Julie does it again!

Skinfit athlete Julie Dibens has just defended her Xterra World Championship for the second consecutive year - making it three years as the World Champion.

Read the race report here - courtesy of slowtwitch.com.

Congratulations Julie!

Skinfit dominates podium at Xterra US Nationals

Skinfit athlete Nico Lebrun won last months US Nationals by running down 3-time world champion Conrad "The Caveman" Stoltz.

Fellow Skinfit athletes Lesley Paterson & Christine Jeffrey put together solid performances to take 3rd & 9th respectively. Christine securing a a top 5 position in the overall points series in the process.

Next up is the World Championships in Maui, where Skinfit UK's Julie Dibens will be defending her world title.

We'll keep you posted on how all of Skinfits athletes perform.

Good luck to them all!

Stuart does Skinfit UK proud...

Skinfit UK Brand Ambassador Stuart Anderson recently competed at Ironman Wisconsin. After turning down a slot for Kona 2009, could Stuart qualify for Kona 2010....

My early decision to take a year out from Kona in 2009 wasn't taken lightly. When I qualified again this year in Lanzarote, turning down that golden ticket and all that it meant to me was the hardest race decision I've ever made. My friends all thought I was clinically insane... Tim and Dec my training buddies, who had targeted later races, thought I was nuts!! I had a plan that 2010 would be my special year and I was confident that with the right coaching and support from Richard Hobson, Mette (my girlfriend) and I could make it happen...

I arrived in Wisconsin and hooked up with Tri legend - Ken Glah. Ken had organised my accommodation and transfer. Ken now runs a Ironman specific travel company called Endurance Sports Travel. The following day we rode the course. It was every bit as hilly as I was led to believe, not on a Lanzarote scale, but tough enough to play to my strengths. Thank goodness I had selected the right gearing, I was running a 56/39 with an 11/26 on the back. There were lots of fast corners with intermittent steep sections. With the 56 I could make time up on the downhills, where other bikers would be using their brakes or free wheeling.

Come race day I was ready, I woke at 0430hrs for a 0700hrs start. Experience has taught me I need to eat at least two hours before a race in order for nature to take its course! The Ironman had truly rolled into town and nothing would stand in its way. I later found out that the previous day a fisherman had drowned in Lake Monona and they had been dredging all night looking for the body. Thankfully they had found the poor soul, but this wasn't good Karma.

I put my thoughts about this aside...but the water was so cloudy and murky that I found it difficult to think of any thing else, whilst treading water on the start. BOOM..... the cannon sounded and I was off. I had positioned myself on the pace line, a little optimistically in fairness, but I was used to a bit rough and tumble. I normally just put this down to racing. I don't believe its due to anyone being purposefully malicious. At about 800m into the swim I realised I'd gone marginally off course, the sun was in my eyes and I'd gone maybe 70m off course. I had basically been ploughing through other athletes but heading in the wrong direction!!

I quickly corrected this and continued to work hard to regain the distance I'd lost. I began to leave the pack and edge up to the athletes ahead. Either they were dying or I was so far off course that the normal guys I'd be up with were long gone!! No one passed me on the second 1900m loop...My Sailfish wetsuit felt great, super comfortable. I exited the water about three mins down of where I expected. In distance terms this is about 100-200 metres and this accounted for my poor sighting....Grrr! I later found out I was 293rd overall at this point with a time of 1.04:39.

Transition One - This is totally crazy, it must be the longest transition ever. After your encounter with wetsuit strippers, who make you lay on your back before they peel your suit off. Then you run from ground level up the helix of a multistory car park to the 4th floor, pick up your bag and change before running out to the car park to pick up your bike to descend down another helix.... all this took me 5.07. The fastest pro guys were 3.58. It has to be seen to be believed...

The bike was a 23km out and back from Madison with a 67km loop in the middle which was repeated twice. I liked this idea taking the race out on to quiet country roads so the main roads, in and out, of Madison weren't effected. For the first 90 mins of the bike I pushed really hard trying to make up for my lost time in the swim. From time to time I'd pick up someone who'd try to hold my wheel, but confidently I'd push on. After two hours I caught a group who were riding legally, but clearly rotating through and working together. I knew there were three hills coming up and I left my attack until then, leaving them in my wake. I needed to push and hold over 400 watts to break the group and this would come back to haunt me later.

A stronger Czech guy stayed with me but was later red carded for drafting. For the remainder of the race, I had caught two guys, one from Boulder called Shane and German guy called Stefan. Both were strong and we were riding the same pace. We had to keep out of each others draft zone as we were constantly shadowed by the race marshals. At around three hours I started to lose sight of them and they pulled away. My mega power intervals had pushed me over my red line and up came my breakfast... I eased off and left it 15 mins before I tried to take on some water. Thankfully the answer was yes, this gave me the chance to take on more Infinit energy and within minutes, I was back. I used only two bottles of concentrated Infinit on the bike and diluted this with water from my aero bottle. I reeled in other bikers passing the female Pro's who had started 10 min prior. I knew then that I was in the sharp end of the race and I was charged...I'd biked 5.05:01 averaging 35.5kmh

The second transition from bike to run was shorter and I tore through it, equaling or beating most of the Pro's in 2.06 mins

I stormed out of the Monona Exhibition Hall transition area hitting the tarmac hard. I knew I had a 3-hour marathon somewhere, the question was would I find it here in Wisconsin... The first part of the run took us into downtown Madison and I was able to settle into a relaxed pace. I felt good, hydrated with no stomach issues. I was taking a gel every 15 mins, chasing it with water. After the first 10km this changed.... the course became difficult to maintain a rhythm, it was up down, left, right, onto a sidewalk and then back onto the road and my pace began to wain... Note to self, always recce the run course too, this was simply bad admin on my part. I should have biked it before the race. It really is a crazy course... at one point we ran into the 100'000 seater 'Wisconsin Badgers' American football stadium, round the touch line and back out!!!

At the half way point Mike Reilly shouted over the speaker that I was the 5th amateur, third in my Age Group and that number one was just in front... this was like a red rag to a bull, I pushed on. Suddenly I saw a guy walking in front. He was the lead guy in my age... great I thought, one more to go. I could see him in front, Brian was his name. I was catching him each mile, but the second lap had become really congested.

At the aid stations it had become increasingly harder to be re-supplied with sponges and water. Each aid station was laid out in a different format and I found myself having to stop and often walk back to the water supplier, who had missed my shouts for water as I ran passed. This had began to annoy me as I knew I would have to burn the precious seconds that I had worked so hard for... Eventually I caught Brian and passed him decisively. I could hear his feet disappear, and knew he hadn't come with me. I was now leading my Age group and was third amateur overall.

The race was mine too lose.... and this became a real possibility. I had used GU gels for this race,which were not my usual choice and they were giving me gas!!! Not good... at this point I was concerned about having a 'You Tube Incident', so had to duck into a portaloo. Can you believe that the first two were both occupied. Typical ehh...I really didn't expect this, I even mindlessly started to queue. I frantically ran through the next aid station looking for the loo, and thank goodness found one....

I was almost disappointed having burnt all this time to find out it was just wind. Brian had re passed me and was now 200m up the road. I had just the up hill stretch home to catch him..... I had run out of road, despite upping my pace I wasn't able to bridge the gap. I was now surrounded by so many athletes on their first lap he was difficult to pick out ahead. I took solace that I was now finishing my marathon and that my race was almost over. I decided to enjoy it, ignoring the the younger age grouper who ran by me, Thorsten was his name. I celebrated with the crowd, high five-ing everyone and doing a 'Tim Don' aeroplane down the finishing flume... It felt just awesome!!!

3.16:28 not my fastest Ironman marathon, but it had put me 18th overall, 5th amateur and 2nd in my Age Group. I missed 1st by just 41 seconds...

Job done - Kona 2010 here I come - Hooray!!!!

You can follow Stuart on his road to Kona 2010 via his blog HERE

Mont-Blanc Epic

Following on from our last post - here is Paul Jones's report on his epic Trail Du Mont Blanc experience.

The time had come and our wait was over, we headed out to France on the 25th August to race around Mont-Blanc.

We arrive in the beautiful alpine town of Chamonix where our race would end sometime on Saturday 30th August. The town was buzzing with people, they really get behind this race. There were banners up everywhere and speakers all through the town playing interviews with the race favourites which were taking place in the expo. We collected our race packs soaked up the atmosphere and tried to relax before the race.

Race day had arrived, we caught the 8.00am bus to the start line in Courmayeur, yet another beautiful alpine town. We were being blessed with racing through some of the most beautiful mountains in Europe.

10.00am came and the gun went, 98km to go, we started with a very gentle jog up through the town, weaving through the narrow streets up towards the first big climb which would see us climb over 1100m in just 10 miles. The first 5 miles were steady and gradual, it wasn’t until we went off road did the incline turn vertical, we thought we had reached the top when we saw tents offering drinks but that was only the start of it.

We continued around the tent to and were confronted with the most savage up climb I’d ever seen, you could see the top in the distance and people sat at the side of the trails trying to catch there breath and rest their legs. We made it to the top in 4 hrs, 10 miles in 4 hrs really hit home as to how hard this race was going to be. Oh I forgot to mention the heat, it was 28-30 degrees, I have the dodgy tan lines to prove it. Any way we got to the top feeling tired but ok and decided not to stop but to power on so we followed a group of 5 others down the mountain in a cloud of dust as we ran down the narrow single track into the valley.

What an awesome experience, running down into the valley, weaving around rocks, running through mountain streams with the mountain disappearing into the background behind us. We make to the bottom were the track begins to flatten out and we continue onto the next check point without to much effort, stop for a quick drink and off we went.

The next section started off fairly lightly on some nice trails, and then in the distance we see runners heading up hill, hands on knees or with poles out. We knew we were in for a tough climb. Our run turned into a trudge as we started to ascend to the top of the next peak. 2 hours later we reach the summit and start another quick, technical decent, only this time the decent took it’s toll on my right hip as I started to get a sharp pain every time I put my foot down. We walked the next couple of miles hoping the pain would ease which it did and I was able to jog again.

The 3 climbs were long and tiresome, we was stopping longer at the feed stations both very tired and in pain, but the food station at Champex looked more like a scene from a war movie, there were bodies everywhere. I sat and tried to block out everything around me but I had one man shaking uncontrollably on one side of me and two more throwing up into buckets behind me, we quickly stood up put on my head light and thermal top and continued on.

The next section was to be our toughest test yet, we managed to get into a group of 10 runners which was good as it was pitch black and we were about to start our ascent to the top of Bovine. This ascent wasn’t just a walk but a climb which in parts would go on forever, well it seemed as though it did. We pass a spectator who said we were 1 mile from the next check point, not the news we wanted as we thought that we had cracked this climb. We make to Bovine and I am in need of painkillers as my hip has brought me to a hobble, but the doctor said I would have to make it to the next check point 3 miles away, this did not please me. Simon was also struggling at this point with some very bad chaffing, our injuries had brought us to a walk.

We set off in the dark to our next check point, only 3 miles I kept telling myself, 3 miles is nothing. Well those simple little 3 miles of down hill took us 2 hrs as every time I put weight through my right leg I would get a very sharp pain in my hip and this time it didn’t go away. We finally reach the check point and see the doctor, it’s not good news, my hip is very swollen and with only one more check point left which were two mountains away the doctor said it in my best interest to stop.

Simon also sought medical advice for his very bad chaffing. When he pulled down his shorts and showed the doctor, his face was a picture. I won’t go into detail here as it would make some people sick, but all I will say is that Simon couldn’t sit down properly or wipe his bottom for a few days after.

To say that we were both gutted would be an understatement, we had both prepared all year for this event, we couldn’t have been fitter but unfortunately my hip and Simon’s bottom stopped us this time. We have both said that we’ll be going back next year to conquer the CCC and the UTMB in 2011.

We would both like to thank Skinfit for the support they have given us, I would highly recommend the Skinfit range to any active person.

Here’s to 2010 and more adventures.

Ultra Running - How it started and The Highland Fling

Paul Jones & Simon McCollum are taking on the Trail Du Mont-Blanc Ultra Marathon with support from Skinfit UK.

Here is Paul's story on how they came about taking on this epic adventure.

This all started with a boring day in the office talking about former glories. I am a former International Decathlete and my running partner (Simon McCollum) is a former England Hockey player. We discussed our current state of fitness and decided that we needed a challenge. Simon had read an article on the Trail Du Mont-Blanc and said this race would be a good tick in the life box. I agreed without really knowing what the race involved, boy, did I get a shock when I found out it was a 98km race around Mont-Blanc.

We did some research into the event and made our application, only to find out that you can't just enter this race, you have to qualify, so we entered the Highland Fling as our qualifying race. This when we realised what a challenge this was going to be (we've never even run a marathon). We sat down a put together a training plan. We broke it up into 4 week blocks, 3 hard 1 easy, building up the mileage over the first 3 weeks before easing off in week 4. Each 4 week cycle would start at a higher weekly mileage until we were up to 70-80 miles on any given week and a peak of 100+. We used our commute to and from work to get the miles in as this was 10 miles each way then a long run at the weekend, we would also include trips over to Cannock Chase and Snowdonia to get used to off-road terrain and bigger hills.

During our first few months of training we thought it would be a good idea to use this opportunity to raise some money for charity. We chose the Livestrong foundation. We also approached Skinfit UK to see whether they would be interested in supporting us through our mission, happily they said yes.

Skinfit UK provided us with much of the kit we would need to tackle a mountain ultramarathon - the Scudo waterproof jacket, caldo gillet, vento gillet and base layers. The kit was amazing and met our needs perfectly as we'd previously been using kit which was too heavy, not easily packable and not made with mountain adventure in mind. I became a particular fan of my base layers and waterproof. The base layers were light-weight, designed with runners in mind and were very comfortable in both hot and cold conditions. My waterproof came in very handy in the hills of Snowdonia during the winter months, it's light, perfectly fitted and packs away into a small apple-sized ball.

The Highland Fling

Race day had arrived and I had not felt so nervous before a race. During my athletics career I stepped onto the line with confidence knowing that I had put the right amount and level of training in to do well but this was different - I had never gone this far before over mountain terrain. During our preparation we had done back to back runs of 25-30 miles, but had never gone over 50 in one go.

We decided to started to start at the back of the field and work our way through - as we were heading into the unknown. Our pace was an easy jog to begin with, passing quite a few people on the first road phase before heading off-road, we settled into an easy 8.30 min/mile pace cautious not to be tempted to go with some of the quicker starters. As we reached the first check-point at 19 miles we felt great, felt fresh and confident in having passed a lot of fellow competitors on the way. We took on fluid and food (rice pudding) and headed back out - but only 3 miles later Simon started to feel sick, his stomach was rock hard and he was finding it difficult to keep running. Simon was having a bad reaction to a carb bar he had taken on-board during our feed station. We walked for the next 2-3 miles while Simon recovered.

Simon started to feel better and we were back running and making up ground on those who had come passed us. The terrain changed from fire-track trail to rugged ankle-breaking off-road and with no option to run across - we were forced to walk again. Out the other end, we had gone past half-way and were closing in on the 30 mile marker. By this stage the hills were taking their toll on the quads, but we still felt good and kept a decent pace. The race was full of great people, very friendly, we chatted to a lot of them during the tough parts of the race - where us mere mortals had to walk.

The 40-50 mile stage was a particularly tough part - going through shin-deep mud fields and big 1:3 climbs. I went through a real bad patch, my legs felt like lead and the hills kept coming and coming, then we hit the forest and my mood changed. This part of the race was by far the best part for me, it was beautiful, pine track weaved through the tall trees, I hardly noticed the savage hills. This was short-lived as we came out of the trees onto a dull road and it began to rain, this time both me & Simon went through a bad patch and had to drag ourselves through the next couple of miles.

We checked our map and saw that we were only 5 miles from the finish - and with that news we man'd up and headed to the finish. In the distance. there was a florescent sign - it had to be the finish. It was a sign for the finish but the cruel organiser had put this with another half-mile to go - I could have hit someone. But only 10 minutes later we had achieved our qualification into Mont-Blanc by completing the Highland Fling in just over 10 and a half hours.

After a shower, a pizza and a pint we headed back to camp where we quickly passed out. The next morning was not a great one with my legs feeling as they had been run over by a bus and the knowledge that we would have to make the long drive back to Birmingham.

Bye for now, I'll let you know how we got on at Mont-Blanc.

Haile Gebreselassie the greatest

Skinfit UK Brand Ambassador Asker Jeukendrup recently spent some time in Ethiopia with the great distance runner, Haile Gebreselaisse. Here is Asker's account of his visit to Addis Ababa.

As an exercise physiologist / sports and exercise nutritionist I had opportunity to work with Haile Gebreselassie, the greatest distance runner of all times. Over the years I have provided nutrition advice to a number of elite athletes, in various sports, who achieved incredible things, but Haile has always been one of my favourite athletes. With 27 world records, and numerous Gold medals in Olympic Games and World Championships it is no surprise that they call him "the Greatest", "the Emperor".

I flew into Addis Ababa in Ethiopia for a week to do a number of tests with Haile, the goal of which was to help him to break his own world record for the marathon and to get him ready for the London 2012 games (when he will be 38 years old). I had met Haile several times in the past, in Portugal when he was trying to break the half marathon world record, in Beijing at the Olympic Games and at his house in Addis Ababa and he is without doubt one of the most impressive athletes I have ever come across. Haile is not only an amazing athlete, he is also an amazing businessman and person. Always on the phone, employing over 500 people and running a successful business in between two training sessions a day. Clearly he is hardly an average athlete. Although he is extremely busy, he still has time to say hi to everyone on the streets of Addis and is always smiling. He is the nation's big hero and he makes so many people happy by just saying hi or shaking their hands. Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world and many live in the streets hoping to find a way to make a bit of money to buy the food for that day. When Haile drives past in his silver Mercedes, which he won when he became world champion in Stuttgart in 1993, the lively Addis Ababa comes to a standstill, everyone looks up in admiration.

Haile owns a large office building in Bole near the airport in Addis where he runs a gym on the ground floor. You will find a coffee shop / restaurant on the first floor and Haile's office on the 8th. In the afternoon when he goes for his second training session of the day you can often find him in that gym. I carried the equipment to measure oxygen uptake and carbohydrate and fat utilization with me in the plane and I set up a lab in Haile's gym. I converted part of the gym into a laboratory to perform the fanciest exercise physiology studies ever performed on Ethiopian soil.

The testing was most impressive, not because of the fancy equipment I brought (although that attracted a lot of attention too) because of the speed and ease that Haile ran on the treadmill. Like a metronome, hardly touching the treadmill, he ran 24 km in 90 min, whilst I was doing all of these measurements. In fact he finished the test at 22 kph after having done a 2 hour hard run session that morning! For obvious reasons I can't share his results but believe me they were impressive. Haile's next goal will be the marathon of Berlin on September 20.

More Philip Graves...

Check out this great interview with good friend of Skinfit UK, Philip Graves, Ironman's youngest-ever winner: http://www.imtalk.me/Podcast.html