The Crazy Versatile Running Shoe I’ve Been Wearing All Year
Why this budget HR monitor is outperforming the big names and the singlet you need now
Ever wonder what makes the best running gear? Spoiler: It’s the secret to making every run feel easier.
In this newsletter, I'm going to tell you all about my fav run shoe, gear, and tech that I'm using.
I'll touch on:
👟 Why the Altra Escalante 3 is my everyday running shoe—natural feel, versatile, and just plain solid.
🤖 How the CoosPro Optical Arm Band HR Monitor stacks up against chest straps—and why it might be the upgrade you didn’t know you needed.
🎽 What makes the KZN Run singlet a standout in my running gear—smart design and a philosophy that’s as cool as the shirt itself.
I'm trying something new here. I’m a human and a runner at that, and I need things, fortunately/unfortunately (depending on how you view it). While I’m not into consumerism just to buy stuff, we still have to buy things to live.
I’m not against valuable things and telling people about said valuable things that help their lives.
One day, I’ll have “merch” or digital stuff, but honestly, it will be products that I like to use that might have my branding on them to make your life better—not a coffee mug with a 1% better runner on it. That day is not today, so I’ll talk about other stuff you can buy and try for yourself.
NOTE: No one has paid me for these recommendations, and when/if I do take sponsorship money, you will know very clearly that they gave it free to test me. There are no affiliate links currently, but it may change, and you will know in the future. Transparency/trust is all we have as humans.
I love putting this newsletter out each week! It’s like my way of sharing some cool, “deep Daren” running thoughts and practical tools & tactics I have accumulated over the last 12 years. But I’m super curious… what stands out to you? Or is there something you think I should dive deeper into? Drop me a comment below, and let’s see where this conversation goes."
👟Shoes I’m Digging
Altra Escalante 3
I’m not a sneakerhead. I don’t really care about the latest shoes or shoe reviews. I want one pair of functional shoes that can do almost everything. I try to keep a comprehensive collection of shoes, ranging from minimal shoes to super carbon bouncy crazy tech shoes and everything in between.
I was looking for something that was an all-rounder as far as everyday shoes I could walk, easily run and lift in. I also wanted them to have that “scwoop”. You know what I’m talking about! Where you can easily put them on without untieing your shoes.
I call that the scwoop.
I wanted it to feel natural, have a wide toe box, and have a zero mm heel drop to strengthen my ankles and achilles. I heard of Altra years ago when I was looking for a 0mm shoe after reading The Big Book of Endurance by Zone 2 aerobic pioneer Dr. Phil Maffetone. I never got them, so I landed on my favorite company, Saucony’s Kinvara.
I’ve had them for the last year and can report they are everything I wanted them to be. Just supportive enough to run in as I can’t run in actual minimalist shoes (I have low-heel fat pads genetically, so it actually hurts to run barefoot on concrete or with those thin shoes. I can, however, walk-in minimalist shoes). But while supportive, they also can bend into a ball, and my big toe can “dig” into the ground and push off. Great for lifting, easy running, sprinting, plyos, etc.
I eased into them over the course of four weeks, first walking, then running, and finally running 10km (6 miles) straight in them at an easy pace.
🤖Tech I’m Tinkering With
CoosPro Optical Arm Band Heart Rate Monitor
This was super random, yet awesome find.
Quick story: My Wahoo heart rate monitor was slowly dying. They usually give up the ghost after about 3 years I’ve found. This is going on 5 ish years so I knew I was pushing it. It finally started dropping out mid-runs, and I knew I couldn’t trust it for my upcoming annual half-marathon.
I knew of a few optical arm band hrms out there but I didn’t really want to spend the money because my hrm worked good enough. So I go on Amazon and I see this brand “Coospro” for half the price and I’m like, ugh Chinese knock-off. Then I look at the reviews… 4.5 stars. Wait what?
Then I start googling Reddit and other running forums. And it’s validated thtt the thing is accurate, works better/more consistently than most name brand HRMs and obviously was half the price.
I got the latest model 9 immediately, and it sold out, as the 8 was only available at the time of this newsletter. Hopefully, they get more in the Amazon AU store (it might be in Amazon in other countries).
I can confirm this thing is a beast. It has a gasp… ON/OFF button. I can’t believe chest HRMs don’t have one. The amount of batteries that go dead. It’s also rechargeable (I despised taking that CR2032 coin battery out of my HRMs every time), and it rarely gets sweaty/wet/slimy like my other HRMs because it’s on my arm.
It’s super accurate, as I tested it against my chest strap and went up and down with it perfectly. It also validated that my heart rate from chest straps was reading 2-6 bpms higher than it should be. I had a suspicion that my chest strap was off, and this is 100% confirmation.
I haven’t worn/tried the Polar, Wahoo, or Scosche Rhythm armband monitors, so they may be better, but they are almost double the price.
Ironically, chest straps are the gold standard for accuracy, I’ve had nothing but issues with mine. I never used optical wrist-based (watch) HRMs because, yeah, those are worthless for running and only accurate for sitting, sleeping, walking, easy running on pavement and sex. 😬
More on Heart rate monitors here. I’ll be doing a fun, deep dive on heart rate and heart rate monitors, my issues, etc., in the future. Stay tuned for that.
🎽 Clothes I’m Wearing
KZN RUN singlet. Love this company because:
The design was made to have a bounce at the bottom and not ride up like most high-end run singlets.
KZN is short for Kaizen, which is a Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement. Brick by brick. Which is… drum roll… 1% better each day. Boom.
The founder is an awesome guy here in Sydney who has a great head on his shoulders. We nerd out regularly about random tech stuff.
Looking forward to trying their socks and more gear that they slowly roll out.
🍱 Nutrition I’m Consuming
More on this a future issue
📲 Apps I’m Using
More on this a future issue
Thanks for reading this new format. Will keep incrementally making this better and better so that you can get 1% better each day.