Skins

I bought another gadget this week, if an item of clothing can be considered a gadget. I purchased a pair of Skins long tights. They are compression tights which are supposed to help recovery from hard training by improving blood flow in the legs. You can wear them both for running and afterwards to aid recovery, but in my opinion this is an either/or as I'm not wearing sweaty garments after a run. There are those who would disagree with me on this though!

Initially I've been wearing them in bed, since this for me is the period immediately after my late evening run, however this is proving a little on the warm side. This is good in terms of extra blood flow, but bad in terms of a decent night's kip - I've woken up in a bit of a sweat the last couple of nights.

They do seem to have an effect - my legs felt good on Thursday morning after the 15-mile run Wednesday evening, however my left soleus is a little sore this morning, so I'm unwilling to pronounce them as a miracle garment. The soleus soreness is more likely to be connected to me wearing my new orthotics for the first time during a long run, but I'll have to wait and see.

I may try wearing the skins during the run tonight, soleus permitting, to see how they feel.

They are expensive at £60 each, but even so I might get a second pair so that I can wear them during and after a run. There is a Jetskins product designed to keep your legs fresh during flights (useful for Boston!), so I may try them - they are just as good for recovery afterwards. They may also be cooler in bed. That's cooler as in less heat, not cooler as in sexier, but what do I care about how I look in bed?