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You have probably seen the likes of Bella Bayliss and Ain-Alar Juhanson wearing compression socks during racing. Well, the brand of choice for those athletes and others, is SLS3. SLS3 products are now available in the UK via www.slstri.co.uk, and we were able to get a sample pair of their SLS3 Compression Socks for review.
In order to put them through their paces for a real test, we could think of no one better than Tri247 columnist and Ironman specialist Joanna Carritt, herself a long time user of compression gear. This is what she thought.
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My introduction to compression apparel, a couple of years ago, was a pair of mecidal grade calf compression stockings as recommended by a physio friend of mine. Though they looked a little industrial and certainly weren't designed with running 26 miles in mind, they delivered a decent squeeze and seemed to keep my lower legs in place all the way round a marathon course, and reduced soreness afterwards. I have not since found a sports oriented sock which offers the same degree of compression and so stuck with the cheap version despite the blistering and fast wearing of the sock part.
Then, I had a chance to try out SLS3's (www.slstri.co.uk) latest compression sock. Right up there with the lookers on the market, these stockings seem to fit me like a glove, giving a firm distribution of pressure around the calf, without choking the ankle and foot. The sock has sweat absorbent material in the toes and heel – just like a proper running sock - and a soft top band for comfort at the rear of the knee. These socks were so snug, in fact, that my concern was that they would be troublesome to pull on in the hurry of a transition tent. However, I have been shown ‘the way’ to do this – it just needs a little practice!
I confess that in the heat of the moment they remained in T2 rather than accompanying me out onto the Queen K, but have nursed my shattered calves through every run that I did during my recovery week. I'm not one for sleeping in the socks, but through reduced vibration of damaged muscles during all of my recovery runs, and improved post-workout blood circulation this enabled me to build back to an hour's running within a week of a pretty hard hitting race in which my lower legs suffered about as much damage as they ever had before.
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The SLS3 Compression Sock AS tested costs £36. Also available are Compression Sleeves (£28), and a padded version of the sock at £41. In addition to the socks, the SLS3 range now includes compression race kit. For full details, go to www.slstri.co.uk
Last Updated: January 15, 2010
