Review: Aspaeris Pivot Shorts

Back in early December, Kari from Aspaeris gave me a pair of Pivot shorts to try.

According to the Aspaeris website, the Pivot short is actually two pairs of shorts bonded together: an outer compression short and an inner short with compression bands designed to "guide your muscles into the proper position, thereby improving your pivot performance which helps prevent ACL and hip injuries."

source

Kari sent me the size chart and I agonized over what size to order for far too long.  Seriously, for a couple days.

My hips fall in the Small range.  I was unclear on where to measure my waist. Many size charts mean your natural waist, however these shorts clearly hit below your natural waist.  My waist at the belly button level is right between a Small and a Medium. 

In the other Pivot short reviews I found out there in internet land, I wasn't able to find much on sizing other than that they look really really small (fact).

The shorts are intended to fit snugly but not restrict motion. I decided to go with the smaller size, based on my hip measurement, instead of rounding up.  I think I chose right on the size?

everyone loves a crotch shot

They are snug at the waist, but not muffin-top snug, and they hit just below my belly button (I am short - 5'2").  They are also snug throughout the bum/hip/thigh region, but not uncomfortably so.  In fact, they are snug in a strangely comfortable way.  I can feel where one of the "compression bands" cuts across the back of my legs, a couple inches from the bottom, but I would not say my range of motion is impacted.


It's hard to say if the next larger size would have fit as well.  I would expect it to be a little looser around the leg openings and throughout, but I don't know if it would provide as much compression.  Then again, I'm not sure I would know what level of compression is appropriate.

looks great with a wool sweater!

These shorts felt so good on my legs!

Just for fun, I put on my calf compression sleeves too.  Before, the calf sleeves were the only compression I knew.  After wearing the Pivot shorts though, I feel like the shorts compress more/better than the leg sleeves.

It's not that my legs are uncomfortable normally, but somehow when wearing these I feel lighter in the hip region and like it's very effortless for me to move my legs from the hip joint.

This was one of about 20 attempts

Since getting them the first weekend in December, I've worn them several times.  A couple times I have slept in them at night following a long run (9-13 miles).  I've also worn them in the afternoon/evening following a long run.

I have yet to run in them, but that's because all my running shorts have an attached inner "brief" and I don't know how that would jive with these shorts underneath OR I run in capris/tights and can't imagine layering with those either.  That leaves running in these on their own -- and for some reason I feel more self-conscious in these than full running tights.

The shorts are made in the USA (and I'm happy to support athletic gear made in the US!)  They're available in black, white, red, and navy and in sizes XS - XL. The Pivot short retails for $60, but if you check the coupon part of the Aspaeris website, you may find a special offer.  At the time of this review, the offer is $10 off!

You can find some other reviews of the Pivot short here:

• by Kristy 
• by Emily
• by Marcia
• by Racing with Babes

Note: I was provided these shorts free of charge but not compensated in any other way for writing this review.

Road ID Giveaway

As you may recall, I recently posted my review of the Wrist ID Slim, which was provided to me by Road ID in exchange for an honest review.

Wrist ID Slim comes in a cool tin

Demonstration of Road ID on bicycle

Customize with optional humorous statements

Jeff, who does PR for Road ID, has generously offered a free Road ID for one of my readers!

Prize: code for one Road ID item of your choosing
Who can enter: Anyone!
Ends: Saturday, November 19, 2011 at 11:59pm PST
To enter:
Mandatory: Go to the Road ID website, peruse their products, and leave a comment here telling me which model you would choose if you won.
Bonus (Optional): After the mandatory entry: if you follow my blog, leave a 2nd comment telling me you do.
1 Comment = 1 Entry.  Max: 2 Entries.
Winner chosen: randomly, using Random.org
Winner announced: On this blog on Monday, November 21, 2011.
To also be emailed upon winning, be sure to leave your email in your comment, or make sure I can easily find your email address if I click through to your blog or blogger profile.  If I can't find your email address, the only notification will be on my blog on Monday.
**Winner must respond within 48 hours of announcement/email or a new winner will be chosen.

You could be stylin' like me.

Thank you again to Jeff, who represents Road ID!

Please check out Road ID on Facebook and on Twitter.

Read my full Road ID - Wrist ID Slim review here. 

New Kicks

Last week my fabulous new running shoes arrived!

I still plan to wear my older, current pair of shoes (with ~230 miles on them), but I will begin to wear the new pair for longer runs.

I returned to the 2100s after a summer with the 1100s.  The 1160s were ok but on longer runs I feel like I over-pronated more, especially with my left foot.  I say this because the insides of the balls of my feet (near the big toe joint, to be super technical) got a little more callused. So I guess that means I do still need more of a stability shoe after all.

L to R: 2150 (muddied from Trail half), 1160, 2160

The new running shoes also look fabulous with a skirt.  Not really, but I was too eager to try them on after work that I couldn't be bothered with changing.

I'm happy to report that I wore them for my 5 mile mid-tempo run on Friday and my 10.5 mile long run yesterday with no rubbing or discomfort.

Speaking of my 10.5 mile run.  It was supposed to be longer, but it turns out the sun is setting earlier these days than I realized.  I was still operating on the assumption it was getting dark at 6:30.  I don't think that has happened in a few weeks though. 

At about 4:20 on Sunday I headed out for what would have been a ~2 hour and 15 minute run along the canal.

Goal pace was about 10:35.  I ran the first four miles at 9:55, 10:14, 10:40, and 10:45.  I made a conscious effort to slow down for the second mile.  Miles 3-4 involved some tricky parts, however, like navigating past this giant mound of clay-like dirt and construction equipment rebuilding the washed-away towpath (twice).

Step 1: Climb over dirt pile.

Drop off to the left. I walked immediately next to the construction equipment belt-thingy.

The right side was less of an option.

After navigating that obstacle, I got to see another section damaged from flooding.

There used to be trees between the path and the road up and to the right, now there are just big rocks and the path is really bumpy.

I ran a couple more miles: 10:09 and 10:54 while navigating around several families with children running around/riding their bikes diagonally across the path near my turn around point.  After turning around I ran two miles in 10:05 and 9:57, motivated by the quickly setting sun, before I needed to navigate the big scary construction equipment again.  That mile was 10:49.

I ran another mile in 10:11...this is quite impressive as I averaged this pace despite attempting to jog/walk while calling my husband to let him know I was still 2 miles from home and on the towpath.  Note: it is very difficult to maintain a running pace and speak on the phone intelligibly.  He decided to come pick me up where the trail meets the road so I didn't need to run on a not-well-lit road as it got dark.

Here it was about 6:04pm, and I still had 2.5 miles to go.

Overall: 10.41 miles, 10:27 average pace,
(10:18 average moving pace if you want to account for some traffic crossings).

Moral of the story: 1. New running shoes are fun.
2. Check sunset times as daylight gets shorter so you don't get stuck running in unsafe conditions.

Ladies' Night

...but not the kind at a bar on Thursday nights during college.

On Tuesday night, a running store in the City of Brotherly love hosted a "Ladies' Night" sponsored by Nike.  There was a Nike fall fashion show, snacks, and drinks. The event included $20 store credit, 10% off Nike purchases, Nike grab bag items for all that came, and some prizes being raffled off.  Also, I had a gift card for this store that I've been sitting on since back in May.

This trip also gave me the pleasure of driving through the "Occupy Philly" demonstration across from City Hall at rush hour.  So people with ridiculous signs like this were crossing the road each time the light changed.

 

 [source]

Since we cancelled cable this summer and I only look at the newspaper every other day or so, I didn't realize what it was until after I got home and thought about it that night (I also didn't realize these protests were sprouting up in places other than Wall Street).  What pained me the most is that the maker of this sign -- which I did see in person -- did not know how to make a proper %.

Back to running.

For the "grab bag" item, we could pick between a headband/earwarmer, a white hat, and a drawstring backpack- I chose the headband because I have plenty of hats and a couple of those backpacks and only one thermal headband.  Sadly my name was not called for any of the raffles (including a head-to-toe outfit including shoes!), but I did use up my store credit and gift card. 

I came home with this:

•  Nike Miler Short Sleeve Tee
• Nike Thema-fit Reversible Headband
• Feetures! Light No Show with Tab socks
• (Not Pictured) Moving Comfort Fiona bra

It's my first time trying the Miler tee, but I really like it! It fits well and is very soft to the touch. I want a long sleeve one too! Luckily it's not cold enough for the ear warmer yet. The socks are the same kind I got from RRS last year, and I still like them, so I thought it was worth getting more.  I have the Fiona bra already in a different color. It's not the "sexiest" sports bra, if such a thing exists, but it's very supportive.

Wednesday after work I decided to try out my new shirt on a run.

I am SO serious about speed work.

My plan was to run 1 mile warm up, 3 x [1600m@8:45, 400m rest interval], 1 mile cool down.  

It was almost dark out by the time I got outside (hence my white shorts and reflective headband).  It was about 60 out, and there was a light mist which was actually refreshing toward the end of my run. 

Check it out:

Success!  And I have the sweat to prove it.  Molly also looked on.

Verdict: I really like this shirt!  It's female-shaped, but not too thin or clingy.  There are mesh panels along the side for ventilation.  Reflective logo on the front left chest, each sleeve, and back.  Actually that back tab at the collar is for "cord management," but I don't really see myself using it to wire headphones through.

Most importantly, the miler tee was clearly what made my mile repeats successful!

Oh and tonight I went to spinning, but didn't stay for the abs class.  Work kicked my butt today/this week and an hour of spinning was good enough for me.

Spin Fail

Thursday night I tried to spin.  Look how excited I was.

 Take 1 and Take 2.  

Both are included because of Molly Waffles lurking in the background.

Check out that downward dog.

But I got to the gym with over 10 minutes to spare before the class started only to find it was full.  I thought I'd be ok because last week the same class was only 2/3 full.  I incorrectly assumed the beginning-of-semester hype had worn off. 

I was disheartened.

I wear different shoes for running than I do for spinning, so I did not want to stick around at the gym to play on the treadmill.  And it was nice out, so if I as going to run it would be outside, not at the gym.  I drove home and saved up all my leg energy for Friday morning when I planned to get in a run before work.

Then because I was dressed in workout clothes for nothing, I took the above two thumbs-up pictures after I got home.  Tricky, I know.


Friday morning I was proud of myself for waking up shortly after 6:30 am to slowly begin getting ready for an hour-ish long run.  I laid everything out the night before and yet somehow it took me 20 minutes to leave.  I think I did hit snooze once though.  And I may still have been half asleep while trying to put my contacts in.

I ran 5 miles at an average pace of 10:45.  It started off at a comfortable pace, and when I emerged from the park my pace quickened by about :40/mile.  It wasn't quite the 6 I had hoped to get in, but I'll take it.  It's the longest I have run since the trail half on the 25th.

After work, Dan and I pumped up our bike tires after neglecting them for the past month.  We went for a quick almost-4 mile bike ride to make sure our bike muscles still worked.  It's supposed to be beautiful this weekend so I'm hoping we can go for a longer bike ride.

Now for an important question.  I'm going to buy another pair of running shoes soon.

I really liked my Asics GT 2150s that I wore this spring and summer.  I put 400 miles on them.  They have held up really well!  Over the summer I bought the slightly less supportive and slightly lower heeled Asics 1160.  There's nothing wrong with them, they've been an ok pair of shoes, and I ran my Philly half in them.  I don't think I ever reviewed them though.  They have about 200ish miles on them right now, so I will still wear them, but I wanted to get a more cushioned pair for my upcoming longer runs.

I'm 99% decided on returning to the next version of the 2150: the 2160.  I know color is not the most important factor in a running shoe.  But since I know this style works for me, I'm going to worry about color.  My last few pairs have been white + blue or white + pink which is kind of boring.

Check these out!

Grey + yellow is one of my favorite color combinations.  Unfortunately that's only for the trail shoe.  And while I run in parks, it's not the bulk of my running and my November half will be on roads.  So I guess I just wanted to give Asics some credit for a nice grey + yellow shoe.

The two colors I liked better on the road version are above.  Neither really matches my existing running "wardrobe" so that's not a consideration.

Which color combo do you prefer:

Grey + Green/Yellow   --Or--   Grey + Light Blue + Orange?

What are your weekend plans?

Hooray for Headbands!

Today I received the headbands I ordered from Little Slice of Awesome!  A.k.a. Emily.  I like coming home from work to find good mail waiting for me.   :)

Me likey!  I can't wait to try 'em out on my next run. For now though, this is what they look like with a cardigan:

This is my "It's only Tuesday and I'm already feeling burnt out" face

 Though making a creepy face, I'm happy to have some new headbands

Post to follow after I get a chance to wear them while I sweat.

Now for some running mileage trivia!

This year, from January 1 - September 30 I ran 727.32 miles.

If I want to hit my random goal of 1000 miles for the year, I'll need to run another 272.68 miles before December 31.  That's an average of 90.9 miles per month.  That might be kind of ambitious given my record this year:

In the Year 2011...

I don't know what the odds are of THREE 90 mile months, but I'll try my best!  I guess it could also be something like: 115, 83, 75.  There are lots of possibilities, I will save you the pain of not going into them all.

To compare, for the same time period in 2010, I ran 518 miles.

Alright...my goal of 1000 miles will be my motivation to get my act together for the November half.  I'm planning on kicking myself out of bed early tomorrow to get in some miles before work.  I have not been eager to get out of bed early any weekday this past month, so this may be a challenge.  Wish me luck!

Do you have any mileage or other activity-related goals for 2011?

How close are you to meeting them?

Week leading up to the Half

I mentioned that I got in my last long run - 8 miles - on Monday.

Unfortunately from about Tuesday on, I've been congested.  Probably due to breathing dry, shared, airplane air.  Or maybe it's due to the little germ balls I work with.  Regardless, this whole week I've tried to drink extra water, have more OJ, eat extra fruits and veggies, sleep a little more, and I've even thrown in a nap or two.

I woke up early enough to do a quick pace run Thursday morning.  It was humid/foggy.

The run was ok, it was supposed to be 2 pace miles sandwiched between a warm up and cool down.  I got in a 9:48 and a 9:44 (goal was 9:55).  The pace fluctuated quite a bit though over the course of each mile and the pace wasn't as easy-feeling as I hoped, especially when I could only breathe through one nostril or only my mouth at any given time.

I had hoped to get my last other run in before my half marathon Friday morning, but I chose an extra hour and 15 minutes of sleep instead, which I think/hope was the right choice.

My only other physical activity this week was just walking around at work (a fair amount!), dog walking, grocery shopping, cleaning.  Not so impressive.  We'll just say it was an extreme taper.

Luckily as I write this Saturday night, I can breathe again! With very minimal stuffiness.

Today was the expo!

Sorry to say this, but it was a little disappointing compared to last year's.  I'm making this statement solely on the amount of samples and freebies given out.

Here's what I got this year:

• Cherry Lime Roctane gu and Perform pain relieving gel were in my "swag bag"along with a handful of cards for other races.

 From walking around to the different tables I got:

• 2 mini Lara bar samples: coconut cream pie and PBJ.
• Brooks gave out the hat.  They scanned a "ticket" you filled out; some of the possible prizes included a bandana, hat, or t-shirt.
• Hand sanitizer from Team in Training
• Nutrilite Endurance cubes (like gu chomps, clif shot bloks)
• Cascadian Farm mini granola bar
• 2 mini packs of Sports Beans
• A bunch of coupons: Snickers Marathon bar, Cytomax, PF changs, Larabar, Cascadian Farm

I did try the watermelon and peach tea gu chomps, and really liked the peach tea flavor so I bought 2 packs.  I also got this Philadelphia shirt from Brooks (this one fits, unlike the dark blue shirt they give to all race participants that only comes in unisex sizes and is still kinda loose...big pet peeve of mine!  There are many thousand runners and they can't get women's sizes??)

Here's the race shirt and swag bag plus a headband (free with my friend's purchase):

Here's what I got at last year's expo.

What kind of take-home goodies were missing this year?
Oikos Greek yogurt, Salonpas patches, Dole fruit chunks, Gu chomps, Clif bar, Sport wash, Cytomax. I can't complain about the ING stress ball...ING is no longer a sponsor of the event.

Anyway, tomorrow's weather is looking fantastic for a half marathon.

2:10 would be fabulous. 
I'd be happy with anything under 2:15 though, which would mean I've made progress since May despite doing all my running outside in the heat of summer. 

Wish me luck! And good luck to anyone else racing this weekend!

Review: FuelBelt Sprint 10 oz Handheld Bottle

Earlier this summer I wanted something smaller than my 20 oz handheld Camelbak to take with me on shorter runs in the heat of summer (For example, a 5 or 6 mile tempo run or speed work).  So I purchased the 10 oz "Sprint" handheld bottle by FuelBelt online.  You can find it for about $8-10.

The bulge is due to a gu in the pocket already.  (It didn't come that way).

I liked that this came in a ridiculous amount of colors (maybe 6 or 7 to chose from?) and this happened to match a recent tank top purchase.  Clearly coordinating tanks and water bottles are a must.

The zip pocket was nice, and big enough to fit a gu packet.

On the other side, there's a small velcro pocket big enough to fit a house key.

Unfortunately, the opening of this bottle was not quite large enough to fit an ice cube.

Unfortunately, the strap was just too big for my dwarf hands, and it was unable to be tightened any more.  I prefer a snugger fit around my hand.  Otherwise, I might as well just wrap my hand around the bottle.

 

That's as tight as it goes.

For reference, my hand measures 3" across at the knuckles (not including thumb)

Just an observation: No strap across the bottom of the bottle.  Only the two straps that go around the bottle at the top and bottom of the pouch. So there's nothing to stop the straps from slipping off the bottle.

The mouthpiece for the bottle is just a basic pull open/push to close - with your hand or maybe your teeth, and squeeze the water bottle to get water with any pressure. (I've become so used to my bite valve mouthpieces)

The bottle does feature numbers along the side so you know how full it is (in ounces).

Pros:

• Smaller than the bigger 20 oz bottles that can be cumbersome to carry
• Comes in lots of fun colors!
• Easily holds house key and a gu
• BPA-Free bottle
• Not too expensive
• Comfortable hand strap, but...

Cons:

• ...Strap not adjustable enough for smaller hands
• Bottle is not insulated so your hand will get wet from condensation in hot weather
• Zip pocket is not big enough for ID/card unless you want to really test the limits of the fabric/zipper
• Bottle opening not big enough for ice cubes

In the end I did return this bottle primarily based on the hand strap being too loose.  I decided to suck it up and bring my bigger bottle on shorter runs if I had to on some of those hotter summer days.  My bigger bottle is insulated and cinches tightly on my hand.