La Sportiva Running Team : Features

Current Feature

If "You are what you eat", then do you also "Run what you eat?" We don't know, but we do know everything from our general health to not bonking during a race is nutritionally influenced. So we asked three excellent runners with very different backgrounds to share what they do.

Lisa Goldsmith is known for her 10 km to ½ Marathon racing, Charles Corfield for his ultrarunning, and Matt Carpenter succeeds at all distances.

"Once in a while I throw in some veggies. Pretty simple stuff. Variety to me means perhaps a different shaped pasta …"

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Past Features

Karl Meltzer's Appalachian Trail Speed Record Attempt

On August 5, Karl Meltzer will attempt to break the venerable Appalachian Trail speed record. He'll have to average 45 miles per day, for 47 straight days. This attempt is highly notable because:

The Trail itself is notable - 2,175 miles!
The AT Record is not soft - its proud
Karl is the fastest ultrarunner to ever try a multi-day record
His attempt will be tracked real-time via GPS

Full details are on our AT Record Webpage.

Can Karl do it? We asked him - and a few others - and he answered with his typical candor Read more ...

THE ONLY WAY IS UP

By Fredrik Ölmqvist

Uphill Running is on the rise in Norway!

From five races six years ago there are now more than 60 uphill races taking place in Norway in 2008. Companies race each other, kids race each other, everybody races each other - and always, but always, to the top. Trail writer Fredrik Ölmqvist from neighboring - and much flatter - Sweden is naturally jealous of the Norwegian mountain running scene.

Photo Anne Jenny Dvergesdal.

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Traction Devices for Winter Trail Running

By Bill Wright

In an effort to diminish my holiday Buddha belly, I've forced myself up South Boulder Peak's 2,700 foot climb six times in the previous eleven days... the descents are kamikaze affairs, as winter turns the trail into a treacherous experience that can be more like a mountaineering outing than a trail run on the ascent, and an Olympic Downhill on the descent (at least in my fantasies). There can be thigh-deep snow, hard wind pack, clear water ice, and hard boot-packed snow over various sections. Vanilla running shoes would have been treacherous. Full boots and crampons would be too heavy to actually run; if you are running, you want to be in running shoes. So let's review the traction options for running shoes in winter conditions...

Photo courtesy Phil Mislinski, PMImage.com.

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A Kingshouse Wobble

Our correspondent from Britain gives his account of a solo 52 mile, 27,700 feet of ascent circuit of Glencoe and Glen Etive (a "Wobble"?) starting from the Kingshouse Hotel, Lakes District, England. 12-13 May 2006.
By John Fleetwood

A circuit of Glencoe and Glen Etive's hills had long appealed and at last I seemed to have found the line that I was looking for - a true round of high ridges with no out and backs, no contrived peak bagging and including some of the best scrambling in Britain. It had to be done, so despite still feeling somewhat weary after a winter of strenuous outings, I set forth. Leaving Kendal after work at 6.30 on a Friday evening it all seemed a bit of a rush and I was tired. Perhaps thats why I forgot my torch....

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Tour du Mont Blanc

Mont Blanc is justly famous. Not only is it the highest mountain in the Alps, at 15,771', but enormous glaciers slice down almost to the valley floors on all sides, carving extremely steep mountain faces and ridges; images that are iconic throughout the world. The vertical relief is tremendous; while sipping cappuccino or nibbling on escargot in a top-notch sidewalk café, the snowy summits loom 12,000' straight overhead...

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Sky Running in the Italian Dolomites

The summer season in the Fiemme and Fassa Valleys in Trentino (the Dolomites of Italy) is already in full swing: the sun is beginning to really warm up, the sky is a beautiful cobalt blue and the sky runners are beginning to speed up their training in preparation of the forthcoming competitions. First lets take a look at what Sky Running really is...

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PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ (RACE)

We all like to race. And we all know directing a race is a ton of work. Well, just what does it take to create, from scratch, a quality mountain race?

Let's ask Chris Lundy, who on July 15 of this year, will be say "GO!" at the inaugural Mt Tam Trophy Race, in Marin County, California.

"The impetus came a year and a half ago in Wellington, New Zealand. I was down there for the World Trophy Race, and was told I was the first Californian ever to be on our national team. That's odd I thought ... there so many great runners here ...so many great trails ... we need a race!"

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PIKES PEAK


	The "Gang of Four" after the Pikes Peak Marathon.

This is the Big One. Run 7,750 feet uphill, on mostly one single-track trail, toping out at 14,050 feet. That's far higher than any other race in the world. Then (for many), turn around and run back down again.

There are longer races, and maybe more competitive and more prestigious, but there is only one Pikes Peak. It's unique.

"A race isn't about having fun. It is about pushing your limits. If that isn't painful, then you aren't pushing your limits. As Matt Carpenter says, "When it hurts, go faster." You should finish these races completely spent and in need of medical attention. You should be carted away in an ambulance with an IV in your arm. If you want to just run up Pikes Peak with a smile on your face, then do it with a bunch of friends and not in the middle of crowd of strangers. - Bill Wright

"Had fun destroying more brain cells. I ran alone the whole race and was cheered on by wildflowers which began talking to me at around 11,000 ft." - Bill Raitter



	Running the W's on the way to 2nd place in 2004

June 2006: Barr Trail Mountain Race

Many experienced mountain runners consider the Barr Trail Mountain Race the best race they have ever done. That's saying a lot. But why?

"The BTMR is not one of those "portion of proceeds" gimmick races! Instead ALL of the race entry fees (yes, 100%) are donated to area non-profit/volunteer organizations and/or community projects!"

- race website

"Turns out I had run the last 2 miles with my toe broken. I thought, "I'm not going this far and not winning!"

- Kelli Lusk

Read more ...



	Anna Pichrtova and Melissa Moon battle on Mount Washington (2005)

May 2006: Mount Washington

Like saying, "Boston", "Pikes Peak", or "Leadville", no further words or explanation are needed. This is the classic, the Big Hill, the literal as well as figurative apex of the East coast running scene. Mount Washington is also this year's US Mountain Running Championships, where the very best mountain runners in the country will toe the line on June 17.

There's only one hill ...



	Typical field at Northfield Mountain

April 2006: Trail Runner's World

USATF, AAU, FSA, AATRA, TCR, IAU ...
"World Trophy Race" ...
What does it all mean??

Nancy Hobbs is the 'soccer mom' of trail running.

Not only has she helped hundreds of runners, organized races, written a book, and served on countless boards, but she actually knows what all those acronyms stand for! Find out more ...



	Typical field at Northfield Mountain

March 2006: New England Mountain Circuit

Six races, USATF Qualifiers, the focus of NE mountain running since 1996. Dave Dunham tells all:

" ...Tesfaye Bekele (a sub 2:15 marathoner) showed up gunning for the course record. He said something like "I read that the record was 24:35 for 4.3 miles and figured I could run a lot faster than that". Eric Morse ran with him for the first mile then showed him his back. Eric missed the CR by four seconds, but beat Bekele by thirty seconds. Another road runner gets a taste for mountain running and finds it not to his liking ..."