New Running Shorts and T-Shirt: inov8
You know the sayin', right? "Running is the cheapest sport ever, all you need is a pair of shoes".
Well, that's of course not entirely true, especially if you're intro trail/ultra trail running: in that case, you need a lot more gear (bag, poles, jacket, ...) as well as nutrition - and of course shoes, since the more you run, the more often you''ll have to replace them.
One thing though where I'm not too much of a "fashion victim" is outfit: I wear the same Salomon shorts for a few years, and apart from short and long sleeve Ogarun Merino wood shirts, the rest of my t-shirts are from races I ran.
Running a lot means that of course those guys will wear out eventually, and that's exactly what's happening these days, so it was time for buying proper outfit.
I am fairly happy with Salomon in general in terms of comfort, however I find their outfit to be fragile, so this time I decided to try another brand: inov8, a British brand.
I went with the Airlite Pro Shorts and the Airlite Pro T-shirt.
Shorts
I wanted 2-in-1 shorts, that include a compression layer.
What I liked about those inov8 shorts is that they have 2 loops on the rear that
allow to carry your poles.
In practice, I used them a lot, including during a 30 kms/1200m elevation session, with hill repeats - where I used my poles a lot, assembling and disassembling them a few times to fully test the loops. I think this will do a good job for medium races (up to 50k), and this is confirmed since I used those shorts during my Nice UTMB 55k in September 2025.
My Instinct Belt does a better job at having the poles not moving, but that's yet another layer to have, so I will probably use it for longer distances.
The shorts also come with front and side pockets, allowing to bring your phone or food, which I'll also probably use to put my energy drink powder.
T-Shirt
I wanted something light and breathable, since this t-shirt would be used during summer and especially during my 2025 Nice UTMB 55k trail race.
And I can confirm that the T-shirt is super comfortable and light, it feels really nice when wearing it, even with a backpack.
Wrap Up
I'm glad I bought those shorts and T-shirt:
- the shorts are a nice solution for my long training sessions and races up to 50k, thanks for their pockets and the back loops for poles,
- the T-shirt is light and feels comfortable, and is welcome after having mostly used T-shirt I got when finishing a race - the quality definitely feels different.
Tags: Running