The Dartmoor Discovery has become a classic event in the ultra-running calendar. At 32 miles, its not the longest ultra, but the undulations of the Dartmoor National Park certainly don't make it an easy one (A look at the course elevation profile shows a height difference between the high and low points of over 1,000 feet). The event is almost entirely on roads, which are not closed and are busy i…

You've trained for a city marathon(or Half), determined to run it, but suffered an injury shortly before the event jeopardising your running of it. You could just abandon the race. Or walk/run it if your injury is not bad and that you just didn't get enough training in.Or, to further justify your inevitably slower time - run it in fancy dress! This happened to me before this year's Brighton Marath…

Dunstable Downs Challenge 2012This event is organised by Dunstable Roadrunners (www.dunstableroadrunners.org) and consists of three distances; nominally a half-marathon, a 20-miler and a marathon. It's a relatively small event, mostly off-road run on scenic, 'undulating' footpaths and trails on the Dunstable Downs and some navigation skills are definitely required as there are few course markings.…

The Namib Desert Challenge (www.namibdesertchallenge.com) is a 5-day multi-terrain running event covering about 220km in the Sossusvlei area of southwest Namibia. It's quite a new event which has been inspired by the likes of Marathon des Sables and is organised by a South African company, Kinetic Enduro Events. NDC is a much smaller event than MdS, with numbers limited to 80 because of the potent…

Do consult your doctor before beginning any fitness program. Life can generally get in the way of following a program like this to the absolute minute. If you're unable to follow it exactly, work each session into your week as & when you can. Try to have at least one rest day between each session allowing the body to adapt without over-stressing it. Following this type of program prevents you f…

APEX SPORTS GUIDE TO RUNNING FOR BEGINNERS Congratulations on choosing to start running, one of the most progressive (in more ways than one!) individual sports you can do. Almost anyone can do it, its (mostly) a matter of discipline and motivation which we all have, and once you overcome this and get fitter, you will notice results almost immediately, seeing yourself continually progress by the a…

The Brooks Cascadia 6 Victoria looks at Brooks' trail shoeUp until a couple of months ago, wearing a trail shoe was more of a means to an end, a shoe to avoid those embarrassing slips or injury. My trail shoes were ok, just rather stiff and clumpy; they did their job, stopping me slipping. But they were always a second choice to my road shoes, which I would wear off-road if I could possibly …

Saucony Kinvara 2 ReviewHaving run in conventional running shoes for about 20 years, I have had a gradual patella issue intensify in the last few years. It came to a head last year stopping me from running. It was diagnosed as patella tendonitis, a common Runner's Knee issue. I followed the strengthening advice which helped a little, but not much. Rest seemed to help but when I'd start up again it…

The Barefoot Running DebateFrom time to time an article appears about how we should all be running barefoot, often combined with comments about how sports shoe companies have been making running shoes that actually cause most of our injuries. This makes for a great headline but doesn't exactly give a balanced argument!We weren't born with shoes on, so running barefoot has to be natural. Many peopl…

Tapering for a Marathon It's peak Autumn marathon season with the Chicago race imminent, closely followed by Amsterdam and New York and many other smaller races so thousands of runners will be in the midst of tapering for their target race or just about to start. For me, it's the Frankfurt marathon on the 25th October this year which has been been my almost obsession for the past 14 weeks or so.…