Running in the colder winter months can become a chore even for the most serious athletes, but with the right gear theres no reason why we cant all embrace the darkness

I spoke with GB ultra trail athlete and Petzl ambassador, Meryl Cooper recently about all things running including running at night and what it takes to tackle the ultra distance events.

With a background in teaching, she started her own coaching company MerylCooperCoaching.com in 2019 as a means to better manage her time training as an ultra-runner. The former footballer explained to me how the transition to running and then coaching has helped her excel in the world of ultras.

Coaching helped me to go from living life at a million miles per hour, being very stressed out and trying to work a 12-hour day, she explains, to establishing a much healthier balance between my sport, work and other important areas of my life.

My physical health has drastically improved and I am better equipped with the internal resources required to bounce easily back from challenges and setbacks.

On becoming an ultra-distance runner it was surprising that Meryl had shunned the more usual and expected progression to longer distances of stepping up from the marathon.

The first time I actually covered the marathon distance was in a 50km night race in the desert of Oman, she says.

From these beginnings, it was always the longer distances that captured the imagination of Meryl, a member of Deeside Runners, close to Balmoral in Scotland.

Now established as an ultra runner Meryl explained to me that the transition to the longer events means thinking more about hours running each week and accumulated height climbed height rather than purely miles covered.

When running at night Meryl offered some invaluable advice around selecting a headlamp to light the path ahead and progress safely.

Brightness

The brightness of a headlamp is measured in lumens, the amount of visible light that the human eye can detect. How bright you want it to be will depend on your activity. Is it just to be seen, or perhaps you need to light up a technical trail or hope to complete an all-night adventure?

Generally the quicker you are moving or the more technical the trail the more lumens you will need, for trail running a minimum of 300 lumens is essential. Dont forget brightness is offset by power consumption, so a headlamp at full power will give a shorter burn time. Headlamps typically offer different settings, such as low, medium and high, to allow you to extend the battery life if lower lumens are needed. Petzls Reactive Lighting also helps to address the brightness/burn time balance.

Battery Life

How long you need the battery to last will depend on what you are doing and the brightness you need balanced with the size of the battery. A rechargeable battery will not only help save the planet and your pocket but is more efficient at delivering power than standard alkaline batteries, especially at low temperatures, its also easy to carry a spare for longer runs. Again, reactive lighting further helps to maximise your battery life by continually adjusting the light output.

All Petzl headlamps have a reserve function, a small amount of light that lasts long enough to get you back home or to another battery.

Beam Pattern

The distance the beam will reach depends on the brightness of the LED along with the focus pattern and choosing a suitable beam pattern for your intended use is important, trail runners typically need both flood and spot lighting for proximity/distance lighting while for urban running or more casual use flood only lighting is perfect.

Headlamps will often have a spot-focused LED for long distances with a second wide-angle LED for proximity/flood lighting as seen in the NAO+ and SWIFT RL or several balanced LEDs to produce a very even wide beam pattern at different brightness levels, as seen in the IKO CORE.

Weight

Headlamps weighing much more than 200g generally feel cumbersome and uncomfortable for running, if you are moving quickly at night then you should be able to shake your head with no movement of the headlamp.

Thinking about how you want the weight distributed is also important with two main designs: An all in one unit with the light and battery at the front or a split design with the light on the front and battery on the rear. There are advantages to both including how compact the headlamp feels and its balance on the head, much will depend on personal preference, comfort and the battery size needed.

So, whats the best Petzl headlamp for you?

Urban Running: The IKO CORE with its even beam pattern and exceptional balance is ideal for urban running, for lighter summer nights choose the 35g BINDI.

Trail Running: Weighing just 100g while producing 1100 lumens and featuring Reactive Lighting SWIFT RL is a fantastic headlamp for the trail.

Ultras: The NAO RL features a high-capacity battery positioned on the rear of the head for good balance and long burn times, Reactive Lighting helps to extend the burn time and spare batteries are available, the BINDI is perfect as a lightweight backup headlamp.

Petzl.com