Last Hockley Loop before UTMB. I felt good running but I guess it was just the cooler weather because I didn't break any speed records. A few sections of the trail are quite overgrown with weeds up to my shoulders in the north east wetland.
Note to my future self: The Hockley Loop has changed between 3rd and 4th Line on the south side. I ran the old route today (now a side trail) because I was doing a test but in future, the loop will be a little longer.
At UTMB, I'll be wearing Speedcross that are nearly new. I've now run in them for a little over 60 km, which is enough. I could write a log entry just about the little things I've been testing recently, e.g. while we were in the Adirondacks, one of my two injuries was a cut on my upper arm from repeatedly rubbing against the pack pocket where I usually put my empty food wrappers. Who knew those things were so sharp? It works fine in shorter events but I've had to move my garbage for UTMB.
Btw my other injury in the ADKs was banging my knee hard into a big rock (OWWW!) and drawing a good splatter of blood but luckily not hurting the joint. Yup, I ran right into a rock in the middle of the trail. No, I cannot explain why.
If you get bored by GPS talk, it is time to stop reading this log entry. :)
Today's most important test was setting up an Ultrarunning mode in my Suunto Ambit with a 10-second recording interval and 60-second GPS fix and recording rate. It worked fine but it didn't take long to realize that "Pace" becomes meaningless and can be removed from the display. Currently, I'm planning to look at Elapsed Time, Distance, Altitude, Time of Day and Cumulative Ascent (just for kicks!) I can only see one number at a time without squinting - the big middle one - so I'm setting up modes I can cycle through to show Elapsed Time, Distance and Altitude as big numbers. If I want the other values, I'll just have to squint. :)
The first part of the test went really well. I charged my Ambit shortly before a 3-hour run and returned with 95% charge on the battery. So it's looking good for 44 hours of UTMB. It's rated at 50 hours, which is the main reason I switched to an Ambit.
Naturally, moving from 1-second GPS recording to 60-second GPS recording means a loss of accuracy but it wasn't terrible.
Typical Hockley Loop Measured Distances:
Garmin - 22.8 km
Ambit (1-second GPS recording) - 22.2 km
Ambit (60-second GPS recording) - 20.7 km
Typical Hockley Loop Elevation Gain:
Ambit (1-second GPS recording) - 820 m
Ambit (60-second GPS recording) - 801 m
(I ignore my Garmin since the Ambit is much more trustworthy with its barometric altimeter.)
The 60-second recording interval is going to be more accurate than I'd expected - especially since I'll be moving more slowly at UTMB (yes, the laws of physics permit that) and the trail likely won't have as many quick changes of direction as the Hockley Loop.
For folks who are really keen, the differences between the following tracks are quite visible.
Garmin Track of Hockley Loop
Ambit Track (1 sec)
Ambit Track (60 secs)