I saw some articles in the UK press yesterday that questioned whether employees should receive extra pay for working on February 29 on the grounds that it was an extra day they were not normally expected to work. Of course individual employees argued they should, while most employers took the opposing view. However, the National Trust an organization that preserves and protests historic homes, monuments and open spaces, was reported to be giving their staff the day off as paid leave, as part of an initiative called Green Leap Day.

The Green Leap Day initiative has been started so workers can use the extra 24 hours for improving the environment by carrying out tasks like changing their lighting to energy efficient bulbs, creating a compost heap or arranging recycling facilities.

What have you done to improve your environment today and what about those of us on training schedules for up coming races? Should today been seen an extra day of running that may possibly make the difference between achieving a PB or not, or is it an opportunity extra day of rest and recovery? I guess that might depend on whether you are a glass half empty or glass half full type of person!

Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire

Reggie Leach

On this mornings frosty run a little fire might have been nice!

How many times have you spotted an empty Gu packet or energy bar wrapper discarded on a trail? I recently spotted a press release about a new scheme that recycles this type of trash.

CLIF BAR and TerraCycle have launched a program designed to reduce the amount of energy bar wrappers going into landfills, and educate people about the benefits of reusing waste materials. Together the companies have created the Wrapper Brigade, which will donate 2 cents to charity for every used wrapper collected by individuals and organizations.The collected wrappers will be fused and woven into a strong material, which will then be used to make backpacks, gym totes and other products. These items are expected to be available at major retailers by early next year.

CLIF BAR is sponsoring the program and TerraCycle is providing product collection and reuse expertise. Both partners recognize that millions of energy bar wrappers are discarded each year. Together they want to help make reuse rather than disposal the norm for used wrappers.

Anyone can sign up for the Wrapper Brigade program by visiting www.terracycle.net/brigades. There is absolutely no cost to participate. Within one to two weeks after signing up, you receive four collection bags that hold 200 energy bar wrappers each. You simply mail the collection bags back to TerraCycle and designate the charity you want to support with your wrapper donation. All shipping fees are covered by the program to encourage people to collect as many wrappers as possible.

“We’re very excited to take our sustainability efforts to a new level with the Wrapper Brigade program,” said Carly Lutz, CLIF BAR brand manager. “From using organic ingredients in our bars to selling them in recycled paperboard caddies on store shelves, we are mindful of the importance of trying to reduce our footprint on the planet. Just like our consumers, we’re passionate about the outdoors and want to protect and preserve the places we play.”

The program is part of TerraCycle’s Sponsored Waste movement in which socially and environmentally responsible companies and brands provide funding for TerraCycle to collect and reuse their packaging, including bottles, yogurt containers, drink pouches and now bar wrappers.

200 energy bar wrappers - that is an awful lot, I wonder how many miles it equates to? I’m not a huge fan of Clif Bars as the fibre in them seems to send me off onto the side trails much too frequently. I seem to deal better with Larbars and my local grocery store has recently had Kashi GoLean bars on sale, so I gave them a try with good results. Sorry Mayor, I know this processed stuff makes you squirm!

A German court recently passed a landmark ruling restricting the right of the security services to spy on the computers of suspected criminal and terrorists. German society is nervous about these things because of the history of the former East German Stasi and the Nazi era Gestapo. Questions over the monitoring of citizens is often a topic of debate in Europewhere the degree of perceived state intrusion varies considerably. The United Kingdom security services are said to use some of the most advanced systems in the world to monitor criminal activity and while it is said that there are strict laws to prevent misuse, there will always be a question mark over how easily systems intended for one purpose can ‘evolve’ into being used for something else. It is perhaps a sad reflection of modern times that society needs to have these measures operating to keep us safe. What has this go to do with running - absolutely nothing.

The use of chip timing is almost universally expected at well organized races, except many of the off road ultra distance events. The small number of entrants and possibly access problems to position timing mats make use of the technology impractical . Yet timing systems have significantly improved the recording and subsequent publication of results, so much so that races that don’t use them often find their award ceremony is devoid of recipients because they’ve all gone home by the time the results are announced! At long distance events the significance of timing systems has, in my opinion, less to do with timing and more as a means to bring the ‘thrill of the chase’ to the attention of fiends and family back home. If you hang around fellow runners that run ultras, you’ll know what I mean. A role of a runner’s crew is to handle calls from friends asking for progress reports. It isn’t a very precise science as cellphone coverage is often lacking in remote regions but having a means to get word home does help bring some of the excitement into the lives of those not taking part. A few of the more established off road ultras provide an on-line results service which is often nothing more than an excel spreadsheet updated regularly with split times. The Western States 100 uses a map to display a runner’s estimated position based upon their last known pace and adds predicted times to the next check and/or finish line. Two years ago a friend ran this race and I ‘wasted’ nearly an entire day monitoring his progress. He ultimately finished within the cutoff time but his estimated pace suggested it was going to a close thing and that even caused me to get up in the night to check the latest news. And he thought running it was tough!

The technology exists where an individual runner could be monitored much more accurately, but cost is probably a prohibitive factor as to why it isn’t used. Maybe one day that will become less of an obstacle, then ultra races would  truly open up to a wider audience. But image watching from the comfort of home as your runner appears to get lost and deviates well off course, or upon finishing a race you are remined by an official of the number of times you had taken bathroom breaks because they’d been watching each time you took a side trail!

Maybe as in other walks of life, too much surveillance isn’t always a good thing?

Had a nice easy bimble this morning and we managed to complete our early morning run without using headlamps - spring is coming! Of course the remnants of last weeks snow fall may have helped smooth the surface and provide a crisp easy surface to run on. Although the odd yelp from behind indicated that now and again someone broke through the surface to discover water!

My real heavy mileage was today racked up on the computer in the form of flight bookings to three of the Slam races. Vermont will just be a ’quick’ car ride north, but the others require alternative forms of transport. So, six plane tickets later (Guth is an integral part of the team), my credit card took had taken quite a beating. Maybe I could have waited a bit longer before booking but prices looked like they were creeping up; beside it is done now and all I need to worry about is paying off the damn statement!

Some of my running friends are starting to talk about fast pack adventures later this year, which are best descirbed as minimalist self-sufficient outings lasting at least two days at a pace more akin to running than hiking. If you have never tried it, they can be great fun. The greatest test comes from equipping yourself with the least weight possible while at the same time ensuring you can stay protected from the elements, refueled and of course hydrated. Attitudes about natural water sources  when hiking seem to vary considerably, in the past I’ve hiked with people who just seem to know where to get water from and never suffer any ill consequences, to others who are clearly terrified at the prospect of ingesting some vile bacteria even after careful filtration. Personally, I prefer to carry a filter as I find the taste residue from tablets unpleasant. The down side is weight and the space the device takes up in my backpack. A company called Aqamira have just released an ultralight water filter called Frontier Pro. The neat thing is that the filter is also a drinking value that fits onto collapsable water containers or hydration packs. The company web site says:

The Frontier Pro filter will connect directly to any water bottle with a 28mm opening such as a Platypus® or standard spring water bottle. Using the tube connection feature you can connect to the drink tube of your hydration system, or drink from any open container or water source. Since you drink directly from the unit there is no chance of confusing inlet and outlet tubes resulting in possible cross contamination.

Without trying it, I can’t say if the thing is as good as it is made out to be. But at only $20, it looks to be certainly worth trying.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost

Monday is generally a rest day. Sometimes I feel like I need the break but today the weather looks perfect to be out and on days like this I always regret not having running stuff to use at lunch time.

Ruin and recovery are both from within. - Epictetus

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.