Archive for Equipment
April 12, 2009 at 7:03 pm · Filed under Equipment, Gadgets
Easter is about chocolate, lots of, and family stuff and as the latter involved a weekend at the in-laws with loads of artificially enhanced kids, it also turns out to be fairly conducive to running.
I haven’t been very successful with my running recently so I was grateful that we were in the flatlands of Lincolnshire and that it was a delightfully drizzly day. Here’s my 10k out and back route along the canal:
I was sent the latest Sony Walkman W Series to test out the other day.
It came bundled with a playlist designed to either inspire or drive me nuts, with the challenge laid down for me to create my own inspirational running ensemble.
The new Walkman is an interesting looking gadget, minimal and stylish in a Dr Spock kind of fashion. It clips apart neatly to sit around your neck with no extraneous wires to get tangled up in your arms or t-shirt.
I’ve been through a fair few headphones and mp3 systems in my time. It started with the iPod nano with assorted headphones - the best being the ubiquitous lime green Sennheiser PMX80 running headphones and then moved on to the chunky, yet delightful, iPhone. The iPhone coincided with loads of tube commuting time so I shifted to the excellent Sennheiser CX500’s, great for private listening on crowded trains but outrageously irritating now I’ve gone back to the running commute - I have to stop every couple of steps to disentangle the cables.
So, now I’ve got my hands on the Sony W Series mp3 Walkman, all my separate headphones are defunct. I have to admit to not having much of a musical ear but to my mind this unit has the best sound quality yet. The integral headphones seem to sit quite deeply into your ear and the sound is excellent. Mind you the playlist had a few dodgy tracks, rather heavy reliance on the synthesiser and some sounded like they were recorded from the bowels of a coke can but I’m sure that was how they were meant to sound. It’s quite fun running to someone elses playlist but I’m looking forward to getting some “quality” music on board to really test them out.
I found them very comfortable, although I did feel like a prize tool running along in them - you can get them in bright pink if you want to look extra special.
I did a randomish fit test around the house this morning and it seems I was the only one who found them comfortable. Admittedly two of my subjects were of the small child variety and the other grown up obviously has a particularly small head with odd ear canals, but it might be worth testing them out before buying if you’ve had problems with ear related stuff before.
They are apparently a doddle to update by simply dragging the songs across to the external drive (USB cable supplied), I’ll try this out next week with my new and hopefully improved playlist.
Here’s my trial list:
1. Simian Mobile Disco - Sleep Deprivation
2. LCD Soundsystem - Get Innocuous
3. Hot Chip - Ready for the Floor
4. Weezer - Buddy Holly
5. TV on the Radio - Golden Age
6. Mylo - Drop the Pressure
7. Prodigy - Out of Space
8. Michael Jackson - Beat It
9. Don’t Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
10. Gu’s and Roses - Paradise City
Popularity: 17% [?]
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Tags: commute, gadget, mp3, sennheiser, Sony Walkman W Series, Walkman
April 8, 2009 at 11:13 am · Filed under Shoes
My general lack of running has been noted and rather strangely rewarded by the nice people at fitnessfootwear, who kindly offered me an alternative route to fitness in the form of a pair of Fit Flops.
If you check out the website you’ll find it littered with comments, from happy feet owners, claiming that the fit flop has “changed my life” amongst other such accolades.
My pair sat on the shoe rack for a few weeks, trying to shoulder up to all the unused running shoes, and left my life resolutely unaltered. I took them out this weekend though, and then sat back to wait for the epiphany.
They have micro wobble boards.
I like the sound of that, it sounds so sporty, at least until I sit down again to ponder their purpose.
If you place the flop on a flat surface it wobbles too and fro but as soon as I apply my bulk they flatten out quick smart. Of course that may not be the bulk at work, perhaps my myriad core muscles have kicked in and stabelised the whole show. Maybe, just by standing on their bed of lovely cushioned wobble boards I am saving myself the bother of attending my pilates classes.
Let’s hope so because I can’t really do much more than stand in them. Walking proved to be a rather peculiar battle. I felt like someone had switched the pavement on and I had to run along on my tip toes just to keep up.
I suppose that could be their design, or perhaps they are just too big for me.
I’ll wait a little longer for this epiphany.
Popularity: 16% [?]
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Tags: fit flop
March 2, 2009 at 11:37 am · Filed under Equipment, Running, Shoes
I think I may have suggested a little while back, in a pub somewhere no doubt, that I would put happiness to one side and actually start running again in March. The arrival of the month also coincided quite nicely with the delivery of a damn fine pair of running shoes, so the pressure was building.
These are the Salomon XA Pro GTXs and are a very desirable pair of trail running/adventure madness style shoes. They require rather beefy terrain so yesterday I bundled the non-runner and the mountain bike into the car and headed off to my favourite off road haunt - Swinley Forest in Bracknell.
The non-runner vowed to stick with me on the bike as I led the way on foot through the undergrowth. With an evil glint in my eye I hit an immediate right turn out of the car park and headed up and across the bracken to the forest proper. It was steep, strewn with stump hazards and ruts and altogether pretty tough going. My lungs were burning and I wanted to quit but the expletives exiting my loved one’s mouth made it all the worthwhile and I kept heading up until I thought she was going to quit on me and head back to the cafe.
Respite from laughter was required so we took a short flat section for a breather before heading off in search of shoe testing swamps and hills.
The shoes are very impressive. They’re extraordinarily light, in fact I suspected the box may have been empty when I picked it off my doorstep, but I still felt very supported by them. They have a good cushioned sole a very simple and effective lace system. I really like them a lot actually and as I’ve they’ve got a gore tex lining, my feet stayed dry even after a bit of light puddle action.
They are fortunately very grippy as well.
I took the lead on one particularly exciting stretch of singletrack before realising that I didn’t really stand much chance of staying ahead of a carreering lunatic on a bike. I upped the pace and started squealing like an out of control rhino on a snowboard. Legs were ticking over at a rare ole pace but my body was still in the lead. I expected my chin to reach the forest floor just moments before the chasing bike nipped at my heels and left me with broad tread marks along my flattened body.
At the first sign of an escape route, I threw myself off to the side, to roll gently in a bank of soft mud, only to spot the non-runner, half way back up the slope, hands clenched tightly over both brakes, bouncing ever so tentatively and non-threateningly downwards on locked wheels.
I muddied my shoes for nothing…..
Popularity: 24% [?]
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Tags: salomon xa pro gtx, Shoes, Swinley Forest
February 1, 2009 at 9:15 pm · Filed under Equipment, Gadgets, Software
Some of you may have noticed that I haven’t run an awful lot of late, in fact if you want to be reasonably precise, I have run only once in the last month, which also happens to equate to once this year. How neat.
If we want to be 100% precise it could be argued that I’ve run a few more times than I’ve let on, for example, I may have attempted the occassional dash to the bus away from work and I sprinted to the train station last night after my blood doning session but all in all the consequences were ugly and should remain hidden from public conciousness.
I feel like I’m taking confession and will have to start with the hail Mary’s soon but in my defence, I do have some excuses.
For one thing, as the last two months of my fairly sparse blog writing will attest, I am far too happy for running. Running appeals to the miserable side of me, it’s the perfect alternative to a pack of Benson and Hedges and bottle of JD. Mind you it also appeals to the exceptionally jolly side of me as well, so maybe that’s not such a good excuse after all.
Secondly, and this one has to be foolproof, I’m working on a ridiculous placement that means I have to travel between 4 and 5 hours every day.
Not a chance that I feel like running after all that nonsense.
Still, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I have secured myself a proper job, midway between happiness and home and I forsee many exciting new routes ahead of me, incorporating the best of London’s seedy commons and the highly rated Wandle trail. Expect updates of the running variety in March.
In the mean time, what better way to spend one’s non-running time, than by analysing data from runs gone by?
RunSaturday is new website stacked full of new and intriguing ways to analyse data held across multiple sites and generated by multiple gadgets. I’ve been able to bring together runs from my Garmin Forerunner 405, Nike+, Nokia Sportstracker along with all my historical runs stored on SportsTracks. I can also bring in runs manually entered onto Fetcheveryone and analyse my stats from the Saturday morning 5k park runs.
All this makes RunSaturday the most comprehensive database of my running shame prowess, which is quite a lot of fun because the site provides loads of ways to share the data across social websites such as facebook and personal blogs.
Here’s a particularly ancient route showing the mammoth run/walk I did along the Capital Ring. If you click on the heart symbol you’ll see a colour coded route indicating the specific heart rate zones during the run. You can see similar images for speed but as I’m a one speed wonder you’ll have to upload your own interval workouts to see rainbows in this feature.
There seem to be loads of new features coming along, so I’d recommend checking it out for yourself. I’ll add more images from the site just as soon I manage another run but don’t hold your breath til March.
Popularity: 32% [?]
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Tags: analysis, BPTT, fetcheveryone, Forerunner, Garmin, Nike, runsaturday, Sporttracks
September 21, 2008 at 8:39 am · Filed under Books, Equipment, Running
I read Dean Karnazes’ new book the other week, “50 50 Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days”.
I’ve already flogged it on ebay so you can be sure that I am not going to recommend this as a good running read. It’s full of trite running tips that you all know already, stuff along the lines of never do anything new on race day.
Yawn.
It’s sold as a “fascinating story” and how can it not be? The guy is pretty much a wonder, he ran back to back marathons and covered off most of the US in less than 2 months. He should be shot for producing such a dull account. Out of the almost 50 race reports not a single one could hold a candle to the daily reports coming from the blogs over there on my sidebar ——>
He kept going on about the “feminisation” of the marathon world which made me picture hoards of men with man boobs jiggling around the course, and then sang the praises of the AMAZING women (who were also mothers) that managed to find the time to run a marathon.
I don’t want to be too mean about the book, there were two positive things that I took away with me, the first was not to be such a baby when I get a cold - you can run with a snotty nose and the other was the concept of Runabout.
Runabout is Dean’s take on the Aboriginal Walkabout. It’s the kind of free running that he is famous for and does so well (see Ultramarathon Man which actually is a fascinating read). He’ll open his door, take the decision to head E, N, S or W and then just keep running until he can go no further, at which point he catches the train home. When he goes on runabout he may run for days before deciding he can go no further but he recommends that a similar toned down tactic might work for those in training for marathons.
So the plan is to head out running in any direction and then keep going until you need to walk, then run again and keep the cycle going til the day has gone and its time to head home. The trick is not necessarily to run the whole time but to just stay on your feet and keep moving, so if you stop to pickup drinks and food, you must eat on the go.
I’m off on Runabout today, heading in a north westerly direction. I’m hoping to pick up the Capital Ring a 75m loop of London - lets see how much I can cover before collapsing.
Popularity: 15% [?]
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Tags: book, Dean Karnazes, runabout
September 1, 2008 at 9:36 pm · Filed under Equipment, Event, Gadgets, Running
Saturday evening, after entertaining my family with a slightly charred roast lamb joint but a perfectly acceptable bottle of vino (or two), I get an email from Nike. Apparently, if I could resurrect the long dead Nike+ Sportband, and push my sorry arse out of the door, complete with Sunday morning hangover, to complete a 10k of my choosing, I would soon be the proud owner of a freebie Nike Humanrace t-shirt.
Hard to resist a freebie t-shirt, so I left my visitors to rustle up their own breakfast and arranged to meet them in Kew Gardens approx 1hrs 20mins later.
Lovely day for running, providing you don’t have a pointy head or too much body jewellery.
I have a particularly round head and enjoy running through electrical storms and downpours but I was surprised to see quite so many other water babies running along the river. I searched for signs of commitment to the global humanrace but saw none, it seems that some folk don’t need freebies to run.
3 months on the sub-bench allowed the Nike+ Sportband to dry out sufficiently for me to read the screen again, but I thought it prudent to spin the screen round to the underside of my wrist to provide a little water protection. Pity I didn’t do the same for the garmin forerunner 405!
A few weeks ago I had a comment on my forerunner 405 review, warning me of short-circuiting type responses when the garmin bezel gets wet. Apparently a few reviewers had commented on the bezel bleeping and flicking through screens randomly when exposed to water or sweat. I was quick to reject that the forerunner 405 had a problem but I should have kept my mouth shut.
Running through this downpour left my watch bleeping like crazy as I tried to stop the timer and move it off the training mode. In the end I had to wait for it to run out of battery life to switch off. Serious design flaw here.
I’ve had the forerunner 405 for a few months now and as it’s pretty much rained non-stop throughout the whole of summer, I find it hard to believe that I didn’t notice the problem earlier. I’m wondering if it could possibly be related to the recent firmware I downloaded - doesn’t really sound like a software issue but I’ve upgraded to the latest update just in case.
Popularity: 29% [?]
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Tags: Forerunner, Forerunner 405, Garmin, Nike, Nike+ Sportband, t-shirt
July 17, 2008 at 8:56 pm · Filed under Bikes, Cycling, Equipment
I have just entered the Brompton World Championship race to be held at Blenheim Palace.
Catch that, a world bloody championship!
Anyway, rules state I must wear a suit jacket, collared shirt and a tie.
I don’t have a tie - disaster!
Anybody got a spare tie that would complement my delightful bike and wouldn’t be impaired by a gallon of sweat?
Popularity: 22% [?]
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Tags: bike, Brompton, folding bike, WBC08
July 4, 2008 at 8:16 am · Filed under Bikes, Commuting, Cycling, Equipment, Road
Here’s a quick pictorial introduction to the new bike recruit.
The Brompton is squeezing alongside the other two bikes and trying to carve out a niche for itself.
So far it’s doing very well and I’m beginning to worry about what I’ll do with the other two.
I wonder if I could have a go at a sprint tri with it? It certainly needs to have a go at some sort of challenge event just to cement it’s street cred.
A marvel of British engineering.
Here it is in transition mode - notice the sweet pea holder built into the Brompton bag - how useful is that?
Just to continue the bike porn theme, here it is in full glory.
I’ll just finish by plugging the WizzBike - the best bike shop I’ve come across so far. Superb service, it’s based in Brentford but well worth the trip if you are interested in Bromptons, folders or Pashleys.
Popularity: 27% [?]
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Tags: bike, Brompton, Brookes saddle, folding bike
June 12, 2008 at 10:53 pm · Filed under Equipment, Gadgets
As you all know, I think the Garmin Forerunner 305 is the best thing since sliced bread but I’m so fickle it’s taken barely a thought for me to stick it on ebay and swap it for the new version - the Forerunner 405.
I’d like to say the new and IMPROVED Forerunner 405 but is it?
Reading the spec list it’s hard to see where Garmin made any attempts to improve on what had gone before, they missed out by not making it fully waterproof and therefore tri suitable, for example. Instead they appear to have simply repackaged the existing 305 as a sports watch that can be worn all day with the bonus of a nifty touch sensitive bezel control.
Out of the box, I decided I liked the look and feel of the watch very much. Garmin put a lot of effort into design and the strap closure is ingenious, a big improvement on the 305 which kept coming loose, snagging on my clothing and risked falling off. A minor point maybe, but Garmin are big on the little details.
The watch charged fully in 3 hours by the use of a strange bulldog style clip that slips snugly into a couple of recesses on the back of the watch. Another neat design but I fear it is just going to prove an inconvenience. With the 305 you uploaded data to the PC by slotting it into a USB docking station and it would charge at the same time as uploading. I’d leave my device in for a few minutes longer and thereby ensure I always hard a fully charged unit. With the 405, uploading data is automatic and will occur while the watch is still on your wrist, which now means I’ll have to remember to charge the unit separately.
In standby mode (ie time display only) the watch will supposedly last 20 days, although I’m down to 89% charged after 1 day so I doubt it will last much longer than a week. When used in active mode the battery life is expected to be in the region of 8 hours. So that’s another charging gizmo to be added to my pile of wires under my bed.
I thought the software was a bit of a faff to install, it didn’t happen automatically and I had to hunt around to see what it was that needed to be loaded up. It comes with Training Centre but after installing it I immediately removed it again because I remembered how pants it is. Instead I’m using the ANT uploader linked to Garmin Connect which is quite a neat online training log.
Setting up the watch is a doddle and it takes you through the process quickly with a mini tutorial that teaches you the basics of the bezel control. Basically:
- press and hold on the relevant label to access either time/date, training, menu or GPS functions
- slide around the bezel to move through menu options
- tap to accept
- tap in two separate places to activate the backlight
All very easy really. I had no problems using the bezel on the run, not that you need to use it much, you can tap to nudge the screen to a different view and in virtual partner mode you can increase/decrease the pace of your partner by sliding the bezel. I’m particularly fond of that feature as it means I can ensure I win every race now.
I’ve heard a few people fearing that accidental touches of the bezel would mess up the data but they shouldn’t worry. The start, stop and lap functions are all controlled by the big side buttons. Pressing the bezel during a run just alters the view - not a big deal. I haven’t tried it with gloves but as long as they aren’t massive affairs it shouldn’t be a problem.
For my first run I decided to set up a simple interval session, run 90 secs, walk 60 secs. I know that’s lame but I’ve got a cold and needed the walk periods to retrieve my hankies and have a good blow! Easy enough to setup, you don’t even need the manual. Features and settings are much more intuitive on the 405 than with its predecessor.
The intervals were well “signposted”, I was given a 5 second warning of loud beeps followed by a clear “chirrup” that marked the start of the next interval. I didn’t miss one and I appreciated the warning. A good feature.
I personalised the display I wanted to see on the run, you can choose upto 9 features to be displayed on 3 screens. On my main screen I had pace, time and distance and I accepted the defaults for the other screens. It’s well worth playing around though as there appear to be some great features. This is available on the heart rate screen for example and shows progress within your heart rate zones.
I had set the screens to auto scroll but will turn this off for the next run, I think it is more convenient to control the screen I view by tapping the bezel, that way I don’t have to wait for it to get around to the bit I’m interested in.
Back home, I was just unlocking my door, when the watch beeped to say it was uploading data. By the time I’d staggered through the hall to the laptop, my stats were already displayed on the Garmin connect website.
As a simple everyday watch its functioning fine, but I would have preferred the power save mode to be the time and date screen, not just the time display. It’s a fiddle unlocking the bezel so I can access the date feature. Its also quite chunky so if you have a small wrist you are unlikely to find it very comfortable and it will probably overhang a little. I don’t have a small wrist though so I’m alright Jack.
I’m pretty pleased with it so far and think there are clear signs of improvement, I’ll be scrutinizing it further though and am particularly keen to see if there are any improvements with the speed in which it locks on to a GPS signal.
*UPDATE 22 July*
If you are in the market for a GPS running watch, this is the leader in my opinion but as for pros and cons of the 405 vs 305 here goes:
Pros:
- Faster GPS pick up, I’ve seen responses within seconds even when I’m moving but it is still not perfect. In heavily built up areas of London the reception is slow.
- Louder volume on the beep/alarm so you can actually use it for interval training.
- You can wear it as a watch all day - should last about 2 weeks before charging.
- There are a lot of new screens available and it is very easy to adjust - more intuitive than the 305.
- You can adjust the speed of the virtual training partner while you are on the run.
- Easy wireless upload.
- Smaller, lighter and more inconspicuous.
Cons:
- Sometimes the bezel seems to be a little unresponsive, so if I tap the edge to get to a different screen it may not respond, so I tap again and eventually it goes crazy and skips thru multiple screens.
- Because I don’t want the useless training centre on my computer I have to be quick if I want to upload the run to Sportstracks, as it doesn’t seem to save the file on my pc.
- When the watch gets wet - say from splashing at a water fountain - the bezel goes nuts and the forerunner generally doesn’t respond. Wipe it dry and its back to normal again. See comments 22-25 and here’s a link to one bloggers frustrating although amusing communication with garmin about the issue.
Not many cons really but maybe I’ll to them later.
Popularity: 100% [?]
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Tags: asics, Forerunner, Forerunner 305, Forerunner 405, Garmin, GPS
June 3, 2008 at 8:47 pm · Filed under Equipment, Gadgets
The Nike+ Sportband is clearly not designed for use in British weather conditions, after this mornings run in the rain the watch has died on me. It was admittedly tipping it down but it’s supposed to be a running watch and runners run in the rain, they have to.
The screen has clouded up with condensation and half the display seems to have disappeared.
It’s quite a shame really as I enjoyed the motivating aspect of the online challenges. Oh well, at least it frees up another wrist.
Popularity: 26% [?]
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Tags: Nike, Nike+ Sportband
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