Compression Socks

In the heat of Alton 10 days ago I wore compression socks for the first time in a race to see how they felt. I'd say they felt hot, so it maybe wasn't the best circumstances in which to try them. I would say that my calves felt very comfortable though, having suffered a bit from tight calves lately in the aftermath of London and my calf niggles and cramping problems (post race cramping, that is). Despite the hilly course, which made my hamstrings sore the next day, my calves felt fine, so maybe there's something to recommend them.

I wore them again on Monday evening for the 3000m and my (potentially) sore calves certainly felt very comfortable and trouble free.

Do they make you quicker? This is a claim I've seen in advertising blurb, but in the words of Public Enemy 'Don't Believe The Hype'. I had to find out for myself whether there could be any noticeable speed benefit.

If they do indeed make you faster then you should be able to see this as a lower heart rate when running at a particular pace. This would be such a subtle effect that there's no way you'd see this on the road with all the vagueries of terrain and weather, so I decided to conduct a treadmill test: running at 12kph or 8:00/mile I ran an interval session, alternating ordinary socks with compression socks. I'd warm up in ordinary socks for 10 minutes and then record heart rate for the last minute, then during a 2-minute sitting recovery I'd swap socks and run a 3 minute interval in compression socks, again recording heart rate for the last minute. I'd then swap socks during another 2 minute sitting recovery and continue with the 3 minutes on, 2 minutes off format.

Rather than rely on the HRM to give me the average HR for the final 1 minute of effort in each interval, I took the individual readings and averaged them myself, as I realised I'd need a better resolution than 1bpm as any effect was likely to be subtle.

The results were a bit disappointing. The first interval in the compression socks was indeed a beat lower, but this was simply because my HR hadn't had long enough to get back up after the 2 minute recovery. I knew that it would take a few intervals to reach a steady state, but what I saw was anything but steady. Due to the heat in the gym my HR kept rising during the first few intervals after the initial drop, but once I'd started sweating then my HR started to drop back down again. Of the 8 intervals, 4 in compression socks, there was no real pattern other than a sort of oscillation of HR back and forth which initailly favoured the compression socks but ultimately favoured the ordinary socks.

I won't publish the figures as they are frankly rubbish. The compression socks did average out with a fractionally lower HR, but considering there were as many intervals where the ordinary socks scored better, then the results are pretty meaningless.

I need to see if I can come up with a better protocol which gives steadier results. My only thought is that the test needs to go on a lot longer so that hopefully I reach a steady state without this oscillation between different HR levels. I will also run a control at some point with the same protocol but without swapping socks, just to confirm I get a similar result. Science!

So inconclusive on whether compression socks make you faster, but I'd say they do have an effect on calf comfort. If you tend to suffer with calf trouble in marathons then I'd say give them a go.

For reference, the socks I tested were Medilast Sport.

If Edinburgh is cool then I may well give them a try.