Salomon XT Skin Pro 3 Hydration Bag

Not much of weather aclimatisation here in St Louis preparing for Boston. There's such a vast difference between weather in St Louis and Boston. Boston right now is in between 4° - 12°C, although this week it may appear similiar. But the weather in St Louis since I got here has been pretty hot, except yesterday and today, when it was a little cloudy, raining and temperature was around 15°C. I was able to run much better yesterday compared to the last two runs I did here. Weather in the last 3 days has been on the high 20s. Glad that I did a 13km run yesterday. I know some of you may say, "Oh, you shouldn't do too much now since Boston is just less than 2 weeks away." But seriously I have not done enough to prepapre for Boston. Longest run I did so far was only 22km. I can only hope runs done in trails and also hilly routes plus good cool weather in Boston will get me through the 42.195km (or here in America, you say 26.2miles). It's a little confusing when you come here to the US as everything is so different although English is still the main language. You have Farenheit instead of Celcius, Miles instead of KM, Gallon instead of Litre. As for currency, they have one dime and quarter dollar. Also you'll have the left-hand driving. At least I got that one orientated when I was in Germany.

Well, here is the weather forecast for the next few days in both St Louis and Boston.

Boston

St. Louis

The run I did in Forest Park on Sun was only 18km. Actually was planning to run longer but was very tired and at that moment I wish I had brought my Salomon hydrapack with me. Speaking of the bag, I was quite happy when I got my hands in one. Always wanted one and thanks to Salomon and World of Sports, they sponsored me with their latest 2012 model, Salomon XT Skin Pro 3. I thought the weather here is going to be really cold, that's why didn't see the point of bringing it.

I've used it in couple of my runs in KL, and it certainly proves useful indeed. This bag is lightweight and it's good for moderate to long runs, especially when you carry this during one of your trail runs. There are two open-top compartments on each side. However, you'll need a little get use to and some patience in taking out the stuff out from the side. And because it's an open compartment, make sure your stuff are big enough so the stuff would not fall out. There are two comparments in front of each strap-on and one open top. I only used this to put some money, just in case I want to take a cab back during my runs. : ) Maybe Salomon can improve this by putting a slight bigger compartment in front to put some of your foodstuff, i.e. gels, so you can take it out easily on the run. I tried fitting in one gel in the front compartment but it's very tight and taking it out can be a little tricky.

There's also a zip-on compartment behind, which is verygood if you carry a smartphone these days, where it's bulkier than the older phones. However, if the bladder is full, don't expect that you'll able to put a full load of stuff in it. There's a reason why this is build with lightweight in mind.This bag is like the minimalist of hydrabags as with growing minimalist shoe trend. The breathable mesh on the straps and the back allows me to run quite comfortably with it.

The Sensifit construction allows the bag to wrap around your body comfortably and it's a one-size-fits-all bag. I actually didn't realise that you can actually adjust the straps till later on. It has two adjustable velcro shoulder straps. It's important that you adjust it properly to get the right fitting. Inside the bag comes with a 1.5 litre Hydrapak PVC-free bladder. The bladder is connected to the hose through a Plug-n-Play hose connector and it is sealed with a clip, which you can just slide in and out easily when you need to refill it. Access to the bladder is easy, as it's inserted through an open compartment. Therefore, cleaning it will be easy as you can also fold the bladder inside out to clean the inside. Each component of the bag can be replaced separately so that's encouraging. This is a little embarrassing being my first hydrapack, I didn't actually know how to drink the water from the valve. Only later I found out hydrapak is using a bite valve technology as this video is pointing out. I'm sure the kid in the video is a lot smarter than I am in this matter!

A word of caution though (I had to find out the hard way), wear a t-shirt when you go running with this bag unless you have a very hard skin. I had abrasion (you'll know it when you go for a shower after the run) near my neck because I was wearing a singlet during my 17km run. The bag does have two straps that go across your chest and near your waist to keep the bag intact as you run. But still, on longer runs, you might want to consider putting on a T-shirt. Bag bouncing is very minimal but little by little as you pound the miles plus the sweat, it can happen. Maybe that's why I see most trail runners are wearing t-shirts rather than singlets.  I actually think using the top chest strap is sufficient to keep it intact.

If you are really looking for a lightweight hydration bag, this bag should be one of your consideration. It's also race-ready due to the simplicity and lightweight, as compared to others (Of course I have not experience it first hand but I've seen quite a few which is in the market). If you need a bigger capacity hydrapacks, there are other models available for Salomon. Do check out the models at World of Outdoors at The Gardens Mall to find out more. Else, you can check out at other WOO outlets in town, at E@Curve, Damansara and Sogo, KL.