Posts Tagged ‘product review’

It’s no secret, I love listening to music when I run.  The headphones I usually use are some cheap Phillips earbuds with a hook over the ear which looks kinda stupid but keeps them from falling out.  Sound-wise, I’m sure they’d make an audiophile have a Klipschit fit, but for my purposes, it’s been fine.  That said, when the lovely people at H20 Audio offered to send some of their waterproof earbuds my way, I was pretty excited to try something new.

The cool thing about the Flex Allsport Waterproof Headphones is that they’re waterproof for 30 minutes down to 3ft.  While I’ve yet to need that, it’s a handy thing to have in my back pocket should pool running ever become a necessity (knock on wood that I never have to test this, but in theory it’s good).  And despite my affinity for land running, my outings leave me wringably soaked 3 months out of the year, so it’s nice to know these earbuds can handle this sweat machine.

The things I really liked about these earbuds are:
1. The fit: They don’t have hooks going around your ear but they don’t need it.  The soft rubber tips (3 different sizes are included) are very comfortable and kept them in place without falling out once.  Thus, I looked infinitely less dorky than usual (in my mind, anyway).
2. The cord: Unlike my cheapy earbuds which have a stiff wire cord, the cord on these is really soft, so I didn’t even have to neaten the excess into a bundle, I just tucked it into my shorts and didn’t notice it.
3. Noise Cancelling: It’s really amazing how well they cut out all background sound.  I imagine this would be great in a gym or anywhere you want to zone out.

The things I did not like about these earbuds are:
1. Sound Quality: I was hoping for something better than the ones I currently use but there’s too much bass in these (or more likely, I’m conditioned to like the amount of treble in my usual earbuds) so they seem a bit muddy to me, I prefer a brighter sound.
2. Noise Cancelling: While this isn’t in any way a fault of these headphones (it’s a bona fide feature) when I run I need to hear what’s going on around me.  Between traffic on my way to the park and then cyclists zooming by once I’m on the loop, I don’t feel comfortable being unconnected with the outside world.  But for any other use (I keep thinking these would be great on an airplane), this would be a pro, not a con.

Aside from that, the price is super reasonable, especially considering they’re waterproof, and they come in 4 colors.  So if you swim, row, pool run, paddle or simply want to ignore the boor sitting next to you on that long flight, consider the H2O Audio Flex Allsport Waterproof Headphones.

Dang these things are good!  I could end the review right here because that really sums it up.   But that would make for a short blog post so here’s a bit more…

The cool folks at Evol sent me 16 mini burritos to try in a variety of flavors.  Because they’re frozen, FedEx delivered a full-size cooler loaded with dry ice and the precious burrito cargo…pretty entertaining as far as deliveries go.

When I mentioned this to my friends on the 3:20 thread, my pal Ron/ESG piped up with “I regularly eat and enjoy those Evol burritos.”  Aha!  A good sign right off the bat.

You may be wondering why Evol sent these to me in the first place.  Well it so happens that these tasty things make the perfect apres-run recovery meal.  We need carbs and protein after a run and it’s excellent to have a handy, fast thing that isn’t sweet.  These savory treats really hit the spot.

Maniacally adoring my Evol Burrito

Calorically, they’re excellent, from 160-190 calories depending on the flavor but the best part is that they’re all natural.  The chicken is free-range, you can identify the veggies inside the Veggie Fajita (that one’s vegan, btw) – it’s simply clean eating.  And all it takes is one minute in the microwave.

Another fab thing about these is that they list the protein and fiber grams on the front of the wrapper so you know what you’re getting right off the bat and if it’s a low-fat one, it’ll say so as well.

Speaking of the wrapper, their whole business model is way hip and includes a large dollop of humor.  On the back of the wrapper is their tagline “An Evol plot to change your world: Evolburritos.com“.  I’m into that.  So check out their site and put them on your grocery list, they’re worth it!

Please excuse the total non-sequitur, but if you guys want to get in on the Zico coconut water giveaway, it ends tonight at 9pm.  The clock is ticking…

I’m not one of those bloggers who gets invited to review stuff all the time, so I got excited when Arctic Ease sent me a box of their product to try.  Sounds like an excellent invention: a reusable cold compression wrap that doesn’t require refrigeration…way cool!

The wrap comes in a generous 5′ long strip that you can cut to size.  The cold part of it comes from a special gel saturating the wrap.  You can reuse it by adding a tablespoon of water to the package and resealing it and also, to make it cooler, you can refrigerate it but you can’t put it in the freezer.  From the product info, it’s the right temperature to help keep inflammation down.

So seriously…how fab to have compression and cold in one object?

I wanted to love it, especially because my freezer is pretty small and sometimes I’m fighting for space, thanks to my addiction to Trader Joe’s frozen entrees and various vegetables.  But alas, I could only like it.

But I do genuinely like it, it’s super handy – it’d be excellent in a first-aid kit, a gym bag or anywhere that ice isn’t available.

The problem for me is that it isn’t really all that cold.  Maybe I’m used to the frigid temperature of ice so anything less doesn’t seem as effective, and this definitely isn’t as cold as ice.  However, it does keep its coolness for a very long time and the convenience factor is worth a lot.

Edit: I got a nice email from the Artic Ease  woman, explaining the benefits of the temperature which makes a lot of sense:

“You are right, Arctic Ease isn’t as cold as ice because ice is actually too cold to promote optimal healing. You can put Arctic Ease in the refrigerator with water to make it cooler, but it won’t go below 59 degrees. It’s designed to remain at an optimum temperature for healing and reduction of swelling.  You can leave it on for hours safely.  No 15 minutes on and off.”

So, if it sounds like something you’d like to try, check it out for yourself.  They’re also available in small pads, too.

The Weekend
Big weekend for racing, from the little to the huge (the NYC Marathon is finally here!), so I want to wish a huge good luck to everyone racing.

I’m racing too, a 10k on Sunday and you all know how excited I am about that. ::snicker::  I’m doing it only because it’s good for me, there are so few 10ks around.  I actually dislike the course, having done it twice before, because it begins at the foot of the Ben Franklin Bridge, so it’s an uphill start.  The bridge is about 1.5 miles in length and when you get to the end, you turn around and go right back across.  After that, it goes through a bunch of different footing (pavement, gravel, woodchips) ultimately finishing in a stadium.

So it’s not the fastest race but it’s a festive one, touted as the largest 10k in the tri-state, capped at 4000 this year.  So I plan on having fun with it anyway, people watching and all.

Newsletter Death, Links Section Birth
I mentioned the newsletter the other day and how I need to get back on it since it’s been forever since I sent one.  Well, I don’t like it when I say I’m going to do something and don’t, so it was kind of hanging over my head (self-imposed, of course, but still), so I’ve decided that instead of a newsletter, I’m simply going to have a link section here on the blog of cool stuff I come across, because the newsletter was basically that anyway: cool links with some short commentary.  This way I can post them in a more timely fashion and everybody gets the benefit. So here we go…

Friday’s Cool Links
I admit to being stupid about real runners since I haven’t been at it too long and I never was a sporty-caring person, but Coach A muse/Adam’s been sending me links to some wonderful videos, educating me on the subject.  This film, Born To Run on Seb Coe is A-MAZING!  Seriously wonderful.  If you only watch one part, watch part 3.  It details his training and the relationship with his father (who coached him)  – absolutely fascinating.

One of the exciting bits of the upcoming NYC Marathon is that it’ll be Shalane Flanagan’s marathon debut.  Check out Rookies Vs. The World, a series documenting Shalane, Tim Nelson and Simon Bairu as they become first-time marathoners on one of the world’s largest stages.

Also exciting will be to see how Dathan Ritzenhein does.  He’s been working with Alberto Salazar who’s been changing his form in a major way.  This piece from The New Yorker details the makeover and includes a cool video as well.

And to finish out, here’s some absolutely stupid shit…the world’s most expensive sports bra.  Because nothing says “Runner” like dangly crap hanging off your bra.