Relentless Forward Progress_ A Guide to Running Ultramarathons - Bryon Powell [52]
Listen to Your Body
Before moving on, I make an emphatic plea to listen to your body in multiple time frames. In the short term, such as in a race, monitoring and responding to your body can reduce unnecessary pain— and perhaps make the difference between finishing or not. In the long term, paying attention to early signs of bodily stress and dealing with them might mean only a few miles missed in training rather than a few weeks or months off due to injury. This lesson is nothing new, but it’s one that even the most conscientious runner should be reminded of from time to time.
The Dish on Chafing
Chafing happens, but during ultras it happens more frequently and more painfully than necessary. In case you are one of the fortunate souls who is unfamiliar with chafing, it’s the rubbing raw of your skin through the friction of repetitive movement. Chafing can occur anywhere (take my word for it!) that skin-on-skin or skin-on-fabric friction occurs. The most common areas are the inner thighs of both men and women, men’s nipples, anywhere a woman’s sports bra touches her body, between arms and torsos, and anywhere a waist or shoulder pack rubs against the body. Each of these types of chafing is preventable or minimizable.
Inner thigh chafing is the most common source in ultras. It comes on as irritation, turns into discomfort, and, if ignored, ends up as waddle-inducing pain that will make you scream in your post-run shower. Yeah, it’s best avoided. Thankfully, that’s easy with some pre-planning. For many, applying an anti-chafing product (such as Bodyglide) to your inner thighs pre-run will prevent most chafing. However, in very long races it would be wise to have the same brand anti-chafing product with your crew or in your drop bags. If anti-chafing products don’t stop your thigh chafing, it’s time to try compression shorts or tights that keep some combination of your legs and shorts’ fabric from rubbing.
More generally, use Bodyglide or another anti-chafing product you prefer on your body’s specific friction points.
Whether caused by sweat, precipitation, or a stream crossing, wet clothing is a major source of chafing. The circumstances that cause wet clothing are largely unavoidable, but if chafing is or could be an issue, try keeping the trouble areas as dry as possible and consider changing the relevant piece of clothing.
Only a few things need to be said about men’s nipples. First, there’s no pride in bloody nipples or easily avoidable pain. Second, applying two Band-Aids or a couple of strips of athletic tape before a long run is all it takes to prevent this condition. That’s all.
Nearly all ultrarunners end up wearing a waist or shoulder pack at some point during training or racing. Without any seeming rhyme or reason, these packs can cause chafing. It occurs along any weight-bearing support piece, such as a shoulder strap or waist belt, or where the pack’s load bounces against your body, such as the bottom of a weighted shoulder pack against the small of your back. In either case, try adjusting the support straps and, when possible, the load itself to readjust strap pressure and minimize bouncing. If neither of those methods works and you aren’t able to switch to another pack mid-run, you may have to suffer a bit in learning by trial and error. After the unfortunate run, make further attempts at adjusting the pack’s straps and support structure or invest in another pack. In a pinch where you can’t ditch your pack, tape the affected area of skin for temporary relief.
For other chafing issues, apply one or more of