Under Armour Sportsmask
During the pandemic I needed to remain fit, and running is the easiest and safest way to do so. While the mask mandate doesn’t require the use of masks while exercising, I still want to be my bit to stop the spread of COVID-19. I measured my face as shown on the Under Armour website, which is from the bridge of your nose to the center of your ear. I just measured from center of ear to center of ear over the bridge of my nose, then divided that by 2. Being borderline MD/LG to LG/XL, so went with LG/XL.
First Impressions
My first impression is that it wasn’t as rigid as I thought it would be based on the images on the website. Heavy breathing will cause the mask to collapse, so I might need to add some stiffness to the inside. UA constructed the mask to World Health Organisation recommendation of three layers. The first layer is an Iso-Chill layer, which feels cool against skin and has had an anti-microbial treatment applied to it. An open cell foam makes up the second layer. This is a breathable material but makes it hard for moisture and sweat to pass. The third layer is a spacer fabric to create structure, keeping the mask off your mouth and nose. An addition of a wire over the nose bridge allows it to be shaped to the wearers face.
Opinion
I’ll provide an update once I have completed some runs while wearing this mask. I would recommend buying a smaller size if you are borderline between sizes. I expect the earloops to stretch over time.
Some improvements I’d recommend to Under Armour would be to change from ear loops to behind the neck/head style. These are much more comfortable and secure than the ear loops. Also a rigid layer or skeleton inside will help to stop the mask from collapsing during heavy breathing. The mask doesn’t fully collapse against the nose and mouth, but there is some deflection. I can see that this mask will also work well in the winter months while snowboarding to help reduce the uncomfortable dry air on the nasal passage.
Comparison
Compared to other masks that I have run in. I began running in a basic disposable mask. This mask would get saturated with sweat and was single use only. This isn’t very environmentally friendly and is also expensive to keep replacing. The mask also didn’t really provide any protection as it provided no resistance to breathing. Any reduction in running pace would be purely mental and was hard to measure. This caused (at worst) about a 5s per mile reduction in pace.
I have used a double layer home made cotton mask, with loops behind the neck and head. While this was very secure, the lack of rigidity meant that the mask would block my mouth under heavy breathing. I modified this mask with a layer of thin plastic placed between these two cotton layers. This greatly helped keep the mask off the mouth and nose. The resistance from this mask requires that I run about 15-20s per mile slower.
August, 2020
