Hey, what's up, Triathletes? Taren here. If you're not ready to shell out hundreds, or
even thousands, of dollars to get yourself a full-time running coach to improve your
running form, you're going to want to check out this. This is the Lumo Run Running Pod,
which helps triathletes and runners assess their running technique, and it gives you
strategies to improve your running technique and get faster. If you stick around until
the end of the video, I will tell you how you can get a number of chances to win one
of two Lumo Run Pods.
Lumo Run Pod is kind of like the Garmin HRM Running Chest Strap, but it's different, because
the Garmin only assesses ground contact time, cadence, and bounce. With the Lumo Run, you
get all of those and a number different measurements that also help you. You get cadence, you get
bounce, you get ground contact time, which they refer to as Breaking, but you also get
tilt, with your hips going side to side, and swivel with your hips going front and back.
All of which are really good metrics to determine how efficient a runner you are and how much
energy you're putting into just going fast in a straight line.
Now also, the Lumo Run is basically unnoticeable when you're running with it. Whereas a big,
bulky chest strap can be itchy and it can get in the way. Now the Pod works by clipping
it onto the back of your running shorts, which have to be fairly tight, because if they're
flopping around, you're going to get a bunch of motion that isn't necessarily you actually
running. Keep those shorts nice and tight as you put this on. Then you've got to download
the Lumo Run App, which is where all of the data syncs to, and you get all of your recommendations
from. Has to be an iPhone. Unfortunately, they do not have Android, but apparently,
that's in the works. Personally, I tend to run without any data and that was one of the
things that I liked about the Lumo Run App. Where a lot of the chest straps out there,
that gives some of the same readings, have to pair with a Garmin watch that you have
to run with.
The Lumo Run can actually clip onto the back of your belt, and you don't even need anything
with it, so you can go out for a run, and then sync it up with your phone after. If
you want the secret sauce as to why the Lumo Run is so good, you're going to want to run
with an iPhone actually. The reason for that is because after you go for one run, the Lumo
Run starts developing a series of recommendations to improve your running form. I found this
really cool and very helpful, because you get instant feedback, and every half kilometer,
you get a reminder to run with a certain type of technique that you need to work on. When
you download the app for the first time, you're going to have to input things like your height,
your weight, your age, and then you also can personalize the app, so that when you're running,
those reminders can come to you every half kilometer, kilometer, two kilometers, all
the way up to just five minutes.
Yes, for all of you U. S. folks, you can change it to miles, nautical miles, or hectors, or
voluminous cubic feet, I don't know what you guys [use 00:02:51]. In my case, even after
just one run, what I found is that I am a bouncy runner, and apparently, the metrics
are really accurate. Because I showed it to my coach after a couple of runs, and he looks
down at the phone, and he said, "Yep, that's you." This bounciness then led to me breaking
unnecessarily and not putting as much effort into forward motion as I should be. In the
next couple of runs after that, I wore the headphones, and got those reminders every
half kilometer to lean a little bit further forward, stay level with the horizon, and
not gallop up and down.
At the end of the week, I got an email from Lumo Run actually saying, "That my breaking
had decreased 39%," so it's pretty instant that it turns you into a better runner. It's
a very neat device, but there are some things that you should know. The first thing is that
you have to be able to assess what is actually causing you to maybe have some running inefficiency.
In my case, I was breaking a lot. Now what it didn't tell me is that the reason I was
breaking a lot, is because I was bouncing up and down. I had to assess that myself.
If you, yourself, have good body awareness or you've got a coach to help you out a little
bit, you can overcome that pretty easily.
Secondly, the voice that you get for all those recommendations as you're running, is really
robotic, and a little bit offputting. It's a like old school speak and spell robotic.
You should also be aware that some of the tips that they give you are a little bit questionable,
in my opinion. For instance, I was told constantly throughout my runs, "That I need to tense
up," hmm, I think it was more like contract. "I needed to contract my upper body to reduce
motion." I don't know a single running coach that is going to tell you to contract your
upper body. A reduced motion running stride is good, but you don't even want tightness
in your running stride. I saw that as like kind of a strange thing.
Then finally, the last thing that you should know is that it is a bitch to get this little
pod inside the rubber. I actually didn't mean to pull that out. Once you get it in the first
time and it stretches out, it's okay, but the first time that you get it in, it ain't
pleasant. You need some good thumb dexterity. Now does any of that mean that I don't like
the Lumo Run? No, absolutely not. For a hundred bucks, this is a really, really useful running
tool to guide you into getting a sense of what good running technique is. It's very,
very usable, because it doesn't require a lot of charging. It doesn't require a lot
of prep or pairing. It's basically out of the box ready to go, and it gets you a really
good guideline of what good running form is without spending hundreds or thousands of
dollars to get a running assessment.
Now onto the goods. If you want to win yourself one of two Lumo Runs, I've partnered up with
my buddy, The [Tri 00:05:30] Guy, who is also doing a Lumo Run review over on his channel,
and in the description below will be a link to a contest that both of us are running on
that one link, where you can win one of two Lumo Runs, by watching either this video,
Luke's video, The Tri Guy, and subscribing to our channels. In a couple of weeks, we'll
announce the winner, and you might be running with a little bit better technique. There
you go. That's the Lumo Run. I would definitely recommend giving it a shot. Thank you to Lumo
Run for allowing Luke, The Tri Guy, and I, to give this a shot. As always, Triathletes,
happy and hard training. Good luck in your next triathlon. We recommend that you give
it a [inaudible 00:06:05].