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.

  (more…)

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.

(more…)

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.

(more…)

While it is common knowledge that your training demands must specifically adapt your body systems to the target event intensity and duration what is often forgotten is the benefit of the long slow run (paddle or bike for that matter) as a preparatory building block.

In running LSD (long slow distance) means running at a moderate pace, typically around 70% of your VO2 Max which roughly equates to about 80% of your maximum heart rate. Yes, this means your aerobic zone. There are specific systemic benefits to be had by taking your foot off the pedal and enjoying the view by training this way:

• improved cardiovascular and thermoregulatory function
• improved mitochondrial energy production
• increased oxidative capacity of skeletal muscle and
• increased utilization as fat for fuel

Another often overlooked benefit is the opportunity to allow your body to recover and adapt from the heavy hitting intervals,hill and temp work and race days. The mental holiday from intensity has an enormous positive boost; when was the last time you decided to go for a long run sans AA-type OCD fixations and relaxed and enjoyed the trail?
(more…)

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.

(more…)

Traditionally, late autumn through to early spring marks the rebuilding of aerobic and strength foundations in the periodised programs of most endurance athletes. It coincides with shorter days, poor weather, dangerous road and trail conditions and with it all, seasonal health concerns.

As in any periodised ( or recovery-based) training program the main aim is progressive adaptation and improvement but not unhealthy obsession. It is OK to miss the occassional session and to roll with the punches in terms of other commitments. It’s not only the traditional big mileage time it is also about addressing core strength and particularly any imbalances or injuries that need rehabilitation and conquering.

Athletes that embark on regular, disciplined base training throughout the winter establish a substantial aerobic foundation that will carry them through to early summer; it’s like  money in the bank.The gradual low-intensity, repetitive nature of base miles often (but not strictly ) done on soft winter trails strengthens ligaments and tendons in key joints, enabling the athlete to gain strength in these crucial locomotion areas and prevent iunjury onset ahead of spring time speed work.

Hill work and snowshoeing or dune running ( if accessible ) are important ingredients in a successful winter build-up and offer stimulating and challenging alternatives to the daily grind.

A common misjudgment is to tune your base mile phase to a metronome like beat of low intensity with way too much time spent in HR Zone 1; it is usually of more use to venture to the dizzying heights of Zone 2 low ranges during winter miles, This means, roughly you should be spending a good deal of your time exercising at between 60-75% of HRmax. In terms of progression over a typical 12- to 16-week base phase, training should gradually increment from the low end (i.e. 62 to 71 percent of lactate threshold (LT), or around 61 percent of max heart rate) of the aerobic energy system to the high end (i.e. 90 percent of LT and 80 percent of max heart rate). In the case of say, a running program, adding 5km-10km gradually to your weekly total before a stable mileage rest period then add to the progressive total over the ensuing three weeks.

You should include a fartlek session once a week whether you are running, riding or paddling adding to the faster sections of these kind of activity over a 3 week period; it breaks up the monotony and helps ready your body for speed work in spring.

(more…)