Apparel

I have no issue admitting that I wear tights, well not tights exactly, but... for training. If you have been reading my "'Till Killington" articles, you will note that I have been doing far more running than I detailed out in my OCRAddicts Workout Routine article. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do as much running as I think I will need to have in the bag before Killington so I have been on the hunt for something that can take my running to the next level and allow the workouts that I do log to be more effective. Physiclo thinks they may have the answer.

If you have ever registered for a race early in the season, or late in the season for that matter, you will undoubtedly have started your morning off with a bit of a chill in the air. You know you will heat up once you start running, but before is a different story. Outside of wearing layers of clothes and ditching them somewhere on the course, or freezing your butt off, there has really been no clear solution, until now. Enter the Sheddable Shell WeatherShield Jacket and Pants.

Somewhere around Independence Day, I saw these Patriotic, and absolutely Sexy, new shoes starting to raise their head like a gopher in your yard. The Shoe was the Acceleritas OCR in Red, White and Blue glory. Honestly, I knew I had to get my hands on a pair. They would look just fabulous with my THEE Lone Star Spartan Jersey.

Call me crazy, but for some reason, I get excited about shoes and hydration packs. I don't really know what it is about them. They don't come with a manual transmission, girls don't go gaga over them, and they don't come stuffed with wads of cash. When I got my first taste of Nathan, it was while shopping for the perfect pack for my Ultra Beast. Nathan VaporCloud seems to have all the features many of us are looking for on paper, but how does it fare in the real world.

When I first found OCR, the two major shoe brands were Reebok and Inov-8. Some people had Speedcross 3s, but for the most part, our top tier racers were wearing one of those two. Out of nowhere, at the beginning of the 2015 season, I started hearing about a new shoe, from a new manufacturer, Icebug. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find them in any stores, or find more info about them, but those that owned them wouldn’t stop talking about them.

There truly is nothing better than finishing a long race through the mud and muck.  Coming out at the other end, grabbing your medal and t-shirt then walking off into the sunset... that is unless you are gimping from blisters on your feet.  Many of us have been there, running through the pain, running with blisters because we spent more time researching which shirt to wear instead of what socks we should wear.  After all, your feet are hitting the ground through the entire run, not your chest.  The right pair of socks can make a difference.  We already know that we loved Mudgear's compression socks,  but Vitalsox thinks they can sway us with their entry, the VT1211 Patented Performance Graduated Compression OTC.

If you have ever competed in a long race, or plan on running one (cough upcoming NJ Ultra Beast), you may be asking yourself if you should try a hydration pack... and which one is the right one. While your personal requirements for one may vary, there are plenty of options to suit just about any need. Personally, I have yet to NEED one while running, but there have been plenty of times when I wished I had one. Having seen folks running various race distances with hydration packs, I set out on a mission to find the best options, enter the Geigerrig Tactical Rigger.

Wearing hydration pack during an OCR is not something that many consider mandatory, unless you running your Beasts, Ultra Beasts, BFX’s or Burning Hot Race Days. However, using one could be the difference between finishing a race, or being Medically DNF’d (Did Not Finish). There are plenty of choices on the market but the version I decided to move forward with, and use regularly, is the CamelBak Baja LR.

I am always on the hunt for new gear.  I typically scour the web looking for... just about anything.  Well, when looking for some new gear to try out at the Spartan Beast in Winnsboro SC, a unique product made its way into my sweaty, mud-covered palms.  Enter the MudGear Compression Obstacle Race Socks.

There is one article of clothing that typically gets overlooked by new obstacle course racers. Unfortunately, the socks you wear don't get as much attention as the gloves you choose for a race. But, when you think about it, gloves spend a fraction of the time touching anything on the coarse; while socks and shoes are active almost 100% of the time.