Last January 22, I finally fulfilled one of the items my bucket lists for the year 2012 and that is to run my first 42k marathon on barefoot at the Subic International Marathon 2012.The venue was the scenic route of Subic in Zambales and by God’s grace, I came out in one piece with no injuries. My sufficient training in the last quarter of the year 2011 also paid well as I developed, built strength and endurance to withstand the punishment of a full marathon armed only with just the soles of my feet.
Running long distance can give a runner several setbacks which normally do not occur during training. In my case, even with a strong core to endure long runs, I’m slowed down by the running apparel I wore. Before, I shoved away or even mucked at some running apparels with exorbitant high prices which seemingly has no significant value compared to the ones I use which are much cheaper, but when I started to run long distances, that’s where I noticed the difference. I experienced what some athlete called “fabric friction burn”.
This happens when a piece of fabric of a running short (normally the inner part of the thigh area)or sometimes the lower edge of a singlet, create a burning sensation on the skin brought about by the constant rubbing of fabric against the skin as I run. With the regular running short I used before, I never experienced this until I run long distances 21k or more. Somehow the quality of fabrics or stitches used was not designed to give a runner a sufficient comfort in long runs. That’s when I started to try a better quality running shorts of DIADORA.
DIADORA running shorts features a light nylon fabric with very smooth texture. The nylon fabric is thin and it does not absorb sweat and it quick to dry. The stitches are seamless without any rough texture that normally causes fabric friction burn. I field tested a pair last week for a 10k rout on a sunny Friday afternoon. Fabric-friction-burn normally starts when a runner began to sweat excessively, because sweat makes the skin a little bit tender. In a regular running short, discomfort occurs after the 10k and it worsen little by little as you go further and sweat even more. But with the DIADORA running short there was no discomfort at all so I decided to go a little further , do another loop to make my run 21k. To my surprise, I finished my run a few minutes early than my usual time. The apparel I wore really made a lot of difference.
DIADORA Running shorts is definitely Trails Unlimited field test approved!
1 comment:
Great review Kuya Noy. Indeed apparels do also contribute to our performance. Glad that you found the Diadora running short suitable for your races. :)
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