In the continuing pursuit of spending all the family's money and ensuring that my son will have to sell plasma if he wants to attend an out of state college, I've decided to drive down to a running store this weekend and have myself fitted for a good pair of shoes and pick up a few other items. Before I go, I decided to do some online comparison shopping.
Basically one set of whicking or technical workout cloths from roadrunner.com (one set of shorts, one top, and some socks) would cost me about $130 plus shipping. Does that seem silly to anyone else? I think the socks are probably a must but the swanky swank cloths are probably a no go.
Shoes? I have no idea how much I should be prepared to pay for shoes. Usually I spend about $45 when I buy them off the rack at the clearance place here in town. My guess is double that??
I don't know if the gels and drinks are for me or not. I am sort of predisposed towards honey, peanut butter, etc. instead. At any rate, I think I should probaby get my hands on a few of the commercial products and then try them out on my practice long runs for comparison. What follows is a list of different products that have been reccomended to me along with the prices I have been able to find online.
Drinks:
Twin Lab Ultra Fuel - 3.3 pounds at $15
Hammer Nutrition -
Cytomax -
Champion Nutrition - $33+ $25+
Gu® GU2O - $19+ $17
Gels:
Hammer Gels -
CarbBoom -
Powergel -
GU -
I'd also like to get a visor or hat with a sweatband sew into it.
That and world peace and I'll be satisfied.
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This is a comment I wanted to add to blog entry. It was emailed to me by Jeff when my blog wasn't accepting comments.
"Funky stuff on your blog. I can comment find on all the other blogger
blogs, but your running blog takes me to a weird error page that links
to my own blogger dashboard. Anyway, here's my take on your last
entry.
You can perform any sport or activity and enjoy it, but the proper
gear for the sport allows you to enjoy it thoroughly. Your clothing
will be one of the first things you'll notice. Cotton is great at
letting you breathe, but add sweat and it'll get heavy and chafe.
Once you start doing runs in the 1.5 hr+ range, you'll begin to notice
this. Those synthetic clothes will pay off. But, for now, one set
will be fine, as you'll only be doing one long run a week. .... will
head to Marshals (I think?) to find seconds and discounted running
clothes. She scores with cheap stuff all the time.
Shoes I wouldn't skimp on. You'll pay about $80 a pair. But with a
good fitting pair you won't have to deal with blisters or foot
wackiness that bargain pairs will introduce. Along with those shoes,
get yourself some synthetic, wicking socks. I use the Wrightsock
brand, and they've been awesome. I think they run about $5 a pair,
but last longer than cotton ever would.
I use a combination of fluids when I run, but I should really
calculate out the cost to see which is cheaper, using Gatorade or
Cytomax? I use Cytomax on my runs, and Gatorade and water after a
run. I used to only use Gatorade on my runs (and water, of course),
and would bonk on occasion. Since switching to Cytomax, I have yet to
bonk. But, as rough as it is, I think ever athlete needs to bonk a
couple times to really learn what it means and firmly seat that desire
to avoid it.
I use GU, just the Vanilla. I buy it by the case so I get the
discount. Again, you won't need to invest in gels until you start
getting into much longer runs. I'd give you my regime for fueling and
rehydrating, but you really need to learn what works for yourself. As
a rule of thumb, though, any run eight miles or under I skip fluids or
fuel on the run. Anything 10 and over, I'm taking everything with me
that I'd take on a 20 miler. That's fluids, gels, etc. You could
actually get away from gels altogether and just use honey in their
place. You don't get the same electrolyte kick, but you would
probably be getting enough from your drink mix anyway.
You can skip having a belt to store stuff if you can strategical place
bottles and gels along your route. I've found that putting them in
people's mailboxes works best. On a early Saturday or Sunday morning,
the likelihood of them being removed is near zero.
The hat is a great idea. Shade on the eyes allows the face muscles to
relax and that make a huge difference in your perceived effort. It'll
prevent salt in the eyes, and, it'll hold more water than just your
hair if you dump water over your head.
Whew...lots of info in that one. Hope I didn't confuse things too
much and hope some of the tips will be helpful in cutting down your
costs."
HI- thanks for stoppping by my blog-
I hear you on the cost of running gear- I spend the money on the coolmax clothes and the good running shoes, but then I am SO cheap when it comes to other things! I will buy $12 running socks, but my regular socks have holes in them. I'll spend too much money on running shorts, then try to find a pair of pants of the clearance rack for 1/3 the price of my running shorts. I just started wearing my running clothes all the time!
When it comes to having the gear that will help you (1) acheive your goal and (2) stay healthy, you really should not cut corners. Running gear, all but the shoes and socks last a long time. Do not cut corners on your shoes either, the highest risk you take is injuring your feet in distance running....plus 130$ in the big picture is really not all that bad...26 miles is a very long ways on concrete and it will also be nice and hot. Take care of yourself .....j
http://www.e-caps.com/za/ECP?PAGE=PRODUCT&CAT=NUTRI&PROD.ID=4039&OMI=10103,10082,10047&AMI=10103&uir=product.category,NUTRI,Gels%20%26%20Fuels
As gels go, I think Hammer Gel is the kids shiznit. Or even the fin whizbut. It's made of complex fruit sugars. It tastes like something other than Ms. Butterworths. It comes in HDPE recyclable, and freaking handy, containers.
For myself, I don't have a problem spending money on the best pair of motion controlled shoes that I can find (usually New Balance $90) and wicking socks ($7 a pair). But I avoid the high dollar "running clothes" in favor of the cheaper Russell Active Wear from Wal-Mart. Why? Because I'm cheap, and would rather buy a lot of lower dollar clothes and feel better about the money issue and enjoy the run.
Also, not all of those high dollar shorts and shirts fit every runner the same. I've found them to be itchy and rough on my skin. And, since I carry a few extra pounds, the shirts don't look the same on me as they do the hard bodied mannequins at the sporting goods store.
In May, 2005, I spent $40 on a synthetic, quick dry shirt with the logo of the Indianapolis Mini Marathon. It did dry quickly, but I didn't feel any better in the heat and humidity than I did in my $5 white cotton t-shirt. And that's the only time I've worn it. It's too expensive to wear all the time!
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