Road crew change

Please note Vicki and Faith wont be with us so road side phone contact will be Joel, Tim and Edwin

Follow me from your armchair

I will have a tracker for my Round so you can follow my progress. Click this link http://maps.opentracking.co.uk/bg2013.cfm?n=18  and then zoom in as far as it'll go. To update, just refresh the page. The road crossing times should be updated on the link soon.

Tweaks

Slight tweaks have been made to the schedule, team list, etc; nothing major, mostly just ready times, exact change over points and so on. Van is also now booked: a humdrum point but I'd left it late so its reassuring that's sorted. I am also now back up to a full complement of supporters for each leg which is great.

Last few days prep

The last week of proper running was spent on Welsh coast paths and hills; none very impressive by BGR standards but great routes for sure, with spectacular cliffs, undulating rugged and varied paths and even one or two must-walk climbs. The longest run was only about 16 miles but it was all good. I got out nearly every day, in all weathers (ok, all of it good!) and even had a bit of compass work on one claggy day. 

Now, with about 10 days to go I'm taking it easier on a narrow boat holiday, just a few flat towpath runs and some last minute planning.

Speaking of which, there are some team changes. Sadly Dave Deason and Mark Fowler, huge helps with previous training and my first attempt, have had to pull out, but in come Adrian Leigh and John Leech - I'm so grateful for folks stepping in to help; running and especially BG folk are fantastic eh?

Right. Just a bit of food shopping, book the van, and one last look at the maps, and we'll be ready for the off ....

Detailed plans and times for the Round

I have now decided on an 8pm start on Friday 30 August, so as to do legs 1 and 2 in dark and the rest in daylight. The downside is Barney is unable to join us with this timing but I think it's most important to get the dark sections sorted so this will have to be how it is. If anyone wants to double up and do leg 1 with me and Andrew, that would be very welcome. The schedule is a 23.5 hours pace for legs 1 and 2 and then a 23 hour pace for legs 3, 4 and 5, with a view to taking it steady at first.

No rest

.... or at least not yet. Since my earlier BG attempt in June I have been keeping up the training, so when take 2 arrives on 30 August I'm not running entirely on grit.

Although I did some running in July, much of the month was spent on a trip to the Tour de France, first the prep as I adjusted from mostly running to mostly biking, then a week of biking in the Alps with a day of watching the Tour itself in the middle (which didn't arrive until early afternoon so I did get a mountain run in that morning by way of a change). We had a fantastic time, the Tour day being a total carnival and good to see those super human (super clean!) riders I'd been watching on the tele and in some cases for years (Jens Voigt, 36, almost as old as me). The riding itself was also utterly amazing: my first cycling trip to the Alps, so heaving up some of those famous climbs and lots of less famous ones, riding some of the stage we then watched, and at the end of every day, a 13km climb up Alpe d'Huez to round off whatever else we'd done as our accommodation was up the mountain :-/  Stats for the four days: 312km, 8,841m climb.

Back to the hill running, I have upped the miles again and had two more trips up to the Lakes. Last weekend I ran leg 1 and Clough Head and an arc back to Keswick. Irritatingly my shoes / feet gave me trouble, first toes and toenails on hard descents, then blisters no doubt as I compensated, then my quads hurt for days afterwards. A fair run out with a disappointing impact on me I'd say. Last weekend was much better: a full leg 3 and 4 double, run roughly at pace in 10:45 with lunch stop of 10 mins or so, plus a few photo / phone call / faff stops I won't indulge in on the day. I ran this with some folk from the FRA forums who just happened to be doing this route on the day, and the nav man certainly knew his tussocks. I have a good new line for Sargeant Man and also did the West Wall Traverse from Lords Rake to Scafell which I have not done before but will now use on the day. Although tired, as is to be expected, I also had no utter collapse on any of the hills which have on occasion been a slight nemesis (Scafell, Yewbarrow, Great Gable). Altogether a very encouraging recce.

I have a week on the Welsh coast approaching now, which should give plenty of training opportunity and some welcome variety.

Team and schedule for 30 Aug

I have updated the team and schedule for 30 August hopefully taking into account eveyone's preferences for legs they are able to help with - let me know if you have a difficulty with your leg / timing. Once again, a massive thank you for all who have said they can support and also those who did so on my first attempt and / or have helped with training.

The start time and exact schedule I am still thinking about, bearing in mind the amount of darkness and other things. My aim this time with the schedule is roughly leg 1 4 hours, leg 2 4.5 hours, leg 3 6 hours, leg 4 5 hours and leg 5 3 hours. I will try to stick to a modest schdule for the first 2 legs in particular.