running

For those who haven’t already seen, Vicki shared this update from the Committee recently:

Monday 17th May 2021 sees the next stage of the easing of lockdown restrictions.  Whilst we recognise that from Monday, Government and EA guidance allows for groups of up to 30, the Committee suggest that groups are still kept smaller.  We believe this will ensure that the Club maintains the goodwill of the local community with whom we share the streets, trails and trods.  With this in mind, a maximum of 16 participants is recommended for any run or training session.  This is in line with the numbers attending coached sessions, which will remain unchanged to ensure sessions are aligned to the EA recommended ratio of coach to participants.

The EA guidance can be accessed via this link: https://www.englandathletics.org/…/guidance-update-2021/

We would also ask that you are mindful of others when arranging to meet up for runs and training eg. several large groups outside the Leisure Centre or the Turning Circle at the same time should be avoided.  Social distancing must be maintained and you should not participate in any run if you have symptoms of COVID-19.  Please also check the Club’s COVID-19 guidance documents:  https://www.glossopdaleharriers.org.uk/…/covid-19…/

Thank you all for your observance of the rules around running and training together. The Committee will keep this advice reviewed as we move towards the next stage of the easing of lockdown on 21st June 2021.

Right the mo you’ve been waiting for – what was in the weekly report inbox this week!?

It’s just an unsupported Bob Graham Round report – from GDH Treasurer (and hardcore fell runner!) Steve Knight. Huge kudos to Steve and a big thanks for sending this in!

The BGR – a Lake District challenge of 42 peaks, 66 miles and 27,000 foot of ascent split into 5 legs. The aim is to complete it in 24 hours. I’ve wanted to do it for a few years but never got to the point of feeling ready for it until last year when I finally committed, did loads of training and lined up a GDH support team. Then covid appeared and it wasn’t going to happen. So coming into this year I was still keen and the idea of a solo round took hold – less likely to be affected by restrictions, less organising to do and more flexibility to pick good weather.

So I went for it on Friday when the weather looked favourable. Started from Keswick at 4am, a late change of plan from an evening start but figured I’d rather start after a bit of sleep. Downside was I hadn’t seen legs 4 or 5 in the dark before, my leg 2 night recce wasn’t going to be much use. Being unsupported meant carrying everything except water. I thought about a food drop but didn’t want to risk it going missing and ending my attempt. I carried close to 5kg of spare clothing, safety kit and way too much food. First hill was a bit of shock – probably should’ve done some training with the extra weight!

Weather was calm and dry throughout. I was in the clag for most of day so not great for navigation, but I would choose that over sunshine for a long thing like this – I really suffer with cramp as soon as there’s a hint of warmth. I was running on a 23 hour schedule and I managed to stick quite close to it until dark when I started losing time.

Leg 1 went smoothly enough until the last descent. Going up Skiddaw the views were awesome – a thick blanket of mist covered everything except the rising sun and the top of Blencathra. What a start. That was to be the last I saw of the sun. Thick mist on Blencathra meant I had my biggest navigation blunder of the day – managed to veer off Halls Fell part way down. No idea how – I’ve been down it many times. Ended up bashing through steep heather and dropping into a valley I’ve not been in before, losing about 20 minutes in the process. Not the best start!

Leg 2 was straight forwards and I made the time back I’d lost on leg 1. I was in the clouds for the whole leg so no breathtaking views. Occasional patches of snow remained from the crazy weather the week before. Felt fine at the end of the leg after 8.5 hours on the go, and had managed to chomp my way through a decent amount of food in an attempt to lighten the load.

Leg 3. The long one. Had a bit of a downer for a few hours – legs getting tired and the thought that I wasn’t half way yet was getting me down. Taking a bit more food on board helped with the negativity, but eating was getting hard and I had gone off sweet stuff – not ideal as that was all I had. I managed to keep roughly to schedule, and opting for Lords Rake to get up Scafell saved a good chunk of time. The long descent to Wasdale with the scree gully was great fun.

Leg 4 was a mixed bag. I kept to schedule over the first half but it was getting harder to maintain a decent pace. Then it got dark and everything just started taking a bit longer as I found myself having to correct my route more often. With cloud and a new moon there wasn’t much visibility beyond my headtorch beam. Did a really bad job on the last peak Grey Knotts – went up 3 mini peaks before I eventually found the right one. At last I was down in Honister, but with just over 3 hours left on the clock, pitch darkness, and clag setting in I was going to have my work cut out!

Leg 5 – probably the easiest to navigate which was a good thing as my legs were trying to slow me down. The climb up Dale Head felt the hardest climb of the whole thing. Getting round to the last peak was slow and I was losing time, definitely no time for celebration yet! I hoped my cushion of time in my schedule would be enough. Hobbling off Robinson I bumped into a couple of guys doing an anti-clockwise round. We had a quick chat and I felt spurred on after a few words of encouragement from them. It was the only chat I had all day – a nice change from my own thoughts! Down to the path above the river, just the long slog on the road left. It was going to be close. Every small uphill bit was tense as I had no chance of running them by that stage. And then with half an hour and only a few km left I could relax a bit knowing that I’d be back in under 24 hours. Finally it was over in 23:49 and I could stop moving. Super pleased to have done it and what a day out it was!

Here’s the strava activity link:

https://strava.app.link/ZRWlAiu1igb

And I made a short video of the day, complete with cheesy music – might be useful for anyone else considering an attempt!…..

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zcrBwUkcYopEIrX_XHFGn1RSqpi9UslZ/view?usp=drivesdk

Think we will all agree, that’s an incredible achievement Steve – big pat on the back (are we allowed to do those?!). That extra weight on the back can’t have been much fun so incredible navving it all on your own and lugging all your own supplies and still doing it sub 24!