Approaching my unsupported attempt at the Dales 30 FKT, I must admit I wasn't psyched. Recent injury had me cautious about setting any high expectations. My previous experience with the Coast to Coast FKT left me utterly drained and miserable in its aftermath. This time, I wanted to strike a different balance of effort to exhaustion.
I did very little planning, and the previous FKT reports yielded very little information. So I hadn't appreciated how much cross-country there was and how poorly defined the tracked parts would be. On reflection this makes a lot of sense for a peak-bagging round in the Yorkshire Dales, it just hadn't occured to me.
It's for the best that I went into the trip so naively. While I like climbing hills, my preference is to move fast on well defined trails. This was not that, the faintest hint of a quad bike track over tussocks and bog was appreciated. Yet I have no regrets about taking on this route, there's something special about the Yorkshire Dales landscape that is emphasised by these remote isolated peaks.
I got my equipment about right, the weight on my back didn't feel like a burden and was runnable when the terrain was right. I had just enough clothing to keep me safe through hours of persistent rain. I also had just enough food to keep my mood and energy up, but no more than I needed, avoiding my usual habit of overpacking food.
My days weren't very long by FKT standards, I was moving for 14 hours, camped for 9 hours. This seems to be around my limit. I finished feeling strong, running down the nicely paved descent from Pen-y-ghent. Exhaustion set in soon after, but I wasn't destroyed. I'm envious of those who can sustainably pull longer hours. But I accept that it's not a strength of mine.