Monday Night Food and Fitness

Food

This past week, LW did a great job feeding me and the boys especially given the long hours I was working in shiftwork. She made the chicken tortilla soup and the chicken meatballs I've previously written about, both of which made for excellent leftovers for lunch at work. As a super bonus this week, she also made SPIEDIES! (The picture on the Wikipedia entry isn't bad). Spiedies are something I had never heard of before meeting LW. They come from New York and are a favorite in LW's family. We were excited in DC to find spiedie marinade at Wegman's (whatdya know, a store that originated in NY) and still had a bottle in the pantry that LW put to use. She also put in a special request for my MIL to bring us some more spiedie marinade next time she comes to visit.

Wednesday night we reverted to our old routine of going to Moe's for kids-eat-free night and the balloon-animal guy. I also got some Awesome Acai at Robeks. I wish Robeks was a little bit more conveniently located. I'd go there a LOT more often if I could stop by quickly on my way to work in the morning (like I did in Virginia). I wish I knew why Robeks doesn't give me a headache, but Jamba Juice does.

Friday night, since we were in the Ward Center, we went to Ryan's for dinner after we picked up our new shoes (see fitness section below). Although just about everything on their menu sounds delicious, but I was craving that seared island poke salad. I still have no idea what "frizzled ogo" is, but man is that a good salad!

Fitness Shopping

Okay, this post is going to be more about shopping than about fitness, but it's fitness-related shopping.

In a previous post, I mentioned I was shopping for some new running shorts. My friend Loping Squid recommended the Under Armour running shorts to prevent chafing. I finally made it over to Sports Authority one evening last weekend to see what they carried in-stock.

OMG I got dizzy from the dozens of different styles, colors, and sizes of UA shorts they had on display. It was actually frustrating trying to find the shorts I wanted. I had done all this research on the UA website, and had a couple of specific models that I was interested in trying-on. For example, I really wanted to SEE and FEEL the difference between the Escape and the Escape II. Just reading about them on the website, I couldn't tell if it was worth the extra $10 for the Escape II.

The problem is, looking at the shorts in the store, NONE of them have the NAME of the model on them. All they say are what they are intended for, such as "RUNNING" or "TRAINING." None of them say "Escape" or "Escape II."

So on my first trip to Sports Authority last weekend, I bought three pairs of UA shorts, one of each type from cheapest to mid-priced to OMG-I-can-only-afford-one-so-I-better-wash-and-wear-them-every-day expensive. Note that if you enter the number off the tag in the back of the shorts on the UA website, then it will tell you what model they are. Looking up the style numbers on the website, I found out that I purchased the Blitz Microshort, the Escape II, and the Fuel Short. Now that I have had the opportunity to wear each pair and can make an assessment of each.

Blitz Microshort: Mid-priced of the three I purchased at $34.99. These shorts weren't much different than the other shorts I already have. They didn't really prevent chafing, but they don't have a liner inside. They were nice, cool, and lightweight, but didn't really meet the purpose why I was shopping for them.

Fuel Short: Most expensive of the three I purchased at $49.99. These shorts have an integrated / built-in compression short on the inside. I wore these when we did our hike to Waimea Falls, and they were very comfortable. The compression shorts weren't too tight or constricting, and they did a great job of the intended purpose (preventing chaffing). They didn't provide a lot of support in the groin, but I was fine wearing them pretty much all day. The second time I wore them for Command PT - calesthenics and a two mile run. They weren't as comfortable for running due to the lack of support. I think I'll save this pair for hiking.

Escape II: Surprisingly the cheapest of the three I purchased at $29.99. These shorts have a very nice built-in liner (not compression shorts), and only a 6" inseam. I wore them for a 2-mile run on Sunday morning, and I was very pleased with them. They prevented chafing, and they provided better support in the groin than the Fuel Short did.

So out of the three I picked on my first shopping trip, I like the

Escape II

the best due to the support, the anti-chafing, and the lowest price all wrapped in one. I like the Fuel Short, too, and will continue to enjoy wearing them, but they're certainly not worth the extra cost over the Escape II. I plan to buy another couple of pairs of the Escape II shorts.

One other word of advice if you go shopping for UA shorts: plan on taking the time to try them on. When you get to the store, not only will you not find the style/model name on the tags, but you won't find any sort of size chart. The shorts are just labeled as small, medium, large, extra large, etc. If you look at the UA website, you'll see what size they recommend for each range of waist-sizes, but I found these were not accurate. For example, according to the UA size chart, I need an XXL, but trying them on in the store, I found the L fit me the best.

On Friday afternoon, we went down to Ward Center because LW wanted to go to the New Balance store and get some new shoes. I figured as long as we were down there, I should pick up a new pair of running shoes, too. We got there and found out the new 1062's just came out. They still had some of the previous model 1061's in stock. The 1061 is what I have been using and like a lot. If they had my size in the 1061, I would've taken them since they were on sale. Unfortunately, they didn't have my size, so I went ahead and got a pair of the new 1062's. Like the 1061's, I was very happy with how they felt great as soon as I put them on. There was no break-in or adjustment period necessary. I took the new shoes on my 2-mile run Sunday morning, and another 2-mile run for Command PT on Monday morning. Both times they felt great .