Monday, June 25, 2007

Back to the Grindstone

Last week I was back in the saddle, this week it's back to the grindstone. In other words, backpack on again!

I had an unintentional easy week. I took off Monday as usual, but could not train Tues, Weds or Thurs due to early start, late finish work away from home. On Friday I did my usually gym session. I'm doing much more core-stability in those sessions now, which I think really helps. I'm looking to focus some exercises on knee strengthening soon too.

On Saturday I did a tough 6.5 mile trail session just as it was starting to get dark. It was a route I was familiar with but it's now fairly overgrown with tall grass, ferns, brambles and nettles. So I was unmercifully whipped, scratched and stung multiple times because I was wearing shorts. An idea came to me because of this. I still don't know if it's a stupid idea or a good one. Basically trail-armour! Ultra-lightweight, possibly transparent shin and quad guards, akin to soccer shin pads I guess. They would be thin, so no protection from impact (although I could consider that later in a future product line! trail-armour-tuff!), it would be purely protection from nettles, thorns, brambles, gorse etc. I guess maybe I would have it transparent so you don't look too stupid wearing it. I think you'd only appreciate the usefulness of this if you are a regular trail walker/runner. Personally I'd wear it... what do you think? Maybe I should build myself a prototype and see how the usefulness vs stupidity plays out!

On Sunday, I repeated the first half of the previous days session, but then extended out for a total of just over 11 miles (and 1300ft relief). I waited until after 6pm when the rain had stopped.



The weather has been awful, as any UK residents know. We've had torrential downpours all week, some areas are badly flooded. I purchased some Sealskinz lightweight waterproof socks some weeks ago. I tried them on and was unimpressed with the fit. They are like bags, nothing like the anatomically correct socks I am used to. They feel pretty horrible too. However, I didn't judge on appearance alone and put them on. I figured the ground was going to wet, even swampy in places so maybe these socks would serve some purpose.

I loaded 5kg into my backpack, which included 800ml of electrolyte in my front shoulder holster bottle. I found another design flaw with the Raidlight setup. This one has been bugging me for months. Basically as soon as you run faster than about 5.5mph the full water bottle swings side to side and the drinking tube all but whips you in the face. The reason for this is that simply the 800ml bottle is too tall for its holder. There are material straps which the bottle sites on and these need to be lengthened to allow to bottle to sit at least 2 inches further down at a rough guess. I think I will try and make this modification and see if it works. As you can see, I've obviously had my analysts head on this week. I'm always searching for a better and more efficient way or doing things!

Anyway, back to the trail. A few pictures I took en-route, whilst stile-hopping.





I hit more nettles and brambles and wished I had my trail-armour on! The ground was, as expected, wet. Mainly knee length wet grass, marshy terrain and some short sections of shallow mud. My trainers got wet very quickly but my feet did stay dry. Well, at least that's how they started out. The terrain improved later on, less moisture, but my feet got wetter and wetter?

I got back home, averaged 5.6mph for the distance which I was very happy with taking into account the terrain (lots of stiles) and conditions. I took off my socks and they didn't look in good shape. In all honesty, the ground had been wet in places, but not as bad as expected, so I was shocked at the state they were in. They looked like I had just got out of a bath. Some areas which were almost healed from La Trans Aq had peeled off skin, and I actually lost a couple of nails that evening (they probably would have come off in-time anyway). I took a few pictures. There were a couple of worse ones than this, but I have spared you those and not posted them. These are fairly tame viewing, but illustrate the issues, especially the first photo.




I picked up the socks and turned one inside out. The outside of the socks were a mainly dry. The inside was sodden wet. It was sweat from these supposedly 'breathable' socks. What a joke. Imagine what my feet would have been like if I would have been out all day. I would have lost most of the skin off my feet. So, today’s run effectively cost me £20, the price of those Sealskinz socks. They will be decorating the bottom of our wheelie-bin this week. I have absolutely no idea what use anyone could put them too, but it is certainly not trail running in my opinion.

So, I've learned a few lessons this week and I also answered a question I posed last week. I said that I was getting up hills easier and with more breath left in me. I wondered if it was because of 1) being fitter, 2) not wearing a backpack (last week) or 3) psychological effect of completing La Trans Aq.

I've decided its number 1; being fitter. Even with a 5kg pack, I still got up the hills faster and in good shape. Good news! Let’s hope I don't just maintain it, but improve it.

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