Ramsay Countdown 13 - Sunday things

 Early morning run, bright sunshine, walking with Louis + Rupert + Maria, cafe stop, adventures, Pokemon Go not really understood,  party missed (shh they didn't notice, sorry I forgot about it!), plants tended, garden wrecked, garden sorted, man vs food burgers served, sibling battles, evening sunshine dancing, planning taking firmer shape, pingu, stories, peace.

Cow and Calf rocks

Ramsay Countdown 14 - Fun holiday stuff

Takes me back

I went for a short run this morning with Sally, it felt a lot better than yesterday and in bright morning sunshine with blue skies - lovely.

Then to my parent's house where Louis shared his pictures with my dad and Rupert was Rupert and in to everything. Out came the badminton set and happy memories for me of playing in the garden with my mum. This is what led to me representing Yorkshire and even an England team as a junior, lots of hard work by all concerned but very good fun and happy memories.

Happy and hard working, not a bad combination and one I'm hoping will take me all the way round. I've surrounded myself with a fantastic team - positive, experienced, motivated and up for the challenge.

I've also got out some reading, old and new, to get my mind in the right place.

A Day to Die For is the second Everest book of the holiday from my father in law, I have an increasing respect and fascination with the process and mindset of Everest climbers.

Beyond the Marathon is a great recount of one man's attempt to complete The Grand Slam of American trail running - taking on 4 of the toughest 100 mile trail races in the space of 14 weeks, I've read this before but I'm coming back to it.

Footnotes is new and about, well it's about running but I've not read it yet so can only comment that it's started well and has covered and expanded on thoughts brought to my attention when I read Born to Run - and that's after only a couple of chapters so I'm hopeful it will continue in this vein.

Now I'm off to scare the minions senseless with Jurassic World - it's a 12  certificate but how scary can it really be? :-)

Holiday Reading

Ramsay Countdown - 15 days to go

Schedule

Finish schedule, tidy, wash up, vacuum, finish book, play with children, sort out children, ignore children, get cross with children,  marvel at children, catch train, eat out,  shop for stories, walk in the rain, catch train, make tea, go for a short run, realise how tired you are, drop off children, go out to surprise dinner party, drive home, fall into bed, zzzzzz

And sleep...

Ramsay Countdown 16 - Let The Madness Commence!

Schedule

One day. That's all it's been since I got back from Scotland.  One day.

Already I'm climbing the walls. This is where I must, must, must concentrate on not eating everything in sight. Mileage will drop now, as will feet of climb. I'm going to book a leg massage, go cycling, swimming, gentle loops running and a couple of short, sharp track sessions. But nothing that would warrant eating like I'm still running 50+ miles a week.

  It's only two weeks, it's only two weeks.

First on my list of things to do is contact the support and get my schedule in order. I'm enlisting the help of my daughter, shouting questions about how to add people and contact them through Facebook.  It is straight forward enough,  when you know how! I'm blown away by the support I have, the enthusiasm and the commitment of family, friends and strangers.  I have supported others and know how it feels to be part of the team, it's something you can't put in to words easily and perhaps that's how it should be. A common purpose shared by like minded people, something to aim for together that can not be achieved either alone or without preparation and even then that's only to get to the start.

So my next task is the schedule. I get out my recce times, a sample plan from the Internet (that has one summit missing and some questionable timings to say the least) and a couple of plans from other people (not Jasmine Paris though, breathe a sigh of relief support runners!)

First off I take the longest time scheduled on each plan and my notes for each summit and this gives me  24:35 - not really what I was looking for!
I adjust it where I can see obvious differences to my own times and get the far more reasonable 23:59. At this point it is perhaps worth pointing out that on my Paddy Buckley my first plan was for 23:49 and I finished in 23:48, albeit in shocking conditions.

I think the 23:59 plan will suit my purposes well. There is some give in it and scope for me to get ahead without pushing too hard and I think I can go under this given how I am feeling and the preparation I have had - this has worked as a strategy well for me previously and also it will be very easy to work out if I am ahead or behind 24 hours without having to do any tricky maths!

It's also only a minute longer than the time that Charlie Ramsay himself did the first time the round was completed.

Cutting it fine?

Ramsay Countdown 17 - The Grey Corries

3 days of running 

Another day, another loop. This time the 4 summits left for me to visit, logistically I will miss out parts of two descents but I can live with that.

The day started clear and on every summit not only was I up on schedule time but I also had views! I started from Glen Nevis car park, up to Steall Falls then up and left to the first of the 4 I had left. From there it's ridge running finishing with a climb from a tarn up Stob Ban. Instead of descending on the Ramsay route I went the opposite way down the flattening top towards the river and where Nevis Water begins.

It was there I saw a herd (30+) of deer swarming,  jumping and generally running about next to the river far below.  As I descended alongside them they sped off into the distance.  Apart from 3, who stayed and were definitely watching me. I slowed down and checked my memory for things I know about deer. Not much. I know they get hunted, lots of other things I can think of that get hunted are dangerous.  I slow down a bit more. Given that I don't really like crossing a field with cows in, and don't get me started about horses, I don't really want a herd of deer heading my way at speed. I slow down a bit more and fall over for good measure. At this the deer decide to head off after the herd at speed and they leave a deer trail for me to follow to find the path, I catch a glimpse of them in the distance.

Then it rains. I eat the last of my food and pick up the pace for a strong finish to the van. I arrive grinning and know the hard yards are now done, time to head home, look after myself and sort the logistics.

The end - The beginning 

Ramsay Countdown 18 - The Fersit Five

The Fersit Five

Stob Choire  Sgriodain  80   (75)

Chno Dearg                      40   (36)

Beinn Na Lap                   75    (80)

Railway Bridge                        (30)

River Bridge                            (30)

Stob Choire Easain        60    (-)

Stob Choire Mheadhior 23  (18)

Loch Treig                        50   (52)

1 hour 20 climbing. I should have realised before I set off that this was going to be hard - not down from one summit and up to the next. Actually 1 hour 20 of climbing. Mist, rain, summit? Wind, rain, summit? Mist, rain, wind, summit? Faffing about, double checking, going wrong, tired legs, summit? Yes, and amazingly I'm 5 minutes ahead of schedule time. 

Chno Dearg doesn't seem to be appearing and time is ticking down. Then I'm there and brace myself for the worst - 4 minutes up this time, surprised is something of an understatement!

Now my trace has me down a nearly nearly vertical semi-scree run and the map has me following the ridge. The map is marked up for anti-clockwise and I'm going clockwise so scree it is.

Frogs under feet, deer running next to me - brilliant! So brilliant that I forget to check where I'm actually going and go wrong again, never mind. Rather today than on the day itself. River crossed now up and right. Summit? Up and right. Summit? Up and right. Summit? Wind, rain, mist, up and right. Summit? At the actual summit there is a cairn with a walled wind break. I sit down out of the wind and do a systems check. I haven't eaten for over an hour and im cold, which is probably why I want to cry and have lost 5 minutes. How many times will I need to learn this lesson? 

Down to the bridge and lunch and an extra top, much better and now I'm off the clock this next section is amazing. This is what mountains and valleys look like when you dream of them (everybody dreams of mountains right?). 

Now to Stob Coire Easain, Adnan calls this the assassin and now I can see why, relentless and killing my spirit dead.

Stob Choire Mheadhior is great, down and up, lovely, tick. I have a quick chat (3 minutes, yes I did time it lol) with a man and his dog, the only person I have seen today, and that perks me up no end. I bound down the descent. I stop bounding for the technical bits. And the boggy bits. And the rocky bits. And the long grassy sections with hidden rocks. I emerge over a rise expecting to be near the bottom, now I've heard of false summits but false bottoms?

I arrive back at the van - 23 miles, 7,700 feet of climb, 7 1/2 hours.

Lessons learned: leg 2 is hard.

Lessons learned again: eat regularly, if you're cold put another top on.

 Only 4 summits left to recce now - The Grey Corrie's.  I'm going to try and work out how to do them so I can fit them in tomorrow and still get back home in good time.

Before

After

19

Set off early from home and made good time.

Map, kit, food - go.

Below the cloud = great fun, warm, views, lovely.

In the cloud = great fun, cold, wet, windy, slippy.

Change of plan for tomorrow based on the weather. Park up at Fersit  and run the summits around the loch, all new to me.

Today felt slow but timings for each summit stood up well, especially as I was deliberately taking my time and walking where I thought I would be walking on the day. A good day out and I only saw 3 people in 4 1/2 hours :-)

16.5 miles, last 3 summits, 4 1/2 hours, 5,500 feet of climb.

20

Ganesha and Arca the moose.

I'm setting off for a 3 day recce tomorrow so I've made a list - kit, food and outline plans. I used to forget things and that became annoying so I like making lists now. This is not a work list where things get added, prioritised, crossed out, put back on, moved up, moved down, moved off and moved on again before quickly becoming irrelevant. This is a static list, reassuring in its ability to impart all I will need to get the most out of the days ahead. It is not subject to change and although it is not rocket science it helps me plan ahead.

 I like plans as well, preferably with timings. If it can have boxes on to tick or schedule tines to compare to then so much the better.  I do rather obsess about the details prior to the rounds, knowing each target summit time, the time I did it when I recced and also how much ahead or behind I am overall. This recce will be no different and I will be comparing my times with at least 2 other schedules as I'm running. I've already posted to the Facebook page and got some useful advice on allowing more time for the leg 1 recce to allow for checking details on the way, which makes sense and means I will probably set off closer to half 4 than 6 but the end time remains the same. I'm aiming for a train ride back from Corrour station and need to be there by 21:20. 

Mondays run should be a gentle climb up a path to a support point followed by a 'round pace' visit to the last 3 summits, last time I was here it was dark for the last one and I want to do it again in daylight. I might not see much more mind you since the forecast is for cloudy summits and light rain. 

Wednesday I'm going to check out the access to the support point by the loch,  which is harder to get to and requires a bit of a walk - or on this occasion a bit of a bike ride on my cross bike. Potentially my 6 year old may camp there with his grandad on the round itself but I am increasingly finding information which means it may be too much for him on this occasion. I'll know for sure in a couple of days though.

This week so far I've been on a couple of gentle runs with Sally and a couple of steady hill climbs on my training hill, The Ellers, and spent most of the day today emptying drawers, hoovering, going to the tip and generally trying to make things tidy and ordered, not unlike my lists.

Ganesha, remover of obstacles, has been a useful point of reference.

 And Arca the moose? A nod to the fact that all the order and lists in the world are no use to anyone unless your having a bit of fun along the way. 

21

Countdown

21 days to go.

Beaver camp, house jobs, taxi service, logistics, training, self control, minor niggles, equipment checks, nutrition, work, holidays.

Daily update on the last minute preparation ahead of the day itself. As much for me as anyone else. Until yesterday I had forgotten I had a blog and I enjoyed reading back. 

Going Long is a book I return to in the run up to challenges like this, broadly speaking there's lots of useful information about training, tapering and peaking - including how not to eat so much you undo all the training you've already done in the few weeks left! The Death Zone is about climbing Everest in terrible conditions with tragic consequences, I've started it and it's quite a good read. A friend has recently climbed Everest so it's interesting now in a way it wouldn't have been before. That kind of puts my running over a few mountains in perspective.

21 days to go.

Morning coffee, taken at leisure before realising I had got the arrival time at Beavers camp wrong by half an hour!

Two nights away, independence comes early for Louis. 

Cute, but hard work.

Not part of my diet for training but left in front of me as a gift they stand no chance. Will power has taken a hammering in the last couple of days, I need to get it back in check sharpish! 

Also not in the plan is alcohol, but with 3 part finished bottles and a curry on the way this might as well be the last drink for a while.

So that's the scene set, 21 days left and plenty of things going on. More, or maybe less, tomorrow.