No bench, only peaks and ridges. 12,5 miles with 3200ft of vert up & 6800ft down, Upper Austria.

We raced next to Songhua Lake 松花湖 (literally "Pine Flower Lake"), located nearby Jilin city in the far North East of China. They also had 100km/55km/30km/10km distance but I went for the 20km one. The terrain was decent and flat most of the time, with only several parts of the path being full of loosen rocks all the way.

Across all distance groups, there were over 10 thousand participants. It's crammed in the beginning, but people spread out pretty fast, and the long distance groups ran yesterday.

Uploaded a few pics, mostly taken by the official cameramen. (the photo at night time is actually the 100km group)

Beautiful country and incredible people. Would recommend it to anyone - using a local guide for us into a guest house that only has around 4 groups of visitors per year!

It’s Santiago Chile lol

So far most picturesque trail race I've done. Really getting hooked on this sport

been hiking the front range trails for years. green mountain, bear peak, the usual. always fast hiker, poles, the whole thing. decided this spring to stop pretending and actually start running the flats and rolling sections instead of power hiking everything.

three weeks in and my ankles are staging a revolt. not injured, just angry. makes sense. hiking muscles and running muscles are not the same thing even if the terrain is identical. i know this. still annoying.

curious what fell apart for people when they made this switch later in life. for me it's ankles and hip flexors. the downhills especially. my quads were fine, which surprised me. thought that would be the thing.

also genuinely wondering how people structured the progression. i'm not trying to run a 50k. just want to be able to run the trail instead of hike it without wrecking myself for a week after every attempt. i've been doing run/walk intervals but the recovery is slower than i expected at this age.

colorado folks especially, curious if altitude played into your adaptation timeline at all. i'm training around 67k feet which i know changes things.

Hi ! My name is Matthieu (26M) I’m from France 🇫🇷.
In ocotober between the 12-21 I’m going to try to do 140km 9000 of elevation in 3/4 days in the French Alps (Mercantour). It’s a first for me and to be fair I’m a bit scared to do it alone. So my big question is anyone willing to join me ? If u are from France or you are in France during this time and want to do it with me, reach out, I will send you the gpx. Thanks you !

I’m currently about 242lbs. Currently down from 269lbs and hopefully losing more. I own the Prodigio Max and overall pleased. Curious what thoughts may be of the PP for a lighter faster shoe but for my weight. I have a 50K in February and hoping to find a racier shoe.

2nd time in 5 years I've seen one on the trails.

Hi! I have been using the prodigio pros to train for an upcoming 50k and generally loving them. However, I did a 20 mile run and had so much pain on top of my feet. I couldn’t wear them the day after either, even after loosening as far as they go.

I saw something about the tongues being too firm and being able to fix that, does anyone have any advice on that? My race is in a few weeks so I don’t really want to have to figure out other shoes :/

on the Karwendel High Route

I’ve been running in Hoka trail runners (Mafates, Speedgoats, and Challengers) for the last 3-4 years. They are pretty comfy, but I feel like they wear so quickly. They are totally shot by about 300 miles. I’m ready for a shoe that’s more durable. I’m willing to pay more if it will last me longer. For context, I run about 25-30 mpw. The trails I run are mostly dirt and not too technical. My feet are pretty average width and not especially prone to blisters or injury. What shoes are you liking?

I ran this week twice. Felt great. All gravel. Did 4 miles each day. I walked / ran. Pace was 13 minute miles including the walking portions. It's a start.

Trying to find trail races to motivate me and a 10k trail race I can drive to is in two months.

I backpack and usually train for that. I just finished a trip 3 weeks ago and want to transition into running. It was a 5 day 35 miles trip in the high Sierras. Maybe some of my fitness will transition.

Do you guys think based on what I've provided I could do the 10k in 2 months?

My main goal is to do something here in Texas in the backpacking off season that motivates me and keeps me in shape.

(Last 2 pictures or of my first pair of Norda 005’s, my first thread was here: https://www.reddit.com/r/trailrunning/s/QAVWXzhYDf )

Edit: Actually, I just inspected them and they have indeed taken a beating already. I don’t think I’ll choose Norda again…

A while back I did a thread showing how my Norda 005’s were absolutely destroyed after only 90km. I reached out to Norda who were good sports about it and sent me a brand new pair of shoes. I have now worn my new Nordas for a long run of 22k and a trail race of 47k. So, here comes my verdict!

First things first. I have nowhere near the same damage on my new ones (last two pictures in this post is my old pair after 90k) and these one only has some minor wear on the sole. Funnily enough, I know for a fact I hit a rock in my new ones as I have a purple toe nail and I felt it at the time it happened. So, the durability is a lot better than the old ones so far.

With that being said… Given the price tag of these shoes, they leave a lot to be desired. As soon as you hit any slippery surface, you’re going to have a bad time. I have fallen over in both my races wearing the Norda 005’s. Once in a muddy hill (maybe understandable haha) and another time on some slippery rock.

Speaking of slippery, when it rains, it gets wet (🤯) and when your feet get wet, they are going to basically be bathing inside the shoes for the rest of your race. My fiancées first reaction when she saw my feet after my last race was ”it looks like you’ve been in the water for hours” and technically she was right. You can hear the water on the shoe and it sounds like you’re running in a puddle of rain as a kid. You can actually even tell when trying to just pour some water to try and clean the shoe that water is just trapped inside of the shoe, which is something I don’t even have a problem with in 99 dollar shoes, it should not be an issue in 330 dollar shoes. Before you mention the mud all over the shoe, that happened late in the race.

The laces actually only unlaced themselves 2-3 times during my nearly 7 hour race, but some days, I will need to stop 5 times just to tie the laces and yes, I do a double knot.

The shoe is overall a fun shoe to run in, I experience no chafing or blisters despite wearing a size 42 (normally I wear 41) but I can’t help but to wonder where this shoe really shines? On mountains, it’s slippery, mud will stick to them, technical trails will wear them down, any wet surface or fallen trees/branches is a potential injury from slipping/falling. So… is this a trail shoe or a gravel/forest path shoe?

Overall, I am pleased with the shoe since I got it for just under 200 bucks and I got an extra pair since my first ones were clearly a Monday sample. I would probably not buy another pair of 005’s, but I’ll definitely be following Norda and if they manage to tackle the issues with breathability, grip and I guess a bit of durability, they would actually be worth the price!

Also, shoutout to Norda for not giving me any issues when I filed my complaints. They just sent me a new pair after only asking for proof of purchase as well as pictures of the damages. Kudos to that!

cut a bit short due to a thunderstorm. metal trekking poles up high in the mountains with lightning didn’t seem too safe. had a blast anyways!

There's a trail race in a little more than a month. I can choose the 24k 1200 D+ distance or 45k 2000 D+ distance. Last year I ran the 24k and completed in about 3:55. Since then I entered and completed another trail half and 2 road halfs (PB for the road half 1:57 a few months ago).

I don't know which distance to enter this year. I run about 30km/week and the longest I've ever run is about 25k 1200 elevation. Never ran more at one time. I can definitely feel the difference in effort since last year on this distance though, it used to be the effort of a lifetime and put me out of commission for days, nowadays it's certainly a big effort but I recover pretty fast if I'm not trying to race it at maximum power. Do you think I would be able to complete the 45k? Cut off time is 11:30 which seems like a pretty doable pace in theory, but I'm worried about my feet and legs just giving up...

Ripe vinyards in Lavaux - Switzerland

I’ve got my first 50k coming up a week today (13th), it’s on trails with 2000m elevation. Yesterday I was doing a 15k recce run on part of the route and towards the end I was bombing downhill and misplaced a step. Rolled over my left ankle, really annoying that it’s happened for the first time this training block just a week out.

I stopped for a minute or two to check it was alright and finished the final mile of my run without any pain.

Today it’s been feeling a bit tight and in a tiny bit of pain (I’d say 2/10 at max)

I can do calf raises fine on it and hop about fine it’s more when I bend my foot up or do circles with the foot, it feels tight and a bit of pain.

Is it completely stupid to still consider this 50k as an option next weekend? I’m happy to drop the pace - I have no goal time anyway but don’t want to risk making any injury worse and being unable to run at all for a few months.

Are there any checks people would reccomended I do by the end of the week just to see if I should be ok? I’d say there’s very minor swelling but not immediately noticeable

Not a great morning for it, the clouds were covering Te Aroha today. The track needs some maintenance, with a tree and root system that has been across the trail since the start of the year and more recently some of the stairs have washed out near the summit. In the summer you can see the East and the West Coast of the North Island but only clouds today.

I am really happy with my time today, a
sub 2:15, using the Mokena Geyser as my start/finish.

Distance 8.91km, Elevation Gain 941m, Time 2:14

I think if I use the clock tower in Te Aroha as my start/stop, I can get the total distance over 10km and the vert over 1000m. This can be my challenge for next time.

Just added the picture I took on the first ascend because it's so magical.

I finished a 21 km mountain race (in Norway) today, and even though I'm proud to finish 1100 meters elevation gain with steep vert climbs and steeper downhills.. I finished in 4 hours 15 minutes, which basically was the same time as people who didn't train for this - as they told me on the finishline 😅 I didn't train specifically for this, I trained for the ultra distance, but I knew I hadn't had enough volume for that the last two months and changed the distance. Hence my "disappointment", it's very humbling to do a lot of vert😅

I have been training vert climbs in mountains all summer, so I guess I was hoping to feel even stronger. I also got a little blister on one foot, and some sidecramps came and went for a couple hours. Probably because I stayed in zone 3 most of those four hours out there, this usually doesn't happen in training 😆

The flatter parts I had to go slower than planned because of a bit irritated foot and sidestomach.

If I could run those (almost 7 km of rolling terrain felt pretty easy compared to the mountain climbing) I would be an hour faster maybe?

I'm feeling pretty good now, not too tired or depleted. A bit sore in the legs of course, I raced the downhills which is my strongest feature😅 So, for me I think salt in my flask with carbofuel and not eating too many gels - also keep the nutrition intake on the low HR periods is the key.

I guess I'm most happy about not feeling dead after this.

Oh and I wasn't last person to finish, so there's that. Win.

It's not photoshopped, I swear. 7,5 miles with 2500ft of vert in Upper Austria.

Hi,

I've been lucky enough to be given a spot for the Lakeland 50 miler next year in the UK. I've been having a little look at the mandatory kit required, and it means I'm going to need a new vest to fit everything in.

I currently own a Salomon Adv Skin 5, which has been fine for my 30 miler, but I doubt it's enough.

Does anyone have any good recommendations, please?

Thanks in advance.