It's a miracle!
http://www.teamestrogen.com/prodCW_125809.html
Where to begin?
Putting them on: these are compression tights, give yourself a good 3 minutes to put them on properly. Put socks on first. You don't want your toenails catching in the fabric as you slide your feet through. Use the pads of your fingers to work the tights into place, not your nails. Follow the instructions on the hang-tag about arranging the tights to the knees before pulling them up. (oh, and go commando. there is a floating gusset so you won't have seam irritation.)
Fit: I used the fit chart provided by CW-X. Right now I am 40 lbs heavier than I was 2 years ago, so I was a bit worried that the athletic fit might be a problem. No problem! And no sausage legs! The tights make even me look sleek and smooth. No camel-toe, there's some pretty cool engineering with the gray panel up the inner thigh to prevent that. The fit was beautiful.
Feel: When I put them on, I felt like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdGQ0...eature=related Except, unlike Jeri Ryan's 20 minutes to get into her costume, it only took 3 minutes to put on the tights. Well, there *might* be a couple other differences between me and Jeri Ryan, but they are relatively minor... The Stabilyx tights are very comfortable once you get them adjusted correctly. They give firm support without any sense of constriction.
Kineseotape: I chose the Stabilyx because the pattern of support bands was the most similar to patterns of kineseotape I've used and liked. I could have used an additional band from medial knee to lateral hip to facilitate hip external rotation, but really that's a training issue I should be working on anyway. The CW-X Pro tight has the hip rotation band. Like good kineseotape, the bands facilitate the muscles underneath them. You correct yourself by turning on the muscles that are being lazy. Wearing kineseotape (and by analogy these tights) makes the muscles stronger because they are cued more.
Performance: Which helped more, the compression or the kineseotape effect? Heck if I know! What I do know is that I ran my regular route this morning. Same speed, same route. Normally near the end of my run I'm getting tired and sloppy and starting to hear the siren call of my waiting coffee pot. The tights really shone at the end of my run, because I was feeling perky and strong and warm and NOT tired. In fact, my legs felt so good that I extended my run until the dog was starting to get unhappy and the call of the coffee was strident.
Warmth: This was my first run in the Stabilyx tights. Normal chilly rainy weather for this time of year. My legs were surprisingly warm in just the tights. I had considered wearing my Hind running pants over them, but the tights looked so good I went without. Turns out they were perfect on their own. Not too hot, not sweaty and clammy, not chilly.
Look: I looked just like Seven of Nine. (see above) Really. <snort> Actually, I looked damm good. I've never gone for my run dressed only in tights. My old tights were for extra warmth, and I wore them UNDER my running pants. Nobody got to gaze at my blobbiness as I ran. BUT, the CW-X designers know their stuff. I ran in these tights alone, and I looked good! The compression panels smooth out the lumps and blobs and hold everything still. My fat didn't jiggle. The different colors of gray create a bit of camoflage or visual misdirection, which also helps.
Let me reiterate the most important quality of these tights: My Fat Didn't Jiggle.
(any of you who have been running while overweight know the pain of bouncing fatty whiplash. it honestly hurts. no pain with these tights!)