Michael: It's a Treat

Sunshine and rain drops
Intermingle in a bright
Morning jubilee.

Monday, November 2, 2015

After an 11 mile test rolling hill road run yesterday, I’m hopeful, with a few caveats, the Nathan Speed belt 2 will be accompanying me on all of my long road training runs and many of my races, both road and trail.

Why will this belt work for me when so many waist packs have let me down in the past? Because it stays in place. And that place is around my hips and not at my waist. I’m sure this is due to the fact that it is a limited stretch wide belt that uses Velcro instead of a buckle system. Buckles around the hips have just never worked for me.

Everything else about the belt works fine. The bottles don’t leak. They’re easy to holster one handed without looking. The mouths aren’t bicycle water bottle wide but they are wide enough to fill easily and the valves easily open and close. Of course two bottles take longer to fill than one large bottle, but on the upside they do allow you to fill up with two different fluids. At races where my stomach has started to feel queasy from ingesting too much sugar or electrolytes, it’s nice to have a bottle of plain water on hand to ingest as an alternative. That’s always brought me relief and has kept me from writing any vomit stories in my exercise journals.

However, with only 20 oz. of hydration carrying capacity, refill stations will need be no more than a little over an hour away for me. For most road runs and even many trail races, that shouldn’t be a problem. But on longer outings, I’ll reach for my Osprey Rev. 1.5.

The small auxiliary pocket that sits in between the two bottles has a key lash, a small inner nylon pocket that will hold an I.D., credit card and a few bills and closes with a small Velcro tab, and an outer pocket of stretch mesh that easily held my 5 oz. gel flask.

The large Velcro closure on this outside pocket is very easy to access and close. It could also hold my I-phone, but not both the phone and the flask. That’s not a problem during a race, but is problematic during training runs. To resolve that dilemma, I used a small Gossamer Gear pocket in the front of the belt for my phone. That worked fine. When I carry a phone I prefer the phone in the front for ease of access for picture taking. Why all companies don’t come equipped with their own detachable pocket is beyond me. Maybe pricing? Trying to sell additional belts - one for training and one for racing?

The front of the belt has a very small water resistant pill pocket. I put a salt tab in it and it was still in one piece after two hours. This is a very nice feature for me as I’m debating switching to pills for the Sycamore 100k. I like Nuun and Osmo, but for racing they’re both a little awkward to carry and use. Naturally, I’ll train with pills first to see if my stomach will give them the thumbs up.

Like an auxiliary phone pocket, I do wish this belt had a lash up-front for gloves like their Trail Mix belt does. But this is a small gripe. I’ve always found a place to stash gloves, but now that I’ve seen this feature on other belts, I want mine to have it too.

But I do appreciate the stripped down go fast aesthetic of the Speed Belt 2. If it were loaded up with additional features, it would be another belt. Again pros/cons for a company I suppose. Complicate a great belt with detachable features and drive up the price, or sell different belts for different purposes? The only company I know of that is going at the detachable mix and match route full force is Ultra Aspire. At some point I may give that system a try, but so long as the belt works on the Speed Belt 2 and comfortably stays in place at my hips, I’ll remain a loyal and happy customer.