Eat Drink Run Woman

Musings from a Seattle personal chef with a fitness problem

Archive for the ‘Gear’


Published April 5th, 2008

Happy Feet!

It’s amazing what the right pair of shoes will do for you. (I know what you’re thinking: “Shouldn’t you have figured this out by now? Sheesh, and you call yourself a runner.” HARRUMPH. There’s no need to get snippy, even though I pulled a fast one on you.)

I digress.

I’ve been buying my shoes at a very reputable and knowledgeable running store ever since I got back into running. Staff members are runners themselves, and they take the time to watch you run to determine the best shoe for you. Given my IT band issues/runner’s knee, they recommended a high stability/motion control shoe, the Asics Gel Foundation 7.

My first pair was the men’s version as they were out of the women’s; three months later I bought the women’s version, which got me through my first two marathons. Both pairs were getting into 400-mile mark earlier this year, so in February I picked up another pair. Although I was prone to getting blisters on the side of my foot just under my big toe, the shoes worked well. Why mess with success?

Then came last Saturday’s 20-mile run and what I thought was a calf sprain. My left calf muscle was incredibly tight during the entire run, and the next day I noticed a bruise just behind my left knee at the top of my calf. Yee-ouch! The bruising really concerned me as I feared it was a sign of some serious damage. I took the next four days off (so no 200-mile month) and went to my physical therapist.

She’s never done a foot analysis before, so she had me take off my shoes and socks and watched me run across the room. Turns out I DON’T over-pronate; what I really need is a shoe that provides neutral to moderate support. In fact, she had a sheet from my running store outlining the recommendations for each level of support (neutral, moderate and durable). The Asics Gel Foundations are in the durable support category — something I do NOT need.

She spent several minutes massaging my upper calf; although I winced throughout — it wasn’t one of those soothing massages you get while listening to the sounds of a babbling brook — I felt great afterwards. She also instructed me to continue to work on strengthening my hips through side leg lifts and leg rotations. And of course, I had to buy new shoes. (I was bummed considering I just bought the Asics, however, I realized I’ve already put more than 240 miles on them!)

(more…)

Published July 27th, 2007

I can stop at any time… Really!

Hoo boy; methinks I MAY have a problem.

Long time readers of EDRW know I have a thing for workout clothes. In fact, I spend more on them than I do regular ones. During a recent REI outing I shelled out more than $350 on workout gear; the cost for my dress for my sister’s wedding? $27 (although in my defense it’s a killer dress that I’ll get a lot of mileage out of).

This insanity started last year when I decided I needed a biking jersey to go along with my new bike. I thought of the ultimate shirt and Googled it to see if it existed. Sure enough, I found it at Team Estrogen. Unfortunately it only came in small, and when I called the company I found out it was a limited edition; no more would come available 🙁 I tried in vain to to find another source, to no avail. That’s when I settled on this shirt:
Juicy shirt

 

It’s apropos given my career, plus I get a lot of comments on it. But I still covet the one that got away.

Fast forward to this year. When our friend told us about the inaugural “Bike to Brews,” I knew I couldn’t ride in any old bike clothes. Besides, all my biking shorts were a decade old from my mountain biking days (I figured today’s shorts would have updated padding to cushion my delicate bits). So off to REI I headed.

I made a beeline to the clearance rack and was thrilled to find a biking skort and a matching top at a reduced price. I also picked up a pair of Descente biking shorts with a matching blue stripe. The other bikers were awestruck by my fashion sense.
Biking shorts

 

Chateau shirt

 

A few days later I was perusing eBay for zebra accoutrements for my Medoc costume and on a whim I typed in the name of the character for my coveted biking jersey. Holy Crap! There was one available! The only downside was that it was a size XL, and I figured I needed a large. But what the heck? The bids were only at about $12 and the auction would be closing within 13 hours.

I didn’t want to alert the other bidders to my desire, so I decided to snipe (for you eBay virgins, that means placing a bid within the last minute or so). The auction would end at 9 a.m. the next morning, and I dreamt about it all night (in one of my dreams I justified paying as much as $150 for the shirt!!!). The next morning I saw the bids had gone up to $21; RASSENFRASSEN! I then questioned my sniping strategy. Should I just place a bid and enter the highest amount I’m willing to go?

My darling, always the voice of reason, reminded me that 1) I had just spent a boatload on clothes, and 2) the shirt was a size larger than what I wear. “Isn’t that the whole point of workout clothes — to show off your new slim figure?” he reasoned.

*sigh* I knew he was right. However, I figured if I could get it inexpensively then I could always tailor it. I placed a bid, stating I’d go as high as $35 (again, for you eBay virgins, your bid will continue to increase in dollar increments until it hits the highest you’re willing to go). A few minutes later I decided to increase the high bid to $40, as that was half the full retail cost of the shirt. I waited with bated breath as the auction ticked down. By now my bid of $31 was the highest; but would a sniper ruin it all?

At 9:06 a.m. I had my answer: I’m now the proud owner of:

Spongebob Squarepants shirt

 

And the best part? Size XL is the PERFECT size!!!

 

Published June 26th, 2007

This skirt ROCKS!

Zebra skirtI absolutely love the idea of running skorts. I figure if you’re going to be all hot and sweaty, you may as well look cute. Problem is, the two skorts I have — Champion and Adidas — are only good for shorter runs as the shorts creep up (chafing becomes an issue for runs of 8 miles or longer).

I checked out Running Skirts, and while I love the variety of colors, the really cool ones only come with running briefs. The company does offer some with compression shorts, but they only come in three colors: black, navy and pink. Wah!

A couple of weeks ago, while at a heart rate monitor seminar, I saw a couple of women wearing TRiKS skorts (a site I had stumbled upon while doing my research). They both raved about the shorts, saying they truly stayed in place. So I decided to give them a try. Although the MarathonGirl style has briefs, the GymGirl has longer compression shorts. Because I’m also looking for ideas for my Marathon du Medoc costume, I thought it would be fun to order the limited addition zebra design.

I tested the skirt out during our recent 17-mile run, and was absolutely thrilled. Not only did the shorts NOT ride up, they wicked away sweat beautifully. They also include two small pockets for gels, keys, iPod, etc. The skirt fabric is very light and swishy; I felt so girly! It took a while to get used to having the skirt ride so low on my hips, but once I was assured it wasn’t going to slide off, I was fine. Now I just need to find other zebra accouterments to complete my outfit!

(P.S. Leave it to my darling to make me look like Chesty LaRue).

Published June 3rd, 2007

My apologies to Angie

New ShoesMy blogger friend Angie expressed her excitement on May 16 about the delivery she’d be getting in a couple of days from Mr. UPS: her new Asics Gel Foundation VIIs. They’re terrific shoes for those of us who suffer from IT band issues (I think it’s a tall girl thing) as they provide a lot of stability and motion control. I’ve been wearing them for the past three months (although mine are the men’s version since my shoe store didn’t have the women’s at the time). Unfortunately Angie’s excitement was short-lived, as her shoes not only didn’t arrive as planned, her package mysteriously went missing. So now she must reorder her shoes and wait some more (I’m assuming that since she lives in a small, rural town she must have to do a lot of online shopping). It’s been almost three weeks, and I don’t think she’s sporting her new shoes yet.

Me? Since my store is just on the other side of Greenlake, I decided to take a recovery walk (I ran a half yesterday; stay tuned for the race report) and pick up some. I ambled along the trail, waltzed into the store, tried on a couple of sizes (they had the women’s shoes this time!) and within minutes I was sauntering back along the trail swinging my shopping bag.

Living in a large city does have its perks sometimes!

Published April 30th, 2007

My new toy

You know, I really am a geek at heart. I get tired of trying to figure out how far I’ve run by using dividers and a Thomas Guide, so when I heard this was on sale at Amazon.com, I knew I had to have it. And just so my darling wouldn’t feel left out (he’s probably more of a geek than I am), I bought him one too!

Will the madness ever stop?