Mischievous Dog, Zensah Leg Sleeves, Wegmans Bake & Rise Pizza

When I got home from work, I looked for my slippers.  But I could only find one.

 

I made sure the second one wasn't mixed in with the clothing next to it; it wasn't. I checked under the bed.  Then I checked up front in the living room, and sure enough it was there on the dog bed.

Clearly my slipper is a dog toy. Oh, Molly Waffles...

Before this happened, though, I came home from work to find my Zensah Compression Leg Sleeves waiting for me.  I ordered them on Friday.  Nice free two-day shipping from Running Warehouse!

Now, a demonstration of my jumbo calves. A little over 14.5" around.

Ignore the pasty, dry legs.  Winter is here and they have not seen sunlight in a long time.

The Zensah leg sleeve sizing:

XS/S: Calf Size 9.5" - 12"
S/M: Height 5 9" and below. Calf Size 11.5" - 14.5"
L/XL: Height 5 10" and up. Calf Size 14.5" and up

While my calves are about 14.75", I am only 5'2."  I went with the size S/M in black.

 They looked so small! Unstretched, the Small/Medium was 9.5" long.

 And about 3" wide. 

It looked like there would be no way these could fit on my legs! But they did.

And here they are on:

The leg sleeves fit well! Even being at the higher end of the size range.  I actually expected them to fit tighter than they do, and for them to be hard to put on.  It was as easy as putting on socks.  And they are snug, but not super snug. Tighter than my running tights or crops.  Not as tight as having my fat lady calves squished into my ski boots.  Feet look weird.  Knees do, too.

The reason I bought these - and I've been thinking about them for well over a month and a half now - is for wearing post-long runs or for when I'm experiencing some calf soreness after a tough class at the gym.  Who knows if they work or not, but I wanted to give them a shot.

I bought them from RunningWarehouse.com where they retailed for $35.95 ($40 MSRP) + a 15% off promotional code (search for them, they're out there!) and as I said, they have free 2-day shipping.  No Ebates or Add It Up (Bank Of America) Cash Back for Running Warehouse but they had the lowest price + best discount code.

And lastly, tonight was a lazy kind of dinner as my husband was working late.  We went with the frozen pizza option.  Wegmans Bake & Rise Roasted Vegetable Pizza.  It cost us a whopping $3.99 + tax.  I understand this is not the healthiest of dinners, but we ate healthily earlier in the day.

Here it is fresh out of the box:

 

425 degrees and 22 minutes later, here's a big slice right out of the oven: 

 

We actually sampled this at the store before buying, so we knew it tasted good.

It could have had more veggies on it, and if I wasn't in such a hurry to eat dinner at 8pm I might have found some extra veggies to throw on top. It was tasty, convenient, super easy, and cheap!

Long Fall Bike Ride

Went for a nice long bike ride with the Mr. today.  It was 66 and sunny when we set off on our adventure at about 2pm.

I wore my Lululemon Run: Zoom Crops, Target Champion SS Singlet, Lululemon Run: Energy Pullover:

picture from Lululemon.com

picture from Target.com (circa September 2009)

picture from Lululemon.com (circa December 2009)

I filled up my 1.5L Camelbak Hydrobak Hydration Pack to bring along with me:

Bought the 2008 model in Spring 2009 for $24

I also strapped on my ifitness pouch, in which I stored my license, credit card, some cash, and my compact digital camera, enabling me to take some of the pictures to follow.

And we were off!

The first half included some hills:

Not sure if that's a big deal or not, but the elevation increased by about 80 feet over 2 minutes or .3 miles.  It sure felt like a big deal.  The last 6.5 miles of the first half of our trip was mostly flat tow path, which was nice.

We rode 15.14 miles to a nearby favorite town of ours.  About an hour and a half later, we arrived.  We were torn between a really good Middle Eastern restaurant and a place with a good beer selection, burgers, and outdoor seating.

We went with the bar/burger place.  The patio is around back, I should have taken a picture.  It was decorated with tons of carved pumpkins for Halloween.

picture from nj.com

I got a Smithwick's (sadly they were out of the Saranac Octoberfest on their menu) hubby got the Troegs Hop Back Ale.   I got their current special burger which included tomatoes, guacamole, jalapenos, and 'queso fresco.'  Hubby got a rueben made with some kind of brat I have not heard of before.  Both came with their home made chips which you can see they sliced from real potatoes - they were fantastic.

Then we hopped back on our bikes at about 5pm and pedaled the just-over-15 miles back home, making it home with just enough sunlight.  I had just enough water in my Camel to last me the trip.

Round Trip: ~30.2 miles!
My quads were feeling a little fatigued on our way home, we'll see how my legs feel tomorrow!

ifitness neoprene double pouch: First Impressions

I recently ordered an ifitness neoprene running belt with a double pouch.  As seen here.  It arrived in the mail Saturday afternoon.

I first saw these at the Philly Rock n' Roll half marathon expo about 3 weeks ago, and they looked like they'd be good for helping you carry stuff on longer runs, but I held off and was good and did not impulse-buy. (I also wasn't going to pick it up and use it the next day for the half marathon without trying it on a longer run first).  They gave me a card with a code for free shipping (EXPO2010).

At first I was waffling between the neoprene single pouch and the lycra mini sports belt (it was cheaper after all).  But then I noticed the neoprene means it is waterproof, which is great for if you get stuck in rain or if you are sweating a lot.  So I was leaning toward the neoprene single pouch. 

I did a little research and read some reviews of the single pouch here, and here (lycra version).
Some reviews of the double pouch here, here, here, and here.
Another style called the ultimate race belt has slots for gu and ways to attach your racing bib (I personally don't want the number over my crotch though).  Here's a review of that style, and another review here.


One of the reasons I wanted one of these belts is for longer runs where I'd be carrying shot bloks (before I had put some in a ziploc baggy and shoved them in my back shorts pocket - not super easy to access; I have also stuck the tube of shot blocks in my shorts waist band, and just check periodically to make sure they haven't fallen out - not the most comfortable).  I really should also be carrying my ID should anything happen while I'm out, and maybe even my phone (I should really just run with a purse at this point!)  Also, as fall is here, and I am not training for any set event, I want to just run at a leisurely pace and bring my compact little camera along for some pretty foliage pictures - but I don't want to hold it because I am clumsy and I would probably drop it multiple times.

So after reading some reviews and thinking about the maximum amount of stuff I might carry, I began to lean more toward the neoprene double pouch. I went with the grey/pink combo.

I wish ifitness had thought to include some measurements on their website for any of their products (besides what size waist it could fit).  Here are the measurements I found with my handy dandy ruler:

The zippers open up to reveal 5.75" wide and 5.5" wide openings.  The wider of the two (the one with the ifitness logo) also has a little inner pocket to snugly hold on to your license and/or a card.  The little pocket is just over 3" wide, and you have to stretch it a bit to fit your card in there, but that's fine, because I'm not going to need to access it while I run.  The pouch is about 2.75" tall when empty and laid flat, but it easily stretches.
The corners of the pouches are squared off.  The width at the widest point of the two pouches is 6.5" and 6".  The width at the narrowest point (top or bottom edge) is 5.5" and 5".  The belt that goes around your waist is just over 1.25" wide.

My camera is the Kodak M341; it measures 3.8 × 2.3 × 0.8 in.

I really like the reflective tabs on either end of the double pouch.  I'm all for visibility while running!

Here is the belt being worn in front, over the top of my tank top:

 Easy access to my camera!!

You can wear it in the back, a la fanny pack:

If you don't want the whole thing in front or in back, you can wear it to the side (just have to position it comfortably if you have two flat objects in the pockets - i.e. phone and camera. Not an issue if only one side has a hard flat object).  Here are some shots of the belt being worn to the side:

Here it is with fewer bulky items in it.  If you chose to use just one side, and leave the other empty it will lay pretty flat. 

I would recommend just not trying to hide it under your top.  If it's bulky and your tank lays over the belt, it's just going to look funny and bulgy.  If you had the pouches a little on the emptier side, you could probably try to hide it underneath your shirt without looking funny.

And just a couple more pictures I took of the running belt:

Side view with camera and phone inside:

 Back view. Stitching is where the id/money pocket is:

My preliminary testing (jumping jacks in my bedroom, and a couple laps doing a light jog between my kitchen and my living room) indicates that it does not ride up, and is surprisingly comfortable.  I have the belt so it is snug but not tight enough to create any extra muffin top, and I was wearing it on my pelvic bone.

Does anyone reading this use a running belt?  

Do you have experience with the ifitness, spibelt, or other brand?