Changing some kit

One of the side effects of helping out with the Dragon's Back race was to help me grasp how much outdoor kit had moved on in the last 10 years. So I am slowly sending some of the older stuff off to the school clothes bank and replacing it were and when I find stuff at a reasonable price.

Sportpursuit.co.uk has UnderAmour at a reasonable price a few weeks ago, so off some of my now quite smelly Helly thermals went and I bought a Coldgear Compression Team Mock.

I have used it for doing some work(wood chopping) outside yesterday and today, I also went for a run in it this evening, so some initial thoughts.

• It is slightly itchy when you 1st put it on but that soon goes
• When the UnderAmour is wet and put under just a Goretex jacket, the jacket seems to suck the heat out. Put a thin layer between the 2 and you don't get chilled very quickly.
• Its probably too warm if you are working hard, even on its own, unless it is minus something or you can use the wind to cool you down.
• I put it under a thin fleece when chopping some wood and that was fine. I came in to the house, took the fleece off and got cold straight away, felt like it sucked heat away unless their was something over it. It really is a base layer and does need something over it like a think fleece.

I would be interested to try the warmer weather version or to try this one in cold weather to see how it performs.

So in short, very good for pacing a Winter Bob Graham, not so good for a run down  the coast and a wet, but not that cold November evening.

However, I need to work on my Abs. It is tight enough fitting to really shows up the lack of them.

Cardington Cracker next weekend. not race fit, but going to run it for fun. Might also see if I can get away with doing the Cordon 3 Peaks Classic which is also a great race.

No momentum

I am enjoying each run, but not getting any training momentum together. This week was not too bad and included 2 x 8 miles over rough ground (1 run was to pick up a tractor and  included a commedy of errors with a return journey driving a tractor that died in the middle of the road after less than 2 miles).

No races planned this month and need back into hill reps which seem to make the most difference of the training I have done in the past.

Rowen's cross-country this week, which is something to look forward to.