Gear Review: RecoFiT Calf Component Compression Sleeve

RecoFit is a small Boulder, CO based company that specializes in compression wear. The name RecoFit comes from the words recovery and fitness, and the company currently has two offerings: the Armcooler Compression Sleeve and the Calf Component Compression Sleeve. The RecoFit Calf Component is a calf sleeve, meaning it supports your lower leg but still allows you to wear the sock of your choosing. You may remember me mentioning them during my review of the Saucony AMP PRO2 recovery tight. Here's the full review.

A Race to Remember

Since I obviously don't have any new race reports for you, I figured I'd post up some more older stories. In chronological order, my top three races:

2001 PIAA District II Cross-Country Championship - Scranton, PA
I started running freshman year of high school, but it wasn't until my junior year that I began to see real results. That year, I was running #2 for Bishop Hafey High School, behind #1 Kira. For me, Districts was the most important race of the season, since it determined who qualified for the PIAA State Championship. Kira had qualified for States as an individual in 2000 and had a good chance of going again in '01. For me, it would be more of a stretch. I had my goals though. For the first time, Districts was to be held on the Scranton Municipal Golf Course, a course that no runners had been allowed on earlier in the season, so no one had any idea what the course was going to look like. To further complicate things, Districts also fell on an unseasonably hot day, quite a change from the cool to cold conditions we had been practicing in and from the League meet a week earlier that had been in the  high 30's and rainy. No one in Northeastern Pennsylvania had run in these kind of conditions since the early season.

2010 in Review

Seeing as it's New Year's Eve, I decided to do a look back over the past year.

Mileage this year was looow. 2546 miles for an average weekly total of 59.2. Weak in comparison to 2009's 4362 (average week was 83.9). To be fair, last year was a healthy year for me, and I only took off somewhere between 5 and 6 weeks. This year, on the other hand, my year pretty much ended in early August (I had 2368 logged as of August 12th). It would probably be comparable if I measured overall training since I logged a lot of hours on the bike, but I don't feel like counting up cross-training for the past two years and I don't do the whole virtual miles thing.

Gear Review: P90X and Its Relationship to Competitive Running

UPDATE: Gear Review: P90X Final Thoughts is now up!

A friend of mine had a question asking whether P90X is a good supplement to running as her Facebook status today, and it gave me the idea to post up a review of P90X on my blog. Now, before I start, I want to say that I'm about 8 weeks into P90X, so I have not yet completed the program. However, I have done all of the workouts multiple times, and have a pretty good idea of what's going on by now.

Short Post Today

It appears that my left side is neutral and mid-foot strikes. My right side overpronates and heel-strikes. My left side is the side that's messed up. Explain that, you crazy Chi-running, barefoot POSErs.

I'll post a real update when the holiday craziness calms down. Or since it seems like the only posts people read are my reviews (going by my my Blogger stats, anyway), I can review something for you. Brooks Defyance? RecoFit compression sleeves? The Long Green Line? Winter clothes? Something else that I have that I'm not thinking of? Give me some ideas, people.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Gear Review: Saucony AMP PRO2 Recovery Tight

Compression to promote circulation has been around for quite some time, since it's been used for a while in the medical industry to prevent blood clots in patients. It's a slightly newer phenomenon in athletics though, and the first athlete to popularize compression was Paula Radcliffe with her Oxysox that she wore during her world record marathon in London (among other races). Lately, compression wear's popularity has surged, and everyone from Chris Solinsky to that mid-pack triathlete who lives down the street from you is rocking compression gear.

There are two main types of compression gear: active gear and recovery gear. Both are intended to improve circulation and promote bloodflow, either to improve performance or speed recovery. There are also different types of compression. CW-X became known for targeted support, similar to kinesio taping techniques, in order to support muscles and decrease muscle oscillation. Other companies (Skins, for example) use a gradient where the distal end is more compressive than the proximal end, which is supposed to return blood back to the heart more quickly.

There's More to Running than the Marathon

Today at physical therapy, the guy on the treadmill next to my elliptical asked me if I was training for a marathon. A Marathon. The Holy Grail of Running. Everyone and their brother seems to be chasing that same white stag, training to someday run a marathon. Additionally, whenever someone finds out you're a runner, they always seem to ask the same question: "Have you run a marathon?" followed by "What did you run for it?" Never mind that most of these people don't know the first thing about marathon times, and whether I said "2:05" or "5:00" they'd respond the same way, which, of course, is "Wow. Is that good? My sister-in-law is training for a marathon now. She can run XX miles without stopping! I get tired just thinking about it!"