Photo by Prabhakar Street

There has been plenty of chatter in the past year or two about “the best ultra shoe,” minimalist running shoes for ultras, barefoot running and the like.

The Perfect Ultra/ Multiday Shoe? (& Multiday News) Multidays.com - Multiday and Ultrarunning News

The second generation industry-unique strapless optical heart rate monitoring technology from Impact Sports Technologies (http://www.impactsports.com) is revolutionizing the use of personal heart rate monitoring and is expanding it into new markets beyond pure health and fitness.

Impact Sports Technologies revolutionary new strapless heart rate monitor is simply worn on the forearm. Users put it on, turn it on, and immediately see their heart rate.

The ePulse2 features:

- A streamlined look and controls.
- An internal rechargeable battery.
- An industry-first full color, Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) graphical display that is sunlight readable and is self-illuminating for indoor or nighttime use.

The ePulse2 accurately gathers and displays heart rate and fitness data while being conveniently worn on the forearm or even on the wrist for many activities, permitting full mobility of the hands.

For the first time, runners, walkers, yoga participants, cyclists, spinners, tennis players and individuals just trying to count calories have a sensible means to monitor and receive instant feedback on fitness activities based on their heart rate.

Impact Sports Technologies has taken the lead in barrier-breaking continuous optical heart rate monitoring technology that has multiple market applications beyond fitness because it does not require a chest belt or any other action such as placing a finger on a sensor pad to receive a snapshot of heart rate.

The proprietary technology is being used by EA Sports in its Active 2 and Active 2 NFL Training Camp games.

Additional applications for the technology are also being developed for elderly monitoring, rehabilitation, and other special medical uses.

“The convenience and accuracy of our proprietary motion resistant optical heart rate monitoring technology has expanded its uses into gaming, personal monitoring and research fields by affording the benefits of accurate, continuous heart rate monitoring to a broader spectrum of users beyond those who exercise from home or at the gym and is now moving us into diverse worldwide markets for our technology,” said Don Brady, Impact Sports’ president and CEO.

The ePulse sells for $149.95 and is available through major Internet retailers and many retail sporting goods stores nationwide (see http://www.impactsports.com).

Heart Rate Monitors – The New ePulse2 Armband Monitor Multidays.com - Multiday and Ultrarunning News

Flyweight Packing – Ion 20 and Escalada packs from The North Face

No longer do athletes stick rigidly to one discipline. Increasingly versatile sportsmen and women are switching from one fast moving activity to another – and expecting their equipment to do the same. Enter two new packs from The North Face which do just that – the Ion 20 and Escalada.

Perfect for running and biking, the Ion 20 is a very lightweight hydration compatible pack with an advanced EXO-LITE suspension system, as flexible and supportive as it is load bearing. The pack has stretch woven water bottle pockets and a padded hydration reservoir sleeve. The airmesh waistbelt sports a food pocket large enough for energy bars and combines with three point adjustment and a tuck away facility giving the user versatility whatever the activity. For fit and comfort, the Ion 20 features a dual-density airmesh shoulder harness with sliding, adjustable sternum strap. The specialised back panel disperses fluid volume, helping to eliminate discomfort caused when a full reservoir localises pressure and distorts the back panel.

The new Escalada is another pack capable of embracing multiple disciplines such as summer or winter days out on the hill, whether you are walking, climbing or enjoying a spot of Via Ferrata. Boasting an advanced X-Vent suspension system which gives a balance of rigidity and breathability, a mesh trampoline with anti-bulge backpanel ensures that the weight and discomfort of even the most bulky load is lifted off the athlete’s back. With a volume of 21 litres, the Escalada makes it easy to haul a load across multiple disciplines, offering an insulated hydration compartment, trekking pole/ice axe lash points and tool accessory loops, sliding sternum strap, removable/adjustable hipbelt and finally a tricot lined electronic accessories point for stashing your mobile or GPS.

Here’s a link to North face’s backpack page

Backpacks/Daypacks Multidays.com - Multiday and Ultrarunning News

Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 19:05:52 EDT
From: Erskien Lenier
Subject: Laz: What did you typically carry on your multiday runs?

In a message dated 10/25/2007 9:49:48 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
LISTSERV@LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU writes:

> From: jetfuelburner@sbcglobal.net
>
> I have decided that I am going to do a multi day road adventure to see what they are like… I would like to ask those who have run with jogging/running strollers over long multi day events to let me know which strollers have been a success and which have not….

hello jetfuelburner,

I want to encourage you to do the run you are planning. Having done a lot of multi-day road stuff, up to two weeks at a time, I can tell you they are a lot of fun.

However, I think the stroller would be a mistake. No matter how well the stroller works out, it would still be a pain in the butt to drag it along day after day. I know, from experience, that you can easily carry everything you need in a fanny pack. I started to say a small fanny pack, but I’ve seen some postage stamp sized packs, and you need a little more than that.
When you are self-supported on the road, anything you carry that is not vitally necessary is a double penalty. First, you have to tote it all the way. Second, you have to deal with it every day. One penalty of carrying excess stuff is obvious – the weight, and the space it occupies. Less obvious is the nuisance of unpacking and repacking crap you aren’t using… every day.
You wont use as much stuff as you think. After you spend the whole day running, and then do all the required foot travel to feed & restock supplies, etc, there isn’t going to be but just enough time left to rest.
In my experience, watching 30 minutes or an hour of TV before going to sleep is about the most non-required-to-run time you will get (at least if you plan to cover any ground) and some days you wont even get adequate time to sleep, since the length of each days run depends a lot on where the next place is to overnight.

You can opt to spend some nights alongside the road (I recommend cemeteries or church lawns), but you will find that life without bathrooms & showers is not near as much fun.

Over the years I have pretty well figured out what I require and what I don’t. I consider it a success to travel for a week or more carrying about 5 pounds of stuff, and finishing without any item in my pack that I did not use, and not ever needing anything I did not have.
Although I have not been past a couple of weeks, I believe that I could go indefinitely with the supplies I carry.

If you take a stroller full of stuff, you will spend your trip acting as a slave to all the un-necessary material, and it is supposed to be a vacation for you, not for your running gear.

laz

Sounds like you got it pretty down to an art and science. Tell us what the typical contents of your running pack was that added up to approx. 5 lbs?

I and I’ll bet many others would like to “Run in your Foot Steps” )

Barefoot – E in Corona, CA

Multiday Road Runs – What To Take Multidays.com - Multiday and Ultrarunning News

“The authors conclude that running injury rates are greatest in users of the most expensive shoes because advertising has deceived these users into believing that the shoes provide a superior level of safety thereby inducing an attenuation of impact moderating behavior, increasing impact and injury.”

Read the whole article at Quickswoods.com

Also for more information see Runningbarefoot.org

Also checkout Barefoot Ted’s Adventures

and what people are talking about on the Ultralist, Vibram Five Finger Shoes

Essay on Athletic Footware and Running Injuries Multidays.com - Multiday and Ultrarunning News