Dragon's Back Race
- running shoes

While recceing Tryfan in early July, I was lucky enough to catch up with what turned out to be Bridget Glaister, training for her solo Dragon's Back FKT success later that month. She was really friendly and had loads of advice as we clambered across and down Tryfan and then over the Glyders and into Pen y Pass. Because I was focusing on mountain legs and not recceing any more than Snowdon and the Glyderau, I was keen to get her input on the rest of the course.

One of the key takeaways for me was her advice on shoes - something technical for days one and two, then fell-running shoes for days three to six. I think there was more to it than that but I felt that was the general picture!

As well as the demands of the course, I was still recovering from a knee ligament injury that had prevented me from running from October until May. I still couldn't run up the slightest incline, but was starting to be able to run downhill a bit better, and it was clear I needed more cushioning in my shoes than I was accustomed to.

My requirements

Technical shoe:

Outstanding grip on rocky terrain.
Good cushioning to reduce the impact on my legs and protect my knee from further injury.
Adequate grip on wet, grassy terrain, because no days were ever purely rock.
As light as possible, because every gram counts when you're running a mountainous ultramarathon six days in a row.
Comfortable.

Fell-running shoe:

Outstanding grip on wet, grassy terrain and muddy or boggy terrain.
More cushioning that most fell-running shoes because there would be road-sections and I needed to protect the knee.
As light as possible, because every gram counts when you're running a mountainous ultramarathon six days in a row.
Comfortable.

What did I choose?

For the technical shoes I chose a pair of Adidas Terrex Agravic Speed. I've found the soft continental rubber unbeatable on both wet and dry rock. The lugs, while only 4mm are good for up to 250km of gnarly terrain before wearing down too much for wet, grassy descents like the one at the end of day one (mine had done about 110km when I started the race), so I knew they'd be good for the first two days. The cushioning is excellent, and they only weighed 275g each. Unfortunately, there is a hard element in the shoe just where I have a sticky-out bit on my heel, and the first time I wore them the skin was taken clean off within 10km. I fixed that with some well-placed Stanley-knife cuts and my feet were fine over two 50k + 4000m training days.

For the fell-running shoe, I got a great deal on some Inov-8 Mudtalon Speed, and they were perfect. The grip on soft terrain was insane and they had more cushioning than a lot of similar shoes. Like the Adidas they only weighed 275g each. Comfort-wise, I fell in love with them as soon as I put them on!

How did the Terrex do?

Grip on day one and two was excellent. Even with the torrential rain, the Terrex had me covered. Including the grassy descent at the end of day one and coming down Cnicht on day two. Surprisingly, my left knee held up well and I never felt any more than mild soreness the whole week.

While my intention was to use the technical shoes for the first two days, then switch to the fell-running shoes, I heard some of the faster people talking of wearing their 'road shoes' during the second half of day four. Not knowing the route, I had to do some digging, but I, too, decided to change into my Terrex halfway through the day. It was a good decision - the cushioning made everything so much easier and faster on the firm trails and the road sections and it didn't matter I had next-to-no-grip left on them.

Where I did have a problem was blisters between my first and second toes on both feet, due to the slight pinching in these shoes. I generally find blisters rare in ultramarathons, and am happy to risk my feet in favour of better grip and less weight. However, I don't think this approach works in something as long as the Dragon's Back because my feet really were pretty messed up by the end of day three.

How did the Inov-8 do?

The grip is insane. And the're not bad to run in on firmer ground either, because they have more cushioning than typical fell-running shoes (just nowhere near as good as the Terrex). Drainage was excellent, too.

However... they took the skin off the sticky-out bit on my left heel over the course of day three, the first day I used them. It was pretty bad. This surprised me, as they'd been so comfortable in training. Maybe it was because my skin was so wet and soft? I taped the heel myself until the morning of day five when I got some support from the medics. While it never got any better, the damage seemed to be done as it never got any worse. Using the Terrex more often, though, did help, and I only ended up using the Inov-8s for day three and the mornings of days four, five and six. As I write this over four weeks after the event has finished, I'm still limited in my footwear options because of it.

Strangely, the right heel never had a problem. I do question if it was because I tied the laces tighter on that side, which may have contributed to the tendinitis I developed in my right shin. I'm not sure, though, because half the field seemed to have the same tendonitis issues.

Lessons learned

Having two pairs of shoes you can rotate between feels important to me. With experience of the course, this would be my advice:

Day 1: technical, cushioned shoes
Day 2: technical, cushioned shoes
Day 3: fell-running shoes
Day 4: fell-running shoes then technical, cushioned shoes
Day 5: fell-running shoes then technical, cushioned shoes
Day 6: fell-running shoes then technical, cushioned shoes

Right from the first day, make sure your blister kit and tape are in your supply bag. With hindsight, I really should have taken a scalpel to the Inov-8s halfway through day three.