Discussion: Water

I highly recommend a dork vest. They don't bounce, can carry a decent amount of water and a small amount of other stuff, and have all sorts of pockets. lots of options out there, I have an Ultimate Direction one that I really like, but you can read some reviews to figure out the best one for you. Definitely worth getting a women's specific one here, since our chests are indeed different than men's.

The handheld bottle works fine for stuff up to about 2 or 3 hours, but I find my arms get kind of tired, and you can only carry 20oz max.

I've spent many years and miles running with a waist belt, since that's sort of a skier thing. They're fine, in that they carry water, but the bounce is annoying, and also I have to cinch it really tight and high to keep it from chafing the crap out of my back. And again, amount of water you can carry is limited. Also, if you're racing, and your stomach bloats or has any other sort of distress, it sucks to have something belted right across the middle. The running vests are the way of the future.

Thanks for the suggestion. That’s the way I’m leaning!

I got a running vest while training for a marathon a year and a half ago, and I really like it! It's very comfortable, it doesn't bounce, it doesn't chafe, and it can hold a lot of water plus a phone or a couple other small things.

I’ve got a waist belt and actually really like it. I have it mostly because dad got it and he wasn’t using it so until I worked out what I liked I was going to try it. Holds enough water for me. Haven’t found the bouncing or chaffing but totally agree with the wearing a bit tight around the middle.

Also have tried backpack with water as some of the Highland games here you need to be carrying a fair amount of kit as exposed. Didn’t like it as much as hot back if it was warm, which is when I’d want to carry water.

Haven’t tried a vest yet but Ross just got a cheap one from decathlon to give it a go and because we don’t have any races we really need it for seemed reasonable and he’s liked it so far. Fit more in it than I thought!

Thanks for the insights! I’ve used fanny packs a fair bit when I was living at home and going out on run/hike adventures with my dad, but the ones I’ve used were fairly large and bounced a lot, which I didn’t like. I’m planning on some vest experimentation im the coming weeks.