By Sarah Graham
I know it’s tempting to skip right to the cool bras we’ve compiled for you, but I ask that you bear with me for a quick moment. See, in researching this article, I’ve learned that many of us ladies are getting the bra thing very wrong. It’s important stuff that we should be getting right – especially for those of us going the distance and doing ultras – and not just for reasons of chafing or mild discomfort. So I invite you to join my little sports bra university that I’ve put together for you. You might be as amazed by what I learned as I was!
It’s not just about the boobs
Aside perhaps from your running shoes, no piece of gear has as much potential to make or break your running experience as your bra. Specifically: Breasts oscillate in a figure-8 pattern when we run – an average of almost 4 inches in three directions (um, what?). Without proper support, this repetitive force can lead to breast pain, which can then result in subconscious (or otherwise) changes in stride to mitigate the pain. Many of you already know that an unnatural change in stride can be like laying out the welcome mat for injury.
A study conducted by the University of Portsmouth in England showed that poor breast support contributes to increased ground impact force and higher potential for the development of stress-related injuries. How much more force? With no support, as compared to very good support, that’s an extra 3.6 lbs per footfall for a 120-lb woman. Multiply that by 180ish steps per minute for however many hours you’re out on the trail. Granted, you won’t be running with no support (I hope). Even a fraction of those 3.6 extra lbs, if running with poor support, though? Ouch.
Many chafing issues with bras can be attributed to poor fit or the bra’s old age – especially around the band.
Most of us are probably wearing the wrong bra size
Research shows that as many as 85% of women are wearing the wrong bra size. How can this be? Bra fit can be influenced by breathing, posture, and physical characteristics. Sizes vary across manufacturers, so when we are focused on a number that we think is our size, it can lead us astray. Breast size can change throughout a woman’s lifetime and at different times in her cycle. To make matters worse, another study by the University of Portsmouth in England (they’re pretty much the experts in the sports bra arena) showed that using the traditional tape measure method to gauge bra size typically overestimates band size and underestimates cup size. The number we have in our head as our size may never have been right in the first place!
So how should you find the right sports bra size? You can use the tape measure method to get a ballpark size, but then University of Portsmouth researchers recommend trying on multiple bras of different sizes and using these criteria:
- Band The band should be firm around your chest but not so tight as to affect breathing or cause flesh to bulge. It should be level with the ground all the way around. It should only have 1-2″ of give when pulled outward.
- Cup Your breasts should be entirely encased within the cups (i.e. no bulging at edges). The material shouldn’t be puckered or baggy.
- Underwire If the bra has one, the underwire should be entirely within the crease under the breast as opposed to overlapping any of the breast.
- Front The front of the band should lie flat against the sternum without a sizeable gap between bra and skin.
- Straps should sit comfortably on the shoulders – not digging in or too tight. Most of the support of the bra should come from a firm band, not the straps. There should be 1-2″ of give when pulled upward.
When you try on a bra, jump up and down and swing your arms or even take it for a jog around the block if the retailer allows. You should feel supported but otherwise barely notice that the bra is there – just like a great fitting pair of running shoes. A bra with any points of discomfort will only feel worse over the miles, so back on the rack it goes.
Care and feeding of your bras
Once you have some sports bras that you love, treat them like delicate flowers so they can be tough as nails for you on the trail. Always follow the care instructions on the garment, or go one step beyond – hand wash them if possible, or use a lingerie bag if machine washing. Never ever put them in the dryer (train your well-meaning laundry-helper family members on this too). Dryer heat breaks down the materials that hold your girls in place.
Tough love: when it’s time to let go
This is hard for some of us to swallow (myself included), but our bras should never be allowed to have a birthday. If you wear it regularly, it should probably be replaced at about the same rate as your running shoes – every 6 months or so, depending on use. As bras age, material deterioration results in chafing and loss of support.
What we looked for in the best ultrarunning bras
Gold star to you for participating in sports bra university! Now to the fun part. What makes one bra better than another for running long distances? We looked at several criteria:
Material: A bra suited to an ultrarunner needs to be comprised of fabric that is soft and comfortable against the skin, yet supportive and tough all day under extreme conditions. From sweating in the sun to hunkering down in snow or crossing rivers and deserts, superior wicking capability and breathability are critical.
Design: No matter which way you look at it, comfort is king in long-distance running. Much of this is rooted in proper fit, but for the ultrarunner, it is closely tied to design. Are there thick seams or annoying tags that are difficult to remove? Are there straps or folds in places that will dig into your back under a hydration vest? Does it have a hook and eye clasp? How thick is the band – is it likely to roll over itself and chafe you?
Strength: An ultrarunner’s bra has its work cut out for it. It needs to stand up to potentially multiple days of incessant movement, moisture, salt, sunscreen, bug spray, ice cubes, gel packs… and it needs to still be able to do its job of supporting your girls under all of that duress. We looked for bras that were up to this challenge.
One final point: no single bra will work for everyone. It’s just like running shoes – lots of different flavors for lots of different bodies. I tried to be objective in this review, and also recruited differently-shaped/sized friends to help wear test, but the only true way to know if a bra will work for you is to try it out for yourself. Now on to the bras!
Zensah Seamless Running Sports Bra $40
Zensah’s proprietary anti-odor and moisture wicking fabric is very soft and stretches and compresses in exactly the right places, making it feel like second skin to all of us who wear tested (and we are a motley crew of sizes and shapes). It hugs the body better than any of the other bras we tried. Its seamless design and lack of tags take the comfort level up yet another notch. I forgot I was wearing a bra, but still felt supported. I hadn’t thought that could be possible. The racerback design and low-profile edging posed no problems under hydration packs. If we were forced to come up with one critique, it would be that the Zensah perhaps didn’t disperse heat and breathe quite as spectacularly as a couple of the other models we tried. This minor niggle isn’t enough to keep us from wanting one in every color, though, as the Zensah was the resounding favorite out of all the bras we tried. Bonus: it’s made in the USA and comes in 16 fun colors.
Brooks JustRight Racer Sports Bra $48
This bra is soft against the skin and moves very well with the body. The seamless construction, combined with support panels, make for an extremely comfortable fit while also providing good support. Part of this may be due to the DriLayer® Adapt fabric in the band of this bra, which Brooks claims helps it mold to your body for a personalized fit. This bra would be an especially good choice for a hot day, as its fabric performed very well in keeping us cool and dry. It comes with removable modesty cups. Unfortunately, Brooks hasn’t abandoned tags yet, so get the scissors ready.
Brooks SureShot Racer Sports Bra $30
Think of this one as an updated and modern take on an old school compression sports bra. What I like best about it are the wide band and the silky smooth fabric. Although not seamless, the design is so simple that opportunities for chafing are minimal (just be sure to cut off the tag). The fabric itself is not as forgiving and moldable to your shape as some of the other bras we tried, but if you nail the fit with this one, that won’t matter. The flip side to this is that it’s slightly more compressive than bras with more flexible fabric, so it has the edge in providing a little more support.
Brooks Hot Shot Sports Bra $35
This was my bra of choice for my first three ultras. The straps are made of DriLayer® Adapt, so they conform to your exact shape and are barely perceptible, even under a heavy pack. This bra’s ability to self-adjust is a dream. It is one of the most compressive of the bras reviewed, even with the modesty panels removed. It lacks in overall ability to disperse heat and moisture compared to its sibling, the JustRight Racer, but makes up for that in its overall horsepower for keeping the girls locked down all day long, even on the fastest and steepest of descents.
The North Face Stow-N-Go $45
This bra is a favorite of UltraRunning Contributing Editor and Western States Endurance Run 10th place female finisher Erika Hoagland. As the Stow-N-Go’s name suggests, its secret weapon is its pocket compartments in the front of the bra. There is one large one that could be used for ice or a phone and a smaller one for perhaps a single gel or car key. It comes in two different models: one for A/B cups and one for C/D. We found both models to be very comfortable, with a sufficiently wide chest band and straps that are on the narrow end of the spectrum. We felt both versions weren’t as breathable as we’d prefer, but this is likely due to the extra fabric required for pocket construction. Both versions provided good support. I might hesitate to use the A/B version with a hydration pack due to a 1” wide block of extra fabric stitched over the band on the back, positioned directly on the spine. The C/D version, with its elastic band and fabric sheath overlay, did not have this element. Either version is ideal for races where you’re perhaps using a handheld and want to stow some extra nutrition for between aid stations.
Oiselle New Verrazano $48
Oiselle’s innovation with this bra lies in the straps. They’ve split each strap in two, which not only helps disperse any strap pressure points on the shoulders, but also moves the straps off the shoulder blades in back, which is helpful when using a hydration pack. The breathable fabric wicks moisture well. While perhaps not the most luxuriously comfortable bra we tried, its proprietary Piya™ compression fabric held the girls in place very well. A con pertaining to the design of this bra lies in the band, a fabric sheath over elastic (read: puckering potential) with a stitched seam, which could prove to be a chafe point over very long distances.
Smartwool Women’s PhD Seamless Racerback $60
For any of my ultrarunning gear, I am a wool fanatic, so I was really excited to try this bra. It’s seamless, soft and very form fitting, with a nice wide band for support and mild compression and encapsulation. It’s extremely comfortable, breathable, moisture wicking, and as you’d expect from wool, temperature-regulating. What it boasts in comfort, though, it does lack somewhat in burly support. We felt it provided satisfactory support for an A/B cup, but most likely be inadequate long distance trail running support for a C/D cup. I’d love to see Smartwool continue to develop this bra based on research and feedback, because wool and ultras go together like peas and carrots.
The North Face Bounce-B-Gone $32
Unfortunately we weren’t able to obtain a sample of this bra to wear test, but because there is a dearth of good, highly supportive ultrarunning-appropriate bras out there for ladies who wear a D cup or larger, we wanted to give this one a mention based on its specs, design and stellar reviews.
1 comment
As a large-busted active woman, I was dismayed but not surprised to read this article. While you feature many comfortable and well-made styles, your lack of recommendations in the D and above category lead me to believe that your “differently sized” friends were not all that differently sized. Perhaps the majority of ultrarunners are of slight build and small of bust, but the fact is that women with larger chests can and do participate in many athletic endeavors, and there are many fine sports bras to accommodate them. I have worked at an active apparel company (Title Nine) for six years and have personally fitted hundreds of women with bras above size D that allow them to comfortably pursue whatever they choose to do.
I think the problem is that most of these bras may not be what you envision an ultrarunning bra to be–super soft and free of back clasps and other hardware–but that is the inevitable result of needing to contain large and heavy items. Try carrying a bowling ball in a plastic grocery bag and see how far you get; it’s physics.
To dribble your article off with a not even half-hearted attempt to provide a selection of larger cup size bras does a disservice to many women, some of whom, like me, are just beginning their journey with ultrarunning. It is hard enough to summon the courage to think that you can accomplish what seems like a crazy fever dream of running 30+ miles without basically being told that there are no bras that will work for you, so maybe just don’t bother. Perhaps you just can’t imagine that many of us are out there, but take a survey of busts next time you’re out on the trail and I’ll bet your eyes will be opened. Talk to some bigger women, ask them what they wear. Investigate some of the companies making good bras, like Panache, Shock Absorber, and even Brooks, whose less supportive bras were all over your article. Then come back and tell us that You Go Girl, here are the bras for you!
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