What I Learned on My Summer Training Run

Remember when you were in school and the first assignment your English teacher gave was to write an essay titled “What I Did on My Summer Vacation”? You hated it, right? Here’s a shocker – so did your teacher. I know, because I was an English teacher.

As a student, I hated writing them because it seemed like I hadn’t done anything! My family were farmers, so summer meant, well, farming. I played baseball too, but for the most part, every summer was pretty much like the one before. I longed to try more things!

As a teacher, I hated reading the essays because most of them were so poorly written. Comma splices, run-on sentences, subject not agreeing with verbs – in short, those papers were riddled with all manner of crappy grammar, spelling and punctuation. So why did I give that assignment? Even though they represented a huge challenge, those papers taught me a lot. They exposed all the areas of weakness and showed what simply needed some tweaks.

My long training run this weekend brought back memories of that old standby assignment.

Ever since I was able to have some level of control over my life, I’ve tried to look at summers from both my student and teacher side. From the student side, I’ve made it a mission to try something new during the summer: playing harmonica, visiting Mexico, competing in triathlons (since retired but thinking of pulling a “Michael Jordan” next year). And from the teacher viewpoint, I’ve looked objectively at what needs a major overhaul and what needs tweaking.

My 16-mile run Saturday was both an opportunity for experimentation and a chance to make solid evaluations. I’m training for the Chicago Marathon, which is Oct. 10. That gives me three solid months to tinker with nutrition, clothes, shoes and injury prevention measures. Come race day, I don’t want to leave anything to chance. I want to be confident that what’s going onto and into my body will give me the best opportunity to succeed and enjoy the day. Well, as much as you can enjoy the pain of running 26.2 miles.

With the temperature in the mid 80s and humidity at “tropical” levels, Saturday was perfect for testing nutrition and injury prevention. The nutrition test was for Nuun, an electrolyte-replacement product I bought at the recent Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon in Seattle. The injury prevention was what I billed as the “Nipple Smackdown” – BodyGlide vs. SportShield to see which would do a better job of preventing chafing.

First, the nutrition test. Nuun claims to “restore optimal water and electrolyte balance more quickly.” Nuun is a large tablet that you mix with 16 oz. of water. Unlike Gatorade and many other popular sports drinks, Nuun has no carbohydrates. That’s because, according to Nuun’s website, “ingesting drinks containing high levels of carbohydrates can have two undesirable effects when it comes to hydration. Carbohydrates can slow the rate at which your stomach empties and therefore delays the availability of the water and electrolytes.”

Nuun tablet and package

I had “carbed up” before the run, and I also have two PowerGels that I would be consuming during the run. I’ve read in Runner’s World that consuming carb gels with a drink containing carbs is not advisable, both because of the absorption issue described above and because it can cause stomach distress. If you’ve read about my Boston Marathon experience, you’ll understand why I’m keen to avoid stomach distress!

I’ve tried small samples of Nuun at a few race expos, but this was my first time to drink it “full on” in any significant quantity. If you’re used to sugary sports drinks, it will take some getting used to the salty taste of Nuun. However, I found that the longer I ran, the more I craved the Nuun taste. With Gatorade, my usual sports drink, the opposite is true. After about two hours, I can’t stand the thought of drinking more syrup.

On this hot, very humid day, I was pleased with the way I felt hydration-wise. I never felt thirsty or dry-mouthed, and I didn’t get light-headed. However, I did still suffer some stomach problems. Within 15 minutes of consuming a PowerGel and washing it down with Nuun, I was doubled over and was beginning to look for plants with very large leaves in case I … you know. The timing is suspicious, but I will need to do more testing to determine if this was due to the Nuun-PowerGel combo. According to Nuun’s website, that shouldn’t have caused a problem. And I’m in marketing, so I know websites never stretch the truth. (Ahem)

Now, on to the “Nipple Smackdown!”
If you’ve ever seen a half or full marathon, you’ve probably seen some poor schmuck sporting two bloody splotches on his singlet. If you’ve been that guy, Dude, I feel for you. My nipples have never bled, but they’ve been chafed enough to light on fire as soon as I step in the shower.

(As a side note, this affliction only affects men. I know this for two reasons: 1) I’ve never seen a woman with bloody nipples. In a race, anyway. And 2), if this did affect women, we’d be subjected to feminine hygiene commercials for it.)

It only takes one occurrence of nipple chafing for you to say, “This must never happen again!” There are a few ways of protecting your masculine “mosquite bites.” First and foremost, don’t wear a cotton shirt! Cotton gets wet and stays wet, which makes those natural fibers turn into sandpaper for your skin. Wear a “technical shirt” that wicks moisture away from your body. You can get one at any running or sports store, or even regular stores like Target or Wal-Mart. Or just run in a race. These days, many races give tech shirts instead of the ol’ cotton standard.

Okay, now that you have a technical shirt, what else can you do? You can slather your nips with Vaseline, but petroleum products are said to break down the fabric in technical shirts which, over time, will leave you with two holes in your shirt. While that would solve the problem, it’s not a real good look.

You could place Band-Aids on your boobies, but I’ve never had success keeping a regular bandage on for a full marathon. Plus, if you’re hirsute, you may have to shave more than you want. I also tried the small round bandages. They did stay on, but they didn’t prevent chafing. I guess my “high beams” were just too much for them.

Another bandage-type remedy is NipGuards, which are basically a special-purpose Band-Aid similar to one you would use for a corn on your foot. They’re round with a hollow center. You may have to shave a bit, but it would be minimal. The adhesive sticks very well to skin, so it holds for a long time, but miraculously it’s not that hard to pull off of hair. I’ve worn NipGuards during each of my eight marathons and for many other races, but I have to say, I hate paying $8 or $9 for a one-trick pony. Even if the trick is a good one.

For that amount, possibly less, you can get a multi-purpose anti-chafing product such as BodyGlide or SportShield. On this training run, I decided to do the Nipple Smackdown: BodyGlide on the left and SportShield on the right. In addition to the nipple on its assigned side, I applied each product to its respective arm crease (the front edge, just before the underarm), groin and inner ankle (when I get tired and my form breaks down, my shoe sometimes grazes the opposite ankle when I stride through).

BodyGlide and SportShield

BodyGlide sounds like a product you would get in an “adult novelty” store, but trust me, it’s appropriate for use outside the bedroom. It comes in a package similar to a stick deodorant, and the consistency is also similar, though it feels dry to the touch. You apply it in the same way, by rubbing the stick where you don’t want to chafe. It’s not petroleum-based, so it won’t break down technical fibers. It holds up pretty well to wetness, but I have had times on long runs when it didn’t last long enough, which led to some discomfort.

Whereas BodyGlide is like stick deodorant, SportShield is like a roll-on (it also comes in towelettes, which I’ve not tried). Once applied, it feels super slick on your skin, so it’s easy to see how it can shield against chafing. SportShield is also safe for your tech clothes. I originally bought SportShield to protect my feet from blisters. I prefer the feel of it over BodyGlide on my feet, and it does a fantastic job. Since then, it’s working its way up my body. I’m now just as likely to use SportShield in the groin area (I just can’t say, “on my panty line”) as BodyGlide, which was my mainstay. Only recently have I started using it on my nipples, which is why I was eager to do the Smackdown.

The Smackdown Results
The winner of the Nipple Smackdown is . . . yet to be determined. The run was a good test: a little over two hours in a thoroughly soaked shirt. Thankfully for me, both products performed as promised, protecting me from chasing. I will admit to being a little disappointed. I wanted a clear winner. But like the World Cup, we’ll have to go into “extra time” to put these two products to a tougher test. I’m not yet ready to head out for 26.2 miles without NipGuards.

To recap, I conducted nutrition and injury prevention tests. On the nutrition front, I had several positive outcomes and one significant negative one. I’ll test again taking a gel and drinking Nuun to see if that causes an upset stomach again. If it does, Nuun is out for me as a drink during runs over an hour.

In the chafing test, the good news is both products held their own, so it could boil down to a matter of personal preference. Or maybe, just maybe, one will win out in a few weeks when I bump up my mileage.

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