The Gator

Several weeks back, I was contacted by the awesome folks over at RumbleRoller to review one of their brand new products, the Gator.

You guys know I love my RumbleRoller and would not be running today without it, so I was curious to test and try out this new product.

The Gator is a 22 inch roller and is advertised as more beginner friendly of a roller vs their RumbleRoller. After trying out this product, I wholeheartedly agree. The bumps along the surface are low profile and don't stand out as much as those of the RumbleRoller. Don't let the surface of the Gator fool you though...this roller still gives a great deep-tissue massage!

Along with a lower profile surface, the roller also has a smaller diameter vs the RumbleRoller which allows the roller to produce high compressive forces in the muscle.

Another neat option for this roller (which I haven't tried yet) is the roller's ability to apply cross frictional massage and is the only foam roller on the market that is optimized for this type of massage!

Do I love the Gator? Yes. Do I still use my RumbleRoller? Absolutely. I love having the option of switching out to the Gator when I don't need a super deep roll like the RumbleRoller provides.

Thanks so much to RumbleRoller for giving me the opportunity to test the Gatort! I've been a fan of the RumbleRoller for quite a number of years and I love their products!

You can find RumbleRoller at these social media channels below:

• Website
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram

Disclaimer: The Gator was gifted to me for purpose of review - no monetary compensation was exchanged. All opinions stated above are my own.

If you use a foam roller, what's your favorite type/brand?

Fitness Friday: Christmas Favorites

For Christmas this year, I was pleasantly surprised with several running related items. Santa was a rock star this year (as usual) and completely outdid himself. Here’s a few of my favorites:

Raw Threads Princess in Training Hoodie

 
Front/Back

I was first introduced to Raw Threads at the 2013 Disney World Marathon Weekend Expo when the runDisney booth ran out of Goofy Merchandise. Raw Threads had 39.3 shirts available, so I bought one and I fell in love. I absolutely love the material of their clothing. It’s very lightweight and incredibly soft. Raw Threads also offers a wide variety of tops/clothing for your favorite runDisney race. Looking to dress as a Princess for Princess Weekend? Check out their Princess Tops. Want to dress as your favorite Villain for your next runDisney race? Check out their selection of Villain collection!  The variety and selection is (almost) endless. I cannot say enough good things about this company.

I’m running the Glass Slipper Challenge during Princess Weekend in Disney World, so I’m warning you now, you will see this shirt a LOT over the next few months! :0)



I was SO excited to see this Raw Threads Princess hoodie in the box I unwrapped!  Insert: awkward looking surprise face.

Rumble Roller

 

Do not let this “foam roller” fool you – it IS every bit as painful as it looks. Why did I ask for a Rumble Roller Christmas? Well, I saw this bad boy in Dick’s Sporting Goods one day and decided to give it a whirl. I had two requirements I was looking for in a foam roller – I wanted one that wouldn’t break down as quickly as my other foam rollers had in the past and it needed to give me a bit of a deeper massage than my other rollers. Hopefully this one will do the trick!

Mizuno Wave Inspire 9’s
 


The final gift on my fitness favorites list is my brand new Mizuno Wave Inspire 9’s. I began running in Mizuno’s when the Mezamashii Project was introduced. While waiting for the brand new Wave Paradox, being introduced in January (which is replacing my old shoe, the Wave Nirvana), I’m wearing Wave Inspire’s in the interim. Got it? That’s a lot of Wave’s! :0)



This color is absolutely my favorite!

After opening a few gifts for themselves, my dogs thought EVERY gift was for them! It was really funny!



I actually received 2 pair of Wave Inspires – one from my parents and the other from Jason. I kind of already started running in my pair from Jason a few weeks ago…



….so what I received was an empty box! Yeah, whoops.

I’m very excited to continue running in these and can’t wait for the brand new Mizuno Wave Paradox (although I’m all set for a little while)!

Did you receive any fitness related items for Christmas? Please share! I want to hear all about your new goodies!

Disclaimer: All of these items were given to me as gifts from family which were purchased by my family. None of these items were received as compensation or for a review. All opinions are my own.

Clearly Not Impressed

It was a beautiful day on Saturday and clearly, I was not impressed.

…with my IT Band, that is.

I had awesome plans for a 10 mile solo run around my neighborhood on Saturday morning. As I reached mile 3, “that” twinge in my right knee hit me and I knew I was done. In the end, I walked .5 miles back to my house for a total of 4 miles.

Disappointed? Yes.

What happened? I was doing SO well! Even running in Disney the weekend before with hills and inclines didn’t phase me.

As the thoughts rolled through my mind, I realized something – I knew exactly what happened.

For starters, we cleaned out our attic on Friday afternoon which left my back bent in odd positions for several hours. This of course led to a sore back and my sleeping on a heating pad both Friday and Saturday night.

I just love throwing stuff away!!

Foam rolling? Not a problem, I’ve got that down to an art.

My other issue? Since Disneyland, I completely jumped OFF my PT leg exercises bandwagon! GASP. How could I forget to do these essential (for me) daily exercises? Whatever happened, I promise you I’m back on my routine. After completing sets on Saturday and Sunday, my leg/knee felt much better. I’m going to give it a few days before trying to run on it again and see where we go from there. I also discovered a 30 day core/ab workout from active.com. I began the workout last night along with my PT exercises. Hopefully the combination of both will help get me back out on the road! 

In non-injury related news, all of this Marine Corps Marathon talk has me itching to run another Marathon. I must be a glutton for punishment. After rolling a few thoughts through my mind, I’ve come up with a plan – I’m going to bump my registration from the Rock n Roll New Orleans Half Marathon to the Full Marathon (I love this race and this course). It’s the 5th year, my 5th in a row…why not go big? I decided if it comes down to it and I’m unable to complete the Full Marathon, I’ll bump back down to the Half. We will take it week by week and see how it goes!

By the way, look what I found in the attic! Those bunny rabbit ear muffs are from when I was 5 years old, maybe? Also, the Mickey Mouse shirt is my mom’s from Disney World back in the 80’s!

It even has “Walt Disney Productions” underneath the image…talk about vintage!

Hope you had a great weekend!! :0) Tell me how you enjoyed your weekend…share in the comments below.