Battle of the base layers

It is that time of year where how you dress very much has an impact on how much you may enjoy your run. Underdress and you might freeze. Overdress and you'll be soaked.

One of the most important pieces to invest in is the base layer. This is the top that will go on first right against the skin (yes I know the ladies will have a bra on underneath). It can be no sleeve, short sleeve or long sleeve. It will work best if it fits a little snugger against the body. The job of the base layer is to move moisture off your body to the next layer so your temperature stays regulated. In simply terms you'll stay comfy.

I own and have used just about every possible option out there. Nike, Brooks, Asics, Pearl, Descente, UA, Falke, Craft and Helly Hansen. I'm sure there are plenty more in my closet but those pop into my head.

Out of all those there are two companies that I grab more often then any other. These are the only two companies I will wear while directing races in bad weather. While race directing I'll go from sweating like crazy to standing in one place. I need a great base layer to move the moisture off my body so I don't get cold.

So what are the two super base layers. Craft and Helly Hansen. Two old companies from very frigid parts of the world. These guys know how to stay warm when it gets cold. HH makes one of the coolest deep sea survival suits you'll ever see and Craft dominates in Nordic Skiing. Like i said they know staying warm in the cold.

We carry a few options from both companies but the staples are the Lifa Stripe Crew from Helly Hansen and the proZero Crew from Craft. Both fit snug and move moisture like crazy. The Craft has a longer fit to the torso so if you also bike or ski it is a great option as it won't come untucked.

At the recent Webster Turkey Trot all I wore was the Craft base layer, a 12 year old Pearl Izumi Windstopper fleece top and an Asics Storm Shelter Jacket. I could have done without the Asics as it never started to rain or snow. This is what I wore from 5:00 am until 2:00 pm. The temperature ranged from high 20's to high 30's. I was sweating a bunch while building the finish line and corral and was still comfortable while standing and cheering on the runners.

If you want to be comfortable during your winter runs check out these two great base layers. you won't be disappointed.

Live FIT

Waterproof follow up

Ok - So a week or so ago I wrote about my issue with a pair of shoes that a rep had told me would be waterproof. Here's a follow up to that.

1. To be fair the company never promoted the shoes to be waterproof but to be water resistant. My issue was that the rep for the company had assured me that these would be waterproof, they just couldn't say they were as they hadn't applied for outside testing. That rep has left the company so in the future I'll know I'm getting the correct facts.

2. The National Sales Manager and I went back and forth for a few days about doing some further testing. I did a few different tests on my pair and reported back the findings. They then took pairs out of their stock to do testing on as they didn't like what they heard. He admitted that they were not as close to waterproof as they thought they should be. Still very water resistant but not water proof.

3. They sent me a new pair just to be sure my pair wasn't from a funky batch but after their testing we are pretty sure we know what the issue is.

4. K-Robb here at the shop has the same style and also did some testing for me with the same results.

The issue comes down to a bonding versus water resistance. Parts of the upper are bonded to other parts, that is they are glued not stiched. To do this the company had to reduce the amount of spray on water repelancy they used on those parts so the glue would stick. By doing this they made it possible for water to sneak in.

Bummer that they are not water proof but they are very water resistant and very comfy. 2 out of 3 aint bad. We make sure we are very clear with our customers that there is a difference between water proof and water resistant so they don't feel like I did when my feet got wet.

Now I had started off pretty pissed with this company (for a few different issues) but in the end I am really impressed with the amount of time they took to go over my concerns. They pulled product from their selves to do follow up testing. They had their product guys go back over it and figure out where the issues were. They did all this just because I wasn't pleased with my personal pair. That is a company that cares about their customers and their product. Not many of those left these days.

Live FIT.

1 tough week

I get asked a lot if we ever sleep due to the crazy amount of events we work with. Well last week was one of the toughest of the year. Check this out.

Sunday 11/23. 7:00 am Hook trailer up to the Tundra to head over to Syracuse to time the Jingle Bell 5k/10k. The race would be interesting as they had two races starting 15 minutes apart, 1000 runners and snow on the ground. We built the finish line and corral, got the pa system up running and got all the timing done. Overall things went smooth from our end of things. The race itself had a few issues but they'll fix that for next year.

Ellen, Greg and I got back to the shop at 4:00 pm, unloaded some gear from the trailer, accounted for all the timing chips and got started on Trot stuff as packet pick up will begin at 10 am on Monday. We finally left the store at 7:00 pm after a long 12 hour day.

Mon 11/24. 10:00 am. Store opens and packet pick up begins. Not a bad day in the shop and 442 people came in to either register or pick up their packets. Greg spent a chunk of the day getting all the gear ready for the Trot as well as for the two races our crews would be timing. Head out to dinner after closing up at 7:00. Put in about a 9 hour day

Tues 11/25. 10:00 am. Same as yesterday. Another decent day and 402 people come in to register or pick up packets. Greg and a crew spend the entire day in the basement prepping all the timing chips for the 3 races. Barb spent a lot of timing trying to get things ready for Fridays big sale. Head out to dinner after closing up at 7:00. Another 9+ hour day

Wed 11/26 10:00 am. Same as yesterday. Another decent day and 571 people come in to register or pick up packets. Greg and a crew spend the day in the basement prepping all the timing chips for the 3 races. They also load up the FJ for the Watertown race and Greg heads out to Greece for packet pick at 4:00. Barb gets everything done and ready for Friday. Ellen spent time at Wegmans getting all the food for Friday. After closing up at 7:00 we finish loading up the truck and head out to dinner. About a 10+ hour day

Thurs 11/27
3:45 am. Paul and Doug head off to Watertown in the FJ
4:45 am. Greg loads chips into the trailer and heads off to Race with Grace
4:45 am. Ellen and I load chips into Fitlosophy 1 (the big truck) and head out to Webster.

Paul and Doug get to time a race in 18 inches of fresh new snow. 500 register but only 300+ finish as many stay home due to the snow. P&D do a great job in only their second solo effort.

RwG sets a day of race entry record with over 260 people waiting until Thursday to register. Over 800 finish. Greg does a great job taking care of everything

Trot becomes the third largest race in Rochester with over 1800 registered. We get over 270 on the day of the race and over 1600 finish. A little crazy but overall the race went smooth.

Load everything back into the truck and get back to the shop at 2:00. Greg is just finishing up at the shop and he heads off to Ohio for the Holiday. He's worked hard all week and gets to spend a few days with the parents.

I unload all the temperature sensitive stuff, Ellen works on results a little bit and we head to Starbucks at 2:30. Home right after to get results up online for RwG and to continue cleaning up Trot results.

At 3:00 Doug calls to let me know they are on 490 so we head back to the shop to help them unload and Ellen needs to resend the RwG results from there anyhow. Unload fast and get home at 3:30, shower, get RwG results up online along with the Watertown results and head over to Barbs for the family dinner.

Enjoy a little time with the family and Ellen work on results during dessert. Of course I have to answer a few emails from people asking when results will be up. I guess the note on the front page of the website saying we would be having a family dinner wasn't good enough. We get to spend very little time with our family these days due to the amount of work we take on. We feel guilty not having results up yet but at the same time we feel bad working during our family get together. Oh well no way to win this one, at least our family understands

Home by 9:00 and results go right up online.

Fri 11/28
5:30 alarm goes off as we have to get to the store. Doors open at 7:00 am and the crowds are pretty big. People are shopping, others are getting ready for the fun run at 8:00 and some are waiting for Mark and John to fire up the waffle iron. The staff does a great job taking care of everyone all day. We go through 3 boxes of waffle mix, tons of hot chocolate and lots of breakfast sausage.

Great day at the store, we set an all time sales record and everyone really appeared to have fun. At about 6:30 Ellen and I head home. I'm sure we bought dinner someplace but I don't remember

We get to ease back on the weekend, though we do stop by and spend some time at the store. We have errands to run and have to have some of the staff work on some post race stuff like checking all the timing chips back in.

Monday is spent working on the bulk of the chips, Greg will spend the rest of the week getting things back into order, and we'll get ready for packet pick up on Friday for Saturday's Jingle Bell here in Rochester. The race should have 700 plus and we provide a lot of services for it so we'll be busy. Time to get right back into it.

So that is what race week can be like. It can be easy for us to put in over 40 hours in three days and upwards of 100 for a week. We spend a lot of time out on the road and working in the elements. We wouldn't be able to pull it off without a great staff that understands sometimes it gets crazy and sometimes the crazy just starts to feel normal.

Overall a successful week. We worked on 4 races in 5 days with over 3600 finishers. I like to think we helped a lot of people enjoy the Holiday, either by participating in a a race or by coming into the store. We were able to FIT a lot of runners with some great footwear and apparel and fed a bunch of them some really nice waffles.

Hope your week was as much fun as ours, but not as exhausting.

Live FIT