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Buying sportswear is never simple, but in summer you must pay attention to several things. Staying comfortable and protected is essential, but there’s more. You might also want to ensure you are buying from a socially responsible company that has a code of conduct, ensuring that employment is freely chosen and no child labour used.

Think about the type of activity you’re shopping for. Half of the job is choosing sportswear that is suitable for the movements you are going to make. If you’re running, you will need one type of clothes and footwear. For boxing or pilates, you’ll need another.

Buying sportswear in the summer should be easy and affordable with these simple tips.

Know your options

With a wide selection of sportswear brands, you have many options offered to suit your exact needs. However, before buying, you should check out all the options, because you might find one garment sold at different prices in different stores.

High-quality sportswear isn’t very cheap, but you can find great items at affordable prices if you know where to look.

Try finding discounts or sales, but remember these rarely occur during the season. Buy items in advance and always keep an eye open for coupons and discounts at the end of the season.

Select breathable materials

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Whether buying tops, T-shirts, leggings or footwear, you should pay attention to the labels. The materials your sportswear is made of are crucial for maximum comfort, but also your health.

For some sports you may want a high percentage of cotton in your clothes when buying sportswear for the summer. Cotton is light, it absorbs sweat and doesn’t cause any skin irritation. However, for maximum flexibility, you might want to consider additional materials to ensure better stretch (such as lycra or polyester) thanks to the latest technology.  Whilst great for dry slope snowboarding in the Summer (as the cotton holds the sweat and keeps you cooler), the potential for chafing when running (especially if wearing a pack) means man-made, wicking fabric is preferable!  

This especially goes for physical activities that demand support. While you want your clothes to give you sufficient support, you don’t want them to shut the air out. Any material that is too tight and doesn’t stretch shouldn’t be a part of your summer sportswear.

Concerning footwear, it’s extremely important to find breathable materials for the summer, since your feet are bound to sweat more. Feet are the most sensitive body part during summer because sweat can contribute to various infections that can be prevented by good footwear.

And while you’re at labels, keep an eye out for the ethically made items that protect both nature and the labourers who create your sportswear. Even today, more than 20 million people are affected by modern slavery – and so it’s important that we do all we can to reduce these numbers.

Choose the right size

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Even if all the previous factors are respected, your sportswear still might not be good for you if it’s the wrong size. This is a piece of sound advice for any period around the year, but it’s especially important in the summer.

The wrong size will restrict your movement, trap sweat on critical points and cause additional discomfort to your body. Buying sportswear in the summer depends on you choosing not just the perfect fit, but something that is at least half a size bigger.

You need slightly looser clothes so the air can reach the skin, but that doesn’t mean you should buy something too big. This is particularly important for footwear, otherwise, you might cause calluses to appear.

84.9km with 2,408m of elevation gain (52.75 miles, 7900 feet gained) in 14 hours, 10 minutes and 47 seconds.  7 loo stops, 300g of Tailwind (1200 calories), one face plant, one big wobble and an epic peanut butter and Marmite sandwich!

Want to know more? Read on……

Race to the Tower (RTTT) has been my focus for the last 9 months.  I’ve been spending a lot of my weekends getting used to running and hiking the hills in the knowledge that if I didn’t this would be a very, very long race.  The Boyf and I have spent time in the Malvern Hills, visited the Forest of Dean, waterfall country in the Brecon Beacons and spent a fair bit of time on the Cotswold Way as well.

The RTTT route primarily follows the Cotswold Way starting near Stroud and finishing at Broadway Tower.  To try and make the end of the day easy we had arranged to park at the finish and get the coach to the start.  The thinking being that at least that way we could get warm and get back to our weekend base rather than having to hang around and get a coach to the start and then drive on from there.  With the Boyf running with me as a training run it meant we were going to be self-sufficient over the course (other than the provided food & drink at the 7 checkpoints).

The plan was to carry all the Tailwind we needed, eat nothing and get to the finish in one piece.  It pretty much worked.

We arrived to park at the finish in torrential rain, registered for the bus and then drove down to Stroud.  I am glad we were in Wave C as the coach got lost and arrived with about 1 minute to spare for Wave A.  This was the wave you had to start in if wanted to place in the race.  Even if you run a “winning time” in a later wave it doesn’t count for the win.  As we weren’t expecting a top 3 finish this wasn’t a crisis for us.  We went for the traditional pre-race loo stop, removed our travel layers and dropped our bag to be taken back to the finish.  We then got into the start funnel and were underway shortly before 8am.

By this point the weather had pretty much cleared up, but setting off across a wet, grassy field I was glad for the double-coating of Gurney Goo I had on my feet (and various other body parts).  If you haven’t tried it and you have ever suffered a blister or under carriage chafing it is well worth checking out.  Whilst it didn’t save my back from getting a bit scuffed up that was entirely my fault.  I know that that is an area where I need to reapply mid-race (especially if I am sweating buckets) but I failed to do so.

The race starts at a high point, so you’re soon hit with the amazing views the Cotswold Way treats you to.  These views really do keep you going, and it makes every climb worthwhile.  Of course with the ups come the downs.  The weather had been a bit on the damp side in the build-up to the race, so the slopes were a bit on the slippery side.  I really felt bad for anyone that was running in road shoes.  Whilst you might get away with that on a dry trail, this really wasn’t the weekend for it.  Hurrah for my Skechers Performance Ultra Trail 4s (if only Skechers weren’t seemingly phasing out the trainers I love so much!).

I settled into a steady run:walk routine, hiking hard on the hills, running (sliding) the downs and what little flat there was I tried to run.  Checkpoint 1 was a quick in and out at the 9.2km point before we entered the forest, passed by the famous Cheese Rolling location (Cooper’s Hill) and then as we headed towards the second checkpoint at 23km I managed to face plant having caught my foot on nothing (it felt like a wooden stump but I didn’t stop to check), in the middle of a flat, grassy field!  Yep, I had survived the sketchy downhills and tripped over my own feet.  This took me back to my old snowboarding days where many a toe-edge catch on a single snowflake took me unawares.  It took my breath away and shook me up a bit, but once I was sure everything was where it should be we moved onwards and began the climb up to Crickley Hill.  This is a STEEP climb, up a teeny, tiny, slippery path, single track with some nice barbed wire fences either side.  Care was taken not to grab the wire when the slipping started.  Once we made it out in the open I was in familiar territory.  Crickley Hill was the first park I visited in Cheltenham and the views are amazing.  It always takes my breath away and it was nice to see where we were heading in the distance.  Onwards to checkpoint 3, taking a slightly different route to the one I expected, but it was actually much more pleasant.  I had expected a looooong drag on an undulating road and what I got was a nice runnable downhill on a path instead.  Good times!

Another loo stop and water refill, more Tailwind and we pushed on towards the Devil’s Chimney and then the half way point.  This is where it all went wrong for me.  We enjoyed the view at the Devil’s Chimney, ran onwards and hit checkpoint 4 in just under 6 and a half hours.  I was pretty pleased with this and then I suffered immediate flashbacks to the shoddiness of the halfway checkpoint at Race to the King (put on by the same organisers).  At check points 1-3 there are plenty of loos close right where you arrive, and plenty of big, multi-tapped barrels of water.  Threshold really let themselves down at the mid-way point.  They clearly switch their focus to those who are camping overnight and splitting the race into 2 parts.  The loos are way at the back of the field (when you are running a double-marathon you don’t want to add 200m+ into a checkpoint turnaround just to go to the loo).  Then they had a crappy fill-up point.  One 5 gallon water butt, nearly empty, if I hadn’t had the Boyf with me to lift and tilt it I would have struggled to get refilled.  It was a real shame and it put me in a shocking mood.

We got back on the route as quickly as we could, but both the Boyf and I were annoyed at the extra time we had had to take for what should have been a slick stop like the earlier ones.  Threshold….please put a handful of loos right by the turnaround point for those still racing.  It makes a huge difference to us!

We were then running on a bit of trail I hadn’t covered before, more hills, more trees and more great views, all was going well until the climb up to Cleeve Common, I was still fuming about the pit-stop situation, then we had to run the gauntlet of local dog walkers flying at high-speed in their cars on the road we were running on, and then I started to overheat.  The expected 30 mile wobble hit early and around mile 28 it all went wrong.  The tears came, I was frustrated, I didn’t want to play any more and the worst of it was because I new the next bit of the route I was able to ear-mark a nice convenient quitting point!  OK, the Boyf would argue that having to get a taxi from Cleeve Common Golf Club to Broadway Tower was not exactly an easy way out but in my head it was workable (and I had taxi money in my emergency pack!).  He got me to calm down, we removed my t-shirt to help get me cooled off and he carried my pack for me as we wandered the top of Cleeve Common (there’s no ban on muling in this race so all was good!).  When we reached the Trig point he gave me some of his secret fake Red Bull stash and reminded me that if I was going to quit it needed to be at checkpoint 5 (beyond the golf club).  The drink worked its magic, the high winds kept me cool and by the time we reached the golf club at about 29 miles the gloom was lifting.  This is a part of the course I knew well, a nice downhill along the golf course, my regular photo stop point (every run I do here I take a photo at the same point so I can capture all the seasons), round Postlip Hall and then you hit the farm where the checkpoint is at 30.8 miles. 

It was check point 5 that really helped switch my mood.  The Boyf had grabbed a couple of Perkier Bars from the food table (just in case they were needed later) and I was nosing in the hope of some peanuts.  I had seen some at an earlier stop but as I don’t normally need food when I use Tailwind I hadn’t picked any up.  No peanuts were to be seen but there was a lovely girl making peanut butter sandwiches.  Now these are not great for me when I run, but then I saw the bucket of Marmite she had!  I asked if she was making peanut butter and Marmite sandwiches.  “I’m not, but for you Kat I can do just that”.  The use of my name (marked on my bib), was such a nice touch at that point in my day that it gave me a huge boost.  I didn’t catch her name (ultra-brain) but she was epic.  She then checked how much Marmite & peanut butter I wanted as she wanted it to be perfect (heavy on both please!) and I was off again.  This was the switching point for me, the combo was absolute bliss and the fact that she really seemed to care about me was just what I needed.  Shout out to the farmer for allowing them to use his land for the aid stop.  I’ve loved running through there on some of my winter & spring training runs seeing the calves and lambs and it’s always a happy spot for me.

Onwards into the woods again, up the switchbacks and onwards to Belas Knap.  Downhill through to Winchcombe and then I was back into the unknown trails.  More ups, more downs, the good thing was I was still running and still hiking hard on the hills (much to the disgust of the group I overtook going up a steep one.).

Finally, we caught a glimpse of the Broadway Tower in the distance.  Thanks to my pre-check of the route (and the GPX on my Garmin 5X) I also knew that it wasn’t a simple straight route just yet.  Oh no, to get the mileage up to a double-marathon we dipped off the Cotswold Way and ran the long way round into Broadway town.  This last section was insane….there were so many people cheering us on from the pub gardens and front lawns, it was a huge boost especially as I knew there was still a tough climb to come.  We ran a bit and walked a bit until we reached the turn off and started the climb to the Tower.  This section gives you gates 145 – 150, multiple fields, a couple of false summits and when you stop for a breather a perfect sunset view.

As I climbed it felt like I was really struggling, but it turns out I must have been moving faster than I thought.  When I compared the time I took to climb on race day with the walk up that I did a couple of weeks ago I was less than a minute slower.  It’s funny how perceptions change when you’re tired and at the end of a very long run.  With a final push and darkness falling I managed a run across the flat hill top to the finish.  Job done, 14 hours, 10 minutes, 47 seconds after I started.

Kat & The Tower

Finished!

Broadway Tower & the Moon

Previous Slide Next Slide

Some stats:

My second marathon of the day was just 1 hour 13 minutes 7 seconds longer than the first.  I’m pretty pleased with that, especially given my wobble which meant I walked significantly more that I had planned to.

In part 2 I moved up 11 places in the women’s places and 47 places overall!

My final place was 287th out of 676 overall, 70th female (of 249) and 26th (of 96) females over 40!

Not bad at all!

So how does this compare with other races, whilst I was over an hour slower than NDW50 last year, I think that this is a much tougher race.  Check out these Veloviewer profiles……

RTTT has a lot less runnable flat (for me anyway!) and the steeps are steeper.  Both great races but I definitely feel that despite the longer time on the clock, my RTTT race was run by a fitter, more experienced runner, in much better shape.  So pretty much a day of win in my book!

I’m going to do a follow-up post on recovery, but couldn’t sign-off without sharing this nice little touch from the team at the Ivy Brasserie in Cheltenham where we went for breakfast on Sunday. 

Ironed out some kinks with some foam rolling and yoga as well to get me ready for some more hilly running tomorrow.

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February is go! Today was standard lunges and bird-dogs. No other exercise but a bit of a wander in the snow gave me a bit of fresh air Did you have snow? Do you love or hate it? #tailfish30dayfitness via @riplapp #printables #printablestickers #plannerPDF #plannerinserts #fitnesstrackers #30daychallenge #plannerfun #etsy #etsyshop #etsyseller #plannersforlife

A post shared by Kat Miller (@tailfishbypyry) on Feb 1, 2019 at 11:59am PST

It’s a tricky balance, not enough exercise and I get grumpy, I lose fitness and tone and generally am not that happy. Work is really important to me though, and sometimes I choose work over the non-work stuff. That meant I ditched a bunch of my planned races and because I wasn’t racing I wasn’t training.

I’ve kept things fairly light on the race front for 2019, but I am determined to find a better work/life balance. I need to trust my team more and I need to make sure that when people don’t deliver quite enough that they fix it not me. It’s hard for me to delegate, especially when It’s bitten me in the ass on more than one occasion but I do think I have improved at doing so in the last 9 months or so.

One thing I am really pleased with is that I kept my Tailfish 30 Day Challenge group running for the full year, and we’re still going strong! Month one of 2019 is already done and February’s challenges (abs & lunges) are underway. What started as a one month resolution that I shared with some friends to try and get me to commit to a full month of squatting grew and I just kept going.

It’s been a lot of fun and if you want to join us pop over to the Facebook group, grab our February challenge planner and get exercising. Yes you heard me right, this year there’s a planner style tracker, perfect for those of you that love Bullet Journaling, fitness tracking or just having something to print out and tick off!

So what am I hoping for in 2019, better balance, better commitment to sharing on here and via social media and some solid races to train for. Let’s see how it goes eh?

So what about January? 3295 squats were done, I ran 149km, and did a bunch of cross-training too! I am still part of the FASTer Way to Fat Loss*, I’m signed up to the VIP program* as it gives me daily workouts (this stops me getting bored and means I don’t have to think) and I have started using Yogaia again…I even managed a few live classes. It’s amazing how you don’t realise how stiff and inflexible you are until you start yoga again.

Here’s how my month looked…

So what next? More running, I am spending as much weekend time running some hilly trails as I can. My goal race this year is long and lumpy and I want to be as ready for it as I can. More yoga, not only to help iron out the kinks but also try and bring some peace to my chaotic mind (and maybe try not to think about work whilst I am doing it), and a real push on my FASTer Way to Fat Loss strength sessions. These are essential to keep me trail fit!

What do you want to read about on here? Let me know and I will do what I can to keep things interesting for you!

I took my measurements this weekend and have lost 6 inches (mostly in the stomach and bum zone) since I refocused on the FASTer Way To Fat Loss* workouts in late December.  I am hoping that now we’re moving into Spring any excess hibernation chub from Winter will start so vanish, as the leaner I am for North Downs Way 50 in May the better.  Given my tendency to overheat the less excess fat around my core the better as it should mean I stay a little cooler.

I also turned 43 this week, I am pleased to say (that in my mind anyway), I neither look it or feel it.  I see too many people having a total freak out and meltdown at turning 30, let alone 40, so I am pleased to report that I am setting up nicely for a solid year of long runs.  Until they’re done I can’t be sure they’ll be successful, and more than a couple are outside of my comfort zone, but I will certainly be giving them all my best shot.

The magic TrainAsONE plan has me easing into taper this week, so my runs are fairly short, but with a couple of good speeds sessions in place to keep my legs ticking over nicely.  I’ll also be keeping my FASTer Way sessions going as well, although I will be swapping Amanda’s sprints on Tuesday for my Threshold run.  That’ll de-carb me just as well.

At least after this weekend’s doughnut haul I will be fully prepped for my two low carbs days!  If you haven’t tried Crosstown Doughnuts then you should… they are really tasty.  They are also, very non-sickly!  As someone who struggles with nausea after a single Krispy Kreme I am pleased that I managed 50% of the doughnuts (we had to split them 50:50 to each get a taste of every doughnut) without feeling sick at all!  I call that a Birthday win!

A post shared by Kat Miller (@tailfishbypyry) on Mar 24, 2018 at 1:39pm PDT

What have you got planned this week?

It’s been a couple of weeks since I posted, a lot has been going on but I’ve been lacking the energy to post about it.  Last weekend was the SVN

 Viking 100 mile run, and whilst I wasn’t racing the 100 I was there to support the Boyf in his quest for a sub-24 gold buckle!  An early 5am start, followed by a lot of standing around making sure he got his Tailwind allocation each lap (and that I noted down the amount of Tailwind, fluid intake and lap time), and clipping the lap cards of other runners was taking its toll.  I squeezed in a quick refresher nap about 18:30, more runner support and then another nap before midnight when I got a text from the Boyf alerting me that he was ready for me to come and keep him company on a couple of laps.  I love running in the dark, the temperatures are normally a lot more manageable for me, and I like the peace and quiet.  It’s also great practice for other races.  Given I am not the speediest, there’s a high likelihood that I’ll be finishing SDW50 in the dark, and so it pays to be used to running (walking, or shuffling) on a head torch when you’re covering tricky terrain on very tired legs.  To put it bluntly it’s one less thing to worry about!

18.75 miles (3 laps) later and I sent him out for his final mini-lap (due to a course change mid-race), whilst I got changed and started to pack the car.  We were both stoked when he finished the race in 21:35:57.  A great start to the year, and a gold buckle earned!  It also meant I covered my training target for the week as well.  Sometimes it can be tough fitting training in around the support of others but luckily this time we were able to balance both.

Last weekend’s efforts meant I was slightly off kilter this week.  Whilst I intended to stick to my FASTer Way to Fat Loss plan, a mix of tiredness and back to back meetings meant I dropped my HIIT workouts early in the week.  I did manage all my strength sessions though, despite shuffling a couple of sessions to accommodate lunch at the Ritz (so yummy!) and a long run (I really didn’t fancy leg day followed by 15km).

Run-wise, things were looking good, but when I went out on Friday intending to spend 70 minutes on the hills I got to the end of the road and decided enough was enough.  Heavy legs and wheezy lungs meant I ran home and clocked up 1.5km instead.  I am a big fan of listening to my body, and clearly it wasn’t in the right state for a longer session.  It paid off though, as I then managed 15km on Saturday.  5km run to parkrun, my first parkrun since May 2016 and then a run home.  I felt fine throughout, despite the weather being freezing, a bit snowy and more than a bit windy.  Balance is so important in training, and by listening to my body on Friday I was able to stay on track.  If I had stuck with the original plan then I would probably have felt rubbish on Saturday and may not have managed a run at all.  This is the awesome thing about TrainAsONE’s plan, it constantly adjusts based on what you do, and what you don’t do.  Always keeping your plan at the optimum level for your goal and your current fitness level.

Today was my delayed leg day session (tough work!), followed by sprints in the snow.  I wasn’t quite hitting pace but I was pushing hard and I am convinced that is most of the battle.  With the conditions underfoot being a bit on the sketchy side, and my legs being a bit dull after a zillion squats and weights lifted I am happy with how things went.

Now I get a day off from running until my 6 minute assessment session on Tuesday.  Hopefully the ice will have cleared and the wind dropped by then.

This week will continue to focus on finding balance.  Work, training and rest all play a part in making me happy and I am keen to make sure I do my best in all of them.  So all being well I’ll be doing a Tabata/HIIT session and 3 strength sessions with the FASTer Way, and 5 runs.  I’ll be dropping the FASTer Way sprint session on Tuesday as it clashes with my 6 minute assessment (actually 46 minutes long), as that will definitely deplete my carbs on low carb day…and there’s no need to double-up and risk excessive tiredness or injury.

What have you got planned this week?