Just got back from my last run of 2008, so can put the year to rest now.
Have been pretty sick the past week, so was good therapy looking back through my log over the year and totalling things up. I was very pleased with 2008 training and races.
2008 Training totals...
Total # of hours = 624 hrs & 33 minutes of running
Average per day = 1 hr and 42 mins of running
Total # of runs = 553
~ all totals are my highest ever.
Running Steak = Christmas Day 2008 marked my 19 consecutive year of running every day without taking a day off (6,946 days in a row as of today).
Looking forward to 2009, with key races at this point being Rock and Ice Ultra and Haliburton 100miler.
Happy New Year Everyone!
Wow! That's a pretty amazing year of running. Good luck to you in 2009. I may come watch the Haliburton 100miler
ReplyDeleteway to go on a great year of training. and 19 years! that's pretty impressive.
ReplyDeletefor the pulk i would highly reccomend some kind of runners on the bottom to reduce drag. i have a pair of short cross country skis on mine and dogsled runners should work very well also. the difference once i put the skis on was HUGE.
before i put the skis on my sled i used a double PVC pole system with the poles crossed between me and the sled. the crossing of the poles adds the stability against flipping and lateral movement that you're looking for. once i put the skis on the sled though it slid so much more smoothly that it caused the poles to push forward and "shake" back and forth on my hips. to eliminate this i went with a single pole attached at the center of my back and the center of the sled. PVC still worked well for this because the flexibility of it absorbed the "shake" so that it felt very smooth around my waist. with the single pole though i had much less control of the sled and it was prone to tipping in deep snow or rutted trails. from that i came up with my current system which consists of two ski poles which are clamped together to create a single pole but each pole is bent (using a conduit bender that an electrician uses) about two thirds of the way down the pole from my back so that each pole attaches on the corner of the sled. this way i get the stability (more or less) of a double pole system with just one pole attached to my back. to give the pole the flex that it needs to absorb the shaking i have attached about 12 inches of silicone hose (flexible down to about 60 below zero - most other hosing will simply freeze in the cold and offer no flex) at the top of the poles where they attach to the center of my back. this hose is flexible enough that my sled can flip on me if I take it one VERY uneven trail but during 150 miles on the Iditarod Trail last year this happened exactly one time.
start with the skis or dogsled runners though and go from there. i can't stress enough how much easier it is to pull with the skis on the bottom. i would also try to put some kind of spacer between the bottom of the sled and the tops of the skis/runners (i simply use some 1" thick pieces of wood). this way you have a little clearance so even in a bit of loose snow the skis are the only thing creating friction.
here's a link to a blog post i did about my sled last year with pictures:
http://akrunning.blogspot.com/2008/01/anatomy-of-sled.html
the only change i made since that post was the silicone tubing and i attached it directly to the center of my back rather than at the sides like the plastic tubing in the pictures. hope this helps a bit.
Geoff,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for replying to all my questions on Sara's blog. This is exactly the kind of info I was looking for. Your photos and description will help a ton.
I will definitely try the runners and twin-single pole set up you used, but was wondering if PVC might work as well as the ski poles...Just thinking that for transporting, it might be easier to have it in two pieces but connect it when I get there.
Anyhow, lots of great ideas. Thanks so much again.
All the best,
Derrick
pvc will work but i started to get concerned about the durability over the long haul (in the cold) of pvc. one advantage of pvc is that it has all the flex that you will want so you don't need to mess around with adding any flex as i have with the ski poles. my pvc setup lasted for well over 300 miles of training/racing so the durability is likely not an issue at all... probably just me being paranoid.
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