Gear Review: Altra Superior 2.0

Altra Superior 2.0

Introduction

Although Altra is a newcomer to the running industry, it has quickly gained a strong fanbase in the ultra trail running community. Altar's unique selling points: zero drop, a foot-shaped toe box and A-bound midsole material, have enabled it to be at the forefront of shoe design. It also caters to semi-minimalist needs as well as to those who prefer a more maximalist shoe (e.g. their Olympus model)

I have been training and racing in my faithful pair of New Balance Leadville V2s for some time now and was looking for a replacement pair. Altra's design philosophy caught my attention, and since i have wide feet , i decide to go ahead give the Superior 2.0 a try. Once again, there are many great reviews on the web but this is my own take on it. I also hope to give views from a Singaporean perspective.

I have had this pair for 2 weeks and have logged in around 35 km in them on both trails (MacRitchie and Mandai Track 15) as well as speed work in East Coast Park. This review will be based on my initial usage of these shoes. Will do a longer-term review later on. 

Overview

Just holding these in your hands, you can tell these are a light  pair of shoes. It comes with a pair of removable  Altra Stoneguard rock plates. This is a great idea if you feel that you do not need that much protection on certain trails and want to shed some weight.

Upper

i love the upper so far. It is light, firm and very airy. You can actually see through it. Singaporean runners will know that all it takes is an hour run in our humidity to totally drench your shoes with perspiration. We are all familiar with the "squish squish" feeling. These shoes do soak up sweat but dries up pretty fast. It also drains out well after running through puddles. The laces are light and stay tied during my runs. The gusseted tongue is nice and thin, with just enough padding. Toes are sufficiently protected from rocks by the toe bumper and extra lamination on the front end of the shoes.

The Superior 2.0 is a great looking pair of shoes!

Interior

The removable Stoneguard is a great idea and it works as it should. I have not tried running without it. The foot shaped toe box really does allow your toes to spread out naturally and adds to stability. I do find that the overall volume of the toe box is still very small, the top of the toe box seems to press down on the tops of toes. I hope this will not be an issue on my 50km race next Saturday. I wear Injinji toe socks, so that could explain the tighter feeling I get from the toe box.

The grey removable Stoneguard goes in under the green insole

The Stoneguard fits very snuggly inside the shoe. It stays in place throughout the run.

Midsole

The midsole is responsive and offers a good balance between cushion and trail feel. Coupled with how naturally your toes can spread out, you feel more stable on uneven terrain (read: the stretch of trail between MacRitchie Ranger Station and Jelutong Tower). The zero drop profile does feel more natural when you are running, especially switching over from the 8mm dropped Leadville V2.

Outsole

Mega grip on dry and muddy trails. I have yet to test it on wet rocks, in the rain. I think that will be the ultimate test to see if a trail shoe can hold its own in Singapore. The outsole tread pattern plus the toe splay really makes you feel like you are able to dig deep and claw your way up anything. The lugs are deep yet clean themselves very well. The deep lugs did not seem cumbersome too when I did a 11km fartlek on tarmac. 

Super grippy and sheds mud well.

Sizing

The Superior 2.0 is notoriously short in length, so it is highly recommended to at least size up half a size. Some wearers need to up a full size. Best to try these on in person, and in Singapore you can do it at Fast Corner on the second floor of Queensway Shopping Centre. They are the official local distributor of Altra products. 

Summary

This is trail shoes that is light, responsive and makes you feel fast. Most reviewers reckon the Superior 2.0 can handle distances up to 50miles. Due to the lower stack height and relatively lack of medial support, I think this is a fair view. I will be personally putting this to the test next Saturday at the MSIA Action Asia Singapore 50km trail ultra. Get this pair if you want a fast and light trail shoe that has zero drop and a wide toe box. 

Will be putting these through the grinder, stay tuned for a longer-term review!

Race Report: Borneo Ultra Trail Marathon 2016

Trail running has been in my blood since I was a school boy running cross-country for my secondary school. The Victoria School boys cross-country team was and still is famous for consistently being one of the top teams. I had the privilege of running for and being part of the team that won the national school championships 3 years in a row. A big shout out has to go to our coach Mr Ho Kiat Chong, who is the one who gave me the love for the sport. He taught us discipline and endurance through distance running, and I treasure these precious lessons till today. Thank you Mr Ho!


Fast forward 20 years: I am still loving the sport, but this time cranking up the distance. I have completed two full road marathons and two trail 50km races, but I was searching for something more challenging. My ultimate goal is to race the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) but at 100 miles, over very challenging and vertical terrain, it is still some way more till i can get there. So the plan is to get more race experience over longer distances and also more varied terrain.

As part of this journey, I entered the Borneo Ultra Trail Marathon (BUTM) two weeks after completing 52.5km at the MR25 Trail Ultramarathon in December last year. I guess you could say I signed up on a runner's high!

After the MR25 race, I allowed some time for rest and recovery before resuming training in February 2016. My mileage was not as high as I would have liked due to work commitments but I did the best I could. The key was to always head out enjoying my runs , which is vital to running such long distances. Another crucial thing that helped me during the race was doing the back-to-back long runs on the weekend. So I would typically head out for a 3 hour run on Saturday and then do a 2hr+ run on Sunday. This served to let my body and mind get accustomed to working when I was tired. As traditional ultra training wisdom says, it is the time on your feet that matters. I also worked on the stairs (30 storeys x 5 times) just to get used to the amount of climbing we would be doing in the BUTM.  I would have liked to have done longer runs and more vert training, but work, travel and illness took away the better part of the training period. I also was very disciplined about foam rolling and stretching, which helped me stay injury free throughout.

BUTM 2016 Start area, Tamparuli Valley (Kota Kinabalu)

The Borneo Ultra Trail Marathon 2016 was held on 4 June and had categories for 12km, 25km, 50km and 100km. I signed up for the 50km. The weather was really nice and cool at the start but we all expected hot sun later in the afternoon and also heavy rain even later on in the day.

Keeping warm at the start

The main tent where all race organization takes place. I am amazed at the grassroots nature of this race and throughly enjoy this simple yet well-organised event. Kudos to the organising team!

50km Course Profile (this is not the latest map we used, i couldn't seem to find it but the only difference was the naming of the water stations after WS 2)

The 50km course would prove to be a fun but tough one, and by the end of it runners would have climbed a total of more than 2000m. For a Singaporean with no mountains to train on, this is by no means an easy task.

The race started well but things started to go wrong after our group of around 12-15 runners missed a route marker and went the wrong way after leaving WS1. We ended up having to bash through the jungle, desperately trying to head straight towards the nearest 4x4 vehicle main track. By using my compass and map, and also the altimeter readings from another runner's Suunto, we eventually reaching the main 4x4 dirt road in between WS2 and WS3.

Strong pace coming out of WS1

Jungle bashing along rubber tapper tracks

Crossing streams with refreshing water helped us keep our sanity in our push to get out of the jungle

We were so thrilled to meet a lady tapping rubber in her plantation, and she told us which direction to head towards WS2. By this time we were more than an hour delayed and around 4km off course. We had to make the mind numbing run backwards to WS2 in order to check in there, otherwise we would be disqualified. We all eventually made it back to WS2 after 30mins of hard running along a mainly upslope journey. After quickly filling up our now depleted water supplies (it is compulsory for all runners to be able to carry a minimum of  1.5litres of water) I was finally back in the race proper.


The rest of race was spent digging deep and reminding myself that I have trained hard for this and this sure beat being cooped up at work back home! I found the steep downslopes tough on my quads and this is something that I need to work on in future training. There was a point when I was actually scared of losing control of my legs when negotiating a steep, muddy slope in the middle of a huge downpour. The slope had literally turned to flowing sheets of mud and gravel, and sustaining grip on such a surface was a painful affair.

Me managing a smile after the toughest climb of the race: 50 degrees straight up a forested slope to reach this clearing.

Typical trail during the race.

One of the highlights of the race was the many suspension bridges we had to cross. For me these provided a much needed break from the monotony of the trail and also a chance to catch my breath as we had to walk across it instead of running for stability issues. The scenery was also captivating and never failed to lift my spirits and remind me why I enjoy being outdoors.

Typical suspension bridge 

The final 20km were the hardest but fastest kms during my race, partly due to the relatively smaller climbs but also because i was running with a fellow racer who i made friends with. we both were in the group that got lost and we kept each other going for most of the race. We cracked jokes about how we were wearing the same grey Uniqlo running top , and i started calling him Uniqlo. Found out his name, and now Ahmad and I follow each other on Strava!

Typical climbs during the race.

As with any race, the final 8kms seemed like an eternity and running through cold rain with heavy shoes made it feel more arduous. I could hear the commotion of the finish area over the river but it was a long way more till the final road that crossed to the other side. By this time, i was on my own having left Ahmad further behind. He had urged me to go on and so i went ahead, determined to go under my 10hr goal. I finished the race in 9 hrs 28mins , with Ahmad coming in just under 10mins later.   I finished 19th overall, and 2nd Singaporean. The first was a Singapore lady who totally whopped my a$$ in the final 3kms.

Done! pardon the blurry photo taken by iPhone 4.

What an amazing race and even more amazing opportunity to have experienced Borneo this way. This race has taught me not to give up and I was happy that i remained in control all the time, even after having had to run extra distance due to getting lost. Here's to more ultras in the future !


[Check out the race stats and follow me on my Strava account]

Trip Report: Yosemite National Park (September 2015)

It has been way too long since my last post (3 year hiatus), my apologies!

Since my last adventure in Xueshan (Snow Mountain), I have been on a few more memorable trips and the most significant was a trip with my wife to Yosemite National Park. A huge tick off my bucket list! This was part of our big annual trip to USA in September 2015. Details are a bit sketchy in my mind now, but here is a quick and dirty report of a place I will never forget. Forgive me too for the grainy photos, due to an iOS update incident, I lost all my US trip photos. The photos here are cropped from my Instagram page. Follow me at @joeyganners.

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Yosemite Valley,  September 2015. View from Panorama Trail

"The mountains are calling and I must go.." 

- John Muir , 3 September 1873

Even as a true blooded, flat-landed, urban Singaporean, my heart truly sings the famous words written by American naturalist John Muir in a letter to his sister. There is something magnetic, magical about being in the mountains, and I answered Yosemite's siren call.

Our visit to Yosemite National Park was made on route from Portland, OR (where we did heaps of cycling, we brought our road bicycles with us!). On our drive, we made a stop to view the Redwoods trees, which is another tick on my bucket list. The mind boggles at how a tree can be so big. Amazing indeed is God's wonderful creation.

Driving down the I-5. We did not have enough time to take the more scenic 101 highway. Still, pretty stunning scenery. You would never get such a completely flat horizon like this in Singapore!

Treehugger

Large redwood at Jedediah Smith Campground (Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park)

We reached Yosemite National Park's Camp Curry (in Curry Village) quite late at night and we were thankful for a comfy cabin to rest in. Camp Curry is very well set up for the needs of visitors. We would have preferred a more adventurous experience of camping in the outdoors but we were too late in booking camping permits. September is usually the height of hiking season so bookings have to be made almost a year in advance. We also wanted to summit Half Dome, but the same reason prevented us from doing so. Need better planning next time. But not being able to summit Half Dome was a blessing in disguise and we used the time to explore more of Yosemite Valley via the a combination of the Four Mile Trail and Panorama Trail (total journey of 21.1km)

Certainly no curry available here

Four Mile Trail offers classic mountain switchback routes and amazing views of Sentinel Rock through the hike up towards the end point at Glacier Point. From Glacier Point, we chose to continue from the trail head of Panorama Trail all the way back down to the Valley.

We saw our very first Black Bear cub. This young one caused much concern among us and fellow hikers: everyone was worried about where is Mommy Bear??!!

Yosemite Valley and the Merced River from Four Mile Trail. This iconic view of the valley is framed by Sentinel Rock on the left and Yosemite Falls on the left. It was a dry summer so the falls are not visible.

Stunning drop-offs next to the Four Mile Trail

Panorama Trail. The trail head starts from Glacier Point. This trails offered us much peace and solace from the crowds that came up to Glacier Point by bus.

The lower half of Panorama were characterised by large size rocks and boulders. Trekking poles offered must needed support going down. We also had great views of Half Dome.

Our entire hike started at around 8am and we ended the day just before 6pm. It was a challenging but simply awesome hike, a definite must-do if you are visiting Yosemite. It is advisable to have reasonable fitness. Pack sufficient water (at least 1.5 litres per person in summer is good), you can refill your water supply at the water fountains at Glacier Point. Trekking poles are highly recommended and a grippy pair of trail shoes / boots with ankle support is a must. Don't wear new footwear on this hike, it is not a trail to test your new pair of shoes on! We sustained our energy through trail mix and energy bars. 

Last tip, don't start your hike without a cup of Yosemite coffee! :) It is a great way to start any hike!