Socks and Water

Socks
I was thinking about a couple of things during my run yesterday.  I have done a lot of research on socks for running, hiking, biking, etc. over the last ten years and have found out a few interesting things.  I rarely get blisters but I have got a few.  I noticed that the training not only gets your aerobic and lactic acid thresholds in shape it also conditions your bones, connective tissue, and skin to running long distances.

The only blisters I ever got was during the marathon that Michelle and I ran/walked with no training at all prior to the marathon.  I was beat to a pulp - aerobically I was OK because I was biking but physically I had sore joints and blisters among other things.  However,when you train and put the miles in you should do a lot better.  I ran the second marathon in the rain and I brought a spare pair of socks to change into about half way through.  I was doing OK when I thought I would stop and change them - so I continued on and did not get blisters.  My feet were getting wet though.  I think it is a good idea to get a second pair of socks to change into if you get blisters easy or if it is wet.

For my first marathon I used a new technology sock that was like two socks sewn together sock within a sock) and had some Teflon thing between the layers that made it so nothing was rubbing on your skin.  Worked for me but I rarely get blisters.  I have not seen them around recently so I am not sure if that technology is still viable.

Wool is known as the best material for keeping warm, dry, and preventing blisters.  However, traditional wool socks can be uncomfortable.  Sometime ago some companies started making socks out of Marino wool which when using new technology gives you all the benefits of wool with no itching or irritation.  I have been using these socks (mostly from SmartWool) and they have been great.  The SmartWool PhD socks are great (warm, smooth, fit well, stay dry, etc) and are what I have been using a lot lately in running and biking.  MY FAVORITE

When Daniel took us shopping at the Beaverton Nike Store I bought some socks there that I have really liked also.  They are running socks that are actually made for left and right feet.  They are white with orange and gray panels.  These socks are very comfortable and I like running in them a lot.  I think I will reserve the PhDs for racing though.  Out of the Nike socks these are the ones I like the best.

It would be good to try out different socks when you run to see what will work best for you.

Water
So, as we get running the longer distances and using Camelbacks - there is one thing I did that seemed to work well.  I used water in my camelback until I got to about 13 mile runs.  Then started adding Gatorade powder (slightly less than full strength to avoid hypertonic effects...). After I started adding the powder I noticed that the water never tasted the same again.  There was always a sticky sweet taste which might be OK for most people.  No mater how much I cleaned the bladder it would not go away.  So I got a second bladder for water and sed the older one for the mix.  The SLC Marathon will be supplying Gatorade Endurance Formula drink at the water stations and I would recommend trying it out on some of the long runs and see how it meshes with your GI system.  When I ran through the water stations I would grab one glass of water and another glass of sports drink and drank both to dilute the hyper osmosicity that lead some people to get GI problems on long runs.

-Tundra Bob