18th May: Kit

Us runners can get easily excited about the smallest things… The CTS Pembrokeshire marathon trashed my final surviving pair of Trekmates socks that I have been running in since I started on this odyssey - purely using these because they were a pack of 3 good quality hiking socks I had acquired to walk up mountains, and my Scots blood forces me to make use of what I have before spending on a replacement. As a consequence I have now been faced with a dilemma in the form of acquiring some new ones... Whoop-te-effing-do I hear you sigh, but it seems that sock choice is pretty important for us who hurl ourselves up and down hills of varying sizes just for fun.

For the first time in my life I've gone for some proper running socks... You can tell just how proper they are by the fact they have an L an an R written on them so you get them on the correct foot... It seems that gone are the days when I were a lad growing up and you just put on a pair of tatty old footy socks to go for a muddy run and were done with it. Times have a changed and it seems socks are more than just an acrylic tube to cover your feet. My eyes have now been opened to the plethora, nay the miasma of socks designed purely for the purpose of running.

As you start you trawl for them, questions just leap out at you: Do you go for double lined or single, wool or acrylic, long or short, even what kind of running are they for, pavement, trail or fell, do they need to be waterproof or not?.. It seems you need to have a very specific idea for what purpose before purchasing.

The core of my running is 'trail' so I looked at socks specifically for this and I prefer something with a not of length, so they touch the base if your calf at least - after all you don't want ticks chowing down on your ankles! I certainly did not want waterproof as they would hold any water in rather than draining away or wicking it.

The experience of others is a great pointer when looking at kit, and previously I have been recommended by Luke Carter to give Ashmei socks a try. When recommending he did insert the caveat that they are not cheap and to buy them as a 3 pack to reduce the unit price. He also mentioned that he has been using them for a while and found them fantastic and had not suffered from any blistering at all and they have been terrifically hard wearing.

Looking at my trail shoes of choice, More Mile are the manufacturer, so I thought I would look at their wares, knowing that Pini likes their sock offering.

So I have made a decision and purchased 3 pairs each of Ashmei trail running socks and More Mile Montana fell & trail running socks - with the cheaper More Miles to be used for general running & 10k’s and the Ashmei’s for marathons and ultras... Exciting all this sock talk innit!

More Mile Montana.

Ashmei Trail Running socks.

Mentioning the 'u' word I have sorted out some more kit for the looming Classic Quarter Ultramarathon in the form of a different Camelbak pack. This time I have gone for an Octane 18X. This is a size-up from my current Octane XCT, so as well as having a larger stowage capacity for clothing and food, it retains the zipped pockets on the waist band that are so handy for race fuel, the emergency whistle and the pocket on the shoulder strap that I use for my camera… Rather than paying for a new one I managed to snag one off eBay at the third time of trying as it is not something that wears out! As well as ultras, I also intend on using the pack for the round Isle of Wight ride I’m undertaking a matter of two weeks after my debut 'u'.

Camelbak Octane 18X

I’ve also entered myself in to the inaugural running of the VE3K challenge in the fag-end of September, which is an ultra running up and down all 4 of the peaks over 3,000ft high in England. In anticipation of this I have splurged on a proper waterproof lightweight breathable jacket for this and all other forthcoming winter runs when my black Regatta jacket expires… What I have opted for is the Montane Atomic:

So there's been a little updating to my kit list, although I will not be putting them on the tab at the top of the blog just yet until I have used them - as they are only to feature once I have used and approved of them all.

15th December: Christmas Challenge

Bit of a blow-out week with work and weather, so I've been looking at the Christmas break and how to keep on top of my fitness in anticipation of the Anglesey marathon in mid January.

Whilst Sunday sees the Portsmouth coastal marathon with Moose and Pini in the field alongside me - well at the start anyway as they will soon be disappearing off in to the distance ahead of me, I've decided to go for a bit of extra activity to bust any belly growth over a week or so of seasonal excess.

Strava in association with Rapha have set a challenge open to all of riding 500k in 8 days over Christmas starting on the 24th December… So naturally I've gone for that!

I figured I will be cycling 40 miles on the 29th for the journey to and from the Brutal 16k race and at least 15 miles for the Gut Buster on the 30th, so there already was a chunk of distance planned to be cycled before the challenge came along. With having to cover an average of 35 miles a day I'm sure I'll be able to get a couple of decent loops sorted for some good riding, probably doing 2 rides on most days of 25 and 15 miles or thereabouts and I hope a second riding of the Winchester and back ride from the summer. I'm not planning on doing any other running between Sunday's Portsmouth coastal marathon and the end of the challenge, so hopefully this will keep me in good stead for CV work… I'm also intrigued as to how busy the roads will or won't be on Christmas day!

I've also entered my first ultra: In June I'll be running the 40 or so miles from Cornwall's Lizard Point to Land's End in the Endurancelife Classic Quarter in my first attempt at pitting myself against a serious distance. So far the furthest I've gone is 29 miles, but with how good I've felt at the end of the Dorset and Gower runs I reckon I could be able to get through it within the cut-off times! I'm intrigued to see how I fare and if this will open the door to other longer distances as I need to step-up a level if I'm ever to conquer the South Downs 100mile and start to think of the UTMB!

For next year I've also had an idea for a nutty challenge that I've laid-down in front of Pini to see if he is up for it - which he reckons he will be. It all depends on our timings but when things are definite then I'll be posting the details up here. Suffice to say its a bit different!

Finally. I opened up this month's Outdoor Fitness and saw a picture at the bottom of p23 of my belly crossing the finishing line at Reykjavik which brought a smile to my face and the response from my eldest when I showed her of "Awesome"… Followed by "Daddy why are you in that magazine?"… What is given with one hand is swiftly taken away with the other… Kid's, you've gotta love them! (no not in a Michael Jackson/ Jimmy Saville kind of way).