Sweatpants & Run Speed

Triathlon Forum
1

Went to the gym today to run (treadmill is easier on the knees, and no ice) but since I was going straight from the house I didn’t bring shorts to change into. Ran in some fairly heavy sweatpants instead. From what I can tell, these cost me about 20 sec / mile! I started off at my normal training pace, but couldn’t hold it - had to back off about 0.5 mile per hour.

Now it was first thing in the morning and I seem to have inherited my son’s cold as the day wears on, but it sure felt to me like the pants were dragging on my legs when I was running - and it got worse as they got some sweat weight / friction in them.

Has anyone else experienced this? It seems to make sense - extra friction & extra weight - but it seemed oddly noticeable in back-to-back days.

2

Another theory would be the heat that was trapped. I get hot fast on a dreadmill in shorts. I don’t even want to think about sweatpants.

3

I’m surprised if sweatpants would be the cause. I bet if you did more runs in them you’d find your speed was just off a bit due to daily variances in performance.

4

Given that racing flats are worth ~5sec/mile over trainers, I could easily see sweatpants bring worth 15-20 when weight, friction and increased Heat are all taken into account. I’d say 15, since you had to back off by 20, but you were already starting from the red zone.

5

Did you run on the same treadmill you usually run on? Just thinking the calibration could be off. In my gym they tend to be slightly different.

6

Went to the gym today to run (treadmill is easier on the knees, and no ice) but since I was going straight from the house I didn’t bring shorts to change into. Ran in some fairly heavy sweatpants instead. From what I can tell, these cost me about 20 sec / mile! I started off at my normal training pace, but couldn’t hold it - had to back off about 0.5 mile per hour.

Now it was first thing in the morning and I seem to have inherited my son’s cold as the day wears on, but it sure felt to me like the pants were dragging on my legs when I was running - and it got worse as they got some sweat weight / friction in them.

Has anyone else experienced this? It seems to make sense - extra friction & extra weight - but it seemed oddly noticeable in back-to-back days.

Why didn’t you take shorts. You went to the gym to run? Just don’t get it. Of course sweatpants slowed you down.

7

Sometimes I think I run faster without underwear.

I have never run in underwear before, though.

8

I hate running in sweats I wear tights. I feel like I slog around in them

9

given your online moniker, perhaps you’ve more protection from chafing than most…