Run Tester Kieran hit the streets of Manchester for the Adidas Manchester Marathon 2024 in search of a fast marathon time. While he was at it, he race-tested a whole load of gear, from the ASICS Metaspeed Sky Paris carbon race shoes, to the Polar Grit X2 Pro and the Vantage V3, the Sennheiser Momentum Sport heart-rate tracking headphones and a new hydration-tracking sensor, the Flowbio S1. Hit play to see how he – and the gear – got on.
Entries to the adidas Manchester Marathon 2025 are open from midday on Tuesday 16 April. Find out more here:
https://www.manchestermarathon.co.uk/register-your-interest/
JUMP STRAIGHT IN:
0:00 – Intro
2:23 – Post-race reaction
3:57 – Adidas Manchester Marathon review
5:48 – The ASICS Metaspeed Sky Paris
7:29 – Flowbio S1 hydration sensor
9:42 – Sennheiser Momentum Sport
10:34 – Polar Grit X2 Pro vs Polar Vantage V3
Subscribe to The Run Testers for more running gear reviews:
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheRunTesters?sub_confirmation=1
Hey people welcome to the run test here And here we are at the Manchester Mar we Are just at the start it's got about 20 Minutes till go time today I'm going to Be testing out the aex metas speed Sky Paris I've also got the polar V3 up Against the Garmin 4 and a 965 paired to A h10 and I've also got the grit X2 Pro To see how those go I've got another Exciting piece of kit on my left arm Here I've got the flow bio S1 hydration Sensor it's be the first time out to see How that goes see what information I get Out running a marathon from that which Is tracking my sweat and salt loss give Me the information afterwards today's Race plan is quite simple I will go out There run this whole thing on field see What I get I believe that's the way that I will get the time that my training Deserves I won't blow up trying to chase A time that I'm not really ready for I Feeling good weather's pretty much Perfect and uh we're about 20 minutes Out so yeah the other thing I'm going to Say I'm not shooting this whilst I'm Running CU I'm actually going to try and Run this properly and fast so they won't Be a cut aways of the race itself unless I get my phone out which might or might Not happen so apologies for that but we Get our serious head on today so anyway Let's go do it So Manchester marath done we just
Crossed the line Nathan here what' you Do 253 33 someone else where you going Next year London London's calling I Answer 257 here I don't know what I've Done I haven't checked Butere but well done Boys so then that is the Manchester Marathon done 254 something or other Which is PB for me by about 3 minutes Ran it all on field didn't have a clue What was going on out there quite a hard Race quite busy in the beginning quite Narrow and tight one big hill in alham Which nearly made me want to go home Crying to my mommy got through it though Held on struggle towards the end and It's done now standing outside Old Trafford have bumped into loads of you Out there loads of people came and said L which is absolutely magic at the end Of the race it's really lovely to sort Of speak to you guys and here how you Got on so thanks for coming over and Saying hello how did the shoes do so the Met speed Sky Paris they ran really well Everything I wanted them to do what I Thought they would do running really Well in good form and even towards the End actually when I was hanging a little Bit they gave me that little bit of Energy no hot spots no blistering no Discomfort no movement in the shoes Nicely controlled for me because I was Up kind of mid to 4 foot and they did a
Really cracking job it's always a good Sign like right now walking around them I don't feel like I immediately want to Take him off which is really good no Black toenails I gave me the energy that I needed all the way through that so Great got the S1 hydration uh sensor on I've stopped that I'll check the data When we get back to the office and Likewise with the watches and the other Bits and pieces the s High momentum Sport headphones I will crunch the data And do a wrap back in the office about That but that is the uh Adidas Manchester Marathon done I'm going to go And get myself an ering uh alcohol free Beer and hope that the hips don't lock Up too much but well done everyone how We ran out there today so I'm back home In my office today after the Adidas Manchester marathon where I managed to Run a 3-minute PB with a 25440 so I'm Still super buzzing about that I ran the Whole thing on field maybe went out a Little too hot but managed to hold on in The end for dear life basically the last Six miles but anyway so first up let's Chat about the event I thought the Organization was pretty much spot on Getting to the St area out near Old Trafford was super simple from the Town Center the pre- bag drop in the laner County cricket ground all of that was Relatively slow stress pretty fuss free
There was some smart moves at the race Like sticking a bank of uranos and Portaloos right before the start line I Mean kind of almost right at the start Line which is really convenient there's Plenty of space so they've got enough Room to do that it was a real tick in The Box overall I thought the race Itself was great a few things that made It challenging like I think it was a Really sort of crowded site is quite Narrow in the beginning despite the 32,000 Runners going off in different Waves the early miles were still very Cramped there were some narrow bits and Some funnels into ballards and cycle Lanes and bit it was all a bit chaotic And it was quite hard to find rhythm Initially that made it sort of Challenging to run a steady Pace trying To do it on field there were a few Sections that narrowed quite quickly Where I think there could have been Earlier warning from the stewards and Stuff but after the first 10ks or so Things got a little clearer and easier On that front and it spread out as it Usually did and it became quite an easy Race to run now despite the claims of This being fast and flat there are a few Testing Hills there was one around mile 16 there's another couple cut of around 2022 it's certainly not Seville or Berlin flat there are some big long
Straights too and if that your Nemesis Sort of running along dual carriageways And straight lines makes it difficult You've been warn we also have to fight Some pretty big headwinds on those Sections too water stations were nicely Spaced and well marked there were good Crowds and support pretty much the whole Way and all in all I'd sort be happy to Recommend this race I think it falls on The same day as London next year and I'd Say it's a pretty good alternative to That onto the shoes then and so during The race I tested the aex Met speed Sky Paris actually my second marathon in This shoe the other was a solo 26.2 Around London there's a video on the Channel you can find I chose these Because I felt they delivered a Punchy Lightweight ride with good energy good Immediacy from the foam and a Comfortable race fit that's kind of snug Enough but not cramped now thankfully Yesterday they delivered everything that I needed out there good controlled Energy from the midsole plate combo from Start to finish the Comfort was spot on Some ratios carbon ratios you can really Be aware of and it's a sort of tradeoff Between a little bit of discomfort in Return for that extra Energy Efficiency But I largely forgot I was wearing these They disappeared really nice on the foot There was no harshness or trouble from
Road impact they delivered on that in Terms of midsole protection I was Worried about this narrower platform Being less forgiving with a tired or Imperfect form but even as I got more Ragged in those final six miles I still Felt pretty well controlled and for most Of this race I ran mid to four foot in Good form and when you're moving like That engaging this midsole the shoes Respond I think the best compliment that You can really PID to a shoe is if it Delivers everything you need on the day And that is exactly what I got from the Aex metas beat Sky Paris I think aex has Made a great Raco here and as I said in Our review the only caveat really is I Think if you need to be running well on That kind of narrow platform and with Not much kind of heel here and quite a Bit of wobble it might not look after You so much if you're dropping back to Kind of much slower heavier ragged form So if you're not sure I'd go for Something a little more reliable but if You think you've got a chance of running All out then I think the metas speed Sky Power is going to do a good job for you Now I also tested this interesting new Wearable the flow bio S1 that aims to Measure hydration and salt loss through Sweat the sensor can be clipped to a Chest strap on a heart rate monitor or You can wear it on your arm on a
Separate strap and it will read your Sweat to deliver insights including Total fluid loss sweat rate sodium loss And the sodium concentration of your Sweat at some point it will be able to Reveal that data in real time maybe even Send it to your watch will give you Alerts but for now it spits out a Post-run report with recommendations for How much fluid and so You need to replace after your efforts Now I did a test back in the flow bio Labs with this a few weeks back but this Is the first time I've tried it in the Wild the first thing to say here is that I have no way of telling if the Information is accurate the makers Obviously say that it is and they've Tested it up against kind of lab Machinery but now in terms of use it's Pretty simple and straightforward to get Set up and pair it via Bluetooth to an App you can link your Garmin and coros Account and then it'll pull your run Data from there to Overlay now the Sensor itself is quite chunky I wore it My tricep and it took a few attempts to Connect and get the session started Pre-ra the main button here isn't all That user friendly and I often find the Flashing light code that you can get on Some wearables where it's like a Blinking light find it sort of pretty Stressful at the start pen was flashing
You've forgotten what they mean I Couldn't also get it to turn off the Night before so I had to leave it on Charge to make sure that it wasn't dead But then once it's on and the session is Started and you're good to go you can Largely forget that you're wearing this Which is nice Post run the sync failed For me a couple of times I had to sort Of repeat and try a few times to get it To work but once it went through the Data that you get is very simple and Straightforward at the moment told me That I apparently lost 22,000 Mig of Sodium and a little over 2 L of fluid Along the Route I probably drank around 750 Ms of water so in theory I should Need a bit more than a liter to Rehydrate I can tell you that I drank Much more than that and I was still Peeing yellow at 10 p.m. last night if That's not too much information so I'd Say this is a good as a rough indicator Rather than a prescriptive kind of Definite what you need to drink and Replace now had I been able to see that Sweat loss in real time would I have Drunk more on the rout I I probably Doubt it I was managing my stomach in The final 10K the hardware definitely Could be finessed for sure I think it Could be more compact I think the tech Though is Fascinating now I also tested the senis
Of momentum sport we've got a review on The channel you can check out these are Headphones with built-in heart rate Tracking now since we did our review I've had more runs where the heart rate Was actually more reliable but yesterday It failed again for this race it started Out tracking okay for the first 10 Minutes But then it flatlined at 140 something BPM and it was that way for the rest of The race now whether I adjusted the buds Or something I not sure but it was just A natural thing to do to get the fit Right and there's no warning once you've Done that if the HR drops out there's no Kind of verbal alert or anything so That's unfortunately another big fail For these buds on the flip side the fit Was comfortable the audio performance Was good and the anti-wind setting did Help a lot into some of the headwinds That I was running into I really like The easy tap on the cheek gesture that Changes the music as well and the Battery life drained about 40% over the Course of the 3-hour Race now for watches I wore the polar V3 The grit X2 Pro I also had the Garmin 4 And a 965 paired to a h10 on my running Belt along with the polar Flow app that Was tracking GPS 2 I had all watches Using the multiband Dual frequency Settings for best accuracy now when you
Do these kind of tests it's really rare For watches to agree there's always a Little bit of deviation between them but Both the polar watches and the Flow app And the 4 and 965 sort of clock between 2649 and 2650 and 2648 miles I've never Seen the distances be so close and Overall GPS accuracy there wasn't really Much to choose on the performance if you Dig into the tracks the both the V3 and The grit X2 sometimes went wide offroads But nothing too crazy in general they Stuck to the roads From the Path quite Nicely and I say they gave a really good Solid GPS performance when it came to The battery life in the best accuracy Mode the grit X Pro 2 burned 7% over the Course of the three-hour Marathon while The polar V3 burned 8% slightly more so Not much to choose between them there Either on heart rate accuracy both Watches and the h10 chest strap went Quite wild in the first few miles I have No idea why hitting 180 beats per minute Plus some of them even went up to 200 Which is definitely Rogue the grit X2 Pro and the h10 settled and largely Matched beat for beat after that while The V3 Optical clock some bigger Peaks And dips and had me working much harder In the final hour than the chest strap And the grit X2 Optical so there you Have it that was my race test at the Adidas Manchester marathan it was
Fantastic to meet so many of you out There after the race thanks for coming Over and saying hello and big congrats To everyone who ran if you enjoyed the Video don't forget to like subscribe Share it subscribe if you're not already If you're interested in more on the aex Metas speed Sky Paris I'm popping our Review up on the channel now otherwise Thank you very much for watching we hope To see you again soon and as ever happy Running people
