Firstly thanks to @theasthinkings for introducing me to Lapasa. I won a giveaway on her blog that put me in touch with the company and now I'm doing my own! Read to the end to find out how to enter :).
My pet peeve with running kit is when I buy some new gear that looks great but just doesn't pass the run test. So I've put Lapasa through the test!
Lapasa describes itself as a customer oriented athletic brand that focuses on providing comfort, premiere quality, high-tech apparel & customer satisfaction.
They kindly sent me a sports bra to review along with the yoga pants that I won in the @theasthinkings giveaway.
One thing I immediately loved is that their sports bras and leggings come in a great variety of colours:
I went for some full length navy leggings and a multicoloured blue/pink/purple sports bra.
First things first what are the top 5 things I look for in running gear?
1. The kit must be completely opaque & squat proof (still opaque when squatting)
2. Wicking (sweat evaporates quickly) & Minimal sweat patches
3. Enough support (keeping the wobbly bits comfortably stable)
4. Temperature moderation (warm enough for cool runs & not too hot for warm runs)
5. How well they wash
So how did Lapasa stack up?
1. The material is just the right kind of thickness and 100% opaque. Despite this I would probably opt for seamless underwear if you don't want an underwear line.
2. I had no visible sweat patches! This is a massive positive for me. Wicking also seemed quite good - nothing out of the ordinary but standard.
3. Here I felt like Lapasa was lacking slightly on the sports bra front. Although the support wasn't awful I definitely think this is more suited to low intensity exercise as I didn't feel 100% supported even when just jogging. Not a deal killer though, just something to be weary of if you're mostly doing high intensity exercise.
On the leggings front I really like the support they provide. They have a nice high waistband that helped support any wobbly stomach bits.
4. I've only had the chance to wear these for coldish runs but I've had no issues. I often overheat and didn't experience this at all with these and didn't feel as though they were too thin either.
5. They've been through the wash and come out fresh as a daisy with no lingering workout smells.
Sizing
I'm a size 10/12 (medium) leggings normally and I followed the Lapasa sizing charts and went for a medium that seemed to fit me quite well. I would say they were possibly on the slightly larger size than normal but nothing that would make me change my choice.
For the sports bra I chose a small, again my normal size. I have to say that I think I could have gone down a size and this might have improved the support. For a 5k run the support was fine and I was comfortable but I would have liked it to be a bit tighter.
In general I would say go for your normal size but if you're in-between sizing definitely go for the smaller of the two.
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In conclusion the Lapasa kit is definitely some of my go to run wear now - especially the leggings as the colder nights are drawing in. For the sports bra though - in future I will only use this for lower impact sports and will have to try going down a size if I want to wear this for high impact sports such as HIIT.
As part of this review Lapasa has also offered to giveaway an item from their range to one lucky person! The Lapasa range also includes capris:Lapasa Capri Leggings
, tech t's: Lapasa Performance Tshirt
, and seamless underwear: Lapasa Women's Seamless Briefs
, in addition to a similar range for men.
, tech t's: Lapasa Performance Tshirt, and seamless underwear: Lapasa Women's Seamless Briefs, in addition to a similar range for men.
To enter the giveaway follow the rafflecopter instructions at the bottom of the page. Remember to do as many things as possible to give you the best chance of winning! Good luck!
If you don't fancy the giveaway but want to try out Lapasa for yourself use my discount code mindfree for 10% off.
Let me know if you try them out and what you think in the comments below!
Happy running :)
Please note this post is not sponsored.
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Until next time - always remember, that sometimes, freedom is only a run away.
#runyourmindfree
