First and foremost, I would like to remind all of my runner friends out there about our miles on Saturday. Tomorrow we dedicate our miles to Meg Menzies. Meg was killed by a drunk driver one week ago tomorrow. Our miles we run will be dedicated in her honor — as a runner, a mother, a friend. I just read that this has become an official Virtual Run, and there will be a new website in her honor. For more information on how you can join and dedicate your miles to Meg, please click here. #megsmiles
My second point today is that I finally purchased a pair of compression socks. I have literally debated over brand, color and size for months. These puppies are expensive. I wanted to make sure I was buying what I really needed! Finally getting myself some socks for circulation improvement is really going to help me in the long run! (pun intended)
Lo and behold, they arrived via FedEx bright and early Thursday morning. If anyone knows me, you know that as soon as I receive a package — birthday gift, shoes, ink — I tear into it with reckless abandon. This scenario was no different. The part that was different, however, was that I took them out of the FedEx box, inspected the packaging, and *gasp* put them back into the box.
Wha?! How could that be?!
I don’t know what it was. I just couldn’t open the packaging. Maybe because I knew it would take me more than just a couple minutes to become acquainted with said socks and I only had a few minutes before I had to leave to take Boo to school. It could have been because I was so anxious and worked up about finding out whether I had made the proper selection in deciding upon and finally ordering a pair. Or maybe it’s because the packaging was so nice, I didn’t want to rip it open. Nah! It was definitely one of the first two reasons.
My compression socks sat all alone on the kitchen counter. All day. Finally late afternoon I decided to put one on, just to make sure I even liked it. Let’s just say I had a knee-jerk allergic reaction to the feeling like I was putting those maternity compression leggings back on. Those only lasted in my house a day or so. If that’s how these were going to be, they were going to be sent straight back!
I took the one sock off and decided I would wait until I had a full run in the next morning and wear them for recovery afterward.
This morning came, I ran a pretty decent set of what was supposed to be 4x800s, which turned into 6x800s. I felt it was sufficient to strut my stuff in this fancy pants new compression socks. So I did. Here are my observations:
First, don’t wear compression socks without shoes. They are slippery suckers. And also don’t wear them with athletic slides because they are even more slippery in those. I finally popped on a pair of lined rubber shoes and was super comfy. Search online for women’s compression socks, they are so comfy and you won’t be disappointed.
Second, your legs may be difficult to maneuver upon first wearing compression socks. They are so darn tight, I felt like Bambi taking his first steps. Quite humorous to the average on-looker, I’m sure.
Third, if you have or purchase the compression socks with kinesiology tape-like zoning, expect some super funky lines and indentations on your legs after you remove them.
All in all I would say my first jaunt with compression socks was a success. I don’t know if they actually helped with recovery or not, but they did keep my legs nice and warm if nothing else. Toward the end of my six hours wearing them my calves started to itch, which is why I ended up taking them off. I’m sure the itching had something to do with the massive indentations on my legs.
I suppose I will find out tomorrow morning if the compression helped speed my recovery or not. Fingers crossed.
Happy Trails!
