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.