Transvulcania de La Palma Race Report - May 2013

This weekend I was lucky enough to head over to the beautiful island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, to take part in one of the top races in the world ultra calendar; Transvulcania. Last year, this was very possibly the biggest Ultramarathon in terms of media coverage, with the combined forces of iRunFar, Ultra168 and Talk Ultra to allow us to follow along from home. But this year, I would actually get to be there.

After a fantastic week away in the Peak District (just as a sort of acclimatisation to hills between Cambridgeshire and La Palma) with my wife and daughter, I left to meet up with Chris Baynham-Hughes, Martin Wilcock and Richard Webster to begin the rather convoluted journey to the "Isla Bonita". A very early 4am start, a taxi to the airport, a flight from Manchester to Tenerife, a hire car to the airport on the other side of the island, another flight to La Palma, and another hire car for use on the island itself, and we were there!

Resistance training

We drove directly over to the registration point at the finish line in Los Llanos, collected our numbers and timing chips, and tried to decipher what we needed to do the following day. There was a whole lot of Spanglish going on on our parts, with Chris as our designated translator. He knew the Spanish for right, but not for left, which was good enough. Although he didn't know the word for "veruca sock" unfortunately.

After soaking in a little atmosphere, working out logistics for meeting up afterwards, and a bit of difficulty in finding the place we were staying (we ended up popping into a hotel to find out where we were going only to find that was the place - it was just helpfully called something different) we finally made it to our apartments. After a quick dinner of paella and a beer, we finally got to bed close to 11pm, with a 3am wake up planned to get sorted and out to the start at Fuencaliente lighthouse. An awesome way to prepare for a race like this!

Team Onada - 'No Kōfuku!' (no surrender)

In the morning I was pleased to see that I had no ill effects from the previous night's paella (those prawns looked a bit fishy to me), and got myself ready. I was trying a few different things for this race, using an UltrAspire Isomeric handheld combined with my UltrAspire Impulse waist pack (with only one empty bottle in it just in case I needed more fluids) instead of my Salomon pack, my Salomon Sense Mantras instead of my Speedcross, and some X-Bionic gear that had been sent to me to test (review to follow). Not really the best plan to try new things on race day (particularly not, y'know, everything!), but I think it was the right call.

We drove to the lighthouse that would be the start for the race, leaving our car in a random patch of brush along the winding mountain road that led to the bottom. We had noticed on the way that the petrol situation was looking pretty dire - never mind whether we would make it to the hotel; we weren't sure we would make it back up the hill! Oh well, we would worry about it later. I'm sure we would be fine to push it back after the race...

The start was a mass of people all gathered for the off. There were apparently 1,650 people registered, although I'm not sure how many actually ran. Two notable DNS's were Anna Frost (the previous year's winner) who decided to avoid running to allow herself to recuperate, and Anton Krupicka who unfortunately came down with the flu just days earlier. We were not too far from the start line, although there were still a huge number of people ahead.

I think there's a guy on the left who doesn't have any Salomon gear on at all. How did he get through the checks?!

There was a real party atmosphere, with commentators saying many inspiring things (I think - I have no idea really) and an odd UFO in the sky taking film footage. If it really was an alien, I'd hate to think what kind of skewed opinion of humanity they might take away from it. I suspect that they would probably assume that we were all sponsored by Salomon... Or owned by them. Ah, the wisdom of Salomon.

At 6am, still under the cover of darkness, we were off! Well, sort of. The road quickly narrowed past the lighthouse, and narrowed further to a single track path back up the hill, causing an insane amount of bottle necking. It's always very frustrating when this happens and it must be so nice for the guys in the lead to not have to deal with it! The four of us battled our way up the hill, finding ways whenever we could to get in front of the people ahead of us. It was steep, but it was far too early to be walking darn it! I couldn't help thinking to myself, "I'm only racing myself here, but you're in my way!". After dodging poles to the eyes and groin, other people attempting to get through the throng (one of whom sent me sprawling quite impressively), and a giant boulder rolling down and hitting me in the ankles (probably kicked down by Kilian when he heard I was closing the gap), I finally reached a point where I could get running.

The race profile looks pretty scary, with the first 20Km taking you up above 2,000m, meaning a 10% incline. But there were actually some pretty runnable sections, and I was able to maintain a pretty good pace as we went. Of course there were also some bloody tough climbs as well, including one where I went sprawling right as one of the (many) cameramen on the course caught me. Look out for that great picture soon.

Note the speed blur...

Richard and Martin had started out roughly together, and I bumped into Chris as we came into the first aid station at Los Canarios. All 3 are amazing runners and we had no idea which us would make it to the finish first, making the decision of who should keep hold of the car key difficult! After running into the aid station with Chris to the rapturous applause, cheers of "Vaya! Vaya!", and cowbell ringing of the locals (you don't get that sort of thing at the Grand Union Canal), I headed off on my own.

I was running on feel rather than pushing for anything in particular, and was keeping up a tough but manageable pace. I wasn't sure if I was going too hard only to blow up before the end, or if I was being overly-conservative on the hills. I'm not overly great at hills, but cope okay considering I live in the flattest part of a pretty flat part of the world. The terrain for the most part was volcanic ash up the first major climb (excitingly putting me in danger of developing one of my favourite diseases; pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcaniconeosis), opening out into a forest path as the sun came up. The route follows two long distance 'Grand Routes; the GR130 ands GR131, which are well sign posted with markings along the way painted on the rocks. There was never really an opportunity to go wrong (and believe me, I tried...) and anywhere that there could be an error somebody was posted to direct us.

I'll be up there soon

As the sun rose and the cloud burnt off, the heat began to rise. For the first few hours it wasn't too bad, but as the day went on it rose towards the 30 degree mark. Being a very white, overly hairy guy from England, I wasn't overly prepared for this weather - particularly given the winter we have just had. A combination of regularly dipping my head in water buckets at the checkpoints, my new X-Bionic Fennec shirt to keep my core cool, and using a waist pack rather than a back pack seemed to do the trick, and I was never more than just uncomfortable. Others weren't quite so lucky, and lots of the first aid points along the way were filled by people suffering from various effects of the heat. I dread to think what the attrition rate was for the race, but it looked quite significant. I believe fewer than 1,000 finished but don't know how many started.

My nutrition and hydration were going well. I was using a gel every 1.5 hours (a combination of TORQ and GU), slightly more regularly than my usual 2 hour approach. I was careful not to over-drink which meant that electrolytes weren't too much of an issue even in the heat. Most of the time I had almost half a bottle remaining at the next aid station when refilling. The next checkpoint at Las Deseadas was at the summit of the first long climb. We had figured that a 10 hour finish would mean getting in here in about 2.5 hours. I came in in 2:27:10 which was a good sign.

Easy to spot!

After this, the route dropped again towards the Refugio El Pilar, allowing some time to be made up in the descent. This was the first "full" aid station, with food as well as just water like the previous two, so I took the opportunity to shotgun a whole bunch of fruit before carrying on again.

The next third of the course didn't look so bad. Well, on the course profile at least. On the course profile it was a long ridge run giving fantastic views of the island, generally uphill, with one very steep significant climb in the middle up to the highest point of the course at the observatory of Los Roque de Los Muchachos. In reality it was fooking tough all round! The terrain was very runnable in places, but there were a lot more steep climbs than I had anticipated. Not quite the speedy ridge run that I had envisaged, but hot damn if the views weren't stunning. The route followed a horseshoe shape from the south of the island, travelling over the highest point in the centre then West down to the coastal town of Tazacorte. We could see all of this ahead of us and it was stunning.

Now this is running

In the ever-stifling heat of the day, the glittering sapphire-blue ocean off in the distance that marked the end of our adventure was already a welcome beacon to our tired minds. But there was a long way to go yet!

And so is this

By this point things were looking and feeling really good. My choice of gear selection was working brilliantly with no issues, hydration and nutrition were going well, my legs felt strong, and I was comfortably sat in the top 100.

Well I don't think that the poles are Salomon branded

Being so open, the aid stations could be seen (and heard) from quite a distance away. In some ways this was bad as it could give you a false sense of perspective for how far you had to go. Sometimes it was weird as you could hear the cheering and shouting but couldn't see signs of the aid station anywhere in the distance. But in other ways it really brought the race alive for me, particularly as for a lot of it I was running alone. This was the first long distance race that I have ever done without my iPod, and it was nice to have the varied shouts of the race to fill the void usually filled by rock music and Stephen King books.

So near yet so far

The aid station near the observatory by Roque de Los Muchachos that marks the highest point of La Palma was visible/audible for a long while in advance, and the final climb up the hill was pretty steep and rocky, occasionally requiring hands for balance. Not quite scrambling like something like Cavalls del Vent, but not far off in places. This was to be (for the most part at least) the end of the 'up'. From here on out it was pretty much downhill all the way.

Rocks! \m/

For some reason, I seem to cope quite well with downhills and am usually able to make up time with an aggressive approach. Up until now I had been losing a few places here and there on the ups, but gaining a lot of places on the downs. This was therefore the section that I had been looking forward to as I was planning on really starting to cook here. I decided to have a quick refuel as I was not planning on eating much more on the way to the finish about 25 Km away. With over 2.5 hours to go to finish in 10 hours I should have been laughing, although it was insane to think that the winners had already finished by that point. The elites really are in a completely different class. I had about a mouthful of pasta, then changed my mind and stuck with the watermelon!

I set off onto the descent, which was a combination of incredibly rocky technical terrain, terrifying sheer drops, and sloping volcanic ash flows, but opened later into a series of large wooded land masses leading down to sea level. I was doing well and making great time, when I suddenly felt my left calf muscle twitch and cramp up. This has happened to me before, and I believe is a recurrent problem since the Piece of String last year that I obviously haven't quite fixed yet, which was exacerbated by the climbing. I stopped to stretch it but ended up just having to run a bit slower than I really wanted.

A few Kms from the aid station at El Time, my calf suddenly spasmed at a rather inopportune moment and I went flying forwards on the rocks and cracked my knees. Nothing too serious, just a bit of a scrape and some bruising, but as I started to run again I couldn't get my feet to land where I wanted them to on the rocks which wasn't ideal. I carried on even slower down towards the aid station through the woods. Running in general was fine, but running on anything in any way uneven was proving unnerving as I kept nearly going over. Before I got to the checkpoint I had already stacked it 2 or 3 more times. One time a very nice man behind me just jumped over my corpse, cursing me for getting in his way. Charming!

I got into the aid station, refilled my bottle (which had emptied when I landed on it face first), then went into the First Aid tent to get somebody to quickly check me over. Inside, I found Forest Bethel who had been crushing it in the top 50, only to suddenly come down with unstoppable leg spasms (great band name) and be pulled from the race with a bag of "happy juice" stuck in his arm. He was pretty disappointed as you can imagine, but after a trip to the hospital was okay and should hopefully be back to full fighting force in no time.

Any excuse to sit down. Lazy bastard!

I headed out on the final descent down towards the coastal town at Tazacorte. Unfortunately I was still unable to run the uneven sections so was stuck walking anything where there was a chance I might go over again. Which, y'know, was all of it. Despite the gorgeous weather, the most glorious coastal vista imaginable, and the fact that I was approaching the end of this amazing race, that was the most depressing 6 mile walk of my life! It never seemed to end, and when the route got closer to the sea, winding down an almost crazy-paving style path, only to switch back to head in the opposite direction I almost lost my shit! At one point, we hit the road (about 2 minutes after my final fall) and I thought I was saved, only to be waved back onto a rutted and dilapidated trail. I swear I would have hit the marshal that waved me off the road if it hadn't have been for the man out with his family offering ice cold refreshments to the runners just beforehand. Never has a gigantic bearded Spanish coke-dealer been more attractive to me. I could have kissed him! When I sheepishly told him I was English and didn't understand him, he bellowed something to his family and they all laughed and chanted at me. I think they were being friendly, but quite frankly he could have said whatever he wanted and I would have just smiled and said, "Grassy arse"!

I stopped briefly on the seemingly never-ending switch back down to the town and called Jen to let her know why it was taking about an hour longer than it should have done so she didn't worry too much, and it was really nice to just sit there in the sun chatting to her.

Scorchio!

I set off again, resigned to a slower time than I expected and having lost about 50 places on the descent, but newly determined to finish things out as strong as I could. As soon as I hit the bottom of the pavement with fresh Tarmac under my feet, the game was back on. I hopped in and out of the final checkpoint at Tazacorte quite quickly, stopping to gnaw on some more fruit and to get some ice cold water over my head from some very eager kids (soaking the Englishman obviously seemed like a fun game!). In my haste I created a new cocktail of water, Powerade, and Coke. Interesting taste, but it got the job done!

Right. Home stretch now, but this was the section that took Kilian out last year. There as about 1.5 Kms running along pretty flat Tarmac which was great for getting my legs working again after 2 hours of walking, but then we turned off the road to head up an incredibly steep 350 m climb up a cobbled street to the town of Los Llamos above us. This was a straight up hike, and I was actually able to pull in a few people here. When we reached the top, we could hear the cheering at the finish line. There were about 5 people in my sights along the long straight road ahead of me before the turning onto the main road, but I was only able to pass a couple of them. I turned the corner onto the finishers strip that we had seen the day before, and ran through giving high fives to all of the kids who seemed to really enjoy being a part of the race. This feeling is so awesome (in the true sense of the word) and it's so exciting to be a part of something so inspiring and to be inspired by those around you. Whilst I love the smaller nature of some of the races I enter (I got clapped into a fifth place finish of my first race by only one person), there really is nothing that beats that kind of atmosphere.

My final time was 11:03:35, an hour outside of what I had hoped for but still a respectable time (and I think second Brit behind Richard's brother in law, Rich Heath). I have a habit of never being happy with how I do, but really it's just that I know I could do better. It's my competitive nature, but I'm competitive with myself more than anything else. If I set a goal and don't achieve it, but know that I could have done, I feel like I have failed. Not in a depressing way - I just move onto the next thing and try and improve things that need improving. It works well for me, and it never affects my enjoyment of the races themselves; one of my favourite experiences ever was my slow 10 Km John Wayne death march into Chamonix at last year's UTMB after suffering pretty serious chaffing. It's always something eh! I'm not sure what I'll do if I ever have a perfect race and have nothing to moan about...

It says 149th male, but I prefer to think of it as top 10 female

I passed through the finish and into the finishers' area which was kind of odd. Paddling pools and showers were set up for people to use (prior to the masseurs having to touch them I guess), but they were right next to the sides were people were staring in and... just kind of watching us. Oh well, when in Rome! Not being one to miss an excuse to get naked, I whipped off my top and shoes and hopped in. Luverly! Due to the change in my running gait, my feet had become pretty shredded so I got them checked over by the doctor and had my legs seen to as well. It was just a couple of minor bumps and scrapes, and hardly seems worth all the fuss now!

War wounds. They look a bit pathetic in this picture...  Although my feet aren't nearly as bad as this makes them look!

I grabbed a quick massage to crack into my calf and also into the new twinges which had come about due to the change in running, but nothing a bit of prodding didn't fix. As I finished, Chris came through the line (3rd Brit I think?) looking very strong. He'd had no interesting incidents along the way and had run a corker, but had to get in on the first aid action by severely cramping up during his massage and needing to be put on a drip. Always got to go one better...

He's just too hardcore to relax!

Martin was next in, and boy did he look like he had some stories to tell! Sporting a giant gash on his left knee, a smashed phone, and a haunted look on his face, he regaled me with his story of falling off a cliff and just about managing to avoid breaking anything (other than his phone of course), losing his hat in the process. Luckily he was able to obtain a new one from a camera man who wanted an interview:

Cameraman: "Describe Transvulcania in a couple of sentences."
Martin: "It's like running up a volcano, and it's fucking hot"

And yet people kept asking if he was British.

Somehow I missed Richard coming through the line, and found him relaxing with a beer after a great run considering a slightly dodgy ankle. He bucked the trend for Team Onada by coming away entirely unscathed! His brother in law Rich Heath also had a great run with very few negative signs, coming in first Brit (we think?) and nicely set up for taking on the Grand Union in a few weeks along with Martin. Not too many cliffs to fall off there!

Soaking in the Transvulcania atmosphere.

We polished off some free paella and Cokes (awesome service from the helpers) and began the real ordeal of getting back to our car in the middle of nowhere and making it back to the room on nothing but fumes. Luckily we made it, and were out for a celebratory pizza and beer by 11pm. What a day!

The race itself was won by Kilian Jornet in a new course record of 6:54:09, playfully crossing the line with a pocket full of flowers in a nod to last year's 'flower gate' incident when he was beaten in the last few miles by Dakota Jones, who jokingly placed a flower on him as he crossed the line and collapsed.  The idea that people can run that course that fast is insane! Closely behind in 6:58:31 was Luis Hernando, with Sage Canaday coming in third in 7:09:57. First in for the ladies was Emelie Forsburg in 8:13:22, with Nuria Picas following closely behind in 8:19:30 and Uxue Azpeitia in 8:44:48. Both the women's and men's races were very closely fought battles right until the very last minutes. It's a shame I missed it!

That was to be the end of our whistle stop trip to La Palma, and we began our journey home early in the morning on Sunday. I didn't get home until 5pm Monday to give you some idea of how fun the travel plans were! Don't get me wrong, they were awesomely organised by Martin who spent a lot of time working out the best options for a short trip over, but if I was to go over again I would take the family, make a holiday of it, and find a direct flight from closer to home.

But on the plus side, we did get a few hours free in Tenerife before our flight home to spend in Siam Park, an awesome water park with some absolutely amazing rides! Shame they all involved long walks and climbs to get to, but hey nothing beats a bit of rehab!

Yeah, climbing up that will be dead easy.

So what a weekend! Now I'm just glad to be home with my girls. Next up is the South Downs Way 100 miler in 5 weeks, so I just need to get my feet sorted again (I hear greyhound foot cream is good for it...) and get ready for race day.

No Kōfuku!

Transvulcania Preview

Last year, a little race in the Canary Islands caught the attention of the entire ultra running community. Taking place on the stunning volcanic island of La Palma ("Isla Bonita", or "beautiful island"), Transvulcania offered both an inspiring backdrop and also an incredible field of the top runners from around the world. It was an amazing race to follow, with course records smashed by Anna Frost (8:11:30) and Dakota Jones (6:59:07).


And of course, everybody wanted a piece of it for 2013! So a small group of hardy individuals (I believe "idiots" is the colloquial term) signed up, including Martin Wilcock, Chris Baynham-Hughes, Richard Brown, and me. We head out on Friday to attempt the unbelievably complex task of making it to the island, before getting about an hours' sleep prior to the race start at 6 am on Saturday. Acclimatisation shmacclimatisation!

The race itself is 83.3 Km, with a rather frightening 8,525 m of elevation change (about 4,500 m of ascent). The course profile appears relatively simple - a very long very steep hill for the first 20 Km, a "relatively" flat section with a short but bloody steep hill in the middle, a similarly steep 15 Km descent, then a final hill in the last few Kms just to add a little sting in the tail. Simples.

This year, the list of starters is a veritable who's who of ultra running, with many of the top names from around the world confirmed. Ian Corless has a list of confirmed elites that make for an amazing field. This is certainly going to be one helluva race!

So where do I fit in? Frankly I have no idea. I figure if I can survive that first hill (not my greatest strength what with training in Cambridge) then I can put my foot down (then my other foot - ho ho ho) and push as hard as I can for the finish. This might work and I could get a good time (sub 10 hours maybe?), or it could fail miserably! Either way, I'm just going to have fun out there, being in those surroundings, and being a part of such an amazing event.

I will be flying the flag for Team X-Bionic as an "honorary member", having been sent a bunch of kit to try out by Simon Robinson (the UK rep). Seeing as I kept him waiting around for hours at the end of the Viking Way (where he came to see me finish) it only seemed fair! This will be my first real test of the kit, so full review afterwards. It's exciting to be part of a team like this, amongst stalwart runners like 2012 UK Ultra Runner Award winners Mimi Anderson (who has win more races than I have taken part in) and Terry Conway (holder of the rather astonishing Lakeland 100 course record, and just getting faster!), even if it is only temporary.

I haven't quite decided on the rest of my kit yet, but will probably use my Salomon Sense Mantras as my shoe of choice. For hydration I am still undecided between the trusty Salomon 5L vest (well tested but maybe a bit warm) or my UltrAspire Impulse belt (better for warmer conditions, but untested for racing). I probably won't make up my mind until we're about to leave for the start line!

I have set up my Twitter and Facebook accounts to update as I run, so you can see how far ahead of Kilian I am. If at any point it appears that he is hours ahead if me, rest assured that I am either biding my time to take him down at the end of the race (with flower at the ready...), or decided to do another lap and am close to lapping him.

Well a guy can dream...

Salomon Advanced Skin S-Lab Belt Set Review

Have I ever told you how much I love Salomon gear? The gear coming out of the S-Lab is a rather stunning example of function dictating design, as the formidable stable of Salomon athletes work closely with the designers to create exactly what they need. The first example of this was the Advanced Skin race vest originally designed for Kilian Jornet in the 2011 UTMB which revolutionised the way we think about running packs, but the innovations have since come thick and fast.

The latest potential game-changer are the new soft water bottles and associated hydration systems in the 2013 line. These include updated versions of the S Lab Advanced Skin race vests, a rather ingenious looking (if slightly whacky) set of glove-style handhelds (the Sense Hydro Set), and the new lightweight Salomon Advanced Skin S Lab Hydration Belt.

This last one caught my eye as a potential way to cut down on bulk in my racing, being an incredibly lightweight waist pack relying on soft bottles rather than bulky plastic ones. If I could fit everything I need for a supported 100 miler like the upcoming South Downs Way, this could potentially be the perfect pack for me.

Last year, Salomon gear was like gold dust - travelling to Chamonix for UTMB last year was amazing as every other store seemed to stock it! But now we are spoiled for choice, with several suppliers in the UK taking delivery of the latest range (including the Ultra Marathon Running Store, Centurion Running Store, and Castleberg Outdoors). I contacted Keith Godden at the UMRS who sent me one to try out.

Unfortunately - shock horror - I wasn't overly impressed. Believe me, I wanted to love this pack. But sadly it wasn't to be. Unfortunately the very thing that made it so appealing (the lightweight nature) was also its greatest failing. I only used the pack for a short amount of time, so haven't put nearly as many hours into it as I normally would for a review, but this was enough time to identify problems which made it unsuitable for my needs.

But let's do this in a systematic way:

Weight

This pack is light. I mean, like, super light. I didn't think that anything was in the envelope when it came through, and it was even smaller than I had anticipated. At only 130 g there is no doubt that this is the lightest pack available on the market.

Material

The pack is made of a super lightweight mesh materia. The pack itself seems pretty solid despite feeling so thin, but my biggest issue lies with the fastening straps. They are again a very light, almost ribbon-like, material which just feels flimsy when tightening. Worse still, the very first time I pulled them while running to improve the fit, the stitching bust (with a painful ripping noise) on both sides. As far as I'm concerned, I was not pulling any tighter than one would expect to while racing, so the fact that they fell apart so easily was pretty worrying.

Capacity

Despite the small size, the capacity of this pack is actually pretty amazing. The pack is essentially two sections (ostensibly the "front" and "back", although you can have either at the front) which clip together with a lightweight plastic clip system, similar to the chest strap connectors on the 5L S Lab waist pack.

The first section (which I will refer to as the "front") contains two zip pockets and two elasticated pouches. Like the 5L pouch on the race vest, these pockets are surprisingly roomy and you can cram a lot in there.


The "rear" section is where you will carry your fluids. There are two pouches each designed to hold one of the new Salomon soft flasks (one 237 ml is supplied with the pack). It can be a little awkward trying to stuff the flasks into the pouches around your back without accidentally squeezing the teat and squirting yourself, but you get the hang of it. The fact that they are flexible means that you can stuff them in any old way which cuts down on faff. There are also two elasticated bands that can be used to hold a jacket, and I found that these held my Montane Minus jacket quite nicely. However, it is a bit of a tight squeeze and anything bigger may not fit. I suspect that it is more designed for something like the new lightweight Salomon Bonatti jacket.


For me, the real test was whether I could happily hold everything that I would need for the South Downs Way 100 miler. On the front, I was easily able to fit two gels in each of the pouches, my iPhone in one of the pockets, and a head torch in the other. On the rear, I had two 237 ml bottles (I would need to use a 500 ml handheld as well however to meet the 1 L minimum requirement) and my Montane Minimus jacket. The only thing missing would be the map. Maybe I could tattoo this onto my body somehow?

Soft Flasks

These obviously have the benefit of being incredibly light and taking up only a small amount of space when not empty. They are made from the same material as the bladder from the race vests, and the bite valve makes them a very easy to use hydration system. My one criticism is that it is a little too easy to accidentally squeeze the teat (snigger) resulting in leaks and loss of water which may later be needed. I actually had real problems with one if my flasks leaking, but this was an unfortunate flaw in one of my two bottles rather than a problem with the product itself, and was quickly rectified. I regularly use the soft flasks as stand-alone water bottles as they can be stuffed quite easily into the back of a pair of shorts when you don't want to carry anything else with you.

Price

The price of Salomon gear, particularly the S Lab equipment, is normally pretty high. At the time that I bought it, the 5L Advanced Skin S Lab vest was the only one if its kind and was so perfect for what I needed that I was able to justify it to myself (I still use that battered pack to this day, even though its held together with gaffer tape and safety pins, so I've definitely had my money's worth!), but now there are cheaper alternatives so I can't guarantee that the same would be true now. This pack was £45 which is quite high, but not extortionate. Pound for pound it's a bit steep mind...

Comfort

So how does it feel? Well here's the problem. When I first put the pack on, if felt great. It is made of the same breathable mesh as the race vest, so felt very comfy. Also, being so small limited the amount of contact with the body and hence the number of potential chaffing points.


However, when I started to run, I found that the pack slipped around a bit (particularly when fully laden). The obvious solution to this was to tighten the pack and ensure a close fit with my body. Even at its tightest I could not get it to sit close enough to my body. This may be a result of me being small, and normal sized people may not find this problem, but for me it just did not feel right.

Worse was the fact that when trying to tighten the pack, it ripped. Also, the method of tightening the pack (a ribbon-like pull on each side) seems to me to be pretty shoddy. There is no real way to hold the pack taught once you have pulled it tight, and the lightweight plastic connector is just not good enough. I think it could do with some form of clip to hold if in position once the pack position has been set. Looking at some images online, it seems that there are in fact clips attached which may do just this. Whether I got an older version, or if the pack that I used was incomplete, I'm not sure. If this problem were fixed then it would certainly improve things immeasurably.

Conclusion

So could this pack be the perfect accompaniment to a 100 mile PB? Well I could certainly fit in almost everything I would need for such a race, and I was very impressed with the comfort and design of the pack in general.

However, some potentially serious flaws were identified when I actually tried to run with it. Firstly the lightness of the pack meant that it was far too easy to damage it when trying to improve the fit on the move. And secondly there seemed to be no way to hold the pack in position once this had been set. For these reasons, I can't see myself being able to use this pack.

And believe me, I am very disappointed about this outcome! This would have been perfect, but as it turns out there are several problems (potentially specific to me) which prevent this. Keith has taken my criticisms back to Salomon, and I am interested to hear their response. As I mentioned, I have seen images online that suggest that improvements have already been made in these areas so perhaps I used an older version? So there is still the chance that these problems can be resolved and that this could still be a great hydration system. Fingers crossed! My Salomon Fanboy status depends on it...

TORQing About Running (it's a homonym, y'see...)

A few months ago, I happened to see a message on Facebook about an interesting sounding new initiative. TORQ are a fitness consultancy firm that also produce a range of nutritional supplements such as gels, bars and recovery drinks. They are highly regarded in the mountain biking community, and sponsor teams in cycling, MTB, triathlon etc. They are now interested in getting involved in the trail and ultra running scene, and were looking for runners to make up their new trail team. What was interesting about this was that they are not looking for the top runners in the country, but instead are interested in putting together a team of inspirational runners who are passionate about the sport regardless of whether they are elite athletes. So runners from all backgrounds were asked to submit a CV describing what running means to them, a little about their background, and any blogs or the like that they might have.

You may have noticed that I quite enjoy banging on about running (my poor wife sure knows it), so I figured I would put something in. To be honest I hadn't heard of TORQ before this, but a friend described them to me as the "Rolls Royce of gels" which was pretty high praise. Since I pretty much use gels exclusively when I run, I thought why not have a crack.

Viking Way Ultra Race Report - April 2013

Potential Vikings before their adventure

Strap yourself in, this could be a long one!

The Viking Way is a 147.8 mile route running from the Humber Bridge in North Lincolnshire to Oakham in Rutland. Quite what the Vikings thought was so important in Oakham to require such a long march from their landing point I have no idea, but I guess getting away from Hull is excuse enough. Although they might want to fire their navigator as it's not exactly a direct route. Regardless, the route is one of the longest marked trails in the country, and was the perfect location for a new race. Last year Mark Cockbain, an extremely accomplished ultra runner who has done pretty much everything you would care to mention, announced his plans to hold the race, with the caveat that all runners would have to meet a minimum requirement to be allowed in. Somehow my entry was accepted even though all I had done by that point was the South Downs Way and a few smaller races But unfortunately it was not to be, as falling off my bike in the ice and attempting to run the Thames Path 100 miler on what would later turn out to be a pretty dodgy ankle put me out of the running for a good few months last year. The race was a great success, and was won jointly by Neil Bryant and Pat Robbins in 29:22. Only seven people (out of about 30 starters) finished inside the 40 hour cutoff.

Feeling horny...

Just a quicky... *snigger*

In about an hour's time, I'll be making my way up to Hull to take part in the Viking Way 147.8 mile ultra, following the Viking Way from Barton Upon Humber to Oakham. The race is organised by Mark Cockbain, who likes things to be as tough as possible. So there will be none of this GPS malarkey; we're lucky we're allowed a map!

With a cutoff of 40 hours, and fairly minimal (although awesome) support throughout, the race is only open to runners with a pedigree that shows that they have a chance of seeing the finish at Oakham Library. Last year, 27 people started and only 7 finished. To Mark, I think that still may be too high...

I was supposed to run it last year, but fell off my bike and injured myself (made worse by running the Thames Path 100) and had to pull out before even making Hull. So this year is Round 2; I have unfinished business. Well, unstarted business really I guess.

This year is made more interesting by the arctic conditions we have been having recently. Last weekend, the Thames Path was once again held in pretty extreme conditions (making it a surprise contender for toughest UK 100 miler!). Will we be caught out in snow drifts this weekend? Currently the weather looks pretty favourable, with cloud and sun throughout the day all weekend. The only issue seems to be how cold it's going to get, particularly overnight. If all goes well it will be pretty perfect conditions - as long as I can keep moving! Hopefully the cold will have firmed up the ground a bit as well, which given the slog fest that greeted runners last year would be a real bonus.

So what's my plan? Well I thought I would sprint out from the line and just see how long I can hold on. Or just run at a nice comfortable race until someone tells me to stop - just like the Piece of String all over again!

I'm really looking forward to this race as it's my first time running properly since the Piece of String in November. Having a baby kind of put things on hold earlier this year... It's going to be really tough to leave Charlotte for so long for the first time, but it should be a good reason to run faster! That and chocolate of course. As if running away from Hull wasn't impetus enough.

Anyway, off to catch a train to Hull! Hopefully I'll next be posting as the owner of a swanky new Viking Way medal. You won't believe how big these bastards are.

Wish me luck!

Salomon XT-Advanced Skin S-Lab

Being the huge (accidental) Salomon fan boy that I am, I have recently been bigging up the Salomon Skin S-Lab pack to some of my friends who have been looking for new packs this year. With the release of the Signature Series from Ultimate Direction, it seems that the race vest style of running pack is becoming more and more popular. With ultras, it is often important to take a lot of gear out with us on the trails, particularly if doing something long and self-supported, or up a mountain, in a jungle, in a desert, etc. Broadly speaking there are 3 choices for carrying what we need; a handheld water bottle (if all we need is a bit of water and maybe a few gels), a waist pack (to carry a couple of bottles and a bit of essential gear like a jacket), or a backpack (if we need to carry a whole bunch of stuff). Over longer distances, backpacks can get quite uncomfortable given the way that they sit the weight on the shoulders, with maybe some lumbar support as well. The race vests are designed to distribute the weight over the chest so that you don't get so much of that pulling on your shoulders.

I have been using the Salomon XT-Advanced Skin S-Lab since I started running ultras in 2011, and for the time-being have no reason whatsoever to switch. I love this pack. It is a masterful feat of design, with everything perfectly placed for me, and so many useful little features that another pack would have to do something very special to get my attention. Why go out for hamburger when you have steak at home?

There are currently two flavours of the pack - the 5L and the 12L. I reviewed the 5L a long time ago before I ran my first 100 miler with it, but have now used it so much that I feel that a new review is required. I have both the 5L (2 in fact...) and the 12 L, so will review both simultaneously as they are pretty much identical in most regards. Spoiler alert: I like them!

As a warning, this review looks at the 2012 edition of the packs. There is a newer version available (with a new colour scheme: ooh, pretty red!) but I won't need to replace these any time soon. But there aren't too many additions or changes other than cosmetic so the the vast majority of the review still applies to the latest 2013 models.

Ultra Parenting

Taken from http://www.sugarjack.com/blog/the-baby-races-2012-with-tommys-sugarjack/baby-race-buggies-2/

As I sit here and type this, I have my beautiful baby girl Charlotte clamped onto my chest fast asleep (luckily the shear amount of hair there provides enough friction that she won't fall off). She is now a whole 8 days old, and is (without getting too mushy on you) absolutely perfect in every way. Thank goodness she gets most of her looks from her mother! 

Without getting into the gory details, the birth was a bit of an ultra in itself. Watching my wife go through 28 hours of labour kind of puts my piddly little races into perspective, that's for sure! Next time I start bitching about how tired I am at mile 80, I will look back on that experience and just man the f**k up. Actually, y'know what, scratch that; woman the f**k up!

And now here we are. I'm finally a father. It amazes me that they let any old idiot do this. Shouldn't there be like a test or something?! But having my baby girl is indeed the greatest thing that I have ever done with my life, narrowly beating finishing the Piece of String Fun Run last year (much to James Adams' disappointment). And now the fun begins!

Salomon Sense Mantra Review

Ah! Gotta love that new shoe smell! They won't stay looking that clean for long...

Salomon are the Apple of ultrarunning. Their stuff looks sexy, it's highly functional, everybody wants it, but my word is it expensive! Generally speaking my choice of running gear is primarily based on price, but I have found the Salomon S-Lab Skin hydration pack to be so amazing that I now own 3 despite the high price tag (a 5L, a 12L, and another 5L as I have burnt through the first one now with overuse). I have also used the Salomon Speedcross shoe since my first 100 miler in 2011, although these are actually very well priced (particularly if you look around online). So I have found myself accidentally becoming a bit of a Salomon fanboy without really meaning to. But when the kit works so well, what can you do? 

When the Salomon Sense came out last year, I wanted them. I wanted them bad! I'm pretty sure that they automatically make you run like Killian Jornet. Well I would hope so at least, given the 150 quid price tag! I've never really had a problem with my Speedcross and am of the opinion that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", but the Sense appeared to be the Speedcross but with a lower heel-to-toe drop that would be more suitable for my more forefoot/midfoot running style. They looked like they would be worth a shot, but I just couldn't bring myself to break my bank account for them. Instead, I went for an even more minimalist (and much cheaper) shoe in the New Balance MT110. 

Jump forward to 2013, when Salomon released their updated versions of the Sense; the Sense Ultra and the Sense Mantra. The Sense Ultra is very similar to the original Sense (with a few minor tweaks), whilst the Sense Mantra is more of a gateway shoe with slightly more padding in the sole. "Lovely", I thought, "but still outside of my price range". But thanks to Craig Meredith at Fit2Function, I was able to get hold of a pair of Sense Mantras at the very reasonable price of £85. Well alright then, if you insist!

Tag! You're it.

My friend Mike recently pointed me towards this quite amazing story about 10 friends who cement their friendship with an ongoing game of tag. For one month out of every year, the game is on and the person who is "it" can use whatever underhanded devious tactics they choose to tag one of the others. Whoever is "it" at the end of the month must carry with them the shame of being "it" for the rest of the year. Such dirty tricks include bribing family members and friends, hiding in bushes, breaking into houses in the middle of the night, and anything else that an aspiring stalker might have up their sleeve. Fantastic!

So I got to thinking; how could we adapt this into a country wide game of Ultra Tag? Essentially the game would be tag, but within the confines of an ultra race, and with elements of the old university game of Assassin thrown in for good measure. If you are "it", then you would have an opportunity to tag another player at the next race that you ran at, but for the tag to count you would also need to beat them to the finish line! Here is the game as I see it:

1. The "tagger" is the player who was it at the start of the game. The "taggee" is the player whom the tagger has targeted.
2. The tagger has from the moment the race starts until he crosses the line in which to make a tag of another player. 
3. Players must download, print off, and wear a specially designed target on their back somewhere visible by people approaching from behind during the race.
4. Only runners wearing this visible mark are eligible targets.
5. Once the taggee has been tagged by the tagger, there are no tag-backs. But then the race is on!
6. The taggee has two options to avoid being "it"; they can either tag another player (in which case they become the tagger in the above scenario), or can race and beat the original tagger to the finish.
7. If the taggee succeeds in beating the tagger to the finish line, then the state of being "it" reverts to the original tagger once more. However, if the tagger crosses the line first, then the taggee is it. This will be updated on the website.
8. If multiple tags have been made, then the outcome of the tags will be decided based on the order of finishing.

The last rule is just because there is kind of a branching structure to the tagging that might depend on who beats whom in the race. So if Player A is "it" and tags Player B, but then Player B tags Player C, and the finishing order is CAB, then Player B would be "it" at the end of the race. This is because whilst they tagged Player C, Player C beat them to the finish. So we go back one tagging, and find that Player A successfully tagged and beat Player B. So the result of the race is that being "it" goes from Player A to Player B.

It's not as difficult as I've made it sound, honest! It's just a bit of silly fun really! But the more players there are, the more fun it will be. If you fancy playing, then email me with the following information, which will be published on a separate page on this blog for all other players to see:

• Your name
• A recent photo (preferably of you running so that people can recognise you at races)
• A list of all of your upcoming races for the year (where other players might be likely to find you)

This is only a rough idea for the rules - if anybody has any suggestions for ways in which they can be improved then please comment below. 

Who's in?!

New Balance MT110 Review

The New Balance (NB) Minimus Trail 110 (MT110s) have been around for a while now, having been released at the start of 2012 to general critical acclaim. The Minimus are a popular series of lightweight minimalist shoes from NB that have generally received rave reviews, and the trail series (the MT100 and the MT101) have been developed closely with Anton Krupicka and Erik and Kyle Skaggs, three of the top ultrarunners in the US. I really liked the sound of these when I first heard about them as the minimal drop from the heel to the toe plays to my forefoot running style, and when I finally found that they were available here in the UK for the low low price of £30, I just had to grab a pair.

I have been using these regularly for over 6 months now, and have probably run over 600 miles in them, usually on groomed trails but also with the occasional run through incredibly sloppy mud, knee deep in river water, or on rocky hilly terrain in Wales. Also, they work surprisingly well on road. 

It's probably a bit late in the day to be writing this review, but I have just purchased a pair of Salomon Sense Mantras which I am in the process of putting through their paces and they will inevitably get compared to these. 

Is Marathon Running Bad For Your Heart - Redux

Okay, this has bugged me a little bit and I had to write a post as a comment on what I have seen. I have previously commented on some of the research that has come out over the last few years suggesting that - to coin a sensationalist media-friendly phrase - Marathon Running Is Bad For Your Heart. I recently saw this TED talk from Dr. James O'Keefe M.D., where he discusses many of the same ideas. As a cardiologist, he used to exercise regularly as the generally accepted standpoint is that exercise is good for your heart, and the more the better. But he and his colleagues have since found that over-intensive running may in fact be bad for your heart. Instead we should all be running not too fast and not too far.

Now, as an ultramarathon runner, I am obviously biased in my opinions. However, I do know a fair bit about data analysis and (more importantly) interpretation. And based on what I have seen in the literature, I have yet to see anything that makes me particularly worried.

So let's have a play-by-play of the content of the video. Granted, the point of TED talks is to make a complex subject understandable by non-experts so this isn't a scientific presentation as such, but in this presentation you can see issues with the argument. I apologise for how long this post is, but I want to be thorough in my assessment. I do not claim to be an expert in the area of cardiology, and I certainly haven't read all of the literature (I just do this in my spare time for fun after all), but nothing that I have seen in these studies has suggested anything more than one possible interpretation of the data.

You're Only Cheating Yourself

This Thursday will see Oprah Winfrey interview Lance Armstrong regarding the part that he played in the doping scandal that has swept the professional cycling world since the release of the USADA's damning ream of evidence against Lance, the U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team, and indeed much of the pro-cycling community. I won't go into any details about it here, as people far more knowledgable than I have already dissected the report, and the conclusion seems to be pretty unanimous: the US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team did indeed run "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen". 

Despite the evidence against him, Lance has always avidly denied cheating, decrying the USADA report as a "government funded witch hunt" (isn't that the same government that funds the USPS team?). But, lo and behold, news has leaked out that in the interview shot on Monday, Lance has finally admitted to cheating. Apparently witch-hunts aren't such a bad idea when there are witches abroad... 

(Hmm, that Terry Pratchett book was set in Lancre. Lancre... Lance... Coincidence?! I think not.)

UltrAspire Impulse Waist Pack Review

The Christmas holidays were fantastic fun, with plenty of food, wonderful company, and general good cheer all round. To ensure that we remain jolly for as long as possible, a few friends and we celebrate our very own holiday ("Fakemas") on January 2nd. It's basically all of the best parts of Christmas all over again, with a big emphasis on awesome presents. This year for Fakemas, I was very happy to receive the UltrAspire Impulse waist pack which was on my letter to Santa this holiday season.

There are three main ways to carry fluid and equipment around with you during an ultramarathon. The first is to use a handheld bottle, which has the benefit of being very minimalist but does not allow you to carry too much additional equipment. The second is to use a pack, which has the benefit of giving you scope for carrying additional gear but does mean you have the additional weight and the inconvenience of carrying something on your back. The third option is to use a waist pack, which sits somewhere in the middle as it allows you to carry more equipment but leaves your back unencumbered, preventing overheating and reducing potential chafe points. 

Until now I have never found a waist pack that I liked the look of, since typically they seem quite bulky compared to the very well designed ergonomics of the Salomon S-Lab hydration vest that I normally use. The Impulse on the other hand is very minimal (at only 232 g), consisting essentially of two bottle pouches and a belt with a couple of pockets.

The waist belt is quite minimal, with two bottle pouches connected by a small belt, with a few additional pockets

Potential Idea - Ultrarunning Holiday Camp

In my last post, I alluded to a mysterious event that I was hopefully organising later in the year. After a meeting today, it looks like I am good to go and can finally start actually organising things. So here is my idea:

Ultrarunning Holiday Camp!

A few months ago, Jen and I went for a little weekend break at Center Parcs in Elveden forest (in Suffolk), which if you've never heard of it before, is a holiday park in the middle of a forest with lots of activities to do like swimming, archery, sailing, etc. (kind of like a posh Butlins). There was a little trail loop around the perimeter of the park of roughly 4 miles which I ran a few times each day. I jokingly suggested it would be fun to have a weekend break with a bunch of ultrarunners, and could organise a race there.

Being me, I took it one step further, contacted them, and have now accidentally become an event organiser. I have also been in contact with Richard Felton, who organises the UK Ultrarunner of the Year Awards, and have arranged to hold the awards ceremony at this event as well, so there will be a bit of a do for anybody that likes to get fancied up in their glad-rags.

Given how close-knit the UK ultrarunning scene is, it seems like a social event like this could be a fun way to spend a weekend, and would also allow people's families to get involved as well. I know that Jen would love to meet some of the people that I talk about all of the time, but doesn't feel like hanging around while I run a 100 miler to do it! While we're all running, the running widows/widowers can get together to talk about how stupid we are!

So the weekend will look something like this:

Friday
Everybody arrives and checks into their accommodation, people taking part in the race collect their race packs, we have a few drinks.

Saturday
Race day! The race will be a timed race, probably of 10 hours, with runners aiming to run as many loops as possible. Then the evening will be the Ultrarunner of the Year Awards gala dinner - think 'The Oscars', but with smelly runners instead of glamorous celebrities.

Sunday
Activity day! Chill in the pool, go to the spa, have a go at archery, ride a horse, the choices are endless! Okay, not strictly true, but there are a lot of things to do.

Monday
Check out, say goodbye, and head back to the real world.

I'll also hopefully be able to arrange some other things, such as talks, training sessions, some form of mini-expo if any companies are interested. I may be getting a little ahead of myself here!

It will be held towards the end of the year (most likely the weekend of the 9th and 10th November), but need to work out the best date for avoiding clashes with other races (such as the Winter 100 and Brecon Beacons Ultra) and with the holidays. Again, I will release official details once they have been finalised.

But for now I need an idea of who would be interested in this event. I have no idea of costs just yet, as it is a bit of a chicken and egg situation - I need to know rough numbers to get an idea of cost, but people won't know if they want to come without some idea of how much they will have to pay. A rough back of the envelope estimate is about £200-300 for the whole weekend (bed and breakfast for 3 nights, race entry, ticket to the awards ceremony), with other options available for non-running family members, or people that just want to come for one day for the race and the awards ceremony.

For now it would be great if people could give me some idea of whether or not they would be interested in coming (regardless of cost), and if so how many people (family members, spouses, partners, etc.) they would be likely to bring. If you're interested, just leave a comment below or send me a message on Facebook. You won't be held to anything, I am just trying to gauge the interest! Is it a good idea, or will I be left at the party all on my lonesome?

Centurion Running End of Year Analysis - 2012

I recently performed another bit of analysis, this time using the Centurion Running data from throughout the year as a kind of retrospective study of 2012, and also to look for any interesting trends. This wasn't anywhere near as in depth as the survey that we ran for the South Downs Way (there'll be more of that later this year), and the data that I used was just the checkpoint times available on the Centurion Running website. Despite this being a relatively simple look at pace profiles, we actually found some potentially interesting things, particularly relating to dropout rates. 

The nice thing about having access to the checkpoint times and not just the finishing times is that it gives us more scope to look at trends in pacing throughout the entire course. Also it is very useful to be able to pull out the dropout point of runners who were unable to complete the course, as I believe that this has highlighted some potentially quite interesting points relating to how runners are able to decide on which point to pull out at. I plan on doing something similar with the Western States data that I have played with in the past to see if we see similar trends to those shown below. More on that in a few weeks.

The report can be downloaded from the Centurion Running website here, but I have added the report below as well. Enjoy!

1 Introduction

2012 has been a fantastic year for Centurion Running. Following on from the inaugural North Downs Way 50 mile and 100 mile events in 2011, this year has seen a full timetable of ultrarunning events including the Thames Path 100 miler, South Downs Way 100 miler, North Downs Way 50 and 100 milers, Winter 100 and the now infamous Piece of String Fun Run. With the completion of the Winter 100, we have reached the end of the racing season and include here a retrospective for the main races in the Centurion Running 100 mile event calendar.

For the South Downs Way 100, we ran a survey of runners in a pilot project to look at factors relating to successful ultramarathon running completion. In 2013 we hope to roll this survey out to the other events to build up a database of information for 100 mile runners and allow us to look for interesting trends amongst the people who choose to run 100 mile events for fun. Please keep your eyes open for more information on this in the new year, and please take part as the more information that we are able to collect the better the findings will be.

For now, enjoy the holiday season and have a wonderful New Year. Happy running everybody!

New Year Plans

And so we come to the end of 2012. It was a pretty epic year all things considered, and as my friend Herbs pointed out, "2013 must be shitting itself". The Olympics and Paralympics showed the world that we're actually pretty bloody good at sport (but unfortunately convinced them that we suck at music), my sideburns doppelgänger Bradley Wiggins did pretty well in his little bicycle race, the Queen is still going strong despite our best efforts to give her hypothermia. So what will 2013 have in store for us?

I don't know, but I have an idea what the year will hold for me. It's going to be a pretty exciting year with the birth of my first child in a few weeks, and running will have to take second fiddle to some ultra-fathering. But I have a few plans in place and will have to wait and see if any of them pan out.

How to Build a Tyre Pull

If like me you live in a flat area of the country, you might find it difficult to train for running in the hills. Whilst I get out to hiller terrain as often as I can, it is useful to have a method for building up climbing muscles on a day to day basis. One possibility that was suggested to me was to use a tyre pull; running while pulling a tyre along the ground behind you to increase the resistance as you run. I thought it might be useful to anybody else looking to do this if I put up step by step instructions for how I put mine together. I hope these are useful to somebody! I used Marshall Ulrich's blog post as a starting point, but simplified things a little. But check out his post for a good run down of other reasons why running with a tyre is a great way to build up your training (despite looking a bit strange to passers by). 

What you will need:

1. 1x Tyre: You should be able to get one from a local garage for free. They have to pay to get rid of them so shouldn't mind you taking one away. I got two; a big one and a smaller one. That way I can switch between the two depending on how much resistance I want.
2. 1x Weightlifting Belt: I got a cheap one from Sports Direct for less than a tenner. Make sure you get a strong one with some padding, and make sure it is quite wide to provide adequate lumbar support.
3. Thin Bungee Cord (about 4 ft): Available from any hardware stores. This should be quite stiff, but provides some give for when the tyre catches on things as you run.
4. Nylon Rope (about 8 ft): Available from any hardware store. I just got the widest that I could find.
5. 1x Carabiner: Available from any hardware store.  

A) Any old tyre will do. The bigger and heavier it is, the more resistance it will give you. B) Everything is connected together with a carabiner, with a length of rope going to the tyre and a length of flexible bungee rope going to the weight belt. C) A wide weight lifting belt is best to provide adequate lumbar support.

2012: A Retrospective (or "The Horribly Self-Indulgent End of Year Post")

The 2012 apocalypse will be just like the 2009 John Cusack movie - a result of bad writing, a massive mistake, and entirely unbelievable

As we all know, tomorrow is going to be the end of the world as we know it. After all, why wouldn't an ancient civilisation with no access to the advanced astronomical instrumentation that our own civilisation has developed be able to accurately predict the very day that the apocalypse will hit? Sigh. If you're worried about the end of the world at all, please bear two things in mind:

1. It's not the end of the world. It's the end of 13th B'ak'tun, a measurement of 144,000 days used by the Mayans in their calendar system. As Tim Minchin points out, worrying about the end of the world based on this is like turning over December on your fluffy kitten calendar, seeing there's nothing else after it, then FREAKING THE HELL OUT. 
2. Even if it is, what good will stocking up on candles do?

Okay, rant over. Anyway, now seems the perfect time to look back over the last year and take stock of how things have gone. 

It's odd to think that this has really been my first year of proper running. I ran my first ultra (the Northampton Shires and Spires Ultra) in the summer of last year, and ran a couple more throughout the second half of the year (including my first 100 miler at the South Downs Way Race a month later), but this year I really threw myself into things with a rather packed calendar. There have been some ups and there have been some downs, but overall it's been a good and (most importantly) fun year. 

Drymax Lite Trail Running Socks Review

When running for long distances there are many factors that can make the difference between a relatively comfortable experience, and an agonizing slog with the end nowhere in sight. Amongst the most obvious of these is the state of your feet, and for many people blisters can quickly put an end to what was once a fun experience. Blisters are typically due to a combination of excessive friction and a build up of moisture - two things that are only going to get worse if you are running a 100 miler. On my first 100 mile race last year, I got a hotspot on my forefoot within the first 10 miles and did nothing about it. Running over 90 miles on a gradually worsening blister is not much fun, and by the time I had finished it looked (and felt) pretty bad! However, with the correct choice of footwear it is possible to alleviate the causes of blisters and ensure that you have no excuses but to push on to the finish line!

As the main point of contact with your feet, choosing the right kind of socks can make a huge difference to your comfort while running. A cheap pair of Asda cotton socks might be fine for a quick jog around the block, but they probably won't last you long on the fells. There are several main types available to you, and as usual a lot of it will come down to what works best for you personally. I would love to give the foot-glove socks like Injinji and Wigwam a go (which have individual compartments for each of your little toesie woesies), but I am unfortunately a genetic freak with slightly webbed toes. I am hoping like hell that my daughter is born with Jen's perfect feet instead of my misshapen hooves! My good friend Dan Park has written a great comparison of the two from the point of view of a runner with normal feet here.

Until fairly recently, my sock of choice was the 1000 Mile Fusion sock, a twin layer sock designed in such a way that friction is reduced by allowing the dual layers of the sock to rub against one another. These have worked well for me over the years, but my main issue with them is that they are quite bulky, soak up moisture over long distances, and it is very easy for them to become rucked up inside your shoe which can lead to exactly the problems they purport to solve. These problems are particularly exacerbated on hilly terrain, as I discovered this year at the Lakeland 100.

As I have started to run more, I have found that I prefer to run as unencumbered as possible. With this in mind, I briefly entertained the idea of foregoing socks entirely by running in shoes such as the New Balance Minimus Trail 110s or the Salomon S-Lab Sense (drool...), which are designed with an inner liner to make them comfortable to wear sockless. However, I found that this led to rubbing on my little toe in the MT110s, so decided to look for a relatively minimal sock.

I have heard great things over the years about Drymax socks, but they were only available in the US and seemed to be quite difficult to get hold of. However, when Keith from the Ultramarathon Running Store announced that he was going to begin to stock them, I figured it would be a great time to try something new. Of the vast choice on offer, I decided in the end to go for the Drymax Lite Trail sock, firstly to go with my more minimal sensibilities, but also because I'm a stingy bugger!