Johnny Hall's Travels and Travails

...any time soon. That was a brutal day. A long one too - just under 18 hours to walk over the 15 mountains over 3000 feet in Wales. 30 miles and 4800 metres of climbing. We were up sharp at three thirty and started out up the Pyg Track from the Pen-y-Pass car park at 4. It was more or less dry, which was a bonus but it was also windy and cloudy. Crib Goch made for a nice fun start but it didn't stay fun for long. We arrived on a lonely Snowdon summit at six thirty just in time for the clouds to part (a bit) and give us some decent views. At this point we were making good time, without hurrying (it was going to be a long day, no point in killing ourselves). The descent to Nant Peris was a bit awkward because there is no obvious path and the way is steep. We contented ourselves with the thought that it was probably the worst descent of the day (it wasn't). I wasn't looking forward to the climb up Elidir Fawr after I had descended it on my last attempt on the Wales 3000s a couple of years ago (when I got sick and had to stop half way up Crib Goch with 3 peaks to go). That time, I must have missed the path but luckily we found it this time and the ascent, despite being pretty long, wasn't too horrible. On the top of Elidir Fawr we could see the whole of the Glyder range laid out before us, as well as Pen Yr Ole Wen on the other side of the A5. At that point I think I realised how much there still was to do. No point thinking about it though. So, we put our heads down and got on with it. The route to Y Garn is pretty easy and gave us a chance to get moving. The rest of the Glyders were a bit harder. The ascent of Fawr is steep and loose and the summit plateau is rough and rocky. This combined with some low cloud and rain to make the rocks wet which made walking a bit treacherous. After almost descending Y Gribin (oops!) we found the summit of Fach and walked past the cantilever stone (no photos this time - too much cloud). The descent from Fach was nasty - steep and loose, if not very long. There were quite a few people on it too - none of them enjoying themselves. Tryfan was good fun until we had to get off it. We couldn't find the scree slope on the west face which leads to the path, so we had to down climb some big old rocks, which was a bit tiring. We also had to contend with our biggest crowds of the day. Who brings a yappy little dog up a mountain like Tryfan anyway? Idiotic. We took a bit of a rest at Ogwen Cottage and steeled ourselves for 700 metres of steep and brutish ascent up Pen Yr Ole Wen. We were a bit bushed by this point and we realised why so many people quit here. No quitting for us though, we're made of sterner stuff than that. I'm proud of the fact that at no point during the day did I either think about stopping or doubted that I would complete. The ascent of Pen Yr Ole Wen felt like it was vertical and it did seem to drag on a bit. Naively, I felt that once we'd completed this ascent, all of the hard work was going to be done. Wrong. Handily, the cloud came down at this point giving us a few navigation issues. Especially when your compass is broken. Luckily after wandering about lost for a few minutes we met another group who helped us to realise that our compass was broken. Thanks, whoever you were/are. The spare compass was taken out of my bag and we got on our way. The Carneddau are grand mountains but our fatigue combined with low cloud and extremely strong winds to lessen our enjoyment. The walk to Dafydd was fine but someone turned the dial on the wind on the way to Llewelyn. Cheers for that. We missed the bypass path to Yr Aran due to the cloud and the fact that it's not very obvious, so we dumped our sacks on the path down Llewelyn and then had a dash up Aran. Miraculously, I was feeling pretty good by this point. In fact, I continued to feel on good form for the rest of the walk and I managed to up the pace a little, especially when we weren't going up anything steep, which is most of the Carneddau. So, that only left the last 3 and the descent to Gerlan and Iain's pre-parked car. We dashed through those last three and then had to double back to pick up the descent route, which was a bit of a pain. The final descent of any mountain day is always a pain in the arse and this was no exception. Luckily my legs were feeling good so it wasn't too bad. Long though. 5 miles long. It was more or less uneventful apart from meeting some wild shetland ponies and my knees complaining vocally about the steep descents. Quite rightfully. We started in the dark and we arrived back at the car in the dark, which is the first time that's ever happened to me. And a friendly cat congratulated us on our achievement, which was nice. Then it was time for fish and chips. I'll not be doing it again any time soon. It's far too much like hard work.

I'm already getting excited about things I can do next year. As I find out about events, I'm going to list them here, so I don't forget about them. Anyway, I already have these things in mind:

• The London Marathon (if I can get in)
• The Helvellyn Triathlon
• ACE Races plus whatever other adventure racing I can find
• Maybe a half ironman

There's a whole bunch of things I'm thinking about but I'll add 'em as I remember. I might have to focus on something though.

My training is back on track after a bad week. The week after the Great Edinburgh Run I was good for nothing. Monday and Tuesday was a write-off because I had shin-splints - I'm not sure my legs were up to running that hard. I got a short, easy run in on Wednesday but woke up on Thursday with a stiff back. And then Friday was a travel day (to Wasdale). This week was much better. After a couple of days of rest from my exertions round Scafell, I got right back in the saddle. I've eased the running pace back a bit as I've started to use my HRM to ensure I'm building my aerobic endurance base (rather than thrashing myself). Once I get to my 16 week marathon build-up, I'll start running a bit faster but right now, 10 minute/miles are just fine. Anyway, Tuesday and Thursday were 5 mile canters and this weekend I've extended myself a bit. Yesterday I ran 10 miles for the first time, which was pretty good (the second half was a little hilly - I'll reverse my route next time) and today I cycled 55 miles on the road. Unfortunately, I made a schoolboy error and didn't eat enough at breakfast before I went out. I didn't work this out until I was two thirds of the way round. I had a couple of gels with me (which stopped me collapsing in the gutter) but it wasn't pretty. So 20 miles (and 3 hours) of running and 55 miles (and 3.5 hours) of cycling. Pleased with that. I'm going to try to make sure I cross-train on Wednesdays (on one of my bikes) but I'm definitely getting stronger. More of the same in the week followed by my first big event of the summer - the Wales 3000s. All 15 3000 foot mountains in Wales in the same day (including Crib Goch, Snowdon, the Glyders and the Carneddau). I've had a go a this before (north to south) but only made it round 12 before having to stop. I got sick for some reason - too much energy drink perhaps (or dodgy fish the night before). So, it's unfinished business. Two big changes this time - I've got company (Iain - which means a car at each end) and we're going south to north, leaving a harder start and an easier finish. The aim is to be on our way by 4 in the morning and finished some time between 6 and 8 in the evening. I'll let you know how we get on next week. Hopefully the weather will be a bit better than last week and we can get some decent photos.

Yewbarrow, Red Pike, Scoat Fell, Pillar, Kirk Fell, Great Gable, Lingmell, Scafell Pike and Scafell. On Saturday, Iain and I covered 16 miles and more than 2700 metres of ascent over these mountains. In cloud (and rain) all day. Maybe we were a bit ambitious but once we'd stated our aims (to each other) we just kept at it. I'm not particularly hill fit at the moment (despite my running), so it took us 11 hours. It was mostly enjoyable but the last descent from Scafell was brutal. The photo was taken the night before from the National Trust campsite. I drove down on Friday night and Iain came up from Leek to meet me first thing in the morning. The weather was lovely in the evening but as you can see from the rest of our photos, we were wet most of the day on Saturday. It was good training for our aim of completing the Wales 3000s in a couple of weeks, which is going to be a much bigger day. Today, I picked up an old Trail magazine and opened it randomly to a page which described our exact route. Which was a bit freaky. The magazine described the route as a Feat of Endurance. Which made me smile.

Here's a list of events I have planned for the summer. Let's see how many I do.

• Wales 3000s (end of May)
• The Skye ridge (middle of June)
• Lakes 3000s (tentative - end of June)
• Selkirk Mountain Bike Marathon 100k (end of July)
• Great Trail Run Falkirk (end of August)
• Glasgow Half-Marathon (beginning of September)
• The Loch Ness Marathon (beginning of October)

I'm running the marathon for ENABLE Scotland - a charity for learning disabled adults and children. Please feel free to sponsor me.

If anyone wants to join me, I'll be glad of the company.

I've upgraded to the pro version of flickr and uploaded a few of my photographs. A gallery of the last 10 uploads is over on the sidebar on the right.

I've been a member of flickr since before Yahoo! purchased them and I've always known how great it is but now that I can use it properly I really love it.

Finally, a good excuse for taking lots of photographs. I'm going to have to get a proper cameraphone now, since my C500 takes rubbish photos.

Perhaps a Nokia N93 when they arrive in the summer. Proper video too.

So, another busy week. I have a fair bit of training planned. I'll cycle tomorrow night - for about an hour. Tuesday and Thursday will be easy 4 mile runs. Wednesday is mountain biking at Innerleithen. On Friday I'm off to Wasdale in the Lake District for a night of camping before my mate Iain meets me early in the morning and we go climbing over some of the mountains there. I've not planned our route yet, but it'll definitely involve Scafell and Scafell Pike. I've not been up them yet and I'm looking forward to it. This'll be our last hillwalk before our Wales 3000s monster hike. Lots of work to do, none of which I'll detail here. Needless to say, I have a load of coding and writing to do, on top of my usual administration, marketing and sales. Oh, and then it's my birthday a week today. Super.

51 and a half minutes, more or less. So, about a minute and a half slower than I was aiming for but I'm pretty pleased with my run. I was placed 1959 out of 5780 finishers. Around 8000 people started (or entered, it's not entirely clear) apparently. Not bad for four weeks training and not much more than 10 or 15 training runs. I couldn't have ran any harder and I think I paced myself reasonably well. Queens Drive was the killer - I lost over a minute there, in less than a kilometre of uphill. I was running 10 minute/mile pace by the top. I was very careful not to kill myself running too hard. There were lots of people walking up it who went out too hard and paid the price. I don't think 10k is going to be my distance, though. The longer distances will suit my endurance level. I hope. The weather was perfect for running. It was raining, not heavily, and it wasn't too cold. Good for me, since I overheat very quickly when it's warm. As an aside, I met Olympic gold medallist Chris Hoy as I was walking back to the car. He's one of the best track cyclists that Scotland has ever produced and I was very proud to share a few words with him.

I'm running my first race on Sunday - the BUPA Great Edinburgh Run - a 10k. I'm aiming for under 50 minutes, which means I need to run at 8:00 minute/mile pace. I ran 5 miles tonight (in the wind) at 8:40, so I should be ok to meet my target - as long as it's not too windy, since it's a hilly course. I'll need to warm up properly, since it takes me a good 15 minutes to get into the groove. My training is going well. I was in Birmingham most of last week, which involved 2 things I hate - lots of driving (mostly in traffic jams) and lots of time on my feet. I only managed to get one mid-week run in - 4 miles in Birmingham. I ran 8 miles on Saturday and then got out on my road bike for 34 miles on Sunday. I've ordered a triathlon training book, since I'm cycling almost as much as I am running. In fact, last week I was on my bike for a total of 2 hours and running for an hour and 40 minutes. Different intensities, mind. Cycling feels a lot easier now that I've taken up running! So, I'll let you know how I get on on Sunday. Wish me well. I have 2 more training sessions planned before then. I'm mountain biking at Glentress tomorrow night (not strictly speaking a training session but it's hard work) and then another 5 mile run on Thursday (followed by a sports massage from our friend Kirstyn). I'll try and take it easy on Friday and Saturday.