As a man, I have been on a massive learning curve with running and chafing, and I feel I’m still on it. I was a footballer by trade – and by trade, I mean I ran around a lot, and from ran around a lot I mean that I went from Centre Forward, to Right-Midfield, to right-back, to left back in the dressing room. And the only ever irritation I suffered from was blisters from new boots, and being an unused substitute. This new-boot-syndrome took me years to combat, I was down to predicting where the blistering may occur and putting a plaster there first. I got there in the end though and that was to Vaseline my feet until they my football boots were broken-in, and it was still never 100% fool proof. I’ve managed to carry this on to running shoes too, with the aid of Injinji toes socks. Actually, maybe that will be another blog, because they’re a godsend.
So let’s just get it straight out there. Chafing on the nipples and chafing on the ‘undercarriage’ (thigh chafing, and above). It was a shock to the system how problematic it was once I had started upping distances. I did the Surrey Spitfire, 20 miles. This is around the famed Top Gear test track and out into the countryside x 2 laps. 20 miles. It was the longest organised race I had done as part of Paris Marathon training in 2014. I think I did it in 2 hrs 29mins. Perfect preparation, I felt the training had been going well, and I felt good all the way through. In the final km or so we passed a busy pub, and the patrons all seemed to be watching me trot past, which I thought was odd. I was wearing a white running technical top, from the Richmond Running Festival half. People were talking to me post-race all poker-faced, and all the while I had no clue that my right nipple had been bleeding profusely. With a red solid circle visible on my top, and with sweat soaked patch, lighter red in colour around it. I got back to my car for a quick change and looked down. I almost cried in embarrassment, that I had been so completely unaware – all that time. Top changed pronto. The real pain and suffering starts when you get home. Bath or shower time, adrenaline lowered and wounds raw – it smarts a bit. Then the post-pain pain, of looking at the official race photos – oh dear.
I have no idea when my first chafing in the undercarriage region started, it’s been my nemesis, as recently as three weeks ago. Due to either ignorance of my distance tolerance, clothing ‘failure’, general laziness / forgetfulness, or for going on a longer than planned run. My latest episode had me walking back to the car like John Wayne, there is another analogy for how I was walking, but I won’t go there.
Liberal applications of Vaseline have been my friend, in both respects, the old favourite. It works, but it just gets everywhere, hands/clothes/phone/steering wheel. Unless of course you can use something to apply it with. Also, I know this from my football days, it is also an insulator, so during the warmer summer months it can’t be good for the area in general! I’m currently trying out a product called glide or bodyglide in various forms – it’s a very easy to apply anti-chafing cream in a wax format, although I have not used it enough to be a viable Vaseline alternative just yet. The best cure so far though for undercarriage problems has been wearing good quality compression shorts of some kind, keeps everything securely in place, and adds an extra skin. I have had a splitter though (my clothing failure). And I’ll be honest, that particular instance was worse than any normal running chafe, as the area of skin protrudes out through the compression garment! That was over a week off from any sort of sporting activity.
For the nipples? Well, I tried plasters / band-aid, but they kept falling off at some unknown point. Electrical tape is my current remedy. It smarts a bit to take the tape off, but it has stayed on 100% of the time, which is the main thing. And it’s dirt cheap, a roll of it will last an age! When I get my hands on some I may also try some masking tape. Which hopefully may disconnect from the skin a little easier post-race. I may update this blog, as this is a journey rather than a destination. And I hope I can learn off other runners and the methods that they use for chafe prevention, feel free to comment and drop me line if you have a successful tip!
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