GUTR Sweatband Review

   

   Ever since I was a young boy I realized that I wasn't like other people in many different ways. I liked anchovies on my pizza, I found the smell of gasoline oddly pleasant and I sweated like a pig wrapped in cellophane sitting in a sauna whenever I exercised. Not a pretty sight for a short little chubby kid trying to survive his way through sixth grade gym class!

   As I got older and fitter I discovered that my mutant ability to profusely sweat diminished a little with the extra weight gone. But when I took up running I discovered that it was still with me. Whenever I went on any run lasting more than a mile I sweated a little more than average. 

   I know that sweating is a gross topic but it's something that we all have to deal with. You can deny it all you want! Ha! Whether you're a distance runner or not sweating is perfectly normal. It's your body's natural way to regulate internal temperature and also serves to flush toxins out of your system. Most people sweat in response to warm temperatures, exercise and stressful situations. I was lucky because I wasn't someone with the medical condition of "Hyperhidrosis". When you have this condition you sweat even without the typical conditions present. My problem was just that when I did sweat, there was buckets of the stuff to go around. I've always been the generous type!

   When I started to train for my first marathon I went on some really, really long runs. Some of them lasting two, three or even four hours. Because of the length of these runs I started to have to modify some of the things that I wore because of my sweat. 

   Regular cotton clothing just didn't work anymore because it soaked up all of the sweat like a dry sponge. I had to buy all new sweat wicking clothing. These days this type of clothing has become the standard for most athletes, runner or not. I never see anyone rocking the cotton stuff anymore unless they're some cagey veteran from the start of the running boom. Dude, if you can pull off cotton shorts, more power to you! I'm not that guy!

 Another thing I started doing was applying things like band aids, smearing petroleum jelly and shaking talcum powder in all the wondrous places that I chaffed. For those of you who haven't experienced the awesomeness of chaffing, well then you haven't truly lived! You'd think that a small piece of clothing simply rubbing against your body is no big deal. But you throw in a little extra sweat and have it rub for let's say five hours straight, then you have a real freaking problem! It's a tricky thing to avoid unless you're experienced enough to know the target parts it can occur on your own body. Unfortunately it's different from person to person and even different from clothing item to item. The only surefire way to figure it out is with damned painful trial an error. With my copious amounts of sweat I've had chaffing almost everywhere on my body. Bloody nipples that looked like matching gunshot wounds. Marks on my back that looked like I was whipped on a prison boat. Bloody inner thighs that looked like a midget boxer used my private parts as a punching bag. Who said running wasn't a bloody sport? Not fun! Even more delightful when you don't know you have it until you step into the shower and start washing. When water and soap mixes with your sweat the sensation is like razor blades on your newly chaffed parts. Lot's of swearing in the shower after long races! I now use some great products like Body Glide which is similar to petroleum but much less greasy; and Squeaky Cheeks which is similar to talcum powder but an incredible product that lasts much, much longer. I've got it down to such a science that I rarely have to deal with this issue anymore thank God!

   So I've made all of these changes and have a fairly good handle on my sweating problem. But there was one aspect of it that continued to elude me until this summer. What to do about the problem of sweat running into my eyes when I'm out there running for half a day? Sure wearing a running hat, cap or headband can help. But eventually they too reach a point where they're too soaked to be effective anymore. I got skin cancer a few years back so I don't dare run outside any more without sunscreen. When you mix sunscreen with the sweat running down your head it can completely blind you for the remainder of your run. I've tried everything to stop this. I've used sunscreen in spray, lotion and stick form and tried applying it different ways on my face. But it's always a constant problem. Typically it ruins my eyes so badly that I can't wear my contacts for the rest of the day and they hurt until the following morning. I can't tell you how irritatingly dangerous it is to be 10 miles from home and practically blind. It's amazing that I haven't run into a tree of moving car yet! 

   Up until recently the only solution was to run without sunscreen on my face. Which really isn't a solution and too dangerous. I decided to do a little research online and discovered something called the GUTR sweatband. It's not like a typical sweatband for two reasons: Instead of being made of a sweat wicking or absorbing material it's made of high quality silicone. The other difference is that it has a small channel that catches sweat running down your forehead that then re-directs the sweat away from your eyes to the sides of your head where it runs down to your chin. Very similar to the way a roof gutter re-directs rainwater. Hence the clever product name! It retails for about $20 US and comes in white, black and blue colors. It attaches with velcro and is adjustable, so one-size fits all. The company also makes slightly more expensive versions for industrial and military use. I liked the simplicity of the product. It makes sense. I liked the fact that it wasn't fabric. In my opinion, nothing that's made of fabric is going to work well as a sweatband for distance runners. I loved the price. If it didn't work well, I wasn't out a ton of money. 

   Luckily for us northeastern distance runners this summer wasn't really a summer at all. It didn't last very long here. But when it was hot in the earlier part of the summer, it was really hot and humid. Prime sweating conditions for longer runs. I got a chance to put this headband through it's paces. To be honest, I was expecting this it to be OK for an average person. But not work all that well for a person like me. Well I was pleasantly surprised. 

   The PROS: This product did exactly what it was supposed to. Run after run it did a very good job of directing sweat away from my eyes. It was comfortable and didn't slide down my forehead when I applied it properly. It didn't cut my circulation off and the material didn't wear at all. It was very comfortable. After a few runs I didn't even realize that I was wearing it anymore. 

   The CONS: Every time that I put the thing on to go out for a run my wife and son couldn't help but laugh. I must admit that while wearing it I looked like an extra from some space alien aerobics movie. Even when wearing the white model it did manage to stand out quite a bit. So there I was sneaking out into my garage before my run to put the dang thing on to avoid the cynical laughter. After some trial and error I discovered that it could be easily hidden when I wore my running visor and sun glasses. Some minor adjustments were needed with how I wore them on my head but nothing major. Even runners should have some fashion sense! I'd look ridiculous wearing this on a treadmill inside the gym! Even I have standards! I found that while it did a great job directing the sweat away from your forehead, if you jumped, veered or looked straight down that some of the collected sweat would fall out of the channel. This could be a problem for a cyclist. It's made to fit underneath a cycling helmet, but when you lean forward to get more aerodynamic the sweat could  possibly fall out. I didn't test this theory. It usually fell onto the outside of my glasses and away from my eyes when this rarely happened. The only other thing I can say is that it doesn't do anything about the sweat that can sometimes collect on spots below the band. But hey, nothing's perfect. 

   Overall I was very impressed with this product. It's price, material and performance were all well worth the money. I'd even pay a little more than retail for it. If you live in a warmer climate and or have a sweating issue consider trying the GUTR headband. It's a cheap fix that may make the hot, humid, long and sweaty ones a little safer and more comfortable! Let me know if you give it a try. I'd love to hear your take!

   Still pluggin away at my PT exercises. Sometimes they feel like they're not doing anything at all. I know they probably are so I'm keepin the faith. I came across a neat little new machine at my gym called the AMT Stride Right. It's similar to an elliptical machine but it adjusts to your stride throughout your workout. I discovered that if I pushed it that it was similar to running in weightlessness. I'm getting really tired of walking on the treadmill. So this new machine felt freaking amazing! Go for my second round of x-ray guided steroid injections tomorrow. Hopefully it'll speed the healing process despite the pain of the procedure. Love pulling my shorts down halfway so a room full of strangers can do the procedure. Gotta remember to "polish" my tramp stamp area before I leave tomorrow! Really frustrated and worried with not being able to stand straight. But I'm working as hard as I can. It's still weird being home this much. My Type-A personality is enjoying getting some things done around the house. It was kind of a downer today because it was the running of the Rochester half and full marathon. I was supposed to run the full this year as a training run for the ultra. The weather really sucked with heavy rains. So at least my record of never running a marathon in the rain still stands! I'm the kind of guy who works hard when I have a goal set before me. Despite all the depressing stories, despite the pain, despite all the feelings of hopelessness and frustration, mark my words, I'm going to run again. This bullshit of giving up running after having herniated discs isn't going to work for me. If you happen to run Rochester next year, look around at the start line. You may just find a familiar face who's got one hell of a comeback story...