Had a great run today on a route I call the Northern Bluff. Guth ran the loop for the first time which is a good indication that her knee troubles may finally be getting better. Once again the weather was beautiful, clear blue skies, bright sunshine and a snow covered landscape; if only the surface water has been just a little bit warmer it might have been perfect!

On most of the route we were the first humans to have broken the snow surface, and the abundance of animal tracks was fascinating. One disappointment was evidence of ATBs which despite being banned on these trails had chewed up several places. I understand that the owners of these machines want to enjoy their sport as much as we enjoy running, but if they would only look back at the damage they cause. In one or two places they had tried to carve completely new trails around fallen trees.

The icy crust from yesterday was definitely softer and the uneven terrain meant we used Yaktrax instead of snow shoes. I’ve always found Yaks great on packed snow or ice, but today they were a pain in the rear end. Several times both of us had to stop and pull the tracks back into place after they has risen up over our toes. I guess the soft snow simply wasn’t the right surface, maybe a better alternative would have been my  Stabilicers Sport Cleats.

At races I’ve seen other competitors fix short bolts into the soles for extra grip. This seems to work, provided the bolt doesn’t pierce the inside of the shoe, but metal cleats don’t provide any traction on smooth rocky surfaces, in fact they make things worse. For me having something I can pull over my shoe is a better option as the cleats can always be removed if conditions change. Yaktrax seem best for hard icy or packed snow surfaces when you don’t want to feel the bottom of your shoes. The Stabilicers are excellent in soft slippery conditions (such as today) when the extra thickness of the device can not be felt.

So today, I didn’t get my equipment choice quite right, thankfully it wasn’t a race and I didn’t end up making an enforced ground inspection as a result!

Finally, spotted an interesting hydration accessory in April issue of TrailRunner magazine (don ask me why the April edition is out in February!). The Hydrapak Gel-Bot Core is a water bottle cap that has a gel flask fitted below it. Once screwed onto a water bottle the user can either open the bite value for water only or close it for a gel and water mix. Energy gels should always be taken with water to help their absorption and while the Gel-Bot was originally designed for cyclists this adaptation for running looks like a good idea.