I'm entirely convinced that my wife purchased these for me in an attempt to make absolutely sure no lady would ever want to say hello to me on the running trail. In truth, it takes quite a woman to even know what these are, let alone shop for them. Needless to say, I'm lucky and had a great Father's day because of it.
As for the socks, I actually purchased the Calf Sleeves:
If you purchase it at a local retailer you can naturally plan on paying more; the local Fleet Feet has them for about 42 bucks but given their level of customer service and contributions to the community, I'm happy to thrown them a bone once in a while.
By many accounts, the CEP sleeves are medical grade. I have no basis for comparison as I don't work in the medical field, but that's their claim. I can however confirm that these suckers are TIGHT the first time you put them on. This is, of course, the idea behind the technology. The notion is that by wearing them during exercise one reduces muscular stress (i.e. bouncing around) and post-exercise they aide in recovery (presumably from reducing inflammation). Most of this evidence is anecdotal but actual studies can't be too far behind given the amount of these things I see on the trail now.
As for my experience, I wore them on two runs thus far. One of about 10 miles and another of 22. On both runs I could feel a marked difference in leg fatigue during the run. As far as recovery is concerned, I typically have a couple of muscle "hot spots" that bother me right up until my rest days. After using the CEP's I haven't been able to feel that same twinge. Obviously this is very short term, and could easily be the placebo effect/boost you normally get with a new piece of equipment, but thus far I'm pretty happy with them and will continue to use them for the foreseeable future on any run of 8 miles or more. Admittedly at this point, that's almost all of my runs.
In short, I like them and at 30-40 bucks, I believe it's money well spent. I'm not sure what kind of fashion statement I'm making, but if I PR at the San Francisco Marathon on the 31st, who cares?
For a fantastic overview of the actual science involved, check out The Science of Running Blog.
For a fantastic overview of the actual science involved, check out The Science of Running Blog.
3 comments:
I had a similar pair, and also found them useful. A friend of mine stole them, and refuses to return them, so I guess eventually, I'll have to get a new pair.
Daniel
Yeah you should, and possibly punch your ex-friend in the balls for taking them.
My update here is that I really do love them. For long runs, the best benefit has been the vibration reduction. Post-run, I slide these things on for a few hours and feel spectacular the next day. Definitely a keeper IMHO.
I like the compression socks - thanks for the review.
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