Expert Advice

If you're training for an event, here are some tips to help you boost your performance with energy gels.   Each gel contain around 25g of carbohydrates in the form of simple sugars, an accessible energy source for your body to process. One gel gives you a boost for about 45 minutes of running but taking two at a time doesn’t mean you’ll have 90 minutes of running, instead you’re likely to crash as your body overloads trying to process the sugar. When should you use Energy Gels? The best time...

Top Nutrition Tips for Eating in the Great Outdoors It’s no use just grabbing some energy bars and a bottle of water. Your nutrition is important so here are a few tips before you next head outdoors.  Plan Ahead Remember that your food and water requirements will be higher than usual so pay attention to what you pack. Things to consider include: The length of the trip What foods and beverages you'll carry How you'll eat and drink What food-related tools/utensils you'll need The potential wei...

To be the best at running long distances, you need to focus on running long distances.  Many endurance programs focus on the modality for their race be it running, swimming, cycling or all of the above. And to make sure it’s working, we do it until it burns and we can’t walk come the weekend.  But what if I told you that you could run faster and further by actually reducing the amount of time spent on the road, trail, or in the pool? First, endurance sports are essentially body-weight movemen...

A multi-stage race requires a significant amount of preparation and training to ensure that you have the best chance of completing the 250km distance and, dare I say it, to ‘enjoy’ the physicality of these tough races!  The training is nothing to be afraid of, however, and a methodical and disciplined approach will be sufficient to get the majority of us over the finish line.  The Running Plan has put a series of training plans in place exclusively tailored for 4 Deserts and RacingThePlanet r...

FEATURED PRODUCT: Granger’s Down Cleaner   PROPER CLEANING INSTRUCTIONS FOR DOWN GARMENTS: Wash in Granger’s Down Cleaner. Do not use typical liquid laundry detergent on Gore-Tex fabric. It may leave a residue (such as fabric softeners, fragrance, color brighteners) which could clog the pores of the Gore-Tex. We recommend using warm water for wash and rinse. Do not use all hot or all cold water. It is extremely important to rinse the down very well. We recommend two rinse cycles. For spot cle...

By Sam Healey At every RacingThePlanet event each competitor must bring two lights as part of their mandatory kit. The primary light source must be a headlamp, but the secondary can be a torch. With so many headlamps on the market, what are the most important factors to consider for a multi-day stage race? When comparing headlamps generically against each other rather than for a particular activity, the main points of difference are: Brightness Unit of measurement is reported in lumens; ...

  ...apart from the water that is. According to the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA), in conjunction with Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC), last year in the USA alone 8.75 billion gallons (33 billion litres) of bottled water were bought, and the vast majority of that was sold in single-use plastic bottles. If the average size of a bottle is 1 litre, then we could be looking at 30 billion plastic bottles needing to be disposed of. Extrapolate that statistic across the glob...

The average person will take 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day. Over a lifetime this stretches out to 185,000 kilometres (115,000 miles). This is enough steps to walk the circumference of the Earth four times over. Given the fact that the average person walks ill-equipped with the right footwear this can be a daunting statistic. Your choice of running shoes can make the difference between having a good or bad experience, running in comfort or in pain, and, most importantly, staving off injury. Poor...

Not all sleeping bags are created equal. And, not all humans will be comfortable or warm in the same sleeping bag either. To understand how to best sell a sleeping bag to your customer, it helps to know how a bag is assembled—the anatomy lesson of the sleeping bag, if you will. Understanding insulations It is the insulation in the bag, combined with the construction method, which provides the air-space or loft necessary to minimize or slow the heat loss from your body as it sleeps. Great ...

By Eric LaHaie Choosing a Race Pack: Many endurance events require you to carry all your gear and food for multiple days, so finding a backpack / rucksack that works for you is of utmost importance. Weight, comfort, and accessibility are all key factors, and a 25 to 30 litre technical pack is usually most suitable, whether you are a small-framed 150cm (4’11”), or a 200cm (6’7”) goliath. Weight: There are two options to consider first. Do you want a more durable backpack that has some suppor...

by Alasdair Morrison The weary runner comes into a checkpoint (in the Sahara or the Gobi or the Atacama desert), fills his water bottles, has a quick snack, tends his blisters and asks the eternal question: “how far is the next checkpoint?” The checkpoint volunteers, well-briefed as always, provide the answer. Hours later, the even wearier runner staggers across the finish line for the day. “That last section was the longest 12 kilometres I’ve ever run,” he says, “my GPS made it at least 13...

The most important factor when buying a pair of sunglasses is to ensure they offer full protection from both UVA and UVB radiation. If you are going to be wearing sunglasses for long periods of time whilst running or walking and you are working up a sweat, then you also need to consider comfort, fit, anti-fogging and lens tint. Specialist running glasses now feature non-slip nose pads, super-lightweight adjustable frames, interchangeable lenses and careful design to ensure ventilation and pre...