Product Reviews

Compression Depression

After a long and fruitless search, I finally found an online retailer with long-sleeve running shirts from Brooks and Asics in medium. I have plenty of cold weather gear, and these were for those 45-50 degree, rainy, windy days we often get during winter in Sacramento. I chose Asics compression shirts (one black, one navy blue) and they arrived yesterday.

I like the colors. I like the no-chafe feel. I like the thinness of the fabric. There is nothing wrong with these shirts.

I wish I could say the same about how my body looks in them.

I’m not particularly self-conscious when it comes to running gear. I even penned a column on the do’s and don’ts of running tights. But if you’re going with the superhero look, you want to resemble Fandral the Dashing…

…and not the vociferous Volstagg.

I look like a retired ninja who stopped working on his abs and pecs. So I went for a run today wearing the compression shirt covered with an older, looser Mizuno that I had been planning to toss. Otherwise I’m going to have to go the gym, and I haven’t got the superpowers for that.

Information Overload

I’m very happy with my Garmin Forerunner 305 but, as with any new technology I adopt, I spend most of my time discovering what the device can do, then finding ways to ignore or delete most of it.

I rarely use more than one-quarter of my computer’s memory, I have a ridiculously small number of software applications, and all I really want from my Garmin is super-accurate time and distance. I don’t need to know its estimate of calories burned, or elevation to the tenth of a foot, or where its satellites are.

In sharp contrast to the device itself is the weak-assed Garmin Training Center, which allows you to download your workout history into your computer, add notes, etc. Its file system is terrible, and it won’t even let you designate Monday as the first day of the week.

My mad research skillz failed me until today, when I discovered DC Rainmaker’s two-year-old (but updated) review and how-to guide for the Forerunner 305. It has absolutely everything you need to know about the GPS and Garmin’s associated software and services. And if you can’t find it there, you can find useful tips elsewhere on his blog, like using a pencil eraser to clean the exposed contacts. But his best advice resides in “Ten Random Tips for your Garmin Forerunner 305,” the first of which reads, “Never ever use/open up GTC (Garmin Training Center) again. It’s crap. Instead, go download (for free) Sport Tracks (either 1.3 or 2.0 Beta): http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks.” (The latest version is 2.1.3478).

I took his advice and I have to tell you SportTracks is far superior to GTC. Sure, it also has way more information than I can ever possibly use, but it lets me organize my log my way. This is essential for someone making the big move from dead-tree logs (ha!) to digital logs. It’s easy to use and easy to personalize.

Who knows? If this keeps up, someday I might even have my own iPhone and Twitter account.

Personalized Finish Posters for Runners

I’ve posted about the good folks at Far Gone Greetings before, because of their excellent greeting cards for runners. They have a new product line – customized finish posters with personalized details of your race, such as name, race name, date, finish time and pace.

I think it’s a great idea, even though I have received no freebies! That’s how much I like it! Check out the poster page here. Prices vary according to size.

Do You Have Monkey Butt?

When you host a world-famous running site, people seek out your expert opinions on all sorts of great and useful products related to running – shoes, apparel, detergent, iPods, Garmins, you name it.

When you host a running site called Running Is Funny, people immediately think “monkey butt.”

The good folks at Anti Monkey Butt Powder believe this is the perfect vehicle to let you know about their product. And, fortunately for both of us, they’re right.

AMBP is a powder designed to prevent and relieve chafing caused by the friction of clothing on “sensitive” areas. This is a problem common not only to runners, but cyclists and long-haul truckers as well, which results in the unsightly and painful monkey butt (or monkey thighs, but I digress).

There are a number of solutions to this problem, the worst one being to walk out of the bathroom with your pants around your ankles, shouting, “I have monkey butt, honey! Look!” Not that that is something I would ever do, you understand.

Better yet to apply AMBP as a preventative or treatment. It’s not a magic formula; it’s sensible. It contains talc, calamine powder, and fragrance (which is neutral and pleasant). Calamine has been used for generations as a mild anti-itching agent. So even if you have chicken pox rather than monkey butt, it will bring you some relief.

I don’t get monkey butt, but I do suffer from occasional thigh chafing after long runs, so I applied AMBP liberally - too liberally, actually. A little bit of the product goes a long way, and if you’re not careful you could end up with paste pants. It worked just as well as my usual application of vaseline, though I do have to say the vaseline held up better over the very long haul. You’re probably also better off with a lubricant on your toes, rather than a powder.

Once you get a hang of the dosage, it feels better on your skin and you don’t have to deal with the goopy mess than vaseline can cause. But its biggest advantage is that the calamine powder will soothe your inflamed skin if you already have chafing and want to feel better.

You can purchase Anti Monkey Butt Powder directly from their web site at $5.95 for a six ounce plastic bottle, or at a Rite-Aid or Walmart near you. I suspect six ounces will last a long time. They also sell Lady Anti Monkey Butt. I have a pretty good marketing idea, but I’m trying to keep this G-rated.

Anti Monkey Butt Powder is for external use only, so no matter how ugly some of your friends may be, DO NOT rub Anti Monkey Butt Powder on their faces. It will not have the desired effect.

An Ode to Advil

Ah, the salad days of my youth, when I could run all day, party all night, and go straight to work the next morning without a care in the world.

Now I’m an old fart, who goes to bed each night wondering what kind of ache and pain I will wake up with in the morning. Sore shoulder? Tweaked back? Calf cramp? Pulled muscle? It’s agony roulette, but whatever number comes up, I still lose.

Training runs that used to begin with a deep breath of fresh air, now start with the question: “What the hell is wrong with my __________?” (Fill in the blank with knee, ankle, shins, quads, hamstrings, et al.)

But all is not gloom and doom. As I gingerly make my way back home after a long run or speedwork, I know a little green genie is waiting to grant my wishes for pain relief.

Oh, Advil Liqui-Gels, your 200mg of solubilized ibuprofen whisk away my cares and restore my creaking joints to relative normalcy. Not since Jack traded his cow for some magic beans have such little tablets brought so much comfort. Along with sugar and caffeine, you comprise the master runner food pyramid. While younger runners look to better shoes, vitamins, hydration, altitude training, etc., for improvement, I look to you, Advil, to get me to the next starting line.

When old age shall this generation waste, thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st, “I’m all Advil, are you all Advil?” That is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

NB = New Balance and Not Bad

I’ll never set the world on fire as a shoe reviewer. When I read things like “stability-to-weight ratio” and “carbon midfoot bridge” I immediately book a ticket to Catatonia. I know there are plenty of running shoe fanboys (and gals) out there who examine each “update” to their favorites as if it were something other than an effort to sell more shoes. I have only one requirement for running shoes: injury prevention.

It’s through painful experience that we learn the consequences of choosing the wrong shoe. Shin splints, knee pain, blisters and runner’s toe follow as surely as night follows day.

I’m tall and thin, but I overpronate like someone twice my weight. This simplifies my shoe purchasing immensely. I look for a motion control shoe that neutralizes my pronation without making me run like Herman Munster. That’s why I quickly ditched my first attempt: The Brooks Beast.

I’ve experimented over the years, but always returned to the Asics Gel Foundation. I can mash down the post (the firm material along the instep) in a couple of hundred miles, so I have to keep an eye on wear, but they get the job done.

The good folks at New Balance Harrisburg let me try out a pair of New Balance 1123s, their new top-of-the-line motion control shoe. After a couple of weeks of use, I was surprised to see that a shoe with a substantially different design gave me just as comfortable a ride as the Asics.

Take a look at the soles of the Asics, particularly the shape.

Now look at the soles of the NB 1123s.

While the Asics shoe is more “hourglass” shaped and runs the arch all the way to the outside of the shoe, the New Balance shoe looks like a slipper (or a flat foot) on the outside, and all the construction is inside. Paradoxically, the New Balance shoe is snugger than the Asics along the whole foot. I can feel the inside post along the entire instep, and there’s no sliding along the outside of the foot.

I was concerned that the snug fit might lead to some problems after feet swelling on long runs, but they worked just as well as the Asics. They took a beating over asphalt and trail without a complaint. They may have been even more comfortable than the Asics.

The downside is that the 1123s didn’t have the flexibility of the Asics, and felt more “land and bounce” than “easy roll” while doing speedwork. Also, one would think that with the extra area impacting the ground, they would offer more traction on wet streets, but after a downpour they required some ginger stepping.

All in all, a worthy alternative to the other motion control shoes out there. Maybe the best of both worlds would be to use the 1123s for long runs and heavy mileage, and the Asics or similar, lighter shoe for speedwork and short races.