A great year of running - 2016

The year has come to an end and it's time to reflect :-)

It has been a crazy year for me regarding running! I've come much further than I've ever dreamt of, and I'm very pleased with my achievements. The craziness started last year (2015) when I finally decided to sign up for my first ultra run in January '16 - A 35 mile course with somewhat +1300m of elevation gain. What an awesome day and great scenic course along the white cliffs of Dover in perfect weather! Loved it!! 😊

Then in somewhat early January, I entered a ballot to become an #EpsonRunner for Epson to test one of their newly launched GPS watches. And guess what - I got chosen alongside with 99 others. Yay! I was very pleased with that. I had to test and review the watch and make 5 videos on different topics through out February and March, and then I was allowed to keep the watch afterwards. 😀

Then also during January I got approached by a guy from Endomondo if I'd like to be part of an ambassador-team of 7 people for the #YouVsTheYear initiative for Under Armour UK - A challenge to run 1000km in 2016. I've really enjoyed being a part of this great initiative. It's been great fun indeed! 😉
Remember to sign up for the 2017-version!

On 16th July I set out to run 100km in a single day - Race To The Stones. A great event - very well organised. I came 84 of 956 in total spending 12h33m52s. A great experience, and it will not be my last of this kind. Also in July I was "interviewed" for the Endomondo Blog about my running and training. And by coincidence got my "picture" in Trail Running Magazine - sort of... 😋 Look carefully behind the woman in front...

In August I was "hand-picked" by the Suunto Team to test and review the new Suunto Spartan Ultra Multi Sport GPS watch. I was selected based on my footage from my 100km run earlier in the year. Here I was one of 14 to test and review the watch. I later got to keep it. There are still many software updates planned for the watch. I like the watch very much and I'm looking very much forward to use it with all it's functionalities fully working. 

At the Oxford Half-marathon in October the goal was to beat my PB from last year (2015). I had focused my training to gain more speed though the last few months leading up to the race. I managed to beat my PB from '15 with over 4 minutes - 1h25m44s. 😁 A great day with family vising and running from Denmark and perfect weather. 

The year in numbers:

• Distance: 3722km - almost twice of 2015 (1888km)
• Elevation gain: 28760m
• Calories burned (running): 148052
• Races: 2 ultras + 1 half-marathon
• Running shoes added to the collection: 5

All in all a great year of running for me - I hope it's been a good one for you as well! Let's see what 2017 brings!
Happy New Year all😊

#YouVsTheYear #RunWithFight #HappyNewYear

See you out there in the new year!

Best M.

November 2016

A great month of running - Logged 401km 😀

November has come to an end and winter is upon us, which mean freezing temperatures, slippery roads and more or less permanent forehead markings from the head-torch...

For me it's been a great month of running. I've logged 401km according to Endomondo, which is near the monthly distance as of when I trained for Race To The Stones (100km) earlier this year. I'm pleased to yet again having reached this level. 😀

I love this time of year. When I go for my early morning runs (wake up at 5:30am), it is still dark and quiet outside. Only a few souls are up at this early hour - mostly for work it seems. And when leaving the city centre of Oxford to run along the river, I pretty much got it all to myself. Engulfed in the cold darkness I can almost only hear my own breathing and my foot steps. 

Then, somewhere along the route, the sun starts rising very slowly and the world around me slowly becomes more and more visible in the dim light from the sun still hiding behind the horizon...
A special time of day indeed 😊

I've been to a few evening sessions with Headington Road Runners - a running club in Oxford not far from where I live. So far I've been to a couple of Thursday sessions, which is the main weekly session 'suitable for all abilities'. Although I as good as always have been running by myself, except for races, it was fun to be running with equal-minded. It was also great to be running in places I've never been before - different to where I usually run. 
I've also been attending a Saturday cross-country session in South Park. A great but tough session - loved it 😎

During my own training runs I've been on a few long ones in November. On one of them, I followed the Oxford Canal out of Oxford, turned around at some point and the same way back. A decent run of some 42km - or a Marathon if you like 😃 On this run I found some great street-art under a bridge over the Oxford Canal 😃
#OxfordsHiddenGems

Another run was about 35km following the River Thames upstream from Oxford, round the back side of Farmoor Reservoir, and over Boars Hill back to Oxford. A great run which claimed its prize in terms of blood. I thought I'd found the right path (via my pre-loaded bread-crumb-trail on the Suunto Spartan Ultra) but I found myself running through knee-high nettles and thorn-bushes for some hundred metres before actually finding the path I was supposed to be on. However, a lovely run nevertheless. 😄

All in all, a great month of running 😉

#YouVsTheYear #RunWithFight #IWILL

See ya out there...

Best M.

Review Under Armour Charged Bandit 2 Night

A small review of the Under Armour Charged Bandit 2 Night 😃

I've got my hands on a pair of Under Armour Charged Bandit 2 Night and have decided to write a small review on them. Under Armour is relatively new in the running-shoe-business, and some are not aware that they actually make shoes as well besides sports clothes. However, they are playing around with many different models and makes, and I have got to try a few including the Under Armour Fat Tire Low trail shoes, which I wrote about some months ago and like very very much!


I'm not gonna write about all the technical details which you can find here on the Under Armour website. Instead I'm gonna write about how if find them and what I like about them and what I like not-so-much.

To start with, the looks of them is great in my opinion. I like the black/orange colours. The top and sides are reflective which helps to be seen in the dark. The top-front of the shoe is fairly soft and forgiving when touched/poked, but not really stretchy, which I find good, as you want your toes/forefoot to stay in place during a run, and not "floating" around in the toe-box. If compared to the Under Armour SpeedForm Gemini 2 or the Under Armour SpeedForm Slingshot, the foot is more fixated in the Bandit 2 Night shoe. Not that the Gemini and Slingshot are not comfortable, they are very much indeed, but I feel my forefoot are moving a bit around in them.

Many Under Amour running shoes have no cushioning on the inside of the heel-cap, which may seem strange when comparing to many other brands, but once I put them on, I don't feel it at all - nice and comfy :-) The heel-support in the Bandit 2 Night is better then in the Gemini 2 and the Slingshot, which I see as a major improvement. I found it bit too loose in the other two for running and I have the feeling of being able to slide out of the shoes at times. I don't have that feeling with the Bandit 2 Night. In my opinion they have a fairly tight grip around my feet while still being comfortable and having space for the toes as well. 

The tongue (the loose flapping part under the laces) is fairly wide and goes along way down on the side of my feet. However, it is not noticed when I tie the laces, and they tie up nicely around my feet. I've left out the top lace-hole as the laces otherwise will go too high up in my opinion. 

My first few runs in them has been great. They feel good and the cushioning is a bit better than in the Gemini 2 in my opinion. I've read that some find it a bit too hard, and that the sole changes character after a while of running. I have not noticed any of this yet, as I've only been out in them a few times. I'll take them for a long run later to feel them with my own feet 😀  


The sole has a good grip on the ground, though in places it felt a bit slippery due to the many fallen leaves on the ground and wet weather, which is doomed to be slippery... So pretty much any shoe would feel slippery in these conditions.

I like the direction Under Armour is taking and so far, I like these Bandits quite a bit and compared to other models I've tried from the Under Armour range, these Bandits are the best I've tried so far for road-running 😊

Oh - and I've now passed the 2016-mile-mark(~3244km) for the year 😉💪

See ya out there and stay safe 😉

#UnderArmour #YouVsTheYear #RunWithFight #IWILL

Best M.

PS: The running shoes have been kindly provided by Under Armour UK, however, the views are my own!
 

Autumn running

Last week I hit 3000km for 2016 - Way longer than last year! :-)

Totals of 8th November 2016

This year I've been running a lot more than I did last year. Last year I managed to conquer 1888km, and with almost two months left I might even almost double that number. So far I've passed 3000km which I'm very pleased about. I set a target some months back to hit 2016 miles (approx. 3244 km) in 2016. I'll pass that target in a few weeks time. It will be tough to cover twice the distance of last year (3776) - it's 666km from today - a nice "round" number ;-) 

In previous years I've been running a lot less. I've been running for a long time on and off, but throughout the previous years I've kept at it to push further to test my abilities. One question arises from that: 

How do I know where the limit is? 

I honestly don't know - and I think most people don't know their limits when it comes to running - even at anything in life... And what does it take for me to say: "This is it - this far but no further!"? - Yet again, I cannot answer that...
For now, however, I definitely don't feel like I've hit the wall just yet, so I'll continue to explore my capabilities as a runner. 

Regarding the Suunto Spartan Ultra, I've been so fortunate that I can keep the watch. I'll continue to test it as new software updates are released. The last update was for supporting Android phones for the Movescount interface. I've now managed to upload my exercise data via the phone (a bit slow though), and can now receive notifications from various phone apps on the watch display using Bluetooth. This works fine, though I'd love to be able to deactivate the sound when a notification is received! I now use some gel for solving the HR issues. Works just fine, though it should not be necessary, but apparently it is for me!
UPDATE: I'm now back to not using any gel - only water to wet the HR electrodes before an exercise, and it now works fairly reliable! I'm not sure if I'm doing anything differently or a software update has done the trick!

I've got some updates I'd like to see in future updates for the Suunto Spartan Ultra:

• Display your daily steps/calories in Movescount
• Use different colours in Movescount: when more than two data-inputs are selected, all data curves are white, except the last one chosen, which makes it hard to distinguishes them!
• The possibility to set HR range-alarms, pace-alarms, etc.
• Sounds/vibrations on/off for notifications
• Include avg. paddle rate/stroke rate for kayaking in the Movescount overview.

It's it definitely getting colder out there, and this morning we had sub-zero degrees in Oxford. I still chose to run in shorts though, which was just fine :-) And with the colder weather, comes darkness as well. I bring my Petzl Tikka XP head-torch for these mornings along with my high-vis vest - Both to be able to see but also to bee seen!

I've included some photos from this autumn, which can be found at the very bottom of this post. Please view them in full-screen :-)

Safe running out there :-)

#YouVsTheYear #RunWithFight #IWILL #SuuntoSpartan

Best M.
 

Oxford Half Marathon 2016 - New PB

Some of the awesome people from Falcon :-)

Yeah - New PB at Oxford Half Marathon - 1h25m44s :-D Pleased!!

In the last few months after finishing Race To The Stones (100km) I've been focusing on my upcoming half-marathon in Oxford (9th. Oct. 2016). It's local to me as I live in Oxford, so one I have to do. I wanted to beat my PB from 2015, which was 1h29m47s. To do that I've been slagging on my long runs and including a bit more speed-work as intervals, hill sprints and shorter tempo-runs. 

The Oxford Half-marathon was a great event, and the weather was perfect for running! As said I managed to improve my time from last year with just over 4 minutes! I came 170th of 7686 finishers in total, 160th of men of 4263 and 166th in my age category (2464). Some stats from the event can be seen here.

I haven't been doing any full-distance test-runs. I find it really difficult to compare a training/test-run with a race-run, as I wont have the same conditions as in a race anyway, so I simply trusted that my training would be sufficient to carry me through. For me, training is for improving and increasing my level of fitness, strength and speed in all it's aspects - And races are for testing if my training has been sufficient for that particular race and for achieving PBs :-)

3rd place at
Henley Hasler K2 Kayaking

I haven't been running as much as I could have in the last month, as I've had many kayaking races on my programme and wanted save a bit of energy and focus a bit on this as well, which did pay off by getting a 3rd place at Henley Hasler in a K2 :-) 

For now, I'm once again gonna focus more on distance/time on my feet instead of speed. I worked on increasing my speed for the Oxford Half-marathon, and did less long runs. However, I missed the longer slower runs where time doesn't matter and simply enjoying the scenery. So now it's time to slowly increase my week mileage again in preparation for next years long runs :-) 

As many others I was unsuccessful in the ballot for London Marathon 2017. But it's okay - I'll find some trail race instead :-) For next year I've got my eyes on some longer races/runs which I'll hopefully be able to find both time and money for :-) More on these later...!

It's getting dark out there in the mornings and evenings, so bring out your Hi-Vis vest and lights both to be able to see but also to be seen! Stay safe! :-)

See you out there! :-)

#YouVsTheYear #RunWithFight

Best. M.

Suunto Spartan Ultra for a month: Week 4

Yet another update has arrived for the Suunto Spartan Ultra!! :-)

I'm pleased that Suunto keeps generating updates for the watch, and I'd very much like to follow their progress of updating the functionalities of this highly specked watch in the future. However, this might be my last week having the watch available for testing, so I will probably not get to test a fully optimised version of the watch and all the new functionalities such as interval planning and customised displays. :-( 

However, I'm very pleased to have had the opportunity to try it out and test it throughout September and I am very honoured that Suunto chose to include me in this with the customised packing of the watch and description for why I was chose and all.


Thank you very much Suunto!! :-) 


Right - I've updated the watch to software version 1.2.0 and the response time in the watch menu is now quite good. I believe the delay between pushing the start-button and actually start of the timer when starting an exercise session has been eliminated. :-) 

An alarm has been added for the everyday clock usage. However, it would be great if it was easier to access, e.g. together with the stopwatch instead of being located in the settings menu. You can also change colour of the clock-face. Moreover, you now get asked how your exercise was after a session. Sadly the support for Android phones have been delayed a bit and was not a part of this update as first planned.

It is now possible to see battery levels during an exercise session by tapping the display. I would very much like the battery level to be displayed when charging it as well.

I've tested the 3 GPS modes again after the software update, and it seems to be performing similar to my findings of last time. In OK-mode, where the update rate is 60 seconds, I'd expect a crude course. I do get a very crude estimated route, but not until several minutes into the run shown by the RED arrows below. The first part in OK-mode is actually very similar the GOOD and BEST modes (displayed by the GREEN arrows). The watch should be able to hold for 65 hours in OK-mode, but I think it's too crude for many purposes. The battery should last for 26 hours in GOOD-mode and 16 hours in BEST-mode.

I've been having some issues related to the heart-rate monitor ranging from disconnection to odd flat values to unrealistically high values while running at slow pace throughout the whole period of time I've been using the watch. And the run above was no exception... :-( 

There are still a few things I'd like to have added to the next updates:

• Make the auto-start of a session after approx. 30 sec. optional. 
• I'd like to have customised interchangeable icons/data areas on the main watch-face like battery levels, steps, calories, time of alarm, time to next planned session, temperature, etc.
• Customising the number of steps and calorie levels for the daily activity tracking
• Show all data in the overview of a session in Movescount. For example is "cadence" (stroke rate) not displayed for kayaking.
• Auto-estimate activity levels to be used in Movescount, instead of me having to set my levels manually - the watch is after all monitoring my activity 24/7 anyway... Why not exploit this?!
• Make it possible to track different types of kayaks and canoes (e.g. K1, K2 and K4) to be able to track PBs in each discipline.
• Show battery levels on the watch when charging   

3rd place at Henley Hasler - K2 Kayaking

It's a bit sad that I'll most likely have to return the watch now that things have started to come together and the basic usage is in place. I'd very much like to follow the progress though the next many months of updates to experience the continuous improvement of this highly specked multi-sport watch!

The Suunto Team seems to be listening to user-feedback and adjust the functionalities of the watch accordingly to give the users the best experience. I can only speculate, but my guess is, that this is the reason why they have put a not-fully-updated watch on the market - to get user feedback for optimising it for what ever the users want and desire.

However - It's been fun testing it, and although I've experienced a few issues, I still believe this watch has a great potential when fully updated! :-)

The next scheduled updates are: (From Suunto.com)

• 28.9. (Released on time) Improvements to daily use (such as alarm clock) and training functions, peer-to-peer coaching on Suunto Movescount.com. The Android compatibility is unfortunately delayed. We expect to release this within the first 3 weeks of October.
• 12.10. Ability to adjust default sport mode settings
• 19.10. Progress Tool, Personal Bests and Community Training Insights on Suunto Movescount.com 
• 26.10. Sport mode customisation, training plans to your watch and more 
• 11/2016 Altitude and Barometric trends, POI Navigation & heart rate zones graph for training
• 12/2016 Rest & recovery 
• Q1/2017 Route altitude profile, interval training support, performance and recovery analysis on the watch

#SuuntoSpartan Ultra

See you out there :-)

Best M.

PS: Views are my own! The watch has been provided by Suunto for me to test for a month, after which it has to be returned.

Suunto Spartan Ultra for a month: Week 3

I have had the Suunto Spartan Ultra for about 3 weeks now, and I'm still looking forward to the latest software update (should arrive later in September).

I have compared the GPS modes when kayaking and running. There are three different settings: BEST which allows for 16 hours of usage, GOOD which allows for 26 hours of usage and OK which allows for 65 hours of usage according to Suunto (These times have not been tested by me). With the longer battery life comes less accuracy for the GPS. For kayaking I find the OK mode too crude in the accuracy as can be seen on the figure below where the estimated course cuts corners in OK-mode compared to the BEST-mode.

A thing I'd like to see, is the possibility to switch between K1, K2 and K4 in kayaking mode, to be able to keep track of PBs in the different kayak-types. 

I've also tested the three GPS modes when running. Did a loop in the local University Parks, one in each mode: BEST, GOOD and OK (click for more details in Movescount). The accuracy in BEST and GOOD was fine, but something strange happened in OK-mode. It started with good accuracy following the path quite accurately, which then turned into a crude zig-zag course at the end, as seen in the figure below. The update frequency is 60 sec. hence I'd expect the estimated course to be somewhat crude. But I'm not sure why I get the output I do in this mode. 

Sadly I also have to report that the heart-rate monitor was acting strangely (again). In the BEST-mode (top figure below), the HR was way off for the first half at levels I've never been to before and never will go to - and certainly not at that relatively slow pace (avg. 5:18 min/km). For the second loop in GOOD-mode, HR levels were strangely low at first (82 bpm), then it was at okay levels, followed by some slow in creasing to way too high levels for that pace (avg. pace 5:23 min/km). And for the OK-mode, HR-data was completely missing. 

I've experienced multiple times where the HR-data is either faulty or the monitor has lost connection to the watch. It might be my watch/HR monitor that has a fault somewhere. I haven't heard about anyone else having these problems yet. I decided to change the battery in the Movesense HR-monitor, to see if this would have any effect. Sadly this had no effect as seen on the figure below.

Tempo run 19th September 2016 - See more in Movescount here

I also have doubts that my pace towards the end of my run was really that "flat" - a straight line! and that my HR would be that high! 

I still hope that the next software eliminates these issues I've been experiencing. I keep my fingers crossed!

#SuuntoSpartan 

See you out there... :-)

Best M.

PS: Views are my own! The watch has been provided by Suunto for me to test for a month, after which it has to be returned.

Suunto Spartan Ultra for a month: Week 2

I have now had the Suunto Spartan Ultra multi sport GPS watch for about two weeks, and the first software update has been released and has been installed (now using software release 1.1.30). 

Top: HR loss running (1.1.24)
Bottom: HR loss kayaking (1.1.30)

I've come to experience a few heart-rate drop-outs during my exercises - both when kayaking and running. Apparently the first software update to 1.1.30 didn't fix my problems. I'm hoping the next update will!
I've experiences 3 dropouts in total.

I've also experienced touch screen activation by rain drops/sweat droplets e.g. displays the clock during a session. However, you can lock the screen by pressing and holding the lower button during a session, so this wont be happening. 

A thing I'm finding a bit irritating, is that when "start" is pressed for a session, the timer doesn't start immediately, but it displays "Starting..." for a moment and then, after a few moments, starts the timer. I want the timer immediately and not a few moments later...

The watch is a bit slow to wake up when the main clock-face is displayed is a button is pressed. It takes about 2 seconds, which may not seem much, but I find it a bit annoying. I also find the inconsistency in methods used for going back in the watch menu less than optimal, which can either be back-swipe or having to scroll all the way up to "back" (or double tapping in some cases to get back to the main watch face - a short cut I think).

Right - enough moaning...
The watch has a good colour display which is easy to read. It is fast to obtain GPS signals (less than 5 seconds so far), and the same is true for detecting the HR monitor. It has great battery life, which is rated to 16h, 26h and 65h in GPS-modes BEST, GOOD and OK. I haven't testes these modes yet though. I'm pleased that it supports many different sports, which for me is running, mountain biking, kayaking plus some strength/circuit workouts till now. In kayaking the stroke rate (cadence) is recorded, however, for some reason the average cadence is not displayed in the top overview in Movescount for kayaking mode. The cadence data in kayaking mode also seems a bit noisy when displayed in Movescount. The chest strap for HR monitoring is still not causing any problems. 

I'm still awaiting the second software update for September to unlock further functionalities including customised data fields, Android compatibility, an alarm clock and more. I'm uncertain if interval settings will be included also, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

These are things I would like to see updated:

• Customised interval settings if not included in the next update
• Battery indicator on main screen - possibly as one of the small interchangeable icons
• Customised step count/calorie targets
• Possibility to delete workouts on the watch
• List all data in Movescount: it does not show avg. cadence (paddle strokes) in kayaking
• A timer integrated with the clock/stopwatch
• Customised data fields on the main clock screen to toggle though
• Different colours for Movescount (web version) for different data fields selected
• An optical HR monitor for extended tracking of daily activities (I believe this is planned for the next version)
• Estimation of resting heart rate
• Automatically estimation of activity levels instead of having to set this manually in Movescount
• Possibly wifi
• Faster response times when interacting with the watch menu 
• Lap-representation displayed as bars in Movescount 

As mentioned before - The watch has the potential to be awesome, when all updates are installed, but a bit expensive...

I'll keep you updated on my findings!

See you out there... :-)

#SuuntoSpartan

Best M.
PS: Views are my own! The watch has been provided by Suunto for me to test for a month, after which it has to be returned.

First week with the Suunto Spartan Ultra

I've had the Suunto Spartan Ultra for about week, and I've used it for my training as much as possible. I'm feeling very lucky to have been chosen by Suunto to use this brand new multi sport GPS watch, all wrapped up in personalised packing for me specifically. :-)

First of all, let me point out that two software updates have been planned for September, hence what I write about may be different for the fully updated version of the watch.
(Based on software release 1.1.24)

So - what's been happening? 

Stroke rate when kayaking

Till now I've been using the watch for running, kayaking and a bit of circuit training/strength training, casual biking and walking. In general the watch seems quite robustly build - this version has Sapphire glass and grade 5 Titanium. The wrist strap is very soft and flexible and the watch feels great on my arm. It weighs a little less than my Garmin Forerunner 310XT - 72 grams - and is similar in size, though a bit thinner. Hence, the watch feels quite normal to wear for me. 

Overview of my activities

The colour touch-screen is great though you can experience a tiny delay in the response. Great resolution and good viewing angles. The watch menu seem fairly intuitive to use, though there are places where the "back-stroke" (to go back in the menu) on the touch screen has not been chosen to be implemented, hence one need to use the buttons or scroll your way back to the top. But this is no big deal - it's probably just me not understanding, how the menu should work. But consistency would have been nice...

Back-tracking is possible

I wanted to use it for my long run in the weekend, but had some glitches. Firstly the watch froze displaying "Starting..." after I had started the session. For some reason the timer does not start immediately when the button is pressed, but displays "Starting..." for a brief moment and then starts the timer and logging. I find that a bit annoying - I want it to start when I press the button, and not a few moments after... Anyways, I had to reinstall the software on the watch via my laptop to get it going again. These issues will hopefully be solved with the software updates.


Later on my long run same day, I noticed that the watch had lost the connection to the heart rate monitor. I had to stop the session and start a new one to reconnect. Here after no problems were found. I also hope this is solved with the updates.

The chest strap is great - nice and soft, and so far, I haven't had any issues with chafing. It is barely noticeable. Of course an optical HR monitor would be great, but I have not had the best experiences with this technology while testing the Epson Runsense SF-810, where the HR at times could not be detected in cold weather or were faulty due to movement - especially in interval-sessions and hill-repeats. I believe Suunto is planning on launching an optical version around Christmas 2016. 

Clock shown in the white field.

I was about to bitch about the lack of displaying a clock when using the watch in a session. But I found out that I only needed to tap the screen, and a temporary clock appears for a few seconds. 

In the web app, you need to specify your level of activity. This I would have preferred to be estimated automatically - after all, the watch is measuring my activities 24/7, so why is this not automatically estimated?

Heat map

The web app can show maps of your exercise coloured relatively to how tough your workout were. It can also show a heat map displaying where most people in your area (or in other places) exercise the most, coloured in dark orange for running, and hereby discover new places to workout.

It would be great if I could transfer the watch data to my laptop without having to connect it via the charging cable e.g. via Bluetooth, which is already in the watch for connecting to your smart phone. However, the Android version for this is not yet ready. 

I love that the watch can be used for many different sports, especially kayaking where it estimates my stroke rate, but it is hard to test it's full potential when there are two updates waiting to be released. I'm looking very much forward to play around with the watch after the updates have been installed.

So far I'd say it's a great piece of gear, solid build, great display, support for multi-sport activities, though expensive, and it has the potential to be awesome once the updates are released :-)

See you out there...

#Suunto #SuuntoSpartan #SpartanUltra

Best M.

PS: Views are my own! The watch has been provided by Suunto for me to test for a month, after which it has to be returned.

Suunto Spartan Ultra for a month

Got a great message a few weeks

ago, that I had been selected along with 13 others, to test the new Suunto Spartan Ultra All Black Titanium HR multi sport GPS watch - all because of my Race To The Stones video footage ;-) I like this!! 

#SuuntoSpartan
Thank you Suunto! :-)

I'll have the watch in my possession for a month (September 2016), and will do my best to test it as much as possible in both running, kayaking and when mountain biking - and what other crazy things I can come up with... There are some challenges related to the testing, which in the end may lead to that I can keep the watch if I win. Let's see if I'm prepared to do what it takes...

The first impressions of the device is that it's robust and seems to be able to handle some tough conditions (made from titanium and sapphire glass), though it is fairly light and the wrist band is soft and flexible. The chest strap for heart-rate monitoring is also very soft, and I'm keen to find out if any chafing will occur on my longer runs (like with the original strap for my Garmin Forerunner 310XT! Now using the strap from my old Garmin Forerunner 305)

The touch screen works great, and the menu seems easy and relatively intuitive to use. There are some things which I'm missing a bit. A simple alarm when worn as a normal watch - this will be part of a software update (hopefully soon). 

There are some other functionalities, which hopefully will also be included in a soon-to-arrive software update. I wanted to use the watch for an interval session, but there are no settings for this (yet) even tough there's a sports-mode for it, which only change the screen layout. Therefore I had to use my Epson Runsense SF-810, which actually does great on that point (but is also lacking the normal "alarm"-thing).

It has 80 different pre-programmed sports-modes, and I'm pleased that it can be used for kayaking as well where it estimates the stroke-rate among other things. And should I capsize, the watch is waterproof down to 100m. It also tracks daily activity in terms of steps and calories burned. It estimates your recovery time and I miss some customisation of screens and activities (like intervals), but that will be coming with a software update (hopefully soon!).

Anyway - I'm gonna take it for some long runs this weekend and some more kayaking. I'll include mountain biking at some point as well, but lets see when I can find the time for it. So far I like the device very much, but the promised update of the software will make it even better! :-)

See you out there!! :-) 

#Suunto #SuuntoSpartan #SpartanUltra #RTTS2016

Best M.

PS: Views are my own! The watch has been provided by Suunto for me to test for a month, after which it has to be returned.

UPDATE: A list of planned updates for September can be found here!