me running…
about gear and gadgets
How you preparing yourself for a run or training?
I bet it’s easy. Pair or runners, t-shirt, shorts, buffy (ok, you can have always two sets or maybe set with long sleevs). For the race you would probably add belt for gels, calf compressions. Am I correct?
Have decided that I need to have at least one pair of trail shoes cause I’m running now with Trail Heads on the mucky paths in the mountains.
Last time when I went with them to Three Rock I was just sliding all the time. Even that I was still able to run I couldn’t cause my legs were ‘going other way’. So, when I saw in the ’52 Degrees North’ sale with trail shoes I just thought maybe I can try. Have found Inov8 pair which were ok. Price was great (over 35% below previous price), size looks to be to big but when I put these on my feet felt good. Just need to test them. And today is the day (actually tonight) to try Inov-8 TrailRoc 245…
…but it seems that somebody liked them more. I’m talking about my pair of white Mizuno Hitogami…
Left these behind after the treadmill training in changing room of Sanovitae gym in Liffey Valley Carlton. Not the first time that has happened to me (first time that pair, previously New Balance) and always were getting shoes back. Went into lost/found box. Not this time. It seems that even that they were dirty, had small holes in them, these were still very attractive to somebody.
Hoka shoes… hmmm. Strange looking shoes aren’t they? But I would really try to run in them. Even if that will be just 5 km.
Problem with Hoka’s is that there is not many shops in Ireland with them in stock. Actually there is none and if shop has any it is not the model I was looking for and not the size. Cause Hoka’s are not cheap I don’t want to risk it and buy without trying them. There is another thing needs to be added to that. Maybe, simply, I won’t like the feel of them. Anyway, anybody I have asked is saying that they are really great for runs. That you can cover good distance at once with them and that these are really great for recovery runs…
We had very nice weekend. Friends visiting us, my 10th marathon. But start from the beginning…
Last week Cezary, friend from Balina, who we have met when I have run marathon there called me asking if he can stay with us when he will be running marathons on Friday and Saturday. Of course there was no problem with that. He was comming to us on Friday evening after running marathon and on Saturday after both of us run another marathon we should pick up his Wife – Daria, with kids. That sounds like a plan so we had to put that into action…
Ok… Was very unimpressed with delivery on my new pair of NB 1400v2. Have ordered these over two weeks ago in my usual shop, but now look New Balance hasn’t delivered my model. And unfortunately after yesterdays marathon my pair of NB is in really bad shape. Would say that these looks worse than me now. Was hard to run in them yesterday, so from now on just walking them (to be honest, in that shape I don’t think they are even good for that). Cause I need to come back to proper training after illness and that hardcore marathon I had to be sure that I will have shoes to run. Have checked second Amphibian King shop and again they have my shoes model but not in my size…
Hard to believe… 28 Celsius degrees and that not in the sun… Running is very hard. I had to shorten my runs yesterday and today. But I wanted to write about something else…
Can you tell me what you prefer to wear when there is BIG sun… either cap or pair of glasses. I have small problem with that. I think I prefer cap but glasses are giving you better view. Cap is keeping almost whole sweat out from your face but not allowing ‘face sunbathing’. Glasses when not proper can feel heavy after some time of the run…
Officially I’m ready for my first marathon…
Shoes – ready (slightly worn already),
Number – known already, need to pick up before race,
Belt – bought,
Energy gels – tested, know which ones I will be using (no stomach problem after these),
Cap – missing, but not a big problem to buy,
Socks – ready,
Shorts – ready,
Singlet – that was the last piece of the puzzle missing. But I was able to sort that out with help of Martha from company OOYO Sports in Lucan (http://www.ooyosports.com). They have printed for my singlet with my logo and it looks really good. Now the last thing for marathon is weather. Hopefully it will be very nice.
Because I like quite much New Balance shoes I thought that I can ask NB producer to maybe sent me time to time some shoes to test.
It’s not that I just want to get free shoes just had an idea. I’m running about 160-180 km on the streets or gym. Running just in NB shoes, even walks in other pair of NB’s. So just walking advert 😉 Anyway, thought that I can ask them about that but haven’t got any idea where to send email to UK department. But when went on the US version of the website I have found ‘Sports Reasearch Lab’, so basically you can test shoes for them. Only issue is that program is working just in US. So have lied that I’m from Wyoming, but have put in the rest of address accordinally to place where I live. Account was set, administrator probably haven’t got anything against me 😉 I have followed by email saying that I would like to participate in testing program but I’m from Ireland. Hope that will work. Waiting now for reply.
As a runners all of you probably know that on some stage of running, jogging you will need a GPS watch to be able log all details about your runs…
I know that most of runners prefer Garmins but I decided to give TomTom a chance. I’m their fun when it comes to car GPS so for me that was natural choice. I know that first TomTom Nike watch was terrible but… didn’t want to say no straight away. After reading review of DC Rainmaker (best guy regards running / triathlon gadgets) I decided to try – http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/07/tomtom-runner-multisport.html. Another thing was the price. TomTom costs about 2/3 of Garmin watch (similar specs). Still I have use eBay to buy it. Just after couple of runs I knew that it was on of the best buys I ever made. Next on the list was heart rate monitor (as well on the first picture). TomTom is working on the Bluetooth not ANT sensor which makes finding additional accessories a little bit harder. But have found Polar chest strap Bluetooth HRM (recommended on TomTom website) and haven’t looked back since then. Together watch and HRM working like a charm… So much information you can get. For me there is one drawback with that watch was battery life. According to specs battery should last about 4 hours on GPS without HRM, which means that when you are little bit slow runner (for example marathon in over 4 hours) it won’t last (even without HRM not connected).