wait wait wait - it sounds like you’re suggesting that ‘compression’ was just some kind of lame, expensive, stupid-looking ‘technology’ latched on to by gearhead triathletes who hoped it might take the place of hard training and smart recovery, and it’s now been discovered that pros who aren’t paid to use it, don’t, and most of them perform great nonetheless, and look less stupid and save some money.
that’s crazy talk!
-mike
Hey Mike… CPTchaos nailed it, they are great for recovery and should be worn under our jeans or dress pants.
As discussed in the “womens” kona pro compression socks thread, the “womens” can get away with wearing them and actually look darn good. On the guys, it screams dork factor for seemingly no performance gain!
With with only 1/15 on both the pro men and women side using them and putting down the fastest times ever in Kona (including 3 womens sans compression socks running 2:53 or lower), at least we have a decent sample size to suggest that we can go fast without compression.
But, how much faster would they have gone with them ? 
I know I’m late to the party, but here is my $0.02…
I like them for recovery.
I like them running longer than 16 miles or on hilly courses.
In racing (or training long) I like the support they provide. Do they make me faster? Not sure, pretty much within the normal variation of day-to-day runs. BUT…I do like the way they feel on long runs (say 16+ miles), on particularly hilly courses. My shins less beat up, my feet seem to swell less and I feel stronger at the finish. So maybe indirectly they do help from miles 22-26 of a marathon, but since I run that distance so infrequent, once or twice per year usually in an IM, I can’t say for sure if there tangible benefit…too many variables at play in an IM.
Also, after some practice I can get them on in T2 in about 30 seconds, compared to normal run socks of about 10-15 seconds, so not much of a penalty.
I swore that I was “faster” in compression socks, and I went several times to the track and did multiple sets of 400’s with and without socks as well as sets of 800’s. The sets with the compression always felt faster, but the clock said the same times. Then I tried them for a 10k to see if I was any faster…my times were no faster. My fastest times in the last 2 years were without compression. So I tried them for a few half marathons and still had zero gains…I figure the longer distance it might help with “support”. All of this was experimentation to see if they’d help me in triathlons.
Since I wear no socks for the run in tris, I figure that they’d have to save me in the order of 60 seconds to really make them worthwhile…60 seconds is like 4 seconds per mile in a half IM…that’s a ton of time. So I decided they were not worth it. For Ironman perhaps they would help for the support etc, but I’m really not seeing anyone going any faster with them in Ironmans.
I used sleeves at times during training and in a couple races. Only had the socks recently. I never actually felt faster with the sleeves on. It felt like I was working harder, but I fell short every time with them. Pace was always behind what RPE and HR were telling me and my times were a bit slower than expected. I don’t see how a restrictive mechanism can help one go faster. It’s possible that they might support a muscle enough to keep it from being hurt a little longer, thereby letting you actually run for a bit longer, hopefully to the finish line.
Recovery is a different matter though. Sleeves seem to help some, but socks have been very nice. They don’t trap things in the feel like the sleeves do. I always get swollen ankles with the sleeves. You’re not trying to pump blood through as fast as possible, so the pressure they create doesn’t really hurt things there.
I agree with you as far as not being faster. I can not verify if I ever was tangibly faster. Looking at my run data, I would say it’s the same pace, or within the normal variation of daily running.
My point is that even though I was not specifically faster, I was more comfortable, and over the course of a 3 hr run or 9-10+ hour IM, comfort is a factor for me. Quite simply, all thing being equal if I am more comfortable it is more enjoyable, and it might allow me to slow down less late in an IM marathon.
As far as socks in a HIM, I agree not worth the time penalty. However, I’ve worn sleeves from start to finish so no time penalty at all.
For an IM, I need to wear socks on the run regardless of the type. So I lose 15 seconds with normal socks, and 45 seconds (at the worst) for compression socks. Net penalty is 30 seconds, or just over 1 sec/mile. At this distance, comfort starts to take some importance for me.
Edit to add: Just noticed, regarding your test in half-marathons, I really only see the comfort benefits in stand alone runs longer than 16-18 miles or HIM where your legs are already fatigued at the start. Did you ever try on longer runs?