Running Commentary

My formal preparation for this race started on 18th January. I had hoped to start earlier, but the last couple of marathons had left me with a high hamstring strain in my left thigh (you can actually isolate the tender bundle of muscle on deep palpation) and I spent the bulk of December waiting for it to go away through a combination of Nordic curls and gluteal exercises. Then I came down with a stomach virus on 11 th Jan and the next few days were confined to light exercise. I gradually built up the mileage over the next 4 weeks doing mainly endurance based work, and that went relatively ok; the hamstring was barely noticeable during this period. The next 2-3 weeks were the aerobic phase where I did more race pace efforts, the first of which was on 14 th Feb with Andy at Bedok Reservoir. Andy was doing his final workout before Tokyo, and so we did 2x 8.6km at ~4:00 pace. I then did another 8.6km of fartleks alternating at 4:30/3:45 pace averaging 4:11 for lap 1 and 4:13 for lap...

UnderArmour Speedform Gemini Retail: SGD$199 Weight: 282g US9.5 The first time I saw a UA running shoe was actually in Boston in April 2014. The Speedform Apollo and Speedform RC had just been released and were not sold in Singapore at the time. I remember trying them on and though they had a lightweight racy feel to them, the midsole and outsole felt somewhat stiff and very firm. Fast forward to December 2014, and the online forums were buzzing about the newly released Speedform Gemini, UA’s first attempt at producing a daily trainer for runners. Early testers and reviewers were wowed by the ride and feel of the shoe, and I decided I wanted to see it for myself. By this time, several UA concept stores had opened in Singapore and I popped over to the store at Orchard Gateway to check it out. I’ll go into the details of the shoe in a bit, but suffice to say I left the store having bought the most expensive pair of running shoes in my life. I would wear them for...

Before I delve into my reviews, I wish to provide a short proviso on myself as a recreational athlete so that you can get an idea of the perspective from which I draw my conclusions in my reviews. I’ve been doing endurance sports since 2003, though mostly in the realm of triathlons. Since 2013, I started running more exclusively with a focus on marathons. I am ~63kg and have low arches, and I tend to have a heel striking gait. My running style tends to adopt a gliding motion with very little toe off, as opposed to the springy running style that some runners have. Most of my running is in the 4:30-5:00/km pace so take that as the foundation on which i base my reviews