Film: Race Across the Sky

From the same makers as 'The Beauty of the Irrational'. And again with Ryan Sanders (see previous post).

Thie film is a short impression of the Leadville 100, also known as 'Race Across the Sky'. It is one of the ultras featured in Born to Run by Christopher McDougall (see blog) with Micah True (still 'alive and kicking').

Impressive is the word that comes to mind.


The Race Across the Sky from The African Attachment on Vimeo.

Film: The Beauty of the Irrational

Some of the most irrational descision we human being make lead to the most beautiful moments of our lives. This roughly the explanation of the title of this short film.

In the Fish River Canyon in South Africa is a walking trail, 84 km long good for 5 days walking. South African Ultra Runner, Ryan Sanders, sets out to run it in the fastest time possible. He finishes in just under 7 hours in 6:57.


The Beauty of the Irrational from The African Attachment on Vimeo.

Nico product placement with the Suunto Ambit.
 Spot it! It isn't hard to miss!

Small improvement in the course

Almost every Marathon has a little loop somewhere in  in the route to make the course fit the 42.195km.

In Amsterdam is has been, for ages, a loop leaving the Amstel near the windmill, over a small road and roundabout onto the Europaboulevard and back again (called 'locatie oude lus' on the map).

The loop is this year on the President Kennedylaan and this saves al lot of turning making the route a bit faster (called 'nieuwe lus' on the map).

With this change it was necessary to measure the route. And this is still done old fashioned way by bike with the use of a Jonescounter. Read more...

Almost 30 but still innovative: Nike Air Pegasus

one of the oldest running shoes carrying the same name all along is the Nike Air Pegasus. Celebrating its 25th birthday in 2008 it is turning 30 next year!

Being an oldy in name, the shoe itself is still innovative and now also available in the ID line, the customisable shoe.

This time not only the colour but also the sole, road or trail, and the upper, Gore-Tex or mesh.
This way you can have the same shoe for four types of use/running:

1. Road/mesh: for dry weather
2. Road with Gore-Tex: For the wet rainy seasons 
3. Trail with mesh: Dry conditions during an off road run
4. Trail with Gore-Tex: Wet conditions off road.

Can't wait for the Pegasus 30. I am curious what they come up with for this anniversary.

The ID is available in the Nike Store. The ID is not available in other online stores.

The regular Pegasus is widely available. Picking the one year old  Pegasus 28 can save you an additional 20 to 30 bucks or more.
See all the Nike Air available on Amazon Including a '92 retro version (see image). 

Nike+ for Android

One of my first posts on my Dutch blog (see posting) was on the collaboration between Apple en Nike. These two brands combined forces and enabled runners to use the Nike+ sensor in combination with the iPod. For the younger runners amongst us: This is an iPhone that did not connect to Internet, did not allow you to call and was only suited for listening to music and view video... ;p
A couple of days ago I wrote on the the new shoes LunarTR1 (see posting). The shoe again is shown in combination with the iPhone from Apple.

For runners with Android phones I have some good news because I found f.e. on  myandroidgadgets that here is also an App available for Android.

Silver Cup first Olympic Marathon on display in Athens

The Price of the first Olympic marathon is on display in the Acropolis, in Athens, Greece. The silver cup was up for sale in April this year (see corresponding posting).

By then they estimated the cup to raise some 200.000 euros but the final result hit the 650.000 euro. The cup was sold by the grandson of the first time winner and was purchased by another Greek who wanted to keep the cup in Greece as part of their national heritage.

First on display in the Acropolis, from September 2013 it will on display in a cultural centre.

source: Reuters.

Training at altitude

TIP from RunningDutch:

Tips for running at altitude:

• Eat more;
• Drink more;
• Sleep more;
• Watch you iron intake.

other tips

Maybe this article is better suited for the beginning of the summer season with people heading of for the Alps or the Tatra or any other high mountains suitable for a summer holiday. This post contains some facts/tips on training at altitude.

• Due to less oxygen your boy will produce more of the hormone EPO (the natural way) and increase the production of red blood cells that transport oxygen in your blood. For this your body needs iron which you can get from meat, fish, poultry, broccoli, cauliflower, pumpkin, tomatoes or citrus-fruits;
• With these extra red blood cells you can transport more oxygen and perform at the same level as on lower attitudes. Back at sea level you can even perform better for some time before your blood levels return to their usual values;
• 3 or 4 days to bring the production of red cells up to speed;
• It takes some 10 days before your body is used to the altitude, having enough extra red blood cells and the stress on your body of adapting to altitude has worn off;
• This 'stress' due to this adaptation usually sets in between 48 hours to 7 days after arriving at altitude;
• After some 30 days your blood levels are at the levels that match the altitude you are staying at. This means the useful effect is still their but no longer increases. 

Giewont in the Polish Tatra

Can you prepare yourself for a stay at high altitude?

You can if you mind the following tips:

1. Increase your iron intake. This is a important building block for red blood cells;
2. Take extra antioxidants: The lack of oxygen at the will produce more free radicals during exercise. Vitamin C is an antioxidant;
3. Eat enough!: Your appetite will decrease at altitude but your body needs more energy! Nice for loosing weight but no so nice for your (training)results.

Now some tips for during your training at altitude;

1. Adapt: Try not to maintain your normal pace-training levels but check out your heart rate. Pay no attention to speed or pace per kilometre. This goes for intervals, tempo runs and duration runs;
2. With intervals: take longer periods for recovery. Would you usually run 2 minutes and recover 1. Change this around while at altitude;
3. Get extra sleep: You give your body more time to recover and adapt to the altitude;
4. Drink extra: You will breath more frequent and more shallow losing more moisture. Next to this effect is the air at altitude dryer. Both effect makes you loose your fluids faster!

This article is a summary of an article on running competitor.

The Stimulator: A training in preparation for the marathon

This is a nice training for anyone who is preparing for a marathon. Run 16 miles, which equals 26,2 kilometres, in the pace you have in mind for the marathon race day.

.

interview with both gents

Why 26,2? Well this has to do with both Americans that came up with this training Keith and Kevin Hanson of  Hansons-Brooks Distance Project (see video).

For those who think in miles the marathon is 26.2 miles in stead fo 42.195 kilometres. Furthermore it is more than your average duration training and it will help tp prepare yourself mentally for the big day. It gives you the feeling what it is like to maintain your marathon tempo for a longer period.

On the other hand: It is short enough to recover within a few days to continue your marathon training.

TIP from RunningDutch:

You can copy this idea for other distances:

• 13,1 kilometre for your half marathon pace;
• 10 K in preparation for the !) mile race;
• etc.

other tips

The Hansons will have their elite runners do this training some 5 weeks before the marathon.

I myself would look at my training schedule and pick a training day which lists a 25K run in the week leading up to the marathon.
Most likely you can find on of those in the 6 to 3 weeks leading up to the marathon.
Just do this training in your marathon pace in stead of the more leisurely Long Slow Distance (LSD) pace.

You can also use this training to practise your eating and drinking strategy for the race. Try to find out which sports drink is provided at the refreshing points during the race. Quit often this is one of the sponsors so simply look at the race website.
Do you consider to Carry your own drinks and gels? If so, than carry it with you during this training as well. If not, find someone to help you who can be your refreshing point en route.

As this training is carried out at marathon pace find a route with clear markers or use a GPS watch or have some with you on a bike with a distance meter.

If you are training for a marathon just to finish it and you don't have the ambition of a certain time? Than the usual 20miles run is still the best (which equals 32km and this is a nice route).

Shoes with multiple sensors

A Nike newsletter showed me this add next to the text on the Nike LUNARTr1+ iD. The image suggests build in sensors kind of shwoing your running profile on a iPhone.

Besides this technology: It is one of the customizeble shoes by Nike.

As I wanted to know more on the shoe I hit the link but this did not work. A bit clumsy for such a big brand.

Sniffing around I did find some nice video's.

The first is on the dynamic suport system and is already some years old and maybe even outdated with all the talk on natural running:



And now the LUNARTR1:



It gives me the impression its registers the intensity of a training and not your technology. Heel landing versus middel or front foot landing and/or inside or outside of the foot.
Could be the shoe is an alround training shoe and not a running shoe.

Another insight into the innovation of Nike and Nike+ is this product presentation:


Looks like they were inspired by Apple and the way they introduce their new products...