UA Flow Velociti Wind 2 Run Shoes & All Out Mile challenge

Recently, I was invited by Under Armour for a media run clinic at Funan, where I got to preview their upcoming product launches, including trying the new Under Armour Flow Velociti Wind 2 running shoes.

The UA All Out Mile Challenge

The clinic kicked off with the introduction of the UA All Out Mile which is a virtual race where the brand invites runners from all over the world to compete and run their fastest mile (1.6km) on global running day, which is from 1st to 5th June.

You may attempt the mile as many times as you like, with your fastest timing appearing in the official leaderboard under your name.

Prizes, in both cash and kind, will be awarded to the fastest runners in each region; in fact Singapore is grouped in the Asia Pacific region together with Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Philippines.

So for runners who are thinking of going all out, the competition is quite stiff.

Runners are required to sign up with and track their sessions using the UA MapMyRun™ App in order to be eligible.

Under Armour also invites interested running groups across Singapore who want a base to partake in the challenge. Those who wish to use the Under Armour Funan store as their base to do so, will receive a fun welcome pack and prizes. Lockers and toilets are provided too.

Tips to train for the mile

Coached’s Ben Pulham then shared some tips with runners present on how to train for the mile.

For the mile distance, which is basically four loops of a standard running track, the race should be 80% aerobic and 20% anaerobic.

Train your aerobic, not anaerobic engine

We have two energy systems that fuel our running – the aerobic system which uses oxygen and the anaerobic system which does not use oxygen.

The longer you race, the more aerobic you should train, according to Ben.

The 5k distance is 84% aerobic and 16% anaerobic.

10k is 90% aerobic and 10% anaerobic.

Half marathon is 97% aerobic and 3% anaerobic.

The full marathon is 99% aerobic and 1% anaerobic.

Ben adds that many people misunderstood that to train for a hard race, that they need to do lots of intense training.

“But do understand that this is not the case. You have to run hard sessions but not as hard as you think. This is the biggest mistakes that many runners make – doing too much speed work at the expense of aerobic trainings,” says Ben.

Testing to find out your training zones and efforts

In order to find out what aerobic and anaerobic zones and effort to train at, Ben adds that testing is the best way to go about it.

Testing can either be done via a lactate test at the Coached lab, or via field testing i.e. 20 minutes all-out effort to calculate and determine your according heart rate and pace zones – such an effort is known as a functional threshold pace test, or FTPa test for short.

Says Ben, “a lot of runners get hung up on mileage but mileage is nowhere near as important as the zones that you train at.”

“The key to training is to take it in and absorb it,” he continued.

The Under Armour Flow Velociti Wind 2 shoe

After Ben’s sharing, we were introduced to a host of new offerings, including the Under Armour Flow Velociti Wind 2 shoes.

Lightweight, rubber-less and durable, the shoes, according to Under Armour, gives a close to the ground, grippy feeling of speed that makes you feel as though you’ve got the wind at your back.

We tried out the shoes

We took the shoes out to run a distance of, you guessed it, one mile.

After a quick warm up, we began running. The run took us around the Padang park.

My first impression of the shoes are that they are a pretty comfortable and lightweight daily trainer.

At the same time, they also comfortable if you wish to pick up the pace for i.e. tempo runs. Running a 7min 51sec mile which ended in a sprint finish with these shoes on my feet, the shoes felt snappy and responsive while being low to the ground.