Plans, purchases and perspiration

I am on holiday this week and have a list as long as my arm of stuff I really must get sorted before I return to work and the hectic slog that is the run up to Easter. No progress as yet on the motorhome, but we are off to see a couple today so hopefully will be the proud owners of one by the end of the week. Another big job that I've got finished is plotting the route on 1:50000 maps. No small task this as I reckon the route is between 1000 and 1500 miles long and to see that bright yellow line weaving around connecting these wild and unfamiliar places brings home the stark reality of what awaits. Am I lucky or stupid!?

My kitchen table recently

Pinning people down to come up for specific dates is something else that is proving difficult largely down to me not having the time to keep people informed and up to date. Most of the people signed up definitely so far are in the first 7 days (Easter hols) and its looking a bit thin after that. Im the kind of person that drifts along confidently thinking (knowing!!) that everything will be alright in the end. I have a long list of folk keen in principle who have very kindly said they would love to come up, the challenge will be getting them psyched enough to put their hat in the ring and commit to certain dates. It's a long drive without a doubt but what awaits should make it worth it. It's the nights where I'm out camping or at bothies where I really need support lugging stuff in and out. If you are reading this and would like to come up for a very steady day or two out on the hill up there at the end of April/May then get in touch and I'll send you my schedule. I'm at danmunro at gmail dot com. 

Another aspect I'm keen to get pretty much sorted this week is a lot of the kit that I need. Later on today I'm taking my long neglected mountain bike into Wheelbase for them to work their magic and get it running nicely again. Toby (taxi driver to the stars!) there has been very generous with his support and I really appreciate that. I also need some other bits from The Climbers' Shop in Ambleside. I've got plenty of running stuff but what I don't have is the kit I would need for moving more slowly for long periods of time and sleeping out for several nights in remote places. Mountain mitts, powerstretch tights and top, lightweight sleeping mat and a few other bits and pieces. Again, they have been generous in helping me get hold the things that I need at a good price.

In amongst all this I've been running! Quite a good week in the wet and wild winds culminating in a great run in the snow with Matt B on Sunday. 10 hours training in total which is enough I think. Some good advice I've had from several clued up people including Spyke is not to overdo the training in the run up and end up injured or exhusted. Sound advice no doubt! I'll hopefully get fit as I go when I set of in April but if I can keep the training to 8 - 10 hours in the run up (maybe a bit more this week as I'm off work) then that should be fine. My diet has been much improved this week and I feel a bit lighter and fitter. Still another few pounds to shed though!

M: Rest

T: 1 hr 15 mins club Ambleside trails

W: 50 mins Scars

T: 50 mins Scars

F: 1 hour Scars

S: 2 hr 30 mins road bike Langdale with Jane

S: 3 hr 40 Hartsop - Haweswater loop with Matt B

Total running: 7hr 15             Bike: 2hr 30               Pilates: 1hr

8 weeks to go

 On The Knott

 Before High Street

 High Street

 Getting steep - spikes on!

 Threshthwaite and Ullswater

 Blea Water

Coming off Hartsop Dodd

The pain of discipline

A good week back on the running after a couple of weeks off. What a relief! Touch wood my foot seems better  now and I've managed 5 runs this week including a wild slog up Sergant Man today in the wind, snow and rain. Also managed to eat a bit better this week. I need to shed a few pounds before April and it's time to get on top of the diet now. I know I'm a good half a stone above what I want to be when I set off so time for some discipline with the eating. It is something I know I can do (having done it many times before) but still find difficult. Like many runners I get big cravings for food that is bad for me! And all too often I submit! 

Training this week:

M: Rest

T: Run 55 mins

W: Pilates and 50 mins run

T: 1 hr 15 mins run

F: Swim 30 mins and 40 mins run

S: 15 min run and 2 hr bike

S: 1 hr 45 min run

Totals:  Run 5 hr 30 mins        Bike: 2 hours        Swim: 30 mins          Pilates: 30 mins

9 weeks to go

Work stops play!

A quite demanding week at work meant that I missed a couple of my planned sessions. Although this was a bit disappointing, the silver lining to that cloud is that the resulting easy week has meant that my foot is now much better and I've managed a couple of tentative runs which have thankfully been pain free. I need to be cautious upping the milage now but would have settled for just 10 days out of running when my foot was killing me a week and a half ago!

M: Rest

T: Rest

W: Bike 1 hr 15 mins

T: Bike 1 hr 30 mins

F: Bike 1 hr  Swim 30 mins

S: Run 35 mins

S: Swim 30 mins    Run 1 hr

Total:  1hr 30 mins running         1 hr swimming        4 hrs biking           30 mins pilates

I've also been cracking on with plotting the route onto 1:50000 OS maps. I have a mixture of emotions doing this. First and foremost is the excitement and joy at the thought of having nothing to do every day but move through the Highlands. I love maps and get a real pleasure from anticipating what the terrain will be like as I plot the route on the map. The other feeling I have would be best described as trepidation as the reality of the length of some of the days starts to become clear! My schedule is broadly based on Spyke's schedule from 2010 and I am in awe of what he achieved. He had no rest days at all and his round included some massive days.

Although I have spent quite a bit of time climbing and running up there over the years and know some parts well, I have only been up about 30 or 40 Munros before by my reckoning. The days giving me most pause for thought are the first day (which has 2 sea kayaks and 3 different bike sections separating Ben More on Mull and Beinn a' Bheithir to the south of Glencoe), the 2 Cairngorms days (with a night in Corrour bothy in between) and all the Knoydart Munros on Day 24. Im sure there will be many other tough ones as well. The weather has the potential to make any day tough, or even impossible! Strangely though, these are the days I'm also most looking forward to, and they are the reason I want to do it. As they say, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it!

10 weeks to go

Reasons to be fearful. Reasons to be cheerful.

A week of ups and downs that has been dominated by an injury to my foot which started off a couple of weeks ago as what I thought was bruising. I dismissed it as just a 'knock' and carried on training. After a long rough run last Sunday it was quite sore so I had my usual rest day on Monday. A combination of Charleston dancing (don't ask!) and a hard, rocky club run on Tuesday left me hobbling and in some pain on Wednesday. It was that sore I thought it was a stress fracture which I knew would mean 6 - 8 weeks out and seriously put the Munro round in jeopardy. Needless to say I was very nervous as I waited to get it x-rayed in A and E. An excellent doctor saw me and diagnosed it straight away as metatarsalgia - inflammation of the foot joint. So not fractured, but no running for 2 or 3 weeks. Not great, but not the end of the world. Training this week has been on the bike with a bit of pilates and a swim thrown in. Quite nice for a change actually. I'll give it another whole week of no running this coming week then see how it is after that.

M: Rest
T: Club run 1 hr 45 mins
W: Rest
T: 1 hr bike + 30 mins pilates
F: 1 hr 15 mins bike
S: 2 hr 30 mins bike + 30 mins pilates
S: 2 hrs bike + 30 mins swim

Totals:     Run 1 hr 45       Bike 6 hr 30          Pilates 1 hr         Swim 30 mins

The up side of this week has been the support I've received from Wheelbase Cycles and The Climbers' Shop. Toby at Wheelbase has very kindly offered to service my bikes before I set off to make sure they're running well. I've bought all my bikes in the past ten years and plenty of other kit from their shop and would recommend it to anyone.

I had not met Nick, the manager of The Climbers Shop, before today, but found him to be friendly and enthusiastic, with a wealth of knowledge and experience of gear and ultra running. He gave me a few useful tips on eating on such long days on the move and purifying water with iodine tabs which I've never used before. The shop will hopefully be able to help me get some of the kit I need for the trip at a reduced rate. Again, I think you would struggle to find a better all round technical mountain gear shop anywhere!

Getting support in this way has helped to keep the costs down a little bit and is hugely appreciated. The next big spend will be on the motorhome which we need to get within the next couple of weeks ideally before a trip away in it over half term. Anyone selling one?!

12 weeks to go

Getting out of the door

Usually at this time of year I'm not in great shape due to a November and December break from running but am raring to go for the year ahead. There are often a couple of races in April/May time to get me focussed and I always enjoy training, particularly the hard sessions like club nights and hill reps. I love the transition to fitness probably more than actually being fit.

This year it is a little bit different as my target isn't a race and doesn't require me to have any speed in my legs (which is something I never have anyway, as anyone who's ever ran next to me on the flat will tell you - pathetic!) As my end goal is likely to require a much more leisurely pace, mostly purposeful walking with a bit of trotting on the flats and downs, the training needs to reflect this. Putting it like that makes it sound a bit of a doddle until you look at the size of the days. I would say an easier day will be 6 or 7 hours on the go and the harder ones getting towards 10, maybe more.

Simple then, plenty of hourage required with not really much need for any faster runs. I am certainly doing 2 or 3 more hours than I usually would in January. I did think I'd enjoy not having the pressure of thinking about hard sessions and easy days, but actually I'm really missing it! Every run recently has been the same pace and I've been yearning for a bit of variety.

This coupled with the weather this week has made it all a bit of an effort to stay motivated. Usually training is something I look forward to and I bounce out of the door, but not this week. Every run and ride has been in the rain and the majority in the dark. A few of them mid-week I could easily have binned but that's not an option. Everyone knows that those first steps out of the door are the hardest and I'm chuffed to have got my miles in despite the low motivation.

Today's run was the perfect antidote. Three and a half hours around Langdale, Scafell Pike and Great Moss (my favourite part of the Lakes) in the clag and snow without seeing a soul, and I'm reminded of what I love about running in the mountains.

On top of the world - well England!

Great Moss from Cam Spout

The top of the Band 

So thats one 3000 footer this year - 282 to go. This week:

M: Rest
T: 1 hour 30 mins Club run Loghrigg and Wansfell
W: 50 mins Sout Scar
T: 45 mins Scout Scar
F: 45 mins Scout Scar
S: 2 hours road bike
S: 3 hour 30 mins  Scafell Pike loop from Langdale

Total:      run 7 hours  8000ft ascent          bike 2 hrs

13 weeks to go

Fingers crossed for good weather next weekend as I'm pacing on a BG leg.

Full steam ahead

When people find out about my Munro round plans the most asked question has been a rather practical 'How did you get the time off work?'. The answer is that I am lucky enough to work in a school with a brilliant Head teacher and governors who have agreed to me having half a term's leave unpaid. I would like to think they see the long view and appreciate that I will be a better person, and therefore better teacher, if they give me their support by giving me this time 'off'.

People's response beyond this depends largely whether or not they like doing the things that I do in their spare time. Runners and outdoor people are generally a mix of jealous and (dare I say it) impressed. I keep having to remind them that I haven't done anything yet! But even that's not strictly true. I've spent many hundreds of hours thinking about it on runs over the past fifteen years. Indeed one of the main reasons I love running is the head space and thinking time it gives me. I can set out on a run with all sorts on my mind but can straighten most things out by the time I get back; it puts things into perspective and makes day to day concerns fade away. Some people find it boring, I've just never  understood that!

Since I first set the date a year and a half ago, getting things sorted has come in fits and bursts. But there's no doubt about it, it's full steam ahead from this point. Maybe my biggest worry is balancing work, family, training and planning over the coming months. It hasn't really happened yet, but I know there will be stressful times ahead. While watching a favourite film of mine 'Into the Wild' this week I was reminded of one of the main reasons I'm doing it.

For those of you that don't know the book or the film, it is the true story of Chris McCandless who shunned his privileged middle class lifestyle, burned and gave away his sizeable trustfund and lived off the land, travelling the USA and living a life free of many of the trappings of life that he felt stifle the human spirit. His last great adventure was to live off the land in the Alaskan wilderness. I won't spoil it for you by telling you the rest, but he had this to say:

The core of man's spirit comes from new experiences

What he did makes my efforts look paltry, but there is a small bit of that spirit driving me to have this adventure of my own.

Training has gone well this week and I managed my target hourage. It looked like this:

M: Rest

T: 1 hour 30   Loughrigg and Wansfell

W: 1 hour   Scout Scar home from work

T: 50 mins   Scout Scar to work

F: 50 mins   Scout Scar 

S: 2 hours rd bike Langdale

S: 3 hr 20 big run from Kentmere

Total  Run: 7 hours    9000 feet of ascent          Bike: 2 hours                  Pilates: 30 mins

Still not 'flying fit' but getting the milage in so I know its coming. Pleased to get out on the bike for the first time in a while as well. Really need to increase the stretching and core work now to help me stay injury free as the milage increases.

14 weeks to go

'The lads' on Kidsty Pike today

Taking shape

2014....what will it bring? Well I hope it brings me a successful Munro round! This week has taken me a few small steps closer to realising that dream. Although I did manage my target of 7 hrs running last week, the main focus of my efforts has been getting people on board and keen to support. I have plenty of friends who are runners and have been blown away by how keen some of them are to be involved. It's a big ask to trek all the way up to the north of Scotland; it certainly makes supporting a BG leg look like small fry. Add in the fact that the age I am, most of my friends have young kids so it won't be easy for them to get away from their busy family lives. Nonetheless quite a few have committed already and I'm sure others will in time. My plan really is to get as much support as I can on the hills. I don't mind being on my own but I'd rather be out there with people, having a craic as the hills fly by (that's how it is when I imagine it anyway!) If you are reading this and fancy a few days out on the hills this April and May contact me and it would be great to have you along (whether you know me or not).
danmunro 2014 at gmail dot com

Another concern of mine has been the kayaking, particularly day 1 which involves 2 crossings on the same day - Sound of Mull and the Corran narrows. Very kindy, Tony from Sea Freedom Kayak based in Oban has offered to see me across both sections. I'm not a kayaker by any stretch of the imagination so this is great news as having expert help sorted so quickly will help put my mind at ease. Ominously he has advised me to practise in advance 'when it's choppy'! You can support their business here www.seafreedomkayak.co.uk

As well as getting help sorted, I have also done more work on the route. I have known the order of the hills for a while now but have finally got round to plotting the route on 1:50000 maps this week. As a self confessed map geek I can't claim that this is onerous; quite the opposite! Pure pleasure. However it has given me a real taste of what lies in store. Some of the days are HUGE and none are soft. Whether I can stick to the schedule I have set remains to be seen and I guess there's only one way to find out. Gulp.

Days 1 -5

Like I said the training has gone OK. I've still a long way to go to get to peak fitness but then I've got a lot of time to do it. Don't want to peak too early! This week was:

M: Rest

T: Rest

W: 1 hr 20 round Wansfell

T: 2 hr 20 Fairfield horseshoe plus a bit

F: 1 hr Potter Tarn loop

S: 1 hr Scout Scar

S: 1hr 40 Loughrigg Silverhow

Total 7 hrs running    9000 feet of ascent

None of it terribly fast. I'll try to up it a bit next week although being back at work will make everything that bit harder, as it does.

15 weeks to go

Fairfield summit on Thursday