New Shoes: ROC on baby

inov-8 ROCLITE 315

First, limted I admit, impressions are they are good. They seem to be much bouncier under foot and sturdy around the rand. This makes tham look more solid and much more like a mountaineering fell shoe but they are supple and don't feel at all constraining or heavy. 3 miles this evening, it's way too hot for anything except a BBQ.

Cobblers!

The Wrong Shoes

I sent my trusty pair of inov-8 Flyroc 310's back to the manufacturers yesterday as they appeared to be coming apart. I considered it to be a manufacturing fault and asked inov-8 to repair or replace them. At first they said it was fair wear and tear and refused. They said things like "you've worn the tread down by half" implying I'd had my money's worth and it's "your running style".

They said I was wearing the wrong shoes. I did say they were mine and how could they be the wrong ones. Apparently what they meant was that I should be wearing a diferent style for the type of running / walking I'm doing. They also eventually offered a replacement pair of Roclite 315™. I had to pay a contribution towards the cost but I think we both got a good deal out of the bargain. I'm still waiting for the new shoes to arrive,I'll report back when I have had the chance to try them out.

Gear: inov-8 Flyroc 310

Running Gear

I've been using a pair of inov-8 Flyroc 354 GTX trail shoes for some time now. However, while at the iROC event the other day inov-8 were selling any of their shoes at a ridiculous price of £30. Well I couldn't resist and bought a pair of the standard Flyroc 310's and wore them then end there for the race. I've used them since too for the training run around Hexham last Tuesday. To say I'm pleased is a bit of an understatement, no blisters and dead comfy, they're fantastic. They are lighter than the others and for these warmer times they appear to breathe more easily.

I haven't quite taken to wearing them about the flat but that's just because they're already too muddy.

Today : Tomorrow

iROCket Science

Food and liquids all day, steady as they go. Two helpings of Robert's Famous Beef Curry and brown rice for tea.

Tomorrow up and about by seven; on the way to the event by eight thirty; start time is 11:00. Hoping that the ankle will hold together with 8m of zinc tape. Please don't let me be last!

Hexham : Runnin round and round and falling down

Training and Falling Down Potholes

View Larger Map

Another evening's running with the group from Hexham and the Wentworth Centre ended in a bit of a disaster, me falling down a pothole and twisting my ankle badly. Bloody hell it hurts but as my colleague Mark said ..you are probably being a wuss... The balloon at one end of my left leg would suggest otherwise. Other than that the training was good, longer sections, hill starts again and it's tough.

Off Exploring's iROC Team

Off Exploring's Robert Campbell and Mark McGookin sign up for iROC

Off Exploring's Robert Campbell and Mark McGookin sign up for the iROC adventure race with attitude

The intrepid, some say insane duo, have persuaded each other and themselves that the fun thing to do on Easter weekend is run up hill for a very long way and look cool while doing it.

To look extra cool the boys have spec'd out some soft – wear, the skin tight Lycra tops they're modelling in the photo. No doubt they'll look OK until the race starts at which point no amount of man made fibre, elastic or not, is going to keep these two in-check or looking suave or cool in any sense of the word. The race is going to be a gruelling run up hill and presumably down as well, for a total of 13k and over 900 meters of ascent.

At the moment their training regime is a punishing mix of gym work and road and fell running. With only 4 weeks before the event, which is on the 18th of April, the pace of training is beginning to quicken as they realise that whatever they do it's probably not going to be enough.

Mark has the advantage, he plays Rugby for Ponteland RFC 1sts as is already up to the 'mark', pardon the ridiculous pun, while Robert is right back on the pace having only just started to do any kind of exercise at all and never run more than 200m at once in his life.

The race is being run by another North East company inov-8 who describe themselves as 'a British company that's passionate about specialist off-road and extreme sports products'. They make running shoes and other gear for mad people like these two.

The race is being run in an old cement factory and quarry, presumably so there's somewhere to bury the dead bodies that will litter the hillside before, during and after the event is over.

But hey it's bound to be a great day out, come along and support the two, there's even a family fun run, cycling and a beer tent. That sounds like a place just for me, see you there

Yours Gripp Type-Thinne.

Training Woes

View Larger Map

Training: Upping the Game

Unprepared, unfit and cramps setting in by the time the pull back up the hill was attempted. This does not bode well for iROC. 

Madness

Committed, we should be

I have signed up, along with a couple of friends and colleagues from work, to do Race 1 at this event in April. Although it's only an 8 mile race (13Km) it does include 900m of climb. I've worked out that is equivalent to doing 4 HHRa on the trot. This may be a challenge too far. We are all amateurs, never run in an event like this before and other than Mark, haven't done any endurance events at all. Mark plays rugby for Ponteland RFC and trains most days of the week.

There is a facebook group called iROC Adventure Race Weekend and looking at the other competitors we are going to be last of that there is no doubt. Never mind it's the taking part that counts isn't it?

Runnin runnin

The Grand Old Duke of York

The extended HHR again, and down to the river side through the nettlebeds in shorts only. Overdosing on nettle stings seems a little toxic

River Running

Water water everywhere

View Larger Map

Running the Horsley Hell Run this morning was a very wet affair. The water pouring down the hill from Horsley was being funneled down the track at the end of the run into was was in effect a small river. I extended the run to the very end of the bridalway which goes all the way down to the Tyne at a place between Wylam and Ovingham.
The new fell running shoes, inov-8 Flyroc 345 GTX were a bit dissapointing.
Don't get me wrong they are comfortable and cope well with the really muddy ground, not too hard on the feet and knees on tarmac either, but under these wet, well aquatic, conditions they just filled up with water. I think that the Gortex ® lining under these conditions may be a hinderance rather than a help. I wish now I'd bought the standard version.