Like every sport or hobby, it’s easy to get carried away buying the latest-greatest must-haves and spending more money than you have. If you like running or you know someone who does, the basics are fairly straightforward: a good pair of shoes (if you’re local, see Advance Performance, if not, find a specialist running store with gait analysis), shorts, long or short sleeved Ts and you’re pretty much good to go.
Oh, alright then…I don’t stick to just the basics and it’s always lovely to have new ‘stuff’… and at this time of year you can always hope that Santa will be kind. So here are a few of my suggestions if you’re looking to buy a gift for the runner in your life:
Garmin Forerunner 305 Wrist-Worn GPS Personal Training Device with Heart Rate Monitor
I found this on Amazon at £134.98 – This great gadget monitors heart rate, speed, distance, pace and calories burned. It has a powerful GPS thingy that uses the same sat-nav technology you use in your car. Yes, it looks quite bulky but I’ve heard you don’t notice that when you’re out running and in fact you’ll be quite glad that it has a screen that you can easily read whilst you’re training. When you think you can spend close to £100 on a good heart rate monitor alone, this seems to be pretty good value with all the added features. Invaluable for all runners and cyclists.
Sennheiser PMX80S II Headphones
I use a pair of these brilliant headphones, with an iPod shuffle, every time I run. I struggled with the ordinary iPod earpieces..they kept moving or falling out of my ears. These, however, are fabulous – they stay in place, I don’t notice them, they’re sweat proof and water resistant and the sound quality is absolutely brilliant. You can pick up a pair for around £17.99
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On my long runs I use this to help carry a carb/protein drink. It fits snuggly with the bottle sitting against my lower back. The belt has useful pockets for anything extra you might need like glucose tablets, tissues, inhalers etc. I don’t really notice I’m wearing it. A snip at £16.99
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There are some great magazine subscriptions out there. I love ‘Runner’s World’ – full of really useful help and advice, training tips, reader race reviews and new product info. Hover over the pictures below for larger versions of their front covers.
Here’s something a little different .. Audiofuel .. “Music composed specifically for running with a beat to exactly match and drive your stride whatever your pace.” With or without audio coaching, Audiofuel products are rated by intensity so you can find one to suit your pace. You can try out a Free Sample here.
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Special MP3 Deals & Free Songs
