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The ultra runners tool kit
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sports pursuit is great , I've bought 3 pairs of inov8 now there wth huge saving - just gotta be quick !!
DE, it's the sizing tht bothers me on salomon . Nathan is female fit , so very narrow and good fit on me .
LLB if I put the salomon on as tight as it goes I can't breathe so it should fit you
Perfect Touie !!! thats great !
That looks a great site Ben. Some really good prices on Inov-8 packs there. I also signed up my wife so I can have her £10 credit!
Anyone got any experience of the inov-8 packs? Particularly the Race Pac 16 or the Race Pro 18?
Rat race are doing 20% off salomon stuff with a code that I had via email and already have offers on the salomon stuff so for example the s-lab5 rucksack would be £77 very tempted but if I get one wanted the 12. RRSAL20
I've got the new salomon. It's fab, but it's not really 200g lighter than the old. The old came with a bladder (and as far as I can tell, the weight included the weight of the bladder). There's no bladder supplied with the new one - instant weight saving.
I prefer the bladder in , I like a reserve of water!
inov8 are good value for money. appreciate salomon look good and a good fit, but when you're running hilly ultras every 100g makes a difference on the legs. My last bag was an olmo5 which was v light in comparison to its peers. I now have (although yet to break in) a ultimate direction AK 'vest' which is lighter still. Ok the UD is relatively expensive like the salomon but it's a lot lighter.
At the end of the day it depends how much comfort you want to compromise for weight-savings. As long as the bag is practical then go light and save a few £s.
Elite Ironman, Ultra Trail Runner
how do you find the Oldo Daz? will it take a lot of abuse? i need a 20 litre and its a toss up between the raidlight olmo desert 20 and the WAA MDS thing. any other suggestions?
while im here is there any recommendations for light weight stuff like bivvys and stoves - at the minute im looking at the alpkit hunka bivvy and varga titanium XE stove.
and as a final newbie (new to multi day) question what are peoples thoughts on food - dried and otherwise on a gram per calorie. dont laugh too much but Mug shots seem to have a good ratio 55 - 60g for 260 calories albeit most is coming from carbs but pepperoni/polish sausage used for fat and protein would supplement this.
forget all other foods...Nutella , marmite and Haribo. that's all you will ever need
Eeewwww... Marmite, nooooooooo!
On a separate note, I'm starting to investigate GPS watch thingys with the idea of putting one on my Christmas list. Main requirement is to have something to act as backup nav for when I'm out on my own in the middle of nowhere, so want it to display UK Grid. Would also like the basics of Pace, Elevation, Time, Distance, plus as long a battery life as possible. Don't want HRM.
At the moment I am thinking Garmin 310xt, but I will be paying for an awful lot of multi-sport features that I won't use. Any suggestions for others to consider?
Garmin edge 800. It's a bike computer, but will fit in the pocket on your shorts or in your pack with no bother, has a longer battery life than most of the watches, and displays your location on a 1:50,000 OS map. You don't get instant pace info (gives current speed instead) but for ultras, who cares? I've found mine invaluable.
its not as silly as it sounds, theres a wrist strap available for it - well there is if it the same 90° turn fixing as the 500, the gps only takes a reading every second and so your arm movement during running wont play a part in any distance discrepancies, it does give you current distance but not your minute miling - but will give you your speed. i use a garmin 500 - no maps though, for anything over 18 hours, i use a 910xt then change over, i have used them both at the same time for runs just to compare and the distance is the same. If you like to know your numbers it also can display 8 data fields at the same time.
Thanks for the ideas, keep them coming. Had not thought of a bike computer, but they sound a bit pricier that I was after. Had thought of getting a handheld, but am guessing they won't be able to give me any pacing info and also I like the convenience of having it on your wrist...
If your going to spend 250, you might as well get a 910xt (even last year when much newer I shopped around and found one under 300 - without HRM as don't need that), like the 310 does non-running things you probably don't need, but the extra running related functionality is good if you like stats - and been around long enough that bugs sorted. As DK says battery only lasts about 20 hours (I think I've had mine recording for 20hrs and 30mins when it was newish, before I stopped clock, battery wasn't quite dead). Think garmin and polar also do a longer battery life one now (garmin fenix?), but not sure if does all the things you want....
From what I know your not going to get all that you want in a wristwatch without paying for extras.
So for cheap option....
For 20+ hour ultra's I've used a basic garmin etrex, which were about £80 when I bought and the slightly sleeker new version (etrex 10) isn't much more. That did the nav stuff (following routes/trails, tells you how far gone, grid refs) and you just have to remember to change AA batteries from time to time and restart the recording if you want to get the route. https://buy.garmin.com/en-GB/GB/outdoor/handheld/etrex-10/prod87768.html
Now the celever bit
Use a cheap waterproof watch so you know time and test if your brain is still working from time to time by working out how many hours you've been out using subtraction (more diffocult than it sound over multiple days when you knackered). And as you know the miles from cheap GPS you can even work out your overall pace... takes some thinking time..... but this is something the ultraist has plenty of.
Donor, disagree,if you read the reviews on Garmin edge theres a lot of discrepancy found in them when used for running.
agree with DrunkenOE, may as well buy a Garmin top range and be done with it instead of faffing with umpteen bits of gadget.
but, each to their own
I haven't had a problem with accuracy (and, on occassion, I've used both it and a garmin 210, with the same results). But I keep it stuffed in the rucksack. For me, currect pace isn't particularly useful in an ultra, as terrain is constantly buggering with it (I might care more if I wasn't so bloody slow!). Having the reassurance that I am where I think I am has, on occassion, been worth it's weight in gold, though.
But, yeah, if you want something on your wrist and glance-at-able, it's the wrong solution.
Ahhh, but if we found the perfect kit there would be no more shopping opportunities. And that woud be sad.
E-trex is definitely a possibility DE. Think I need to have a look at both and decide if I am fussed about the traditional runner's GPS functionality. Anyone actually got a 310xt and using it for ultras?
Yep, me, and I live it, although I bought it when I was doing triathlons. It does everything I need it to. I've never used it to navigate though, so can't comment on that side of things.
i got the 910 same thing as far as running goes, you can build your own courses and save them now via garmin connect. you can access grid ref on the 910 but it only has breadcrumb trail maps but its enough to guide you through an ultra
when i bought my 910 i considered the suunto and fenix but i bought the 910 from an unbiased viewpoint so heres my 2p worth
suunto ambit2 : you have to use their software for up loading as far as i can make out which is a big negative for me as i use garmin connect and training peaks, seems like you upload using their stuff then have the possibility of exporting to another program - waste of time, the plus is upto 50 hours battery time if you dont mind the gps being transmitted every minute instead of every second - this will have an effect on your current speed reading and map trace
a proper review is below - i doubt you will find a better reviewer anywhere, that includes the makers sites
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/04/suunto-ambit2-review.html
if you ever get into biking or swimming yuo have the added bonus of already having a watch will record that data too, the armbit is crap at open water swimming as it takes too long to re aquire the satelite signal when it loses it as your arm goes underwater.
just for giggles i'll do a run tomorrow with my 910 and my garmin 500 bike computer and you can see yourself the difference in data, theres nothing in it really
i just found a 112 mile route that i recorded on both the 500 and the 910, the 500 has it at 112.8 and the 910 has it at 112.3 - some of the discrepancy is down to me not resetting the 910 until i was well under way. so maybe about a third of a mile,if that, over 112 miles isnt really worth worrying about
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/344502465
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/339655572
here you go, this mornings run,
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/377926817
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/377930561
the only reason theres a 0.03 mile difference in distances is that in the first mile i had the edge 500 in my pocket - then i remembered LLBs remark about your arm moving and giving a false reading, this however was not the case and once i had the edge in my hand it was reading exactly the same as the 910xt, the edge 500 can be found for about £130 now so to me it is worth having 2 gadgets if i want to cover 40 hour events plus i have been known to do the odd long bike ride which makes it invaluable
Talk about making running hard work.
didnt really think of putting on a watch as hard work tbh
Yet you have managed to write a number of paragraphs about it.
Just put the watch on and go running!
alternatively don't put it on and go running.
Its just running!