OK, five questions: 1) is it legal to wear compression socks or compression calf sleeves during triathlons (I’ve seen some info to suggest its not legal to wear them during the swim portion)? 2) if, “yes” its legal, when do most folks put them on (if its legal during the swim do folks put them on under the wetsuit or wait until T1 or T2)? 3) does it really make any difference to wear either one in an olympic or shorter distance or is it really more for a 70.3 or IM? 4) is there any general consensus on whether one should just wear them during races or do most folks where them during training as well? 5) is there any consensus on whether its better to wear the socks or the sleeves during the actual race?
Just a little background - yeah as you can tell by the questions, I’m just getting into this whole tri thing but am putting in some half-way decent training so I’m not just trying to “finish” an upcoming 70.3 (currently doing about 30 miles of running, 130 miles of riding and 7000 yards of swimming each week).
OK, five questions: 1) is it legal to wear compression socks or compression calf sleeves during triathlons (I’ve seen some info to suggest its not legal to wear them during the swim portion)? 2) if, “yes” its legal, when do most folks put them on (if its legal during the swim do folks put them on under the wetsuit or wait until T1 or T2)? 3) does it really make any difference to wear either one in an olympic or shorter distance or is it really more for a 70.3 or IM? 4) is there any general consensus on whether one should just wear them during races or do most folks where them during training as well? 5) is there any consensus on whether its better to wear the socks or the sleeves during the actual race?
Just a little background - yeah as you can tell by the questions, I’m just getting into this whole tri thing but am putting in some half-way decent training so I’m not just trying to “finish” an upcoming 70.3 (currently doing about 30 miles of running, 130 miles of riding and 7000 yards of swimming each week).
any insights would be appreciated.
They are not legal for non-wetsuit swims (you don’t have to be wearing a wetsuit, but the water temp must make the swim wetsuit legal…otherwise coverage on the arms and below the knees is not allowed on the swim).
Use sleeves and have them on under your wetsuit. No added transition time, and not muddy socks from running through transition in them.
More impact at longer distances, but still worth doing for shorter tris IMO. Some indications that they may help with aero on the bike.
No consensus. They are helpful for recovery, so put them on for a few hours post-workout. I use sleeves for this since you don’t need to wash them as often.
See #1.
Borrow some sleeves (or get the cheap ones at Target) and see if you like them before shelling out $$$ for CEP, Zensah, etc.
is it legal to wear compression socks or compression calf sleeves during triathlons ? 2) if, “yes” its legal, when do most folks put them on (if its legal during the swim do folks put them on under the wetsuit or wait until T1 or T2)? 3) does it really make any difference to wear either one in an olympic or shorter distance or is it really more for a 70.3 or IM? 4) is there any general consensus on whether one should just wear them during races or do most folks where them during training as well? 5) is there any consensus on whether its better to wear the socks or the sleeves during the actual race?
As already noted…
NO not legal in non-wetsuit swims and expressly stated in rules and athletes’ guides.
Why would you do this? (see next answer) Even if you assume that you were faster wearing them (you are not) you would trade that time for the time it took to put the stuff on in transition.
There is really no benefit to wearing these things during a race. Period. Enough actual research has been done on compression wear at this point to make this a fairly definitive statement.
As I said in 3, there is no evidence that these things do anything except deplete your bank account so why would you wear them while training or racing. For recovery the jury is out. There is some evidence that compression wear makes people feel better but conflicting evidence on whether or not compression wear use during recovery actually leads to objective measures of improved performance.
If you ask the manufacturers they will tell you there is consensus. I think the actual scientific evidence (conducted by folks without ties to the industry) reaches a consensus as well, just in the other direction.
As always, slick adverts and fancy packaging rarely mean improved performance. That comes from hard work.
Yeah, I’ve seen all of the articles that say they don’t do anything for performance and I tend to be a data-driven kind of person. But I was just watching the Asia-Pacific IM Championships last night and most of the top men and women were wearing sleeves. Now, they may just not want to take the chance that they may actually help but it is interesting how many of these top folks were wearing them. I guess a second possibility is that they are getting paid $10K to wear them and that’s why they have them on :).
I wear them on and off for training. They 100% make me “feel better” during my long runs. Not sure what it is, but they feel good…and that reason is enough for me to wear them.
1: The other responders aren’t exactly correct, it is a violation of WTC rules to wear anything below the knees in a non wetsuit swim, no such rule exists for USAT (http://m.usatriathlon.org/about-multisport/rulebook.aspx#Article4). They should be fine for your local sprint or Olympic distance race.
2:I wouldn’t waste time trying to put them on in transition, it would be challenging when wet. But I don’t know what others do, maybe there is a fast way.
3: They help me for short races, though I wear them primarily to mitigate cramping problems in my right calf when I run hard. With compression I don’t cramp or feel the pain during the race, though it still hurts afterwards (my calf is killing me after a 1 minute PR in a half marathon yesterday).
4: I don’t wear them in training except for sometimes on my hardest running days, even then not every time (I can’t physically push myself as hard in training as I do in a race and it is that extra effort that causes the cramping). I wear them for recovery after particularly hard efforts or days before a race though.
5: Mostly preference, though if you are going to be wearing them for a long time (more than 4 hours) I would go with socks, the sleeves could conceivably cut circulation from your foot with the tight cuff at the ankle.
As for whether they do anything, wind tunnel testing showed in at least one case that calf sleeves made a significant aerodynamic improvement over a bare lower leg. I’m not sure why people are so skeptical about this in light of all the recent evidence that covering your skin makes you faster (see aero sleeved tri tops), but I’m happy to let them go bare-legged while I stack up race wins:) As for direct performance enhancement from the compression itself, I don’t know or really care. I have done races with them and without them. With them I can push my limits on the run without cramping, without them I have to back off to prevent cramping. For me they result in faster performances when I wear them.
Yeah, I’ve seen all of the articles that say they don’t do anything for performance and I tend to be a data-driven kind of person. But I was just watching the Asia-Pacific IM Championships last night and most of the top men and women were wearing sleeves. Now, they may just not want to take the chance that they may actually help but it is interesting how many of these top folks were wearing them. I guess a second possibility is that they are getting paid $10K to wear them and that’s why they have them on :).
It is not like you will be winning or anything like that.
It is cool to break whatever equipment rule that is out there.
I’d personally start with wearing headphones before I’d progress to calf sleeves.
After all we are in for the fun of it and you don’t hurt anybody (except those butthurt tightasses who insist that rules are rules).
Be careful with the drafting on the bike though.
If shit literally goes down, you actually may end up getting sued.
Again, they are not ilegal in the swim (wetsuit or otherwise) under USAT rules. So unless you are racing WTC or ITU races you truly don’t have to worry about it. But I get your point, I too get sick of seeing the people who just ignore the rules and wear their headphones anyway.
