Clearly, anybody who has raced a 24 hour, 48 hour or expedition event will attest to the dramatic effect sleep deprivation has on performance and recovery.  The devastating effect that poor sleep has on health and well being was recently bought to the fore by the meltdown of players and coaches in the AFL who routinely take a plethora of legal uppers to get ready for night games and then prescription sedatives afterward to try and grasp somesleep. Getting the balance seems elusive.

Events to one side, quite often the juggling of exhaustive training loads with work, study and family comes at the cost of regular sleep.

Research over the past decade has looked to understand exactly what the metabolic and performance downsides are of disrupted and truncated sleep patterns.

Eve Van Cauter, Ph.D., (University of Chicago Medical School) in 1999, studied the effects of three different durations of sleep in 11 men ages 18 to 27. For the first three nights of the study, the men slept eight hours per night; for the next six nights, they slept four hours per night; for the last seven nights, they slept 12 hours per night.

Results showed that after four hours of sleep per night (the sleep deprivation period), they metabolized glucose least efficiently. Levels of the stress hormone cortisol (a by product also in abundance post heavy resistance exercise) were also higher during sleep deprivation periods.

This has been linked to memory impairment, age-related insulin resistance, and impaired recovery in athletes.

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The VIBRAM 5 Fingers range has been a headline grabber for a few years now. Shoes that look like feet have turned out to be anything but a gimmick. Certainly, the sports science and in field ( and in water and on trail ) experiences support the claims of VIBRAM. This is a product that demands attention and delivers comfort, performance and good leg health.

VIBRAM chose to mimic or enable a protected barefoot experience for a number of reasons:

It is more efficient as the neuro-musculature in your feet receive the necessary sensory feedback at impact, without obfuscation.

Improved local blood circulation results from the changed foot-strike pattern and its need to engage a greater number of muscles.

Barefoot runners land mid-foot, increasing the work of the foot’s soft tissue support structures, increasing foot strength and possibly reducing the risk of injuries such as shin splints and ITB strains.

Enhance proprioception - your feet are able to sense and relay data back to the brain as they are meant to, without impedence. This is of particular relevance to trail runners where agility across randomly changing terrain is the norm and balance is essential to safety.

Stronger foot muscles - if you don’t use it you lose it. Wearing FiveFingers engages and strengthens foot muscles.

An excellent article on the fundamentals biomechanics of gait and the damage wrought by decades of motion control propoganda can be found HERE

So much for the biomechanics and science; how are they on?

In short they are amzingly comfortable and naturally glove-like. Having used INOV-8 shoes for some time now, the change over has not been mind blowing in the least. INOV-8 in their own way do what they can to have the feet work for themselves in their products. VIBRAM just happen to do it more effectively particularly for parcours, road running (not an INOV-8 focus) trail running and wet surface sports. Seriously, I can’t imagine a valid technical reason for free runners not to be racing across the urban jungle in 5 fingers.

The model I am using, the TREK is a purpose-built off-road product that weigh a fraction ( on avg 50% less ) of the usual conventional equivalents.

The soft, supple kangaroo-leather upper moulds to your feet allowing them to breathe naturally and offer reasonable protection below ankle. This upper is very strong and is highly water vapour permeable; allowing sweat out.  It is also machine (cold water cycle) washable. After some serious late winter hit-outs in boggy conditions - I’d love to see the suppleness and style of the kangaroo leather with the insulative and complete water proofness of the VIBRAM FLOW upper.  NB Since writing this FF have informed me they are shipping exactly this hybrid product early 2011.

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The application of resistance training largely comes down to the individual. Do you to fit into the ectomorph slot (those with low muscle mass levels)? If so, you are going to be likely more suited to plyometric and strength based work, whereas if you fit into the mesomorph slot (those with high muscle mass levels) you may be more suited to postural/core and proprioception exercises.

Your work:life balance, access to facilities and resources as well as your budget and personality will influence how much and what type of resistance training is prescribed as will your age and resistance training experience.

Muscle Mass

Bigger, stronger muscles generate more forceful contractions which produce higher power and greater speed (1). However big muscles use more of our limited energy stores which is not compatible with the demands of endurance sport.

Other important findings to keep in mind when shaping a resistance training program:

• High peak power – endurance races are typically performed at a constant speed and peak power often secondary is important as powering over short hills attacking quickly will make your race more successful (1). Excellent for races like the coast to coast run where direction and terrain changes constantly.

• Lower relative muscular effort – Movements require a given force by the muscles, when your muscular strength is increased less of your maximal force is required to make the movement, increasing your muscular endurance (1).

• Reduced injury risk – Stronger muscles are more capable of withstanding injury producing forces (1).

In effect, high muscle mass is useful in sports which are of shorter duration, require frequent intense bursts of power and where body weight is largely supported (1). For example a multisports race dominated by cycling and running will require limited strength, however if this race finishes with a technical and short kayak upper body and core strength training could provide an advantage. Interestingly some sports, particularly cycling will construct optimal power to weight ratios for climbers and power to height ratios for time trial specialists (1). Muscle mass is critical for performance of all endurance athletes however the importance is deciding how much time you will devote to it given your particular sport, event or individual physiology.

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I have tried all sorts of shoes for multisports racing and training, be it a specific trail shoe for the coast to coast or a general road shoe for laps round the park. Most of these race shoes last a couple of hard mountain runs while the more durable lack the feel for technical running and white road shoes say “I’m a triathlete” a little much for style points in the off-road scene. The Salomon XT Wings seem to fit the bill, they are durable, perform well in technical situations and look uber cool with some jeans for your après MTB at the local.

After extensive testing in the Port Hills, the streets of Sao Paolo and numerous jungle trails in Brazil my verdict is on the Wings; piece by piece:

Uppers

Quick drying mesh and sensibly integrated textile parts. Practically, there is nothing more annoying than the uppers of a new shoe shredding quickly because the mesh is as weak as tissue paper and lets out water while letting in gravel. The XT Wings upper design obviates this.

Protection

The rubber belt offers an ideal blend of flexibility and protection. Shoes with super tough protection plates sound great but typically render the shoe hopeless for technical trails, further more they restrict the foots natural movement. When you lack feel for the trail, efficiency of movement is compromised.

The rubber toe cap provides enough protection for all but the biggest hits without adding excessive weight. (more…)

As much as I have enjoyed my INOV-8 305s, the uppers are all but fully shredded after 16 months and it’s time to try my new LA FUMA SKY RACE, a true mid to high mileage trail running shoe.

First impressions are positive; they are a smart looking shoe in a green and graphite combination and surprisingly, for the amount of support they provide, quite lightweight coming in at around 428g for a UK 8.0.

In terms of features provided the SKY RACE offers:

Uppers

A 3D mesh upper with a robust front TPU-based stone guard. The tongue has a semi-gusset. The lining is a lightweight breathable synthetic 3D mesh.

Footbed

This is built with a removable PES/EVA atop a formidable VIBRAM® XRUN rubber sole and fully supportive  Phylon tri-density midsole.

Patented Twin Lace System

This is a bi-sectioned - cantilevered toggle system for securing and stabilising the lower and upper foot separately.

Out of the box, they were a perfect fit first time which helps with the initial impressions. That said, they could do with a loop at the heel to make it easier to get in and out of the shoes.

Getting to the grips with the patented Twin Lace system was no problem at all and they worked well but can tend to work themselves loose with high mileage. As well, they could benefit from a housing or stowage facility (perhaps as part of a gusset structure) so they do not get caught up in vines and sticks in hard out bush track conditions.

The gusset is smart and effective, not quite the seamless full length elegance and rubbish warding ability of say the La Sportiva Racelite stoneguard but a well worked feature nonetheless.

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Anaerobic Threshold Workout

Pyramids.

Here you will aim for rate increases at smaller intervals to a tipping point, then reduce again.

o 3 x 29 minutes (rate change at 5′, 4′, 3′, 2′, 1′, 2′, 3′, 4, 5′), 5 minutes rest.
o 4 x 11 minutes (rate change at 3′, 2′, 1′, 2′, 3′), 3 minutes rest.
o 5 x 2000 meters (change rate every 500 meters), 3 minutes rest.
o 4 x 2500 meters (change rate every 500 meters), 3 minutes rest.
o 3′ on/3′ off, 4′on/4′off, 5′on/5′off, 4′on/4′off, 3′on/3′off

Staircasing. Here your rate increases with regular gradations

o 4 x 10 minutes (rate increases every 2 minutes), 3 minutes rest.
o 2 x 24 minutes (18, 20, 22, 24, 20, 22, 24, 26 with rate changing every 3 minutes), 4 minutes rest.
o 5 x 2000 meters (rate increases every 500 meters), 3 minutes rest.
o 4 x 2500 meters (rate increases every 500 meters), 4 minutes rest.

Castles. These mix it up a little for you with both rate increases and decreases at regular intervals.

o 3 x 20 minutes (rate alternates between a high rate and low rate every 2 minutes), 3 minutes rest.
o 3 x 18 minutes (rate alternates between a high rate and low rate every 2 minutes), 3 minutes rest.
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I have used an array of devices from the usual line-up of ruthless big name massive ego brands to track my training progress and analyse it to death. The likes of NIKE, GARMIN, POLAR et al do a fine job in their own way and have some excellent functional systems. But any of the strap-based devices on offer I get sick of after a while as they are straight up uncomfortable and ugly. In the on-line world we have the wonders of imap my every frickin move and the like; in effect the wearable performance market is big and will become huge and sadly dominated by the massive corporates.

Maybe now however the average runner (road and trail), triathlete and multi-sporter might have a surprising choice; the simply awesome SPUTNIK top from i-RULE.

When I received it for test and review, I had no real idea what to expect other than, being i-RULE it would be:

1) different
2) stylish
3) well thought out
4) pretty much unheard of ( I have read about anti-branding but really these guys do not seem to have a marketing pulse ).

What is it exactly?

A high performance running top that collects heart rate and accelerometer data in real time and sends it to your mobile phone which it can then use to publish the data to Facebook where it is managed, analyzed and shared.

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