Thursday, August 11, 2011

Product Review - FuelBelt Revenge 2 Bottle Belt

Since I didn't get my lazy butt up out of bed yesterday morning, nor did I bring clothes to run on the treadmill after work (I didnt on purpose thinking I needed to run in the heat more; I know I'm ridiculous, plus I wanted to try out the FuelBelt Revenge 2 Bottle Belt), I had to wait until almost 7pm to get started on my run.

6:45pm
96deg
37% humidity
Feels like of 104deg

There was no way I was even considering going out in it where the sun had more than a 5% chance of hitting me anywhere on my pretty much naked self.  I swear if I could run in less clothes, I would.

In anticipation of trying out the FuelBelt, I had taken the two little bottles, filled with some Powerade and frozen overnight.  I placed them in the holster, strapped it on and took off across the street.



After 25 yards, I stopped dead in my tracks.  I tried adjusting it, and took off again.

Dead.  Stop.

There was no way in hell I was going to be able to run with that thing around my hips. 

In the store on Sunday, I had run around with it on, but at the time obviously the bottles were void of any liquid let alone 16 oz of frozen Powerade.  Thinking about it now I wonder if it hadn't been frozen would it had made a difference?  I don't know.

All I know is that thing was bouncing around like crazy and it was annoying as hell.  Maybe because there is only 2 bottles in the back and nothing in the front to counteract it?  Again I don't know.  I sure don't remember having this issue back when I used a FuelBelt while training for my first marathon, but that had 4 bottles and I had more junk in my trunk to stabilize it.  :O)

I tried one more time and it was just futile.  I skitted back across the street, threw the thing on the table in the casa, grabbed my FuelBelt 10 oz'er (they are only showing the small 7 oz'er on their site now) from the freezer and took off on my merry little way. 

While this was not an ideal situation for me (I really needed the 20 oz'er yesterday considering the conditions), it was what I had.  The 20 oz'er was still on the floor board of my car from Saturday :O)  Thankfully one of my running groups has a group run every Wednesday on the same route I run from my house and I was able to refill the bottle about 4.5 miles in with some extra cold Powerade before heading back home.

Side Note:  The body absorbs the fluids much quicker and efficiently if its cold and not warm.  And trust me the water from the fountains at Rice yesterday were beyond warm.  It was HOT.

I thought about trying it again with non-frozen, but eh, I am just going to return it and get my dolla's back.  Hey, I tried.  :O)  MAYBE I will try it again tonight sans iceblocks on my short run around the hood.  If anything is different, I will be sure to let you know.

That 6 miles (no I didn't do 8 per the schedule) was brutal in terms of the fluid/sweat loss, but honestly the run itself went amazingly well.  Sure I was tired and my legs felt like crap towards the end, but I was holding my own and pushing the pace whenever I could, then slowing down for a bit before speeding up (schedule called for a progressive, but I just made up my own speed workout as I went along).

The good thing is that according to the weather people, we are in luck!  This is as bad as its going to get.

Really?  You guys should just have taken the Summer off as a vacation.

OK, so I have a random question:  Have you ever just peed your pants on a run because there was nowhere to go?  Did you have water to throw on your shorts afterwards or did you just not care?  You can comment anonymously if you have and don't want anyone to know.  :O)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'll put it out there. I've peed during a run... And I was so sweaty, no one noticed. At the time I was overhydrated, so the only smell was my sweaty body.

Lisa said...

I like my 2 bottle belt better than the 4 bottle. Maybe it wasn't tight enough?

Seems like I pee'd once but I do know I've stopped on deserted trails to do the "other".
I read a blog a few yrs back where a guy jumped into a huge ditch & went under the road in the "concrete thing". After he finished he noticed a homeless man in there looking at him like he was crazy. ha!

Lauren said...

the only belt that's ever worked for me was the amphipod belt with the bottles horizontonally. absolutely no bounce.

And why are you asking the peeing question? Did you??

Gaslight ;-) said...

I'm pretty good at standing behind a tree with the shorts pulled to the side. (nice visual, I know).