July/August 2019 New England Runner Magazine
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December 31, 2024
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June 9, 2020 | News | No Comments
USATF Trail National Championships brought runners into the demanding depths of Moab’s canyon country
Photo by Chris Hunter
Cody Moat, Overall Champion
On November 3, in the craggy canyon country of Moab, Utah, the Moab Trail Marathon served as the 2012 USATF Trail Marathon National Championship. The race presented a rugged and unique challenge to an intensely competitive field.
The race’s website claims the title “Mother of All Trail Marathons,” and, post-race, most runners concurred.
Jason Bryant, 40, the third-place finisher and master’s champion from Elkin, North Carolina, said, “Several recent trail championships have been on rather easy courses. I like courses that require a runner to be fast on tough footing.” Bryant called the race a “true trail course,” where “simple speed was not going to rule.”
Obstacles ranged from long, grinding climbs to descents that forced runners to slide bottoms first, to ladders and hand lines along exposed rock. The marathon began in narrow canyons framed by spectacular vertical walls. It teetered on rim tops of deep chasms, and included views of the rocky red wilderness as well as the Amasa back region, where the Colorado River winds through outcroppings of quintessential Moab sandstone.
The trail wound through Pritchett, Hunter and Kane creek canyons, offering clear views of the orange arches in Canyonlands National Park and the peaks and pine forests of the snow-capped La Sal Mountains.
The well-marked course varied from narrow singletrack to jeep and mining trails, and from slickrock to deep, sandy washes and flowing creeks, with approximately 3500 feet of elevation gain and loss.
Over 50 elites lined up on race morning, the first of three waves of competitors. The overall winner, Cody Moat, 34, of Fillmore, Utah, entered the chute in 3:08:26—complementing his victory at the 2012 Spartan Racing World Championships, a grueling marathon distance obstacle course. The second- and third-place finishers, Justin Ricks, 32, of Pueblo West, Colorado, and Bryant, followed competitively, crossing the line in 3:14:39 and 3:17:06, respectively.
The women’s field was also loaded with stacked resumes and new talent. Megan Kimmel, 32, of Silverton, Colorado, second place female finisher, felt the competitive atmosphere. “I knew there were going to be a bunch of great, fast ladies at the race,” she said, “and daunting as that can be, ultimately it makes a race exciting and really
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fun.”
Photo by Chris Hunter
Kerri Lyons, Female Champion
The female champion, Kerri Lyons, a 24-year-old road racer from Salt Lake City, Utah, who runs a 35-minute 10K, finished in 3:27:46, in what was only her third-ever trail race. She was followed five minutes later by Kimmel, and five minutes after that by Michelle Suszek, 30, of Littleton, Colorado. A $2100 cash purse was split between the top-five male and female finishers.
The course was mapped by world-class local runner, Danelle Ballengee. The 41-year-old recent inductee into the Colorado Running Hall of Fame has claimed four Pikes Peak Marathon wins, three Primal Quest adventure race victories, and six “U.S. Athlete of the Year” wins. A course created by Ballengee was sure to be demanding.
The Moab Times Independent noted that the route passed the location of Ballengee’s renowned accident in 2006. In that incident, Ballengee survived a 60-foot fall and two dangerously cold nights with an array of shattered bones; she was rescued by the worry of a self-titled nosy neighbor who reported her missing, and the heroic efforts of her dog, Taz, who sought out and brought emergency personnel to her remote location. The race’s proceeds benefit the Project Athena Foundation, the nonprofit brainchild of endurance racer Robyn Benincasa, born in 2009 out of her own trials coping with and recovering from severe osteoarthritis and numerous resulting hip surgeries. The organization provides scholarship sponsorship to women returning to adventurous activities after suffering setbacks.
A trial of more than miles alone, the Moab Trail Marathon offered an organized and exciting championship with a backdrop as stunning as it was technical. “The desert is aesthetically different from the mountains and so beautiful,” says Kimmel. “The temperatures and weather [there] in early November there would be hard to beat anywhere.”
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June 9, 2020 | News | No Comments
Strava, the social network for athletes, has revealed unique insights into the London Marathon from race and training data taken from 2016 London Marathon runners.
The race day data taken from 6,464 Strava runners shows that on average runners in the 35-44 age group posted the fastest finishing time, this was followed by the 45-54 age group who finished in 3 hours 56 mins with the youngest age group (under 25s) in third, with an average finish time of 3 hours 59 mins.
Perhaps surprisingly, the 25-34 age group (the same age group as the majority of the elite field) was one of the slowest, with the 55-64 age group only marginally slower by 15 seconds – potentially illustrating differences in lifestyle, level of experience and pacing strategy between millennials and baby boomers.
Across all age groups the average finish time for female runners was 4 hours 23 mins, with the average finish time for men being 3 hours 48 mins.
The data reveals that the fastest mile was mile 4 across male and female runners whilst women had their slowest at mile at 22 and men at mile 25. Running quickly at mile 4 is possibly an indicator of new-found freedom from the crowded early miles allowing runners to ramp back up to their planned target pace. Female runners recording their slowest mile earlier than men might show different pacing or nutrition strategies.
Goal Setting
The percentage of runners that achieved their target race time was similar across all groups ranging from 62 – 67%, with the 45-54 age group the most satisfied.
Training
Across all runners the average longest run was 34.3 km (21.3 miles) with the majority choosing to train in the late morning (between 8am-12pm).
Compared to the weeks prior to their taper, runners reduced their average weekly distance by 35% two weeks before the marathon and 69% in the final week.
In contrast, the shorter distances covered during the taper were run at a quicker average pace – 7s per km two weeks out, and 9s per km in the final week – with the reduction in mileage leading to fresher legs.
Community
London runners showed themselves to be very chatty, and engaged widely with the Strava community. In training, they took 23k photos, received over 1.75million Kudos and commented 181k times.
Strava has a million new members signing up every 45 days, and around 8 million activity uploads put on the platform each week globally. In 2016, globally, Strava runners uploaded 86.7 million runs, with the UK contributing 16.9 million of the runs covering 132 million km.
For more information on Strava, click here. To join the Strava London Marathon Club, click here.
June 9, 2020 | News | No Comments
An animal loving police officer from Birmingham is currently undergoing her training for her first London Marathon, all in a bid to raise vital funds for stray animals in Turkey.
A family holiday to a Turkish coastal town sparked an urge in 42 year old Ruth Young, who is a Police Officer with West Midlands Police, to help the animal charity that cares for the many cats and dogs living on the streets of the picturesque holiday destination of Kalkan on the country’s Turquoise Coast. Ruth, who is married and step-mum to two teenagers, decided there and then when she visited Kalkan that she wanted to do something to support the work undertaken by the local charity, KAPSA (Kalkan Association for the Protection of Street Animals.)
Ruth explained why she had chosen the animal charity as a worthy beneficiary of the funds she raises when she takes part in the London Marathon on 22nd April. She said: “I have visited Turkey with my family for many years and we were actually married there in 2015. Last year, we visited Kalkan for the first time. I was amazed to see so many street animals in this beautiful small town. During my holiday, I learned about the work done by KAPSA and as an animal lover, it was really heart-warming to see the dedication and hard work that the charity, which is run by European and Turkish residents together, put into ensuring that the street animals are kept as healthy as possible. I hope that I can turn 17 weeks of training and 26 miles of running the London Marathon into something worthwhile by raising money for this wonderful charity!”
As Ruth works full-time, she runs to work on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, in additional to further runs at weekends. She has a Springer Spaniel called Rio, who also loves running and they often run together at Sutton Park and around the Birmingham canal network. The family also has a Maine Coon cat called Luna.
Ruth’s target is to raise an amazing £1000.
If you would like to sponsor Ruth on her marathon run, please visit her fundraising page.
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June 9, 2020 | News | No Comments
For runners focused on mountain, ultra and trail (MUT) events, a road marathon can be an out-of-the-ordinary practice. Athletes used to racing 50 or 100 miles on dirt may find running 26.2 miles fast on pavement to be a step out of their comfort zones.
But for runners of any stripe, the chance to run in the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, which take place on Saturday in Los Angeles, is simply too good to pass up, even if the chances of making the actual Olympic team are slim. (Only the top three men and women will represent the U.S. at this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro, and the fields are replete with professional marathoners who have run the distance significantly faster than any of the MUT athletes signed up.)
“It’s a pretty big honor to make the trials, and a benchmark of what level you’re running at,” says Max King, who ran in the 2012 trials and qualified for this year’s race at the 2015 Los Angeles Marathon with a time of 2:17:34. (He holds a marathon PR of 2:14:30.) “The roads show no mercy. They’ll let you know if you’re getting slower.”
Who’s Running?
The MUT community will be well represented at the Trials this year. Those who have met the minimum qualifying standard (a 2:19:00 marathon or 1:05:00 half-marathon for men, and a 2:45:00 marathon or 1:15:00 half for women) and are currently entered in the race include:
Max King – 2014 Chuckanut 50K and Ice Age 50 Mile winner
Caitlin Smith – 2015 Tamalpa Headlands 50K winner and USA Track & Field 50K Trail Champion
Joseph Gray – 2013 and 2014 US Mountain Running Champion
David Laney – 2015 Chuckanut 50K and Bandera 100K winner; 2015 USA Track & Field Trail 100K Champion; third place, UTMB 2015
Larisa Dannis – 2015 Waldo 100K winner; 2014 USA Track & Field Road 50-Mile Champion and Western States 100 runner-up
Patrick Smyth – 2015 Way Too Cool 50K and XTERRA Trail Run World Championship winner
Emily Harrison – 2014 Lake Sonoma 50 Mile winner
Tim Tollefson – 2014 Flagline 50K winner and USA Track & Field Trail 50K Champion
Caroline Boller – 2015 Black Canyons 100K winner; eighth place, 2015 Western States 100
Noteworthy absences include 2015 Tamalpa Headlands/USA Track & Field Trail 50K Champion Andy Wacker and 2015 Western States 100 champion and 2008 Olympic marathoner Magdalena Lewy-Boulet. Both ran times that qualified them for the Trials, but did not register.
Training Differences
Training for a road marathon—where the pace is faster and more sustained than in a hilly trail race—can present a unique challenge to athletes who must also maintain their strength on trails for later in the season. But some Trials qualifiers find that incorporating both road and trail training into their schedules puts them at an advantage, noting that marathon-specific speedwork can make them stronger, faster and more efficient on trails.
“I do a little bit of everything in training—some hills, some track, some tempo,” says Caitlin Smith, 34, who lives and trains in the Bay Area. “I find I am in my best shape for trail races after a road marathon.”
Max King during the 2015 Los Angeles Marathon, where he ran a Trials-qualifying 2:17:34. Photo courtesy of Max King
On the other hand, Smith says, incorporating trails can help strengthen her for any effort, road marathons included. “The trails are always there and I still tend to do my long runs on them, even with an upcoming marathon,” she says.
Meanwhile, Patrick Smyth, 29, who specialized in road and track racing before joining the Nike Trail Elite squad, says his recent training has been “a traditional marathon buildup.”
For the most part, anyway. “During that time, I’ve done a handful of [half-marathon] trail races, just to keep the body sharp and the mind fresh,” he adds. “Juggling the marathon block with some trail racing hasn’t required an overhaul in the training plan, but it has meant that some of the racing was done on tired, mileage-soaked legs.”
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Sponsor Support
While many of the MUT runners participating in the Trials are sponsored athletes, they are sponsored to run trails. That means they might not see the financial and travel support for the Trials that they often get for trail races.
“The trail team is focused on trail only, so even road ultras are not covered by our budget,” says David Laney, 27, who runs for Nike Trail Elite and will be wearing Nike gear at the race. “I’m running and paying for the Trials, as would any unsigned marathon guy.”
David Laney during the 2015 adidas Shamrock Run 15K in Portland, Oregon. Courtesy of the Shamrock Run 15K
For athletes like Laney, whose 2:17:02 at the 2014 California International Marathon was faster than the “B” qualifying standard of 2:19:00, but slower than the “A” standard of 2:15:00, no expenses are covered by USA Track & Field. The same goes for athletes who qualified via a half-marathon rather than a full. Athletes who meet the “A” standard (2:15:00 for men, 2:37:00 for women) have travel expenses covered.
Smith, who is sponsored by the trail-focused brand Salomon, likewise says she receives no financial support for the Trials. In addition, Salomon makes almost exclusively trail shoes, so she won’t necessarily be wearing optimal road-racing shoes, which are typically treadless and lightweight.
“[Salomon] makes some road/trail hybrids,” she says. “They make a road shoe, but not in my size yet.”
Why Run?
With the lack of financial support, and the near-certainty of running much farther back in the pack than they typically do on trails, why are so many MUT runners going all-in at the Olympic Marathon Trials?
It’s almost a silly question to ask a runner.
“I’m running [the Trials] because the Olympic Games are the pinnacle of athletics,” says Laney. “I know my PR, and I know the PRs of my competitors, but having the opportunity to line up with the best marathoners in the world and having a go at making an Olympic team is something I’ve dreamed about since I was 5.
“How do you pass up a chance, [even] a 0.01-percent likelihood, that you could make an Olympic team?” he continues.
Put another way?
“It’s a special event,” says Smyth.
Correction: Camille Herron, the 2015 USA Track & Field Road 50-Mile Champion, will not be competing in the Trials, as an earlier version of this article stated. She will be at the race volunteering and spectating, however.
June 5, 2020 | News | No Comments
There is this tournament coming that all the supporters expect for a long period of time… There is this weekend at the end of March that will make some happy and others sad… There are these two days of volleyball on highest level!
In only 3 weeks time, on Sunday, 29th of March, we will understand who will be the new volleyball king!
Of course, we are talking about the 2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League Final Four which will take place on 28th and 29th of March in Max-Schmelling-Halle, Berlin.
Berlin Recycling Volleys released the official video trailer for the Final 4. Watch it here and get ready for the volleyball battle!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKvUiTLwULk
Photo: BR Volleys
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June 5, 2020 | News | No Comments
“Players will evolve in their technique because always but always the technique will overcome the power,” says famous Argentinian volleyball coach Javier Weber in our exclusive interview.
You played as one of the few players in the world 5 world championships and 613 games for Argentine national team. How could you manage it? What is your advice to young volleyball players?
It was a true honor for me to represent my country and play for such a long time in the national team. Dedication, perseverance, enjoy, and every day gave my 100 %.
Volleyball is the most beautiful sport in the world, playing it with passion and joy and having fun is the most important. Volleyball leaves you friends for life and there is nothing more beautiful than living dreams with friends
I personally played in Argentina, the league is good with many technical players, good organisation and smart coaches. Bolivar is no. 1 team men club. What is your philosophy in the club? Bring the best players or let grow your own young players?
My philosophy is to assemble the best possible team and for this you need a mix between experienced and young players with a future. Bolivar is a super professional team, and every year we try to win all the championships we play and for that it is very important that everyone thinks that the team is the most important thing.
Argentina won last U23 men world championship. Also, in past years, you were very successful with your youth teams. Why is that? Is it because of the system of your work or just a coincidence?
Argentina has a very successful system of work in youth for a long time, a very important technical work is done at the training by the players but above all, every young person plays between 60 to 70 games every year. Also, in our national league many young people, who have first level experience from an early age, are playing.
You will showcase at World Volleyball Coaches Show your knowledge about side out and defense. Why did you decide to speak about these topics?
Excellent question! First of all, in Argentina and especially in our national league, the defense is the main part and it is trained a lot and really plays the one who is good at defense.Our deficiencies in height and power are compensated by the defense and other fundamentals, like side out. I have a Brazilian school and for that reason, and for my past as a setter, the side out is fundamental in modern volleyball. I consider the side out not only the first ball but also the second or the third ball in side out are essential if we can create opportunities in the first ball for the second or third one to close the point.
Volleyball is evolving, requires more power, better technique, more data. Where do you think that volleyball will be in 10 years?
I believe that the technique will be fundamental and more and more players will be tall and strong but that they will evolve in their technique because always but always the technique will overcome the power.
June 1, 2020 | News | No Comments
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On the first page of the owner’s manual for iFi Audio’s Pro iDSD tubed/solid-state multibit DAC and headphone amplifier, the British company unabashedly describes it as “a ‘state of the art’ reference digital to analog converter” and “a wireless hi-res network player or the central DAC in an expensive high-end home system.” As if in an afterthought, it continues: “The on-board balanced headphone section means high-end headphones can also be directly connected to it.” The manual doesn’t describe the headphone “section” as “state of the art,” so I’m deducing that the Pro iDSD is really more a fancy-pants DAC than a high-tone headphone amp. Which is probably okay, because one of iFi’s other Pro models, the Pro iCAN line stage and headphone amp, which I reviewed in June 2018, was possibly intended to accompany the iDSD.
I’m a slow learner. Only now am I beginning to recognize how relevant, value-oriented, and forward-thinking iFi Audio’s digital products actually are. IFi makes seven DACs, starting with their portable Nano iDSD LE DAC–headphone amp ($139). In the middle of their product line is the popular xDSD, a portable, high-resolution Bluetooth USB DAC ($399). They also make a range of digital “enhancement” products, including the Nano iGalvanic3.0 signal regenerator, which I sometimes use in my reference system. Now iFi has introduced this new monster DAC, the Pro iDSD ($2499), which uses four Burr-Brown converter chips in what iFi calls an “interleaved” array.
Description
I promised myself that I wouldn’t get snarky or sarcastic about the Pro iDSD’s swarm of high-tech features—my mantra is Accept and adapt. Please stay with me as I patiently list them all:
The Pro iDSD is built around four of Burr-Brown’s hybrid MultiBit/DSD DAC chips and a Crysopeia FPGA Digital Engine that allows PCM up to 32-bit/768kHz, DSD up to 49.152MHz, and DXD and double-speed DXD. The Pro iDSD’s digital inputs are: USB (required for DSD, DXD, and sample rates above 192kHz), AES3 (XLR, single link), S/PDIF (coaxial/optical combo), and multifunction BNC (S/PDIF in or sync input). All inputs, including USB, are galvanically isolated. The USB input is self-powered and does not draw power from the USB bus. In addition to its own internal clock, the Pro iDSD can accept an external word-clock signal.
The playback options include: Airplay network audio playback from iPhone and iPad, and Mac computers; DLNA network audio playback from smartphones, tablets, and computers running Windows or Linux; playback from a hard-disk drive (HDD), USB memory, or SDHC memory card; playback from Network Attached Storage (NAS); streaming playback from Napster, Qobuz, QQ Music, Spotify, Tidal, and others; and MQA.
The little Pro iDSD measures 8.7″ W by 2.5″ H by 8.4″ D and weighs 4.4 lb. On its rear panel are balanced (XLR) and single-ended (RCA) analog output jacks, as well as a four-position screwdriver-slot rotary switch that offers a choice between fixed and variable outputs, and between output levels appropriate for professional- and domestic-audio settings. The XLR jacks output 11.2V when set to Pro mode and 4.6V when set to HiFi mode, while the RCA jacks offer 5.6V in Pro and 2.3V in HiFi. In variable mode, those numbers describe the maximum output available when the Pro iDSD’s front-panel volume knob is turned fully clockwise.
Supplied with the Pro iDSD is the 15V version of iFi’s iPower wall-wart. According to the manual: “All incoming DC is converted to a high-frequency waveform and then rectified and filtered by a choke input capacitor filter. . . .” Also according to the manual: “The digital section is powered by a bank of ELNA Dynacap DZ&153;(tm) super capacitors of 6.6 Farad (6,600,000µF) value in total . . . [that have] around 400x lower internal impedance (in comparison to similar products of regular grade). . . .”
The illuminated iFi logo at the top left of the front panel indicates power-on in four different states: green for warming up, white for solid-state mode, orange for tube mode, red for protection mode. At bottom left is the power/standby button. To its right is a large knob for choosing among the inputs: WiFi, Ethernet, Hard Disk, Micro SDHC, USB, Coaxial/Optical, XLR Digital, and BNC Digital. With this knob you can also adjust the signal polarity, and shut off or dim the brightness of the circular OLED display at the center of the front panel.
To the right of the input selector is a little knob that selects among three forms of digital processing:
1) Direct—Bit-Perfect: Neither PCM nor DSD signals are processed in any way (non-oversampling for PCM, direct-to-analog conversion for DSD files).
2) PCM Upsampling: PCM is upconverted to 16x PCM (705.6/768kHz) using one of the following filters:
a) Bit-Perfect: no digital filtering applied; 44.1–192kHz always used for 352.8–768kHz.
b) Bit-Perfect+: no digital filtering applied, sinc rolloff corrected.
c) Gibbs Transient Optimized: 44.1–96kHz.
d) Apodizing: 44.1–384kHz.
e) Transient Aligned: 44.1–384kHz.
3) DSD–Remastering: Incoming audio (except DSD512) is converted to either DSD512 or DSD1024, as selected, using the filter selected. Inputs other than USB are limited to maximum sample rates of 192kHz PCM and DSD64 via DoP. A fixed third-order analog filter operates at 80kHz with correction for DSD’s 6dB attentuation.
Below that little knob is a tiny three-way switch with a series of charming symbols representing the Pro iDSD’s three options of output circuit:
1) Solid-State: pure class-A J-FET topology
2) Tube: a totally separate, pure class-A circuit based on two GE5670 tubes
3) Tube+: reduces the tube circuit’s negative feedback to a minimum
I roll my eyes at any audio product with as long a list of features as this. But all of the Pro iDSD’s features seem useful and worth including in a serious digital converter that aspires to professional quality and long-term relevance.
To the right of the display is an equilateral triangle of headphone outputs: at top, a 6.3mm socket; at bottom left, a single-ended 3.5mm socket; and at bottom right, a balanced 2.5mm socket. Between the last two is another tiny, three-position switch for selecting the headphone gain: 0, 9, or 18dB.
The big knob at the right is the analog volume control, which can be set as fixed or variable with the screwdriver-slot rotary switch on the back. To the right of that is the infrared sensor for the remote control.
Inside iFi’s elegant packaging was a box containing the tiny remote handset, a USB cable, a 0.5m RCA interconnect, and a Bluetooth antenna. In a second box I found the LN-1540 iPower power supply (15V at 1.5A), which requires an IEC line cord and plugs into the Pro iDSD with its attached, 1m-long cord.
Whew! I just spent a thousand words just telling you about the Pro iDSD’s features and accessories. Now let’s see if all those fancy dee-luxe things made my systems sound better or worse than do my reference DACs: the HoloAudio Spring “Kitsuné Tuned Edition” Level 3, the Mytek Brooklyn and Manhattan II, and Schiit Audio’s Yggdrasil Analog 2.
Listening
As I did with iFi’s Pro iCAN, I compared all three of the Pro iDSD’s output modes, but consistently preferred the Tube+ mode; to my ears, a dollop of second-harmonic sauce stimulates my sensory neurons in a manner that lets my brain fill in the lost data necessary for me to enjoy richer instrumental textures and a more complete tonal-harmonic spectrum. To my mind, second-harmonic “distortion” (I call it “doubling”) lubricates the neurotransmission of complex sensory data, enhancing voice articulation and soundstage mapping.