Because of COVID 19, many events are being cancelled. Than of course the new sanitary pass, the Vaccine-Pass will enter the picture, so when races are back, they will be hardly accessible.
Europe is not one nation like the US. Every country have different protocols. One accepts salivary and anti-genique tests, others only accept PCR tests. Some countries do not let you to test and do anything unless triple vaccinated. Some countries need only 2 doses to have a valid certificate. Some countries, no matter what you do, will make you stay in quarantine for 5 to 14 days. Some don’t let you have fuel and access to shops without papers. Some doesn’t give a damn…
Just to say, even if international racing would be an option, accessing those places is nearly impossible in this totally headless, brainless, senseless madness…
Either ways, I am more motivated to run, than ever. I started covering a bit more distance and you know, got into some realizations, that I have been knowing for decades of cours. Nothing new in running !
One is to avoid concrete at all costs. Second is that road running shoes are way more comfortable than trail running shoes and trail running can be done in road shoes very well. Real, even if it was light, trail running shoes are necessary only for mountain trails. At high elevations, or when elevation gain and loss are significant and steep, if it was snowy.
I find that if the descent and uphill portions were relatively short and that steep, there is no scrambling involved of course, road running shoes can be worn and they are epicly way better than their trail running counterparts.
The goals at this moment are not clear. I enjoy running a lot and covering interesting distances every day. I will try to elevate my mileage and keep it high if possible.
I will inject of course some track high intensity drills into the picture to keep those special fibres engaged time to time. However I find it very tiring to do so. I did 10 x 400 and 8 x 200 classic easy session. 1:17s for the 400 and 36s for the 200m and I was under the weather for 2days after each seance. However after those two days, I am back to normal.
With this higher mileage however, speeds like 4:15 to 4:00 pace feels like nothing. Super easy. I am happy about this. I am a believer in aerobic base. The more you can cover aerobically, the more you can do and the easier it will be “anaerobically”.
The 10k prep is over, I felt the form, but there are no races to test. I will not try to hold on though. If there is a race and we will be allowed to run, I will do it.
Boundless Runner 
It is a crazy time for sure, Europe is all over the place, really showing how weak leadership is and how stupid we are for drinking the cool aid and electing people like this ! I incline to agree with you regarding comfort of road vs trail shoes. Where I run in Ireland (east county Clare) there is mixed trail terrain – you may remember from your mountain running times here š – lots of open mountain with soft boggy tracks, logging trails (packed gravel) so while I have done long runs with my Altra Torin’s on less technical stuff, some traction is required – specifically on technical descents especially in wet weather – I also have Inov-8 mudclaws (8mm lugs) which I love for wet, muddy open mountain stuff but they have no cushion and do not do for longer stuff as my heels are always trashed after. I am about to try out La Sportiva Akasha, some cushion, low drop and supposedly decent grip for longer stuff. Keep up the great training!
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Hi Declan. Yeah, Ireland is for sure different. It is very often, if not always, wet and/or humid.
That time, when I was there, trail running was not really up yet, in case of shoes. Inov 8 had one model, the MudRoc 290, Altra was only in the making, La Sportiva had I think the CrossLite and the Raptor, Salomon had the Speedcross 1 and the Xa Pro.
However they all were kind of crappy shoes. TNF had the best line up and Saucony had the Xodus 1 and 2 what were really runnable trail shoes.
I remember when the X-Talon 212 came out. I threw everything away and ran only in that even the 80k Mourne Ultra and the Wicklow Way Ultra and all shorter events too. I used the Newtons for the Dublin Marathon and the Connemarathon. Good memories from Ireland. Gonna turn on some Luke Kelly right away…
I absolutely hate the Akasha. I think about it and I twist an ankle already.
I’d rather recommend to try on the Kaptiva / Karacal / Jackal. This is the order from lighter to heavier. However in case of cushioning, they are all crappy. They are fantastic shoes for tough mountain races, sky running, scrambling and so. However, for running really, like aerobically covering longer distances, they are not good at all. Same true for Scott, Scarpa, Salewa, VJ Sports, IceBug, Inov-8 shoes too.
The new Adidas line is just Epic. The Terrex Speed Ultra 240 is an awesome shoe and many states that the best trail running shoe ever created ! It does anything and it is tough too. For Fell type of terrain there is the 225SG and the 190.
The Hoka Zinal also shines a lot and it is a lot different than the other crappy Hoka shoes. I absolutely dislike the Speedgoat, the Challenger and the Torrent.
I also used the Mudclaw 300 like you, I ran the Templiers Endurance 110 in them. On fells the G260 Mudclaw could be an epic one. I haven’t ran in INOVs for ages…
Good luck on finding the perfect one. Keep up the running !
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