July roundup
What I've been up to and what you might have missed
I’m back running! Hooray. I’m not sure there is anyone more excited about me returning to running than my partner. As you can imagine, a prolonged time away from it hasn’t always put me in the best of moods.
I’ve been back running for a few weeks now and easing myself in gently. The upside of a slow return is that I haven’t had to do much running in the heat, which suits me fine. I’ve also managed to get my son out with me on some runs, either on his bike or running alongside me, which has been a nice way to navigate the summer holidays.
The bigger news, though, is that I’ve made quite a radical change. I’ve put my Garmin in a drawer. If you follow me on Instagram you may have already seen this, but I’ve committed to doing 100 runs without a watch. I’m seven runs in. Other than automatically reaching for my wrist every time I set off, I’m honestly not missing it as much as I expected to. I’m sure I’ll write more about the whole process in the coming weeks, but for now it’s an interesting experiment and one that’s going well so far.
In case you missed it this month
Running in the heat: what it does to your body and how to deal with it
Is running too cool for school?
Training on holiday: sometimes the chain falls off
From the archive
How I planned my marathon training and something to help you with yours
Why ‘jogging’ is a loaded term
What Harry Styles’ marathon time can and can’t teach us
Pace neutrality and how we talk about our running
Shoe of the month
New Balance SuperComp Rebel - sneak preview of a fun shoe
I've had the chance to run in the New Balance SuperComp Rebel ahead of its official release later in August, and it's a really fun one.
New Balance has essentially merged two of its lines into something new. The SuperComp Rebel is designed as a training and racing shoe: lightweight and responsive, with a full-length carbon plate and Infinion midsole foam.
I’ve been out on short runs with my son along with me, so not quite what it’s designed for but it feels lively and I enjoyed running in it. I got sent a 6.5 when I usually wear a 6, but that ended up being spot on so it definitely comes up small.
It officially lands in shops on 20 August, £180.
Coming up in August
In August I’m covering running gear with pockets, the kit I’d buy if I was starting from scratch, how much running is too much, and upper body strength for runners.
With running without your watch, are you still tracking runs with your phone, or remembering the time spending running and tracking it by hand, or not at all? I’ve always wanted to try that but I love Strava so much