Product Review – Injinji compression socks

I’ve liked 5 fingers for a long time, for both running and hiking, but I’ve never really worn socks with them that much. I have a couple of pairs of ankle injinji socks which I wear when the temperature gets below 10° C, or with my ‘normal’ shoes and really like them.

When getting ready for my round themountain hike I really wanted to get some Injinji compression socks to test out. Long story short, I wanted black but the supplier ran out so I accepted purple and white. Also, I did pay for them, this isn’t sponsored, but if injinji want to send me some more socks I’d gladly accept.

So first up, these socks take a full 3-5 minutes I get on, seriously I’ve had a You Tube video playing while I put them on. Once on they feel pretty good, moderate compression of the lower leg, a little bit more in the foot, but not too much. I had no blisters wearing them, but I never get blisters. Now for the good and the bad.

Hiking

I really enjoyed these while hiking; so much so that I will buy a few more pairs so I can have a fresh pair each day. They were warm enough for walking between 1000m and 1500m above sea level, and the compression helped a lot to keep the pain and swelling down in my lower legs and feet. I’d give these a 10 out of 10 for hiking.

Running

I have worn these on two short runs now, and really disliked them both times. I think they heated my legs up too much and it felt like the compression restricted the movement of my Achilles. It felt like quite a lot of pressure on the tendon, and I couldn’t run as far or as fast as I do without the socks. Obviously this is a personal opinion and a lot of runners really like compression socks. They’re just not for me.

So whether they are good for you or not may depend on what you want them for. I will definitely buy some more for multi day hikes, but I won’t be wearing them running again.

Natural born heroes by Christopher McDougall

At this time I have not yet read McDougall first and better known book ‘Born to run’ so I didn’t quite know what kind of book I was going to be reading. From what I had seen of the book (Natural born heroes) it seemed like this would be a kind of Natural Method, how to manual. I was expecting sections on natural running, strength, parkour, knife throwing etc. Not as in exercises, sets and reps form, but as maybe as a story of how each is part of the natural method, how it is done and how one can integrate it into their training. The book was really nothing like what I was expecting.

Natural born heroes focuses on the story of resistance fighters on the Island of Crete during the Second World War. It follows the story of a band of resistance fighters set up by Churchill and their Cretan allies and focuses in on one particular mission of theirs. The central story is how these Cretan resistance fighters were naturally strong and enduring, and how the foreigners picked up these skills for themselves.

McDougall tells various side stories on ancient Greece and Crete, as well as stories of natural method training. He also tells side stories of his own training in MovNat with Erwan Le Corre, parkour in London, knife throwing and fat running endurance running. These stories were quite interesting, and they were what I was expecting to make up much of the book, with follow up sections as how to guilds and how one might fit these into their own training, but there was little to none of this. This isn’t to say that it was a bad book, just not what I was expecting.

The main story of the book was interesting and engaging and kept me reading. The mix of historical story, with a very personal look at the people involved was a nice mix. The side stories of the past, or McDougall’s own training was a good addition too, but I felt as if they didn’t quite match up as well as they could have to follow from one to another.

In all, it was a good read, an interesting style of story and history and autobiography in parts. Despite expecting something else it was still an interesting book, maybe not quite my style but I enjoyed it anyway.

Between a Rock and a hard place (127 Hours) By Aron Ralston

This is another one of my book reviews which isn’t current, but I still wanted to read and review. I had seen the movie and heard a little bit about the book so I decided to give it a read.

Between a Rock and a hard place is a kind of auto biography by Aron Ralston which focuses on the canyoning trip which his arm is trapped by a bolder with little hope of rescue. He amputates his arm, rappels down 60 feet, and hikes several miles before finding rescue. The book also takes a look at some of the events which lead him to canyoning solo and also interesting and amazing experiences he has had in the outdoors.

It is easy to think that a book about a guy pinned by a boulder for 5 days would be really boring but the book is exceptionally engaging and has a structure which breaks up event of him being trapped. The chapters alternate with one chapter being the events of the canyon and other being some past events (or later, events of the search). The chapters while trapped are interesting and go through exactly how he became trapped, and then though his process of trying to escape, how he survived, kept comfortable, and tried to stay awake. It describes to the reader how he’s feeling, his plan and execution of an idea, what fails, how he tries again and again. It is interesting, in-depth, and keeps you attached to the story. The chapters set in the past are amazing tales of extreme outdoors experiences, stalking bears, avalanches and extreme endurance events. They are great stories in their own rights but help to paint a picture of the man, what he’s capable of, and what drives him.

The chapters of the past show an extremely capable man, who is not particularly risk adverse. He recounts several instances he could have died previously and it goes to show that an event such as what happens in the canyon was just waiting to happen. For me it reinforces the need for safety, but doesn’t put me off soloing. Nor did it put him off. One could be critical of Ralston’s extreme risk taking behaviour, often putting others in harm’s way because of his own need for adventure, however I believe it was more a case of testing his limits and learning from his mistakes (coupled with an extreme personality). I think he pushed the limits for a test and for thrills, which comes with risk. This should serve as a warning to everyone that these things can have consequences, and we must be ready to meet them.

The book also has some photos in the centre; compete with selfies of him trapped, and his severed arm. This speaks volumes to how strong he is that he can be trapped for five days, extremely dehydrated, cut his arm off, but stop to document it.

The writing was very good and extremely descriptive. It took the reader into the situation, on the mountainside with him, or trapped with him. Particularly when he cut is arm off and is finally free is frighteningly well described.

I would strongly recommend reading this book, it is a well written story of adventure and the strength of human will; while also being a cautionary tale of both planning and risk taking behaviour. It should make to stop and think about what you are going to do, and take steps to plan for your safety in the future.

I got some free chain

Just a short post today to show off my latest score.

Our chain block in the factory was decommissioned due to severally damaged chain. It's no longer safe for lifting anything with, but that doesn't mean I can use it for lifting. So I pulled apart the chain block and took the lifting chain and hooks (the chain used to turn the block is staying in the factory as it isn't damaged).

Before

To get all the old grease off I washed the chain in a bucket with dish washing powder which seemed to work quite well, however I didn't take off any of the surface rust. I was going to soak it in a bucket of Coka Cola however I will wait as I currently have my eye on some more chain I might get and I'll wait until then. One quick note: Don't leave the chain in the bucket with any water, surface rust will form overnight.

During

So I got 7kg of chain for free, the goal is to have two, 10kg sets of chain for some compensatory acceleration.

After

The point of this post is to keep an eye out for things which might be useful and keep an open mind, you'll probably find a lot of good stuff. For an example of other throw away's I got from work see the straps on my lifting platform.

Book Review: Tracks by Robyn Davidson

So clearly I have missed being punctual on this book by nearly 40 years, but its defiantly worth the read. Tracks is the story of Robyn Davidson, who in 1977 traveled 1700 miles across Australia with four camels and a dog. I first heard about this journey and book only recently when Wildboy announced his plan to cross Australia and someone mentioned this book. The story sounded so interesting I decided to get to book to find out more.

The book covers quite a bit about her struggles in Alice Springs trying to find someone to train her, dealing with the locals, dealing with camels, and procuring all that she needed for the trip (including the camels). This takes up about the first third of the book but in the movie of the same name makes up very little of the story.

This section clearly shows the racism and misogyny in Australian at the time. As an aside I have seen little difference in some areas of Australia today. The book at times makes commentary of the current (1977) treatment of the Indigenous population, the politics and culture surrounding it and generally a lot of interesting back ground information on the state of Indigenous affairs of the time. While these sections are interesting and paint a picture of the culture, and the time, the transitions to these sections aren’t particularly well organised and so almost feel like side rants (that might be a bit harsh). That said the epilogue mentions the rough nature of the write, but choosing not to edit it, rather that it remains real. Note: This may not be the exact phasing, but I no longer have the book for reference.

Now for something I really liked. Unlike other travel type books I have read Davidson outline a lot of the equipment see was travelling with, the camp set up, break downs, how she stripped out gear she didn’t need. I found this all very interesting. Personally I like to get an idea of these things, the equipment they like/deem necessary or unnecessary. I find these details to be an informative education, but also help to see the scene for me, I doubt this is the same for everyone. I also really enjoyed the writing on the journey and the desert itself, I found these sections to be well written and descriptive, without becoming overly elaborate poems about rocks. The psychology of traveling alone and with others was interesting to observe, and I find if interesting that people always asked her why she was making the journey? (I would have though the answer “why not?” would be more than sufficient).

So the raw structure of the book means that it jumps around a little bit with commentary on the Indigenous people, and the desert environment the book it still very captivating holding my interest to keep reading more of the journey. I recommend this book as a book on travel and adventure in a novel form, and for me, a novel setting. Well worth reading.

Book Review – Wild

Book Review – Wild, From lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

Often when I’ve done book reviews I have tried to be somewhat current with the release date of the book, for this review not so much. I decided to read Wild by Cheryl Strayed (I had previously seen the movie) after the round the mountain walk, when I met some Americans on the walk who had walked the PCT in 2014 and loved it (the PCT, not so much the book).

The book is the story of Cheryl Strayed’s PCT hike in 1995 as well and introspection about her life leading up to the hike.

Right of the bat I’m going to say I found someone who suggests that Strayed did not walk the PCT and fabricated the whole thing. I’m not particularly fussed either way so I didn’t look too much into it; however the little I did read seems to have some merit. That said I’m always willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt.

I found the book to be rather jumpy, it moved from past to present within a chapter fairly often without any clear train of thought to the transition, and the past sections didn’t necessarily tell a coherent story within a given chapter. It felt at times like a grab bag of ideas, this may have been intentional as that may have been as things came to mind on the hike, however it often felt jarring while reading. The movie is similar, in this manner. That said the writing was often very descriptive with some sections difficult to read due to their graphic nature. So in terms of the writing itself I didn’t find it particularly compelling, mostly due to the structure of the book.

As for the hiking, this was quite interesting at times, however not particularly detailed or descriptive. The start was interesting to hear about the gear she packed, and later who she pared her pack down in weight. This point is the part that makes me wonder the most about the authenticity of the story. Given the gear she outlines packing I estimated the pack weight to be 30kg if not more, and given how hard it was to hike with a 20kg pack I find this difficult to believe, but like I said I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. The rest of writing on the hiking side of things was interesting enough but for me lacked substance. It seems primarily a story of how much her feet hurt.

Two more points, one good one bad. Strayed often shows an example of poor outdoors decision making. She puts herself in danger by not having the correct supplies or gear at times, is not physically prepared for the hike and in general had poor hiking practices. By intentionally putting herself in a dangerous situation, others may have had to take risks themselves to rescue her (which luckily did not happen). That said her lack of preparation can be a warning to others, and from the amount of stuff popping up on my pinterest feed a lot of woman have got into hiking, possibly due to this book.

So it seems if you’re looking for a book on a life changing experience and introspection this is the book for you, if you’re looking for hiking, or adventure this book is okay, but maybe look elsewhere. For me, I much prefer Wildboy as a story of life changing adventure, though it’s more focused on the adventure than introspection.