Investigative Report: Forearm and Calf Sleeves

For one unfamiliar with the world of running, some things seem completely bizarre - from words seemingly designed to make 12-year-olds giggle (fartlek?), to completely strange apparel.  Take this woman:

I met this lady at Beat the Blerch, where she was running the full marathon. She seems to be dressed fairly typically - running shoes, a running skirt with built-in shorts, a tank top. But what the hell is up with the leg warmers and forearm sleeves?!

I've seen a number of runners wearing these one at a time or together both at races, and just out on runs around town. There are whole sections of these scrap pieces of fabric at running and athletic stores, and we are somehow supposed to believe that they are stand-alone items of clothing?! Clearly there is some kind of running insider secret to which I am not yet privy. It is time for an investigation...

Luckily, I happen to be friends with one of the managers of my local running store, Salt Lake Running Company. So, on one chilly, rainy, Sunday morning, I sent her this message on Facebook:

"Hey, I have a running question for you. I wondered - can you tell me what the point of those sleeves that only cover your forearms is? I see "serious" runners wearing them, and I have no idea why...same goes for the calf-only sleeve things... What are those, and why would one consider wearing them?"

As a serious runner herself, she of course knew what I meant right away. In fact, she was out for a run, and had only stopped to get a coffee before running home. It turns out that the forearm sleeves and the calf sleeves serve different purposes.

Forearm sleeves are meant as another way to modulate your temperature on a run. With the forearm sleeves, you can continue to wear shorter sleeved shirts when it gets chilly. This way, you can be warmer at the start of your run, but if you start to get too warm, you can just take them off mid-run.

Okay, one mystery down. But what about the calf ones? I don't know about you, but my legs are rarely cold while working that hard.

It turns out that the calf sleeves serve a more anatomical, bio-mechanical purpose. First of all, calf sleeves are a form of compression - that is, they're super, duper tight and squeeze your calves. This is supposed to be good for two reasons: 1) to increase blood flow, though the research on that isn't super good yet, and 2) to reduce muscle vibration, which is absolutely proven and supported by the science. The benefit is that this extra support causes you to feel less calf strain while you're running, and therefore less muscle soreness afterwards. That also explains why it is that I usually see them on runners doing longer distances.

So there you have it, mystery solved! Have you worn arm and/or calf sleeves? What did you think about them?

A Guide to Running in Costume

Because I'm less of a runner and more of a have-runner, I'm always looking for something to spice up my runs and races. Fun, silly, super scenic locale, anything so that its not just another miserable 3-6 miles...

Confession time: I am both a huge Halloween nerd, and a massive Disney fan. For running, this means that it was only a matter of time before I ran a race in costume.

I've been looking for a good costume race (and trying to convince hubby to run it with me) for a long time. We actually have several costumed Half Marathons near us, but I wasn't ready to commit to that many miles in costume just yet. And then a wonderful thing happened: one of those Half Marathons added a 5K! I signed up myself and my two kids, and even convinced hubby to slum it with us in the 5K instead of doing the half. So without further ado, a few things we discovered about running in costumes:

DO: Work with what you have.

The best running costumes use running gear. No surprise, right? There is a reason we run in tech fabric and why we choose the the styles and cuts of running gear that we do. We choose our running gear according to what we're most comfortable running in. So, if you can work running gear that you already have into your costume - awesome!

Case in point: Hubby ran as Zorro.

He wore black running tights and a black running shirt that he already had. The cape is one we've had for years and was in our costume box. The hat was a re-use from a past pirate costume. The only new thing that we got was the fabric for the mask which we literally bought on the way to the race, and I cut eye holes while he drove!

DON'T: Use big accessories.

Think about it: you don't want to have to carry extra crap. Another thought though - there are usually A LOT of runners on the course, so not only do you not want to carry this stuff, but if its big, you have to worry about not hitting/running into other runners with it.

Example: fairy wings.

As you can see, her wings expanded way, way out past her shoulders. This became a pain for her in a number of ways. First, at the race start, everyone within 10 feet of her got smacked, poked, whacked, or stabbed with fairy wings. Then, nearly everyone she passed on the course got hit too. Also, fairy wings move. I know, shocker. Her wings spent much more time folded up and shifted down so that they were on her sideways. By the end she was so annoyed, that she took them off and carried them.

If you're going to do wings, a couple of pointers: 1) keep it small - the smaller they are, the less they'll move around. 2) consider immobilizing them - maybe use safety pins to attach to the back of your shirt instead of just relying on the shoulder straps. 3) take them for a test run - yes you will look like a crazy person running around your local park wearing wings, but if they annoy you after 100 yards, you definitely don't want to wear them in a distance race.

DO: Be careful of too many layers. 

Ok, so this one was my own fault. I was trying to go with my first point about wearing running gear if possible. I was going as Lady Zorro, so I was wearing a black knee-length skirt with a red stretchy corset and fishnets. That sounded like it would be awful to run in, so I wore some knee-length running shorts and a tank top underneath. Now, due to the nature of how a corset is worn over a skirt, that means that around my mid-section, I had undies, fishnets, running shorts, a wool skirt, and a corset. That's FIVE layers!! That wound up being hot, constricting, and generally uncomfortable. 

As hot as my middle got, I'm surprised that my race bib didn't melt off by the end...

DON'T: Assume that a mask will be 'fine'

We had mixed results with the masks. Mine was TORTURE. I made it a little over a mile before I took it off. It was hot and made me sweaty way earlier than any other part of me got sweaty (including the parts that were wearing 5 layers!). To make matters worse, nothing stays exactly in place when you're running, so the mask kept riding up and bothering my eyes. Hubby, on the other hand, had no such issues. We made his mask to mirror the original Zorro mask, so it covered his whole head. He still wore it for the whole race with no complaints. To be fair, we were running WAY under his pace, so he never really got hot or sweaty.

Do: Be make small changes to make some things more running-friendly

We made minor modifications to several things to make them more running friendly. For hubby's costume, the cape was one of the cheap Halloween capes that ties at the neck. You can imagine that running along with that flapping behind you and the ties pulling on your throat would get old fast. So we safety-pinned the ties to his shirt. Similarly, my son dressed as Bill Nye the Science Guy, who famously wears a bow-tie. We had a bow-tie in the costume box, but it was one with an elastic band to wear around the neck. Again, we just safety-pinned it to his shirt. Small modifications, but they make a big difference!

We're running another costumed race this weekend, so I'll come back and update with any new lessons learned. Do you have any tips? I'd love to know your tricks!

Displaying your Bling

Ok, I admit it, I'm in it for the bling.

Race medals are cool, and are a tangible, visible reminder of your accomplishments - of how far you've come. Not nearly enough 5k races award their runners with medals, but if you can find one, I highly recommend it. As the race distances get longer, the medals get to be more of a given.

I often just peruse message boards and forums about running. Sometimes I'm looking for something specific, but most often not - I just like to absorb as much knowledge as I can on any subject that I love. On one of these perusals I stumbled upon some amazing medal display racks. Allied Medal Displays makes amazing die-cut aluminum medal holders. With designs from personalization such as your name (or whatever else you want it to say), to standard designs that say things like "Always Earned, Never Given", "Runner Girl", "I Run This Town", and my personal favorite "Pigs Fly", there is an amazing rack for nearly everyone. My only minor complaint is on the pricing - and even then, the price is perfectly appropriate to the product, I just happen to be a broke grad student.

I do however happen to have a very modest amount of creativity, so I set out to find a way to make something at least approaching the clean elegance of Allied Medal's designs. Here is what I ended up with:

Not nearly as cool as the Allied Medal ones, but at less than $15 total, it fit my wallet better. Maybe I'll ask for one of the Allied Medal ones for Christmas :)

How about you? How do you display your medals? If you haven't gotten any yet, how would you like to display them?

Gear: Sports Bras

Ah, the dilemma of women runners (or athletes in general): how to find the perfect torture device to hold down your ta-tas while still letting you breathe, and not requiring a degree from MIT to get into/out of.

First, a little info on sports bras in general. The first thing to look for in a sports bra is impact level. Low impact sports bras are for things like walking and yoga. Medium impact sports bras are good for just slightly more vigorous activity, such as hiking or skating. High impact sports bras are for very vigorous activities like tennis and, of course, running.

The next thing to know is the style of sports bra that you're looking for. Compression sports bras do just that: they squish and flatten your ta-tas into your chest to keep them from moving. This typically works best for smaller breasts. Encapsulation sports bras keep each breast in its own little padded cell. They are molded for specific cup sizes and are best for larger breasts.

After those points, its all about personal preference. Sports bras come in all sorts of fabrics, colors, patterns, and cuts. It may very well take a significant amount of trial-and-error ( I went through 3 or 4 before finding the one that I use now). If you have big boobies it can be more difficult to find a bra that is both comfortable, and fits right.

A few tips:

1. Try them on (duh), but then jump up and down, run in place, ask an associate if its okay if you jog up and down an aisle. Really road test it as much as possible.

2. Be patient. This is going to take some time.

3. To avoid the contortionist act, look for a sports bra with a closure of some kind (not strictly the pull-on kind).

4. For an absolutely-no-motion encapsulation sports bra, try the Enell. Enells are a little pricey, and aren't the prettiest things in the world, but they feature a front snap closure system and are the most recommended bra for big-breasted runners. Check them out here: www.enell.com

5. Be willing to look in unexpected places. Being a C/D cup myself, I had quite the search for the right sports bra. My previous ones ranged from soft cotton with nearly no support, to a compression one that required my husband's help for me to get out of. Finally, I took to the web to see if I could find a recommendation for a good sports bra for big boobies. I tried an Enell, and while tons of women absolutely swear by them, they weren't my favorite - I felt a little like I was wearing a bullet-proof vest...but then I came across an interesting recommendation. A couple of runners on one forum recommended a Danskin Now sports bra, carried by WalMart. Now, I know what you're thinking, and I don't buy anything at WalMart besides soap, razors, vitamins, and the occasional DVD either. But, having gone through 4 or 5 top brand sports bras, and having already dismissed the Enell, I figured it was worth a shot. So I went and found the bra in question, and fell in love! It has a back closure, good fit, and good support. This is it: Danskin Adjustable Sports Bra The website says that it only comes in the blue and the pink, but if you go into a store they often have other colors (mine is black and silver).

Above all, don't compromise! I am incredibly picky about my bras. For my sports bra, I wanted a decent amount of separation, and also for them to not be so plastered to my chest that it would be hard to even be able to tell that they were there! But at the same time, they are big, and I needed support. It took time, patience, frustration, persistence, and an open mind, but I finally found one that I love!

Gear: Shorts/Pants/Tights, etc.

Since your legs do most of the work of running, it is understandable that there are a multitude of options for how to clothe them while running. Firstly, know that as long as it is made from some sort of active-wear type fabric, it will probably do. After that though, come the options.

Tights

Guys - don't worry, they're not see through, and usually aren't pink or have flowers on them (although I understand that pink ones can be found for support of breast cancer research) . Nope, running tights are those things you see runners wearing that look like a sleek swimsuit for legs. They are meant to be worn like a second skin, and are surprisingly warm despite the lack of appreciable amounts of fabric. However, because of this inherent warmth, they are really meant for cold-weather running. They are perfect for late fall, winter, and exceedingly early race mornings. Running tights come in several lengths from all the way to your ankles, to just above the knee, and everywhere in between.

Lightweight workout pants

These are sort of the catch-all workout pants that seem to be good for everything - running, yoga, ellipticals, chasing those damn kids off your lawn, whatever you want really. I personally like to wear them when its a bit chilly for shorts, but not cold enough for tights. These are arguably the most flexible of lower-body running wear. They come in all sorts of lengths, colors, designs, brands, and so on. In fact, you probably already owned some before you even started running!

Shorts

Ah, running shorts. We've all seen them. Some of us even have nightmares about them. But as a runner, they are absolutely indispensable. As noted in another post, there is no need to wear underwear with them. They come in a number of different cuts and styles. There are the ones that look like the love child of boxer briefs and a swimsuit, the ones that are flowy, brightly colored daisy dukes, and there are the ones that combine the two (yep, it looks like you're wearing the daisy dukes over the boxer swimsuit, but its really one piece). Then of course there are ones that come to about mid-thigh. They are loose and airy, moisture-wicking, and excellent for keeping you cool. They come in all sorts of colors, patterns, and levels of ridiculous-ness. And they are absolutely essential.

In general, for a year-round runner that plans to run outside, all of these are necessary additions to the running wardrobe. There will be days when each is most appropriate to the current weather.

A note on sizing

As aggravating as it may be, most running clothes run small. I know, right? So that means that if you are normally an XL, you'll likely need a 2- or even 3X. As if that isn't demoralizing enough, most stores that carry running clothes don't stock extended sizes. Its not that they're not out there, the stores just don't carry them. For example, Nike makes running shorts all the way up to 3X, but good luck finding them in a store. An exception may be a factory store, but that will depend greatly.

However, there is hope! Reebok has managed to stay sane. When I first started running, I was an XL (about a size 18 or so). However, when I tried on Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, etc, not only were their XL's too small, they fit tighter than my underwear! It was ridiculous! I couldn't even pull some of them on! And then came Reebok...as far as I can tell, Reebok fits true to size. Sure enough, their shorts fit! Last weekend, I went to my Dick's Sporting Goods (which has an enormous running wear section) to see if I could find these mythical extended sizes. Nope, they don't carry them. They carry men's sizes up to 3- or even 4X, but no women's sizes over XL. Dick's even carries the extended sizes on their website, but come on! Running shorts are sized weird, and frankly, most bigger people are shaped differently than the bean-poles that they design these shorts for, so if anyone needs to be able to try on running shorts, its fatties! I would love to start a campaign to demand appropriate exercise wear for bigger sizes be carried in stores, but where to start?

What do you think? What's your preferred running bottom? Have any suggestions for the rest of us?

Body Glide: Your New Best Friend

One of the worst things about being over-weight and taking on vigorous exercise is the chafing. Bloody nipples, chapped thighs, blistered feet...the list goes on. Enter your new best friend: Body Glide. No, its not something one would find while lurking around an 'adult bookstore'.

Rather, Body Glide is this miraculous waxy substance that creates an anti-chafe barrier on the skin. Very long distance runners use it to protect against the inevitable chafing that comes with 26+ miles of rubbing waist bands and sports bras. For those of us that have more areas that rub up against each other, Body Glide is excellent from the first run. I use it liberally on my inner thighs. I know of others that use it on their feet, nipples, etc.

Body Glide comes in a deodorant-like container, and rolls on the same way as deodorant. It is not greasy, not slippery, and has no scent or odor at all. It is not visible on the skin unless you really look for it (and lets be honest, its likely to be under your clothes or covered in sweat anyway).

Ladies: Body Glide does make a women's formula. However, its a big fat attempt to get you to spend more money. It is exactly the same thing, but with a slight perfume-y scent, and costs a decent amount more than the original formula.

Body Glide can be found at running specialty stores, or at some outdoor and sporting goods stores (including many REI's). Click on the picture to read more about Body Glide, including a zip-code search on where to get it near you.

Gear: Running Shoes

If you've looked into running at all, you already know that shoes are the single most important item you can own as a runner. Easy, right? You have a pair of cross-trainers buried somewhere from that foray into whichever sport(s) you've tried. All you have to do now, is dig them out. WRONG. Over time, the materials used to make shoes start to degrade. No, it won't be like the half-eaten apple you lost for a few weeks in sixth grade. You probably won't even be able to see a difference, but you'll feel it in your feet.

Ok fine, so new shoes then. Hit the clearance rack, grab the first pair that fit, and we can get this thing rolling. Wrong, again. It turns out that there are several different types of running shoes based on your feet and running style. First off, make sure that they are actually running shoes. Not basketball shoes, not cross-trainers, and not walking shoes.

There are a couple of different ways to determine your foot type and stride. The easiest way is to find a running store. Yep, they have whole stores for running. Crazy, right? I mean, how the hell do they get away with a whole store for running stuff?! Anyway, back to your feet. Once you locate a running store, chances are that they offer free foot analyses. Depending on the place, this could be a laser scan of your foot, measuring, watching you walk/run, or something else entirely. At my local ru

nning store for example, they have a treadmill with a video camera trained on your feet. Each member of the staff is trained to go over this video to look for foot strike, pronation, and other mysterious things. The result of this analysis will be knowing exactly what kind of foot type you have, and therefore what kind of shoe you'll need. To find a store near you, start here: http://www.runnersworld.com/store/search/1,7978,s6-240-417-0-0,00.html

If you don't have a running store near you, or don't want to go to one, there is an at-home version. Less precise, but its a start. You'll need, a tub of water (bath tub, plastic tub, whatever, as long as your foot fits in it) and a brown paper shopping bag. Cut the sides of the bag so that the bag will lay out 3-4 feet or so. Dip your feet in the water, and walk across the paper with as normal a stride as you can manage. Now, look at the prints.

The type of arch you have is closely related to your pronation (a big fancy word for how much your feet roll to the inside when you roll). Like everything else, moderation is key. Too much, or too little pronation causes injuries. If you have a neutral arch, you likely pronate a little bit, so you'll want to look for a stability shoe. If you have a high arch, you likely don't pronate enough, so you want a neutral cushioning shoe - one that has little arch support, and will encourage pronation. If you have a flat arch, there's a little more information needed. If there is a clear curve inward at the arch, you'll likely need a stability shoe. If it looks straighter, or even curves out from your foot, you'll need to go all the way to a motion-control shoe.

A couple of other miscellaneous tips. Running shoes DO NOT need breaking in. That thought that goes through your head that goes something like this, "Hmm, they're pretty good, maybe a little tight in the heel, but they just need a little breaking in and then they'll be fine..." Nope, that doesn't fly. If they don't fit right in the store, they never will.

On the date of your first run (or run/walk), write the date on the inside edge of the sole of your new shoes. Later, this will help you to know when its time for new shoes. Running shoes will need replacing earlier than you're used to. In general, you'll want to replace them about every 500 miles or so. As soon as your feet seem to be getting more tired than usual on a run you've done before, your shins start to ache, or if your hips or back start to hurt, and its been about that long, start looking for new shoes. Keep in mind, this will be aches and pains that are unusual. There will be usual pain, after a while you'll get to know the difference.