Drinking Outside the Box (Body Bottle Review)

Before today's post, here's an example of how old and out of touch I'm getting: I didn't even know there were Cheetah Girls, so I couldn't be appropriately shocked when nude pictures of one surfaced this week. And, in a related question ... what the heck's going on over at Disney? First Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana), then Vanessa Hudgens (the girl from High School Musical), and now this; it seems that the Disney company has some serious issues with its attractive female stars' ability to keep their clothes on in public. Not to mention - wasn't Britney Spears once a Mouseketeer?

The whole scandal makes two points very clear: 1) Shocking as it may seem, I may be slipping a bit with my pop culture awareness, and 2) I totally need to watch the Disney Channel more often.

OK, enough nonsense - here's today's post:

**

At the beginning of October, I was contacted to do a review of a product called the Body Bottle, and readily agreed to try it out on a few runs. Unfortunately, that happened to be the week that I went out of commission due to injury – but I’ve finally been able to run consistently enough to get a feel for the product and put together a review.

Honestly, I’d never heard of the product before – and when I started asking around, I couldn’t find anyone else who had heard of it either. So let’s do this review in a question and answer format, starting with the very basics:

Q: What is it?

A: The Body Bottle is a 10-oz bottle that attaches to your arm with a strap, similar to the way many people wear iPods or mp3 players. It is “ambidextrous”, so you can wear it on either arm – or, if you have two bottles, on both arms.

The bottle sticks to the arm strap via Velcro, so when you want to take a drink, you rip the attachment loose. The Velcro is very secure; it took me more muscle than I thought I’d need to tear the bottle loose. This is good, though – the last thing you want is for the bottle to keep slipping off the arm strap.


The whole “bottle on the arm” concept is clearly a result of somebody thinking outside the box to address a specific need; the question is whether or not you really want to leave the box you’re in when it comes to hydration systems - as I’ll explain a bit later.

Q: Can I still wear my iPod?

A: The easy answer is to wear your iPod on the other arm. There’s also an additional Velcro attachment on the front side of the Body Bottle that allows you to stack your iPod on top of a bottle if necessary. However, since 1) I only had one Body Bottle, and 2) I never run with a music player, I didn’t try this out.

Q: Isn’t it awkward – or heavy - to carry water on your arm?

A: Yes – and no. Like everything else, it takes some getting used to, and different people’s preferences may vary. According to the website, the product was created as an alternative for runners who thought that backpack or waist-mounted fluid systems were uncomfortable, and don’t want to occupy their hands with a hand-held bottle.

Since the bottle only holds 10 ounces of fluid, it’s not as heavy as you might imagine. However, this is also a potential drawback if you need to carry a large volume of water on a long run. The Body Bottle does feel awkward in the same way that using a hand-held bottle for the first time does - but since I eventually became comfortable enough with a hand-held bottle to carry one for 100 miles, I’d say that getting used to the Body Bottle is just a matter of time as well.

The arm strap is one-size-fits-all, and stayed in place quite comfortably for a short run. I suspect that for multi-hour runs, chafing might become an issue - although this is just a hunch that I’ve been unable to verify (have I mentioned that I’ve been injured lately?).


Q: When would I use it?

A: So, let’s say the Body Bottle is not uncomfortable, and it’s not too awkward to use after a while. The most important question that remains is whether it’s better than what you’re currently using. In my case - since I’m primarily into long trail runs (that require more fluids) right now, and since I’m pretty satisfied with what I’ve been using - the answer is no. But that doesn’t mean I can’t see the benefit of using one.

Here’s an example: this summer, as I was preparing for the Western States 100, my main concern was how to keep cool and hydrated during the fierce midday heat. The solution I planned on was to temporarily carry a third bottle to go along with the one on my waist and the one on my hand – I would fill this bottle with water, and squirt it over my face and head at regular intervals to lower my surface temperature a bit. However, I don’t like running with two hand-held bottles (like I said, comfort is an individual thing), and I was worried about remembering which bottle held water, and which held sports drink. The last thing I wanted was to squirt Gatorade in my face in 100 degree heat.

In that situation, wearing a Body Bottle for a few hours might be the perfect solution: it keeps one hand free, and is easily distinguishable from the 20-oz bottles. I imagine the bottle would also come in handy if you’re running a relatively short distance, and want to carry a small amount of fluid just to keep your mouth from getting dry. Or - in the most obvious case – if you’re in that target demographic of people who don’t like waist, back, or hand-mounted bottles, this is something you should definitely try.


Q: Anything else I should know?

A: Well … judging from a photo on the company website, apparently the Body Bottle is very patriotic. That must be worth something.

Also, if you’re interested in buying one, contact me first, because I have a handful of discount coupons that came with my bottle. I’ll gladly mail them out so someone can save a few bucks.

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See other product reviews on right sidebar. If you have a product you’d like reviewed, e-mail me at info@runningandrambling.com.

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A Crazy (but Possibly Effective) Pre-Race Warmup

A couple of administrative notes before today’s post …

1) I know that everyone is probably suffering from post-election burnout this week, but there’s another important contest going on right now that you should know about. Remember the raceAthlete Best Blog competition for which I shamelessly pandered last November? Well, it’s happening again, and it’s up to you to pick the winner.

The good news, as far as readers of this blog are concerned, is that I’m not in this year’s contest, so I won’t bother you about voting nearly as much as I did last fall. I figured that in the spirit of the Miss America Contest and the National Spelling Bee (which, of course, I hold in the highest possible regard), a previous champion should be automatically retired from future competition. However, I did help select the list of finalists, and I can tell you there are some very good blogs to choose from - so head over to the contest this week to see the list, discover some new talent, and vote for your favorite.

2) I’m finally, gradually, working my way back into running after the unfortunate rib-cracking episode four weeks ago. The pain has gone from “intense and debilitating” to “achy and bothersome”, so I’m considering that to be progress. I also got back into the pool this week, which was as refreshing for my spirit as it was restorative for my body. I only managed to finish half of a workout at half speed – but at this point, I’ll take whatever I can get.

One major obstacle remains in my way, however: this whole process of getting back in shape wouldn’t be nearly as difficult if Safeway wasn’t selling pumpkin pies for four dollars this month. Or if my car didn’t mysteriously sputter to a stop in front of the Safeway store every time I drive past. Have I mentioned before how glad I am that this is the offseason?


**
As far as today’s post is concerned, it’s somewhat related to an entry earlier this week, on the topic of race preparedness. The Big Sur Half Marathon and 5K is this weekend (obviously, I won’t be there), so a lot of folks in these parts are busy tending to last-minute details and psyching themselves up for some fast running along the coast.

Everybody has different ways of mentally preparing for races, and occasionally they’ll seek recommendations from articles or advice from training partners. The question has been posed to me a couple of times, and I usually give a garden-variety answer about how racing is for testing yourself, pushing outside your comfort zone, giving your best effort, yada yada yada. I never feel like I have anything truly groundbreaking to say on the subject.

Then I thought of the Maori and Aborigines.

More accurately, I thought of the video at the end of this post, from a recent Rugby League World Cup pre-game ceremony. It features a New Zealand team’s Haka dance followed by the Australian "Dreamtime" team’s Aboriginal war dance.

Hakas were originally performed by Maori warriors prior to battle, and are absolutely mesmerizing in their intensity and aggression. The dance also made headlines on the Monterey Peninsula last year when a local high school football team was forbidden from performing it before games. The team had several players of Samoan descent who taught the ritual to their teammates as a form of cultural awareness (on a football field!); unfortunately, the grunting, shouting, and suggestive hand gestures were deemed offensive by opposing schools, and the school board eventually outlawed the pre-game routine. So much for culture.

The Aussie Aboriginal dance is a more extensive production, with warriors in full body paint, native clothing - what little there is of it - and props in the form of spears. (Needless to say, this would never be permitted at a high school football game in Monterey.) Honestly, it's not so much a dance as it is choreographed marching and shrieking - but it’s no less intimidating than the Haka which precedes it.

The video below is almost four minutes long, culminating in a face-to-face standoff between the teams that prompts the announcer to note, “Those spears were getting awfully close!” (And then, in a completely random analysis, his counterpart compares the whole show to seeing Billy Idol. I didn't even know that guy was still alive, let alone that he's a celebrity in the Southern Hemisphere. How bizarre.) Afterward, it almost seems anticlimactic when the teams separate and get ready to play the actual match. As far as pregame warm-ups go, this one definitely gives you your money’s worth.

It also gave me an idea for a novel approach to pre-race preparation. I mean ... those guys look like they're ready to run through a brick wall; there's got to be some benefit for recreational athletes who employ a similar routine, don't you think?

Before your next race, try adopting a bit of Maori or Aussie customs to psych yourself up. Practice chanting and grunting while you’re driving to the race, then do some stomps and arm swings – which will also help warm up your body - in the parking lot before you make your way to the starting line. Sure, you’ll look like a maniac, but there’s no question that you’ll feel ready to go to battle.

Which, if you’re really racing hard, is exactly the way you should feel.

(click to play)

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Yes We Can

Quote of the Day:

"While we breathe, we hope."
- President-Elect Barack Obama

One of the last phrases from Barack Obama's acceptance speech seems remarkably applicable to ultrarunners - as well as to all other Americans. There are obviously enormous challenges that lie ahead, but the immensity of the tasks should never discourage us from trying.

Sometimes it all seems so simple. And hope is a wonderful thing.

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Racing the Big Sur Half-Marathon

Admin note: unless you’re racing the Big Sur Half-Marathon next weekend (or planning to at some point in the future), feel free to disregard this post. It’s an article I wrote for my Monterey Herald column, with advice on how to race 13.1 miles along the Monterey Bay. A few people have asked me for tips recently, and I’m posting the article here so that I can link to it from another website. Regular programming will resume with the next post.

**

“Racing the Big Sur Half-Marathon”


The Big Sur Half-Marathon on Monterey Bay is this Sunday, so you should be in tapering mode by now. Cut back on your mileage and get as much rest as possible in the days before the race.

If you are a novice runner, your approach to the Half should be very simple. Start easy and don’t get excited into running the early miles too fast. Keep a steady pace that you can maintain for the duration. Take walking breaks if you need them, but keep moving forward, and draw energy from the crowds and your fellow runners during the final miles.

Most importantly, just have fun out there and celebrate your ability to run.

This week’s advice is for runners with some race experience who are trying to get faster, striving for a personal best time or an age-group award. The rules are significantly different for these runners.

Have the eye of the tiger: Racing isn’t always fun! There’s great satisfaction afterward but the race itself should be a battle. Psych yourself up to fight adversity and discomfort for the duration of the race. Be mentally ready and don’t feel intimidated.

Wear fast shoes: The relatively flat course and smooth roads are ideal for using racing flats or lightweight trainers. Lighter shoes make you faster. If you use more than one pair in training, run in your lightest pair on race day.

However, do not buy a pair of racing shoes next week and race in them if they are not broken in – or you’re destined for a morning of blisters and leg aches.

Warm up: If you are going fast from the gun, you need to warm your body up first. Run an easy mile before the race, then do three or four short sprints. Time your warmup so that you can jump in the starting chute about 5 minutes before race time. Don’t be afraid to start closer to the front of the pack than you think you belong.

Hitch a ride: Not in a car, but in the slipstream of your competitors. Drafting off fellow runners is perfectly legal and saves significant energy if running into a headwind, which is common when heading up Ocean View Boulevard in Pacific Grove.

Pick runners who are going at a similar pace, and tuck in behind them for as long as you can tolerate. In a group of 3 or 4 runners, it’s proper etiquette for each person to take turns “pulling”, but if you’re sneaky you can usually get your competitors to do most of the work.

Be uncomfortable: If you are truly racing, it should hurt! If you feel comfortable, you probably aren’t pushing hard enough. Races are for going beyond your comfort zone and giving your best effort. Remember: eye of the tiger!

Use “keys” to speed up: Your natural tendency will be to slow down, so use landmarks as periodic reminders to speed up. Mile markers, corners, or minor hills can all be used as “keys” to slightly accelerate the pace.

Push the envelope (but not too far): This is the hardest part of racing. You have to keep the needle at the absolute fastest speed you can maintain, but not so fast that you bonk in the last miles. Finding the optimal pace requires trial and error, and a lot of discomfort.

That’s exactly what races are for. You can have a leisurely scenic run along the coastline any day. Race day is for testing your limits. Remember that when the pace seems too hard.

Halfway done isn’t halfway out: The course is roughly out and back, but the first mile around El Estero Lake makes it asymmetrical. If you start looking for the turnaround point at mile 6.5, you’ll have a long time to wait, since the actual turnaround is closer to mile 8. But once you get there, remind yourself to…

Lower the hammer: After the turnaround, the course is almost entirely downhill or flat, and your race is more than halfway over. This is the time to crank your speed up another notch, and gut it out for as long as possible (have we already said that racing hurts?).

Have no friends: Think of everyone around you as a competitor. Get mean. Be aggressive. Breathe fire. Even if you are racing with training partners, during the race you should be enemies. There’s no shame in outsprinting someone right into the finishing chute – even if that person happens to be your friend. Give no gifts!

Fight for your place: Once you reach the rec trail before Fisherman’s Wharf, the game is on. Try to improve your position as much as possible. Whenever you get passed, try to keep up with that person, and draft them if they continue to pull ahead of you. Try to pass them back further down the road.

Don’t get complacent to run behind people either. Reel in as many people as possible. The last person you pass might be the place that earns you an age group medal. Some people let up a bit just before the finish line, so a well-timed kick can sometimes gain you an additional place or two.

Even if you are not interested in your overall finishing place, employing these positional tactics will help you continue to run hard when you would otherwise feel like easing off.


Obviously, racing requires an entirely different mindset than running just to complete the distance. It’s definitely not for everybody. When you put so much of yourself on the line, the disappointment when you fail to reach your goals can be miserable, but the exhilaration when you succeed is sublime.

Whether you are going for an age group award, a personal record, or just trying to go the distance, I hope everyone has an enjoyable and satisfying race.

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Always a Fan (In This Case, a Phan)

I should preface today’s post with a couple of disclaimers …

First, this is mostly about baseball, which I know isn’t everybody’s cup of tea. I’m a casual fan of the sport – but more importantly, I’m a fan of great sporting moments, regardless of the venue.

Second: I have absolutely no connection with the city of Philadelphia, or any attachment to its long-suffering sports franchises. I’ve never lived there, and never visited; the closest I come to any association with the town is having a friend who is a recent Philly transplant.

Despite all that, there’s one thing I can say with certainty: the video clip below contains the most meaningful two minutes of television I’ve enjoyed in quite a while. It’s the final pitch of last week’s World Series – and it touches on just about everything I love about sports.

The Phillies were one strike away from willing the Series in front of their home fans, ending a 26-year championship drought in the 4 major sports for the city with the most notoriously passionate (and frequently vicious - but that’s another story) fan base in America.

The pitcher’s name is Brad Lidge, a closer whose legacy until this moment was permanently defined by a towering home run he gave up as a Houston Astro in the 2005 playoffs – a moon shot by Albert Pujols of the Cardinals that won the game for St Louis, and by most accounts, sent Lidge’s career into a tailspin. He struggled through the following two seasons, but his collapse of confidence was so complete that he was traded away to Philadelphia at the end of last year.

Throughout the 2008 season, Lidge had regained his form and pitched perfectly – in the most literal sense. He converted every save opportunity he faced, and the Phillies were undefeated in games they led after eight innings. And yet, with a Tampa Bay runner on base in the bottom of the ninth and the Phillies leading by a single run, the old ghosts were getting ready to reappear. Giving up a home run would have not only lost the game and rendered his perfect season meaningless, but potentially devastated both the pitcher and the city, and forced the Phillies to fight for survival in two more road games.

In other words, it was nervous time – and 40,000 anxious fans were feeling it.

It’s no mystery how this story ends: Lidge winds up and throws strike three on a nasty curveball, closing the game and winning the Series. And as much as I like the buildup to that moment, it’s the aftermath that always makes my eyes feel like there’s a lot of dust in the room.



As soon as strike three lands in his mitt, catcher Carlos Ruiz pumps his fist like an ecstatic Little Leaguer, and immediately sprints to the mound to celebrate with his pitcher. Lidge, meanwhile, has jumped in the air, then fallen to his knees, with arms raised to the sky in triumph and relief, as three years of frustration and disappointment turn to unbridled joy and redemption. He has about three seconds to enjoy the moment for himself before he’s tackled and mobbed by his teammates, who have all run to the mound to celebrate the ultimate accomplishment in sports.

(I’m more than a little biased here … because I’ve been in a victory dogpile like the one the Phillies enjoyed, and it’s an experience you never forget. It doesn’t matter if you’re eight years old, or 18, or 38 – the emotions you feel at a time like that are burned on your brain forever. In the days after the game, the Phillies will have a parade, and they’ll be celebrated all over town, and they’ll probably even go to the White House – but I can almost guarantee that those first seconds in that postgame dogpile will be their favorite memory of winning the World Series.)

The next 90 seconds of the clip are your garden-variety craziness that follows a team championship: fireworks in the sky, 40,000 fans going crazy in the stands, grown men crying and hugging each other on the field. In the middle of it all, the camera briefly cuts (at the 1:04 mark in this clip) to a 7-foot tall green fuzzy creature in a jersey: the Phillie Phanatic, waving a team flag and celebrating in all his goofy splendor right alongside the players.

The whole scene is ridiculous and hilarious and emotional and inspirational – and it’s precisely the reason why I’m such a sports nut. With every sport and every season and every championship, there are stories to be told, lessons to be learned, and memories to cherish. In fact, it almost never matters to me who wins (perhaps because all of San Francisco’s teams are currently terrible) as much as I enjoy viewing such triumphs through the larger prism of human experience.

Finally … I’m fully aware that sporting events are quite insignificant in the grander scheme of things - especially as we’re about to elect a new President, and countless people struggle just to make it through each day, and our country is in shambles in about 100 different ways. I could (and have, come to think of it) also list all sorts of reasons to be cynical about professional athletics in modern society. However, if it weren’t for distractions like sports, all we’d have left would be the serious stuff – and in my book, a life like that doesn’t seem very enjoyable at all.

That’s why I’m grateful to the 2008 Phillies, and why I’ll constantly look forward to having another team to celebrate.

**update 11/4/08: Fox Sports has pulled this video offline. I have no idea why. So much for my joie de vivre.

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Meeting of the Vines

Early last week, my wife dispatched me to our newly-opened (and widely celebrated) local BevMo store to start a gradual stockpiling of good wine for upcoming holiday gatherings. The request came with one very explicit direction: buy only wine that is on sale and has a rating of 90 or above.

So when I came home carrying bottles with ratings of 87 and 88 – or even worse, unrated – I had some explaining to do.

It wasn’t that I completely dismissed her instructions; rather, I felt like I had equally compelling criteria for choosing a wine - namely, I thought it was important to pick some winners. Ultimately, in the spirit of diplomacy, I picked three bottles that met her standards, and three that met mine.

[The lineup: six outstanding Northern California wines. Yes, the bottle on the right is two-thirds empty; good wine doesn’t last very long around our house.]

Predictably, my diplomacy wasn’t enough to avoid triggering an exchange between my curious wife and me, which went something like this:

Her: They’re not all rated 90?

Me: No, but the ones that are lower should be good. They’ve won gold medals at different wine shows.

Her: So what? There are thousands of those little wine competitions. The ratings are more objective.

Me: Sure, but what does a number tell you? I’ve never even heard of the guy who rates them.

Her: It means they’re good!

Me: Yeah … but it’s a different kind of good. I’m more impressed by the competition.

It wasn’t until a bit later that I realized why I was so inherently biased towards contest winners as opposed to high scoring wines. And contrary to what you’re probably thinking, it’s not simply because I’m a runner – more specifically, it’s because I’m a student of the sport of distance running.

Among people who care about such things, one of the most frequent arguments concerning the relative greatness of distance runners is the importance of world records in comparison to gold medals. In other words – is it a greater accomplishment to do something better than anyone in history, or to defeat all of your peers while competing for the most prestigious championships?

If you’re like most people, your first instinct is to think a world record is the more admirable feat – but think of it this way: many world record efforts are nothing more than time trials set under the most ideal conditions imaginable. For every distance above 800 meters, record attempts are typically targeted weeks in advance, with pacers recruited to pull the runner through the first stages of the race before dropping out later on. Even then, attempts are abandoned if weather conditions are not ideal or if the athlete isn’t 100% healthy - it’s basically a speed laboratory where all variables are carefully controlled before the experiment ever begins.

Now compare those conditions to a race like the Olympic 5K. The event is held rain or shine (usually in hot or humid or – in the most recent Olympiad - smoggy extremes) whether the athletes are healthy or not. All of the best runners in the world are there, each one trying to influence the race in his preferred fashion (tactical pacing, surging at particular times, jostling within a large pack, deciding whether to draft or run clear of the fray) in order to win the most prestigious title of their lives. There is a preliminary heat before the finals, making stamina a requirement in addition to speed. The race is a battle; the champion is the one who takes everyone’s greatest effort and proves himself better than all of them.

The most classic example of the record-versus-race debate goes back more than 50 years, to the time of the 4-minute mile barrier. Roger Bannister broke the mark first – with three pacers to help him – in May of 1954, only to have his world record shattered in similar fashion by John Landy just 46 days later. They didn’t race head to head until August of that year, when Bannister outkicked Landy in what is still referred to as the “Mile of the Century”. Bannister’s winning time in the race was significantly slower than Landy’s still-standing world record – but if you asked 100 people in 1954 who the world’s best miler was, 99 of them would have said Bannister. It was hardly even a question.

So … which accomplishment is more impressive? Which one best reflects the spirit of the sport? These are questions that can be bounced back and forth all day; they also bring us back to the aforementioned bottles of wine.

Think of the bottles with 90+ ratings as world record holders: they’ve scored higher than all other competitors in their class. The gold medal winners are the, er, … gold medal winners. They’ve challenged their competitors face to face under uniform circumstances and emerged victorious.

Speaking of face to face showdowns … when it comes to differences of opinion with my wife, I’m about as successful as Charlie Brown trying to kick the football from Lucy’s tee. I’ve mentioned before that my wife is wicked smart – and if you’ve read this blog for more than a week, you already know the word I use most frequently to describe myself (hint: it rhymes with schmidiot). But for the purpose of friendly competition, I’ll go ahead and ask: which bottle of wine would you reach for first? A world record holder or a gold medalist? Or perhaps just the one with the prettiest label?

I suspect I know how this one’s going to play out, but feel free to and weigh in below and confirm it.

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A Little Bigger, A Little Better

“Is it getting better … or do you feel the same?”
- U2, “One”
**

Last Friday I showed up for our group’s normally scheduled 6-mile trail run, marking the fourth workout I had attempted since cracking my ribs a few weeks ago. Since a few people have asked, here’s a status report on the injury:

For the first two attempts, I couldn’t take any labored breath without sharp, severe pain, and couldn’t stand completely upright. The first workout was aborted after 10 minutes, the second after 20.

On the third attempt, stabbing pain only accompanied deep breaths, and I could stand generally upright. I stayed out for an hour, moving very slowly and cautiously. Remember the first episode of this season’s Biggest Loser, when all the contestants whimpered and moaned and cried just to make it through an uphill 1-mile hike? That’s exactly what I felt like on my third run.

Which leads us to Friday morning, where a friend and I had the following exchange:

Him: Are you still having a lot of pain?

Me: Not as much. Now it only hurts when I take deep breaths going uphill, or when I feel jostling going downhill. Or anytime I land on my left foot. Other than that, everything’s perfect.

Needless to say, I’m not thrilled with the pace of progress – but I’m optimistic that the situation will continue to gradually resolve. Meanwhile, since I can’t tolerate swimming any better than running, I’ve pretty much abandoned all forms of exercise, as well as any hopes of staying in shape as the holiday season approaches.

As if this wasn’t depressing enough, this morning I suffered the final indignity: I had to fasten my belt on the second buckle hole instead of its customary third slot. I know I’m not a Loser, but one thing is certain: I’m definitely bigger than I used to be.

Thank God it’s the off season.

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