Kit

Kit

I have spent an inordinate amount of time refining kit, or as some might say "faffing". Much as it is important to get kit right for this trip I have to keep reminding myself of "No bags Bagi" (see Ultra X Tanzania) who's bags were delayed en-route to Tanzania. I have a mental image of her with a black bin-bag full of borrowed kit from which she successful completed a five-day, 220km stage race in demanding conditions. So having optimal kit is helpful, but it is no substitute for good training and the right mental attitude.

My kit choices have been informed by the Rat Race guidance as well as input from previous participants and my own training runs. Here are some of the main kit considerations.

Shoes

The Rat Race guidance is to bring 3 pairs of running shoes, one for road running, one pair of hybrids and a pair of trail shoes. I am intending to follow that guidance. My choices are:

Road Shoes - New Balance Fresh Foam 1080s. I find these don't need any breaking-in and I like their bouncy feel straight out of the box, so a brand new pair of these were an easy choice.

Hybrids - Hoka Challenger ATS. These have been broken in and have about 100 miles on them. They are very versatile and I expect to use them heavily especially in the first half of the event.

Trail - Speedgoats. This is where I have had the most deliberation. I need a wide fitting in these and whilst I liked the Speedgoat 5's, I've needed some convincing on the Speedgoat 6. I used Speedgoat 6's in Tanzania, and unusually got some blisters from them. This was likely due to a combination of heat, dust and grit getting in the shoes as well as quite a bit of lateral movement on rutted & rocky terrain. Quite a few runners in Tanzania, who don't normally get blisters, reported blister issues. The Speedgoat 5s I have are softer & more cushioned, but these are close to the end of their life (and unavailable in wide fitting now). So the conclusion is that the Speedgoat 5s will be used in the first two weeks of the trip for what I expect to be the drier trails of the South West Coastal path, and then at Preston I'll swap them out and bring in the Speedgoat 6s for the Lakes section and into Scotland.

Running Poles

Using running poles can reduce the fatigue on the legs by around 15%, so I expect to use them heavily, especially on the trails and hilly sections. I am using Black Diamond Distance Carbon FLZ poles. I like their lightness, strength and quick snap-lock system, plus they are adjustable which can be useful on steep ground. Their slight weakness is that if you get grit in them when collapsing them then they can jam. These are my second set for that very reason - but in the round I prefer them to other poles I have had.

Beyond shoes & poles, life for 5 weeks will effectively evolve around three bags (full!)...

Running Pack (8L)

The guidance is to have a pack that is 10-20L in capacity to carry all mandatory kit [waterproofs, head torch, survival bag, hi-viz, hydration system, first aid kit] plus other bits and pieces depending on conditions - food, sunglasses, spare clothing etc.

I'm going to use a Black Diamond pack, the Distance 8, which is a bit of hybrid between a running hydration vest and a small rucksack. It claims to be 8L in capacity but in practice I think it is larger than that and I can comfortably carry all the mandatory kit in it. This has served me well on all the longer training runs in the last year and has proven to be more robust than some of the previous packs I have had. It has a useful selection of pockets, although I have added an additional pouch to the waist belt to accommodate my phone. I particularly like the external sleeves it has to hold poles, which are easily accessible on the run without stopping.

Pit Stop / Finish Line Bag (20L)

This is a bag we will get access to at the lunch-time pitstop and also at the end of each day's running (NB There could be an hour or two of hanging around before transfer to accommodation).  In this I will have a change of clothes & hoodie for the finish, recovery sandals (to let the feet get some air), various lotions & potions (eg sun cream, ibuprofen gel, lube etc), blister kit, some supplementary clothes eg windproof top, insulated pullover etc that I can pick up at lunchtime if weather deteriorates plus some electrolytes and snacks. 

I've got a bunch of little checklists, which I will use, for example at lunchtime, to check I've done everything before heading off for the afternoon. I learnt in training that when you are fatigued, it is so easy to forget stuff, (like picking up snacks at a pit stop), hence trying to design-in "fatigue proof" systems.

Overnight Holdall [70L]

The Rat Race guidance is to keep this bag to max 70l and 15 kgs. We have something like 23 different sets of accommodation and at each one of those we will need to lug our bags around. One of the learning points from "Wales in a Week" is that after 60km of running, lugging bags up stairs and along twisty corridors of accommodation is hard work. I've therefore tried to keep kit to a minimum - marginal gains and all that. 

In this bag I have basically got 7 sets of running kit, the trainers I am not running in that day, minimal casual clothes [3 t-shirts, shorts, jeans, casual shoes, underwear & socks], wash kit, tablet, eye mask & ear plugs [for dorm sleeping], foul weather kit, electricals & book. In addition I will have a "grot bag" - a large drybag into which each days used running kit will go. Here it will fester for the balance of the week and at the end of the week, before the rest day, this gets handed over to the laundry fairies who, for a modest fee, will return it washed & dried at the end of the following day. I'm not sure what this will cost, but I am not sure any amount of compensation is adequate for handling my used running kit after a week in a dry bag!!!

I'm aiming not to carry spares of stuff. With Helen visiting me two weeks in, this offers some opportunity to tweak kit (ie bring additional kit from home or offload things that aren't being used). We are also not far from civilisation and either local shopping or Amazon delivering to future accommodation stops give us options for emergency replacement of kit.