http://www.themds.co.uk/forums/ en Mon, 20 May 2013 15:49:49 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.themds.co.uk/forums/images/aria/misc/rss.png http://www.themds.co.uk/forums/ http://www.themds.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?3664-MdS-2013-My-kit-list&goto=newpost Sun, 28 Apr 2013 12:56:10 GMT A review of the kit I used on this year's MdS

http://richrunnings.blogspot.co.uk/2...-kit-list.html ]]> Tales from the desert RichL http://www.themds.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?3664-MdS-2013-My-kit-list http://www.themds.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?3663-MDS-2013-My-Experiences&goto=newpost Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:13:32 GMT Hi Guys Well been back for about a week now, and slowly getting back into reality after all that desert craziness! Absolutely the hardest thing I... Hi Guys

Well been back for about a week now, and slowly getting back into reality after all that desert craziness! Absolutely the hardest thing I have ever done, but I loved it also and was great to meet some of the MDS forumites some of whom I had been chatting to on here from when I signed up to MDS 2 years ago (Graeme, RichL and DiscoStu)

I blogged about the experience and also did a kit analysis of what worked for me and what didnt.

All in my blog here: http://paulinthelongrun.blogspot.co.uk/

I also put together a 30 min video of my time out there, shooting Video Logs and banter from around the tent etc.. Its here on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7OjoHyoTZ0

Enjoy!! :) ]]> Tales from the desert paulee74 http://www.themds.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?3663-MDS-2013-My-Experiences http://www.themds.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?3661-Kit-Review-and-post-MDS-2013-thoughts&goto=newpost Sun, 21 Apr 2013 14:01:19 GMT As a caveat to everything below I would like to say that this is what worked for me – a 6’2”, 75kg middle of the pack runner. Very early on in my MDS... As a caveat to everything below I would like to say that this is what worked for me – a 6’2”, 75kg middle of the pack runner. Very early on in my MDS preparations I realised that it is really important to sift through all the information and do what works for you personally. As a thanks to everyone who has gone before me and provided information from previous races I wanted to do my bit and pass on my experience.

Shoes – Inov-8 Roclite 309 trail running shoes. Worked brilliantly for me. I really enjoyed the cushioning, toughened toe cap and rock plate under the forefoot which did a great job of protecting my foot from the extremely rocky terrain. While many people managed in normal road shoes I would really consider trail shoes with a rock plate for extra protection as the terrain was extremely rocky in places. Inov-8, Brooks, Salomon and Hokas were particularly popular. I only went with a ½ size up but took a spare set of 3mm insoles (standard in the shoe is 6mm) and with a 2 sock regime which I could reduce to 1 I had a lot of flexibility for creating space in the shoe should my feet have swollen. I think a lot of blisters were caused by people going with shoes that were too big and the combination of heavy pack and uneven terrain mean’t that it would be impossible for your feet to not slide around and cause rubbing. While it isn’t clear as to exactly what causes feet swelling I think making sure that you are on top of your electrolytes (see below) and not having too heavy a pack will go a long way to preventing swelling. I also made sure to elevate my feet at the end of every day to drain the oedema from my legs.

Socks – Injinji Performance Lightweight socks under Bridgedale Endurance Trail Ultralight socks. This combination worked really well for me and I had no rubbing blisters but did have blood blisters under 4 of my toenails from hitting the front of my shoe. Given the heavy pack and extreme terrain I am not sure this is something I could have prevented. I had prepared my feet for 2mths with NOK cream which definitely changes the texture of the skin and then applied the cream in the evenings in camp to keep the feet soft as they really dry out walking around in flipflops.

Gaiters – Racekit – they were great and I really enjoyed the ability to roll them up and secure them under the Velcro fastening strap around the ankle when not in sandy terrain to allow my feet to breath more. The new raidlight gaiters were also very popular and there didn’t seem to be any of the horror stories of shredded gaiters that had happened in previous years. Given the rocky terrain there is going to be an element of wear and tear so take gaffer tape for running repairs and maybe even re-inforce the toe area before setting off.

Calf guard – Compressport – very popular and did a great job with no calf niggles at all which I can sometimes be prone to.

Shorts – Under Armour Draft compression inners with Salomon Trail III shorts with the inners cut out. Worked perfectly and I was able to take the UA shorts off in camp and while sleeping to keep everything “aired”.
Top – Salomon Trail IV Tee – did the job brilliantly. I personally prefer a loose fitting short sleeve shirt but there were a lot of combinations of short and long sleeves with all sorts of colours. Quite a few people had long black shirts and tights. Speaking to one guy wearing this combination he said that the studies show that black is actually better at allowing the heat from your body to dissipate rather than be reflected back to you. Psychologically there is no way that I could wear black but I guess the Berbers had it right all along.

Hat – White Raidlight – did the job but everyone had the same hat on so if you want to look different maybe go for the red option. The neck skirt does blow about a bit and I got really sunburned on my neck when I forgot to apply sunblock. A few people were wearing the Outdoor Research Sun Runner Caps which seemed to be better thought out and the neck skirt gave better protection with a chin cord to prevent the neck skirt from flapping.

Sunglasses – Julbo Race with Zebra Cat 2-4 photochromatic lenses – brilliant bit of kit that was really comfortable (I have a small head) and tight to my face so would have worked well as goggles with a buff above and below. Thankfully the first day was the only really windy day so I didn’t ever have the opportunity to test whether they would have withstood a proper sand storm.

Pack – Aarn Marathon Magic 33 – for me this was my favourite piece of kit. While it is a little heavier than the other packs I really like the fact that you are able to have all the weight on your hips rather than your shoulders. I had replaced the elastic ties holding the front pouches to the straps with cord to prevent bouncing and the only other modification I would make is to add padding to the waist belt where it goes around the front of the hips as I ended up with quite a lot of bruising. The pack is fully adjustable and being quite tall I was able to make it fit me perfectly. The key to making it fit is to secure the waist band tightly around your hips and the make all the other adjustments from there. A lot of people with other packs had terrible shoulder and back problems and with the heavy weight at the start of the race it was noticeable how people had to lean forward to manage the pack weight. This may well have contributed to greater fatigue and possibly blisters as they were not running at their usual gait.
I also liked the fact that the pack was big enough that I never had to worry about fitting all my gear in. Be careful that this does not encourage taking excess “stuff” as there is no doubt that being as light as you can makes a huge difference. I started at about 8.5kg’s but when you take 2 bottles of water at some of the CP’s on the first day it is all of a sudden 3kgs heavier which makes a huge difference.
I packed my pack by having my inflatable matrass inside a bin liner standing up on edge forming a “frame” inside of which I packed everything else. I used a method I learned at one of the Sandbagger expo’s of putting the end of my sleeping bag at the bottom, a brick of food and then move the sleeping bag across forming an intermediate layer, another brick etc weaving the sleeping bag back and forth. Everything was always very secure with no rattling or settling. The amount of clanking I heard from some packs would have done my head in.

Water bottles – New Raidlight 750ml bottles with the bite valves – worked really well. I took a couple of chlorine water purification tablets that I put in the bottles to clean them out after 3 days.

Sleeping mat – Nemo Zor short – at 285g and 122cm it is slightly lighter and longer than the more popular Thermarest Prolite Small (310g and 119cm). I am a side sleeper and was able to sleep OK. Funnily enough as the week went on I was able to sleep better and better! I would highly recommend taking an inflatable mat as those who had decided to skimp on the weight really regretted it. A good night’s sleep really made a big difference in terms of being fully rested for the next day. The full length Thermarest NeoAir Xlites (350g and 183cm) were also very popular but people did complain that they sounded like a crisp packet. We didn’t have any popped mattresses but had a rule in the tent that no-one could walk on the carpet with shoes or flipflops for health reasons but this also meant that none of the burrs or thorns were brought onto the carpet.

Sleeping Bag – Mammut Ajungilak – worked really well and the low rating of 0 degrees mean’t I didn’t need to take a silk liner. The first night was quite cold so I slept in my fleece and wind long pants but other than that I just slept in shorts and my running shirt. I tucked my mat into the bottom of my sleeping back and left the zip open using my bag as a duvet which meant I could move around more and didn’t end up rolling off the mat. I initially used 2 inflated Ziploc bags covered by my buff as a pillow which worked fine but later on stuffed the bags with my fleece and wind shirt which worked really well.

Fleece – Montane Oryx jacket made of Polartec Power Dry material and weighing 285g – very comfortable and warm.

Wind Jacket – Montane featherlight smock 105g – only wore it on the first night which was very cold and windy – did the job. There was a lot of ‘gear envy’ in the tent when one person took out their OMM Sonic smock which only weighs 60g!

Longs – Montane Featherlite pants 121g – again only wore them on the first night and they did the job. A lot of people had compression tights which worked well.

Head torch – Tikka XP2 88g – great bit of kit that did the job. The bright setting worked well for running in the dark, dim was perfect for walking and the red lighting mode was great for in the tent or in the evening when chatting to people.

Cooking – Titanium Mytimug 110g and Lhoon 18g (long handled spoon) from Alpkit (great value) with Esbit Titanium Foldable Stove 14g and 2 packets of Hexi-tabs. I fashioned a wind shield out of a disposable tinfoil picnic tray which I would highly recommend. It saves on fuel and makes lighting the esbit a lot easier. The key is to place 2 tabs on their side in the tray, then light the 3rd tab while holding it (using the shield if necessary to keep it lit) and then adding the lit tab to the others in the tray.

Food – a personal choice for everyone but I had changed to a Paleo diet 6mths before the race (if you are interested in finding out more read the nutrition articles on this blog) and was keen to continue this during the race. As an aside I lost 11kgs eating Paleo so was able to toe the line with pack under my old body weight! I ate a variety of Macadamia Nuts, Banana Chips and Dried Cranberries for breakfast and also had a cup of coffee using Starbucks Via sachets which was a great boost in the morning. As an FYI many of my tent mates took dehydrated porridge which they hated. If you want a hot meal in the morning rather take something savoury like an all day breakfast or a curry.
My main running fuel was Generation Ucan (not cheap) which is a slow release carb that teaches your body to burn fat rather than carbs and had been recommended by Meghan Hicks who won the ladies race. In training with an 8kg pack I was able to run 3 ½ to 4 hours on 2 sachets so it seemed the perfect fuel without needing an extra bottle for fuel mix (Hammer Perpetuum had been my previous fuel of choice) and as you drink it all in one go there is no danger of it going rancid in the heat. The only trouble is mixing up powder in the desert can be a bit of a faff with the wind but with practise this got easier. When I needed to refuel I would come into the CP, pour 2 sachets into one of my water bottles with about 500ml of water which I usually had left over from the previous stage, down the mixture, rinse the bottle out and down that water and then refill with clean water. The big mistake I made was that in all my long training runs I ran with a max HR of 135bpm so I really was in the fat burning zone. In the desert the combination of terrain and heat means that your HR is elevated so you end up burning fuel a lot quicker and a greater proportion of carbs. This mean’t that I was hungry a lot quicker (usually every 3 hours) and because of the heat you go from feeling great to feeling extremely nauseous without the hungry stage. You then get in a terrible spiral of feeling sick because you are hungry but not being able to eat because you feel sick. In hindsight I would have eaten a LOT more of my trail food while I was feeling good to prevent ever getting into deficit. The food I took worked really well and I would take the same again but just eat more frequently. I also carried a trail food mix of Salted Macadamias, Banana Chips and sliced biltong (I dried the biltong out on a rack next to a radiator so they were like eating crisps to reduce weight) which I either ate on the run or once back in camp after I had my recovery drink. In the evening I had the Expedition foods high calorie meals which were delicious (3x Chicken Tikka and 1x Beef Hot Pot). I did not cook a meal on the long day and just took extra trail mix which I ate on the hoof. I really mucked up on the long day by not eating enough while I felt good and after CP 5 was so nauseous from the long dune stage from cp4 to 5 that I was able to eat very little after that. A bag of skittles rescued me for about 2hrs but after that it was a very long slog to the end.
My recovery drink was Hammer Recoverite which I really enjoyed and seemed to work well. For Goodness Shakes recovery drinks were also very popular.

Electrolytes – I was initially very sceptical about having a sweat test done by the ProHydrate guys at a Sandbagger seminar I went to but Andy Blow made a convincing argument around the fact that our salt excretion rates are genetically determined and we therefore need to take a bespoke approach to electrolyte ingestion. Having had the test done it appeared that I was at the high end of the spectrum which explained my struggles in some previous events – I don’t sweat a lot and had therefore incorrectly assumed I don’t excrete a lot of salt. In the race I alternated between using their high strength 1500 electrolyte replacement tabs and Succeed S!Caps. I would put the H2O tabs in my water bottles for 1 stage and then for the next stage would take an S!Cap every 20mins which worked well in preventing me from getting too sick of either flavoured or natural water. I also used the ProHydrate 250 tabs in my water on the bus on the way out and in camp to help with the rehydration process. I gave a couple to a few tent mates who were complaining of nausea and they quickly sorted them out. I think they may have a similar effect to Dioralyte which is another race essential for recovery.

Training – I would highly recommend the services of Ian Waddell who coaches Ryan Sandes who has won all of the 4 Desert Races as well as the Leadville 100, Daniel Rowland who has just won the Atacama Crossing and a variety of other top athletes. While Ian is based in Cape Town our first meetings were done on Skype and we communicated every week by email. Ian’s services are not just for elite althletes – I am very much a middle of the pack runner. I tore a ligament in the arch of my foot in training so was out for 7mths and only able to start running in the middle of December. In desperation I contacted Ian and he got me to the start line injury free and confident. Ian is able to tailor a programme to fit your race goals and time constraints. I should also mention Simon Lack my physio who identified the cause of my injury and through an intensive rehab regime was able to hand me over to Ian ready for training.
One thing I would have done differently in training was a bit more hill walking with a heavy back. I could have gone on forever on the flat sections, even when it was sandy but I struggled on anything hilly which included the Jebels, particularly on day 2 (3 massive Jebels in one day apparently for the first time) and the dune sections. I had done a lot of leg and core strength work and trained on hills that were about 20mins long but nothing like experience can prepare you for climbing up rocky “staircases” or sand chutes and dunes where it’s one step forward and 2 back. In the sand it’s a good tip to always be on the lookout for hard packed sand and perhaps take the slightly longer routes that hasn’t been churned up. In the really soft steep stuff it is key to step into other peoples footsteps where the sand is slightly more compacted.
Heat training – while I am not normally affected by the heat I was worried about going from 2 degrees to the desert so I did 4 Hot Bikram yoga sessions in the week before flying out as well as a sauna session and lots of hot baths for up to 40mins. I didn’t suffer at all in the desert in spite of the fact that it apparently got up to 54 degrees the one day. Not sure how much of this was down to the heat training but it can’t do any harm.

I would say the most important thing is to approach the race with a positive attitude and really go out there and enjoy it as much as you possibly can. If possible do it with a group of friends. I was really lucky to do it with a group of 6 mates and the epic banter and camaraderie will live on long after the memories of the hard times fade. Ironingboard Man’s account in the forum is a great read for preparing you for what to expect but also about getting into a positive mindset. If you don’t have any friends doing it I would highly recommend going to one of the Likeys weekends or Sandbagger seminars to get to know other people who are doing the race and so you can get a tent together of like minded people.

Warren ]]> Tales from the desert warrenb http://www.themds.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?3661-Kit-Review-and-post-MDS-2013-thoughts