M - A 24 hour stable weather window presented itself and I decided to make an attempt of the Bob Graham Round starting that day at 11pm. It was a tough decision as I didn't feel physically ready and I had already done a fairly big day in the hills the day before.T - Leg 1 went to plan although I didn't manage to shave any time off the slow 23 hour schedule. Leg 2 was tough as I think my body was struggling to eat/digest though out my normal sleeping hours and I felt a bit sluggish and slow on what is the most runnable leg. I did manage to shave off 25 minutes from the 23 hour schedule though. Leg 3 to Wasdale is a beast and just breaks you down. It is hard to maintain any sort of pace over extremely rocky and technical ground. I lost the 25 minutes I had gained and probably 15 minutes more. I set off hard on leg 4 trying to make some time back. This was going well for the first 3 peaks and then I bonked hard and was swaying everywhere like a drunk. It seemed like it was all over for this attempt as time was slipping away and I was getting slower than normal hiking pace. Eventually, I had a stern word with myself and realised based on the weather, and the fact I couldn't indulge in a full 24 hours to myself (not including all the other prep) every summer holiday, that this attempt had to be it and I had to at least try to finish in under 24 hours. It is amazing what the body can do and once I had managed to hold a couple of gels down and I was moving fast again and arrived at the final road crossing with 4 and a quarter hours to spare to do a 3 hour leg. This took the pressure off the last leg back to Keswick and I just had to keep moving and not get injured. My girlfriend joined me and basically dragged me back to Keswick to finish in just over 23 hours. Really happy to finish the Bob Graham which is something I first conceived about 5 years ago when I started doing a bit of trail running in the Black Forest in Germany. Lots of it felt terrible at the time but already I only remember an epic day out in the fells! 107km +8,460m (you can do it in less than that but I guess some of my lines were not the best!). W - A bit of hiking.
Really happy to finish the Bob Graham which is something I first conceived about 5 years ago when I started doing a bit of trail running in the Black Forest in Germany. Lots of it felt terrible at the time but already I only remember an epic day out in the fells! 107km +8,460m (you can do it in less than that but I guess some of my lines were not the best!).
Would be interested to hear what people do on longer trips for keeping strength up. I’m thinking that maybe a session of my max hangs (well 85%) ones a week might be beneficial. Perhaps at the end of a sport climbing day when I’m already warmed but had a bit of a rest walking back to the van. I’ve really felt a lot weaker than 7 weeks ago having done a lot of onsight sport climbing. Can still get up things but climbing is sloppier.
Hot here in Briancon. 10 day Family trip with the Barker’s
Quote from: JohnM on June 13, 2022, 02:54:19 pmReally happy to finish the Bob Graham which is something I first conceived about 5 years ago when I started doing a bit of trail running in the Black Forest in Germany. Lots of it felt terrible at the time but already I only remember an epic day out in the fells! 107km +8,460m (you can do it in less than that but I guess some of my lines were not the best!). Insane effort, well done. Have you done everything for it to be an official round?
No, unfortunately not. It would nice to be in the club and even go to one of the dinners but it takes a lot of advanced planning and usually has to be at the weekend for enough available pacers and support. I was happy to go last minute based on the weather which was perfect for the whole day!
Quote from: James Malloch on June 13, 2022, 09:36:40 amWould be interested to hear what people do on longer trips for keeping strength up. I’m thinking that maybe a session of my max hangs (well 85%) ones a week might be beneficial. Perhaps at the end of a sport climbing day when I’m already warmed but had a bit of a rest walking back to the van. I’ve really felt a lot weaker than 7 weeks ago having done a lot of onsight sport climbing. Can still get up things but climbing is sloppier.I’ve found that doing a short warm up that includes a few recruitment and speed pulls before going climbing is both good for getting recruited and keeps my max hang strength up
Fingerboarding after a climbing day before a rest day can help. Also, try routes that are way too hard for you once a week or at least every ten days. If your max RP level is 8a or whatever, why not try an 8b or an 8c? They have parts that are at least as hard as you max bouldering grade.
Quote from: jwi on June 13, 2022, 10:07:08 amFingerboarding after a climbing day before a rest day can help. Also, try routes that are way too hard for you once a week or at least every ten days. If your max RP level is 8a or whatever, why not try an 8b or an 8c? They have parts that are at least as hard as you max bouldering grade.Cheers 👍🏻 I’ll try the fingerboard approach first, but May try some harder things too. Though other than Ceuse we’ve not spent a lot of time at any venue, even with 2 weeks in Margalef we only once went to a sector more than once. So I generally just try easier things based on how we’ve been climbing. But I do need to get better at deciding to try something harder too…