Friction is not your friend

During my off season training I have been doing some running from time to time, and I am reminded of what I learned during my triathloning days...

Chafing is EVIL!

Let's be honest, when it comes to endurance sports, friction is not your friend. You're body does a lot of repetitive movements and whether it rubs against your equipment or itself the end result is not a happy one. To guard against this there are many options...

1) Appropriate clothing. When I run, I wear compression shorts. They are a handy way to wear a relatively seamless garment so that what I am wearing doesn't rub my legs and leave me raw. Likewise I never wear sleeveless shirts because they rub at my armpit and shoulder. On a bike this means having a good chamois in your shorts...and (for those of you who haven't learned it yet) no underwear in your shorts.

2) Chamois cream. For cycling, there's also chamois cream if you care to deal with such a mess. The products range from Chamois Butt'r to DZ nuts and all of them are a bit weird to get used to at first.

3) Body Glide. I have never used body glide, but I remember its rise during my triathlon days. It's a great product from what I understand. It started in the triathlon niche because when you start riding or running while wet you're at a higher risk for serious chafage, but as with all products the off label uses have sky rocketed as the product becomes more widespread.

Sometimes, though, despite your best efforts you wind up wounded in action. For those days I haven't found anything better than Aquaphor. I think they know it too, because there are several race packets that I have found with samples of the stuff. These are highly coveted. You may not think you need it; but when you do need it, you won't want to be without it.

Until next time, I hope you can safely slip through those sticky situations and stay friction free. Good luck.