Friday, October 28, 2011

Compression Sleeves

One of my favorite running accessories are compression sleeves.  Not really for the compression. Its great way to keep warm and cool without the bulk.

Keeping Warm:
Often when I start a morning or evening run, its a little chilly. But after 2 miles in, the body heats up, and I can't wait to take off my jacket. But with arm sleeves, I don't need to. I can usually run with them on, or take them off and not have to carry a large bulky jacket around my waist. Sometimes I roll them down to my wrist and use them as to wipe off the sweat on my face.

Keeping Cool:
Another great reason why I love compression sleeves is during races, I like to pour water on myself to keep my body temp down. But the water quickly evaporates off my skin. By pouring water over the sleeves and the sleeves will absorb the water keeping  my body cooler, longer. And because they're made of a dry-fit material, it doesn't get heavy or weigh me down. A few miles later, the water evaporates, then I repeat at the next water stop.

you can find them at most athletic or running stores.
Here are my favorite ones on the nike site.
http://store.nike.com/us/en_us/?l=shop,pdp,ctr-inline/cid-1/pid-323025

5 comments:

  1. I've never used sleeves like these, but I'm always looking for a reason to go shopping for running stuff, so thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I outsweat the evaporation rate of any of the dry-fit material by far. I'm kinda guessing that will go for these sleeves too. My only semi-cure is to have a more absorbent fabric on top to pull the water from the dry-fit stuff, and then the dry fit stuff will stay relatively dry (underneath) against my skin (despite the fact the top layer makes me low-lying rain cloud). Even that method seems to have about a 7 mile limit to it. Some brands seem to work better than others, but that material alone is overwhelmed by my perspiration rate fairly quickly. Any tips?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Vaudiophile,

    Good question. Brands definitively make a huge difference. Also certain lines of dry-fit within the same brand make a difference. I have some nike dri-fit which are great and others that make me chafe, bleh!

    I know exactly what you mean. My dri-fit shirts aren't ever really "dry" during my workouts. I'm always a big puddle of sweat at the end of my runs.

    I sweat much less running at night or in the morning when the temperatures are cooler. So that could be an solution for you if you haven't tried it already.

    Regarding clothing, I actually would suggest to try wearing a thinner and tighter material. A thinner and tighter material would create a 2nd skin type of effect.

    Even though the name "dri-fit" makes us want to feel dry, being wet is what the body is trying to achieve. So the more sweat you wipe off, the more the body will sweat to replace it. By keeping the sweat close to the skin, it keeps the body cooler, longer because the body has time to transfer the heat to the sweat for it to be evaporated away.

    As uncomfortable as it sounds to feel wet, the thinner material will prevent too much sweat from being absorbed so you wont feel weighted down. The sweat might just drip off your shirt.

    Also having the tighter material around your body, it will prevent you from chafing which is the 2nd ultimate goal of wearing dri-fit.

    I hope it helps. Let me know how it goes.

    :)
    Lily

    ReplyDelete
  4. So basically my existence as a human waterfall will continue no matter what. I guess I can live with that. Probably will avoid the tighter clothing part, though, just because I don't want to be mistaken for Daffyd Thomas in Little Britain.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey Brent( and Lily),

    I agree with Lily on this one. I know you're a bit self-conscious about the tight fit, but if you wear it as only a first layer, I think you might actually see a difference. I've played the part of very sweaty,bloody nipple boy # 2 and the tight fit helped me in both areas. I would just wear a light tee running short sleeve shirt over a tight long sleeve one. I think it's worth a try.

    Ken

    ReplyDelete