Last week we built our own Canadian canoe. How cool is that? We went on a 4 day course in the lake district run by Orca Adventures and came away with an astoundingly good-looking vessel that we were able to drop onto the water the very next day. It was...

canoe

I stopped breathing at parkrun last weekend. Nothing too dramatic, and no paramedics were called but I did go red and gasp a bit. It was an entirely orchestrated warm up technique that follows my latest obsession with breath holding or apnea training for running performance. This particular warmup consisted...

Olympic weightlifting platforms are typically 8′ x 8′ so pretty huge and phenomenally expensive for what amounts to a few bits of plywood and some rubber. In my mind that’s a clear invitation for a DIY project. I am not blessed with a great deal of DIY proficiency but that...

strength resources

Back in July I was inspired by Greg Whyte’s book, Achieve the Impossible, to knuckle down and finally nail the 100km challenge that appeared to have morphed into my very own personal Impossible. Using the tips outlined in the book I identified the key measures of success and drew up...

resources spreadsheets

It’s not good for the ego to be outrun by a dog walker but that is the short-term risk of adopting The Maffetone Method. This weekend I was “running” behind a dog walker for at least 20 minutes, running within yards of him before my heart rate monitor beeped at...

spreadsheets resources technique

I’m a quitter and a failure. At least that’s what I’ve been telling myself for the last year or so. It came to me over a lovely paleo meal. We were onto the second course, a delicious ox heart carpaccio and a good way into a bottle of Chardonnay when...

books reviews

I seem to be lurching from one dirty weekend to another but who’s complaining? Last weekend we were at Winter Wolf for our first attempt at the Leicestershire course. It has such fabulous quality mud that this is now my favourite adventure course. The black soggy clay grabbed me firmly...

event running

I love collecting data, in fact if running didn’t lend itself so well to data collection and analysis I may well have made a different choice back in 2005 and taken up watching baseball instead. I’ve jumped onto every method of self quantification since taking up the sport – gps,...

injury reviews biohacking

This weekend saw the start of the inaugural Grand Union Challenge and it was time for me to stage another attempt at a 100km hike. Vicky and I set off in glorious sunshine, from Paddington just before 10am. We were down on the canal in no time and began watching...

event walking

I’ve had some great results from pre-taping my feet prior to long hikes and can now walk around 40 miles, confident that I won’t get blisters. Even on this year’s London2Brighton challenge where the weather conditions were appalling and I ended up wearing two pairs of unfamiliar shoes, I managed...

injury L2B technique walking