I’m a big fan of SKINS and have been since they first came out.  As well as being incredibly well made they do what they say they do and do it well. I remember when they first came out I created a social media storm (well a few comments anyway,  which in 2008 was probably a storm. ) on www.coolrunning.com.au when I predicted a 5 minute improvement, minimum, just by wearing skins. With hindsight it was probably a tad optimistic but at the time I really believed that made such a huge difference to marathon times.  I could never understand looking around at my fellow marathon runners why there was only a few runners ‘skinned up’. Over time I came to realize that maybe I was wrong regarding massive marathon improvement just by wearing skins and their real benefit lay elsewhere.

I feel now, after owning a pair of skins in various forms for nearly 10 years, their main benefit is injury prevention, delaying DOMS (Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness) , recovery or keeping your knees warm . (That last point is why Jon wears them and I chuckle everytime I hear him talk about his ‘cold’ knees ! ) Before I talk about the new generation of SKINS some history. In 2008 when first encountered SKINS I brought them with a view to helping keep the heart rate down  by compression, the theory for me was simple, the compression tights would help the heart pump blood around the body easier and thus it wouldn’t need to work as hard, which meant a lower heart rate. Being a marathon runner a higher heart rate equates to a higher fatigued state, which equates to slowing down. Thus wearing SKINS would keep (or help) the heart rate lower  for longer and thus you would feel less fatigued and thus you could go faster for longer. Pretty simple really, ‘physics‘ as my Dad was so fond of quoting. I’m not sure if this was a placebo or it just coincided with a bit of running form but wearing SKINS always seem to coincide with a good PB. I was convinced. They were also good for long runs, to keep fatigue at bay and of course recovery and delaying DOMS. Was there nothing these wonder garments could do ?

As a fashion statement I probably can’t endorse them but back in 2010 after Melbourne Marathon I did try to start a new trend among runners of wearing skins under your shorts while drinking at the bar. As this was a once only happening, and I have seen little or no uptake, I can only assume this didn’t catch on. Truth be told this was probably the last time I was in a bar so if it has caught on I’d probably miss it anyway ?

Right, as always I digress but as a blogger I feel this is something I need to be allowed to do otherwise the posts would be a lot smaller. The main point behind this post is to discuss the latest SKINS that apparently came out this month. The nice people at SKINS got in touch with me and asked if I’d like to test out these new versions. Funnily enough I have just moved house and mysteriously in the move I ‘mislaid‘ my two pair of SKINS compression tights , which were both past their sell by date by many years. Neither was wearable without shorts on top for various reasons and it is because of this I suspect my Wife may have aided in their disappearance. Karen is denying any knowledge but the jury is still out on this one. (Note: Karen have since found my SKINS packed away with half my wardrobe in a box  in the garage, so I must apologise to No1. Wife.  )

So after a few emails with Naomi Marshall, the Global Digital Marketing Manager, a package turned up containing a pair of compression tights and calf socks as promised. The timing was perfect as my calf was still in recovery mode after a 5cm  tear and I had taken to wearing my old calf socks (the ones missed by my Wife in the move !) on every run. These calf socks, I believe, are probably a permanent fixture after a calf tear, if nothing else for a placebo affect, but more importantly to give your calf ongoing support. As with all tears there is probably not a 100% recovery as some scare tissue will be present and this will always be weaker than muscle, so you will always be susceptible to re-tearing.  Please note I am a Google Doctor and have no formal qualifications so that last statement is probably more ‘it makes sense so must be true’ type statement but feel free to research yourself. Bottom line you ain’t going to tear your calf muscle again because you wore calf socks, they can only be help never a hindrance.

My joy was not matched by my children and current Wife who were dismayed at the thought of me running around the neighbourhood in my new SKINS, for some reason it’s not that cool for dads to wear SKINS but I rebuke this statement. (Though looking at the photo of me in the pub in SKINS may not help me in my argument?)  I then fanned the fire so to speak by tabling wearing SKINS while riding my Ellpitogo bike ( http://www.elliptigo.com)  and picking them up after school. This didn’t go down to well with my teenage daughter at all, and that is an understatement.

So how good are the new SKINS ? Easy answer, very good. My old SKINS were well over 7 years old and in that time SKINS have obviously been busy. The new versions have more panels and are constructed of a more breathable material. I certainly noticed the difference with the tights as overall they are a  better fit and don’t feel as restricting as previous models. This is a two edged sword of course because the whole point of compression tights is that they compress, so surely you should need to feel them ? Off to the website I went looking for answers. ( https://www.skins.net/au/skins-science/ ) There is a wealth of information on this site and of course you can use our old friend GOOGLE and find even more information. (on anything !) There is plenty of journal support advocating SKINS but this is something I already knew. For me every runner needs compression tights for recovery, as a bare minimum, after long runs or hard tempos and of course marathons and anything longer. They definitely help the legs recover and will also help injury prevention in the time when they are susceptible to picking up knots or tears as the muscles are tired and in a weakened state.

For my test run I chose a day when my legs were fatigued from a long training week and forced myself to run 20k when I was only really up for a 10k. This meant my legs are well and truly tired and I was interested in seeing how the SKINS would help in the final 30 minutes. They coped very well and I was certainly helped by the tights towards the end of the run,  when I was running on empty. The legs felt the benefit of the compression and the heart rate was lower than normal albeit by a small amount of course but still noticeable.  Wearing the SKINS  for this run reminded my why they are so good for endurance events and I made a mental note to wear them more often for my longer runs when towards the end of the run they would help, this is something I use to do but running in Perth the heat can sometimes be an issue and wearing black compression tights is not the most intelligent thing to do. (Note: I have run the 6 inch ultra in SKINS when the starting temperature was 25c and humid. It was an ‘experience’  not helped by getting lost and turning a 46k into a 50k. I survived but have never wore SKINS  in the heat since, I think it’s a ‘mental thing’ now ?)

The calf socks are also a big improvement on previous models with the extra paneling and better material really helping in keeping the calf nice and secure wrapped up in SKINS heaven.  Moving forward I’ll probably be wearing these socks for the foreseeable future as it seems another benefit of getting older is you are more likely to be struck down with calf tears, the joys of aging.

So for all the science go to the SKINS website and they will bamboozle you (  http://www.skins.net ) better than I can but to me SKINS are a necessary part of all runners wardrobe, they aid in recovery, endurance, injury prevention, performance but probably not fashion, according to my teenage daughter but what does she know ? They also keep Jon’s knees warm, so useful in colder climates apparently, living in Perth, Australia, it is hard to verify that bar Jon’s knees of course but one would assume they would be a benefit in the cold !