26/11/2024 - Chafing, Blisters and Lube

The Blog

IMPORTANT: I am not trained to give any medical or nutritional advice... This is just me explaining what I do.

 No, I’m not talking about the aftereffects of a good night… or maybe I am. I guess it all depends upon your definition of a good night.

Let’s get something out of the way nice and early. When recruits join the British Army (or certainly when I did) the expectation from the instructors was that you knew nothing. Honestly, probably for the best. They taught me how to shower, how to shave and even how to brush my teeth. It was an eye opener when the Corporal took us all (collectively as a group) into the shower and literally demonstrated every aspect of what was expected from our morning routine. We were taught how to prepare our feet for long distance TABs (Tactical Advances in to Battle (a weighted run/walk at pace with equipment as if you were closing on the enemy)). Soldiers are prone to blisters, sores and other delights when moving quickly across uneven ground and tracks for long periods of time. A great deal of what I was taught, is as true now as it was back then, and that experience will inform some of what comes next in this blog.

I’ve always been a big lad but being 6’ 1” allowed me to distribute the weight a tad more evenly. I often use my time in the Army as a benchmark when comparing my present self to what I considered a healthy standard. Upon reflection, this is probably not the right approach. At 16, I weighed the best part of 90Kg and long runs, weightlifting, circuit training didn’t cause me the slightest bit of bother. I may have suffered from Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (AKA DOMS) and shin splints occasionally… but by in large these were minor inconveniences at best. However, at 16 and through to when I left the Army, I was operating on a relatively new body. My joints were solid and full of cartilage, my hair was lush and long and although I didn’t quite have that new car smell, I did have Lynx Africa. I may have embellished the truth ever so slightly there; I think it was the cheap nock off version of Lynx… Axe!

It’s not necessarily helpful then to compare a modern, new car with a few miles on the clock (in this case 16-year-old me) to an almost 40-year-old car which has travelled about a bit, had a few accidents and ultimately been abused by the owner (yep… in case you hadn’t worked it out… a current me).

When I started to get back in to exercising, my immediate point of call was my 2 feet and heartbeat (a phrase used by someone in the Army to describe running… not my own material). I don’t remember the actual run and although they say that the mind has a special ability to block out traumatic events from a person’s life, I’m not necessarily saying that’s what happened here. I do remember however having my shower afterwards.

The shower began so typically… I held my hand under the shower head before getting in, it was cold water at first. As it warmed, I stepped in to the bath and pulled the shower curtain around and under the stream of water. I began to feel a deep heat as my thighs and inner thighs contacted the water. The heat quickly turned to fire and the fire accelerated into an inferno! Honestly, I think you could have cooked steaks on the inside of my thighs. I don’t fully understand why the pain came after the shower as opposed to immediately after stopping the run, but I think I now understand how John Wayne achieved his legendary and characteristic, gunslinging walk.

My inner thighs were so raw, there’s no other way I can accurately describe the sensation. But if you’ve experienced this sensation then I know that you know what I am talking about. My inner thighs couldn’t touch each other. I walked like John Wayne for days after this. Which is not a great look to carry when you work in an inner-city secondary school in the UK. Fortunately for me, the students at this school were usually more interested in a dance off than a face off. Thank God there was no requirement to break any dance off’s up when walking like this! I might have been asked to join in… and nobody wants to see that!

Running any distance and at any weight generally generates friction in areas of the body which are in contact with each other. For me, I noticed this predominantly on my inner thighs, on the inside of my upper arms and on my nipples! The Army taught us to keep clean the warm, moist areas of our bodies. In between your legs, butt crack, armpits and feet… wash these areas with soap and water, pat dry and if you have any… use baby powder. Avoid highly scented soap and shower gel as these can upset the PH balance and cause itching, rashes, jock itch, athletes’ foot, thrush and other fungal infections. When you exercise a lot, the combination of sweat, increased washing and perfumed soaps can mix the PH balance up very easily and you’ll soon know about it. Brilliant advice which is as perfectly applicable today as it was back then. As a heavier and bigger person, I sweat more, have more areas that rub against each other and ultimately take more showers as a result.

TABing (see intro for explanation of what this is) is very similar to how I got back into running in the first place. A combination of running and walking over a couple of miles to build up my base fitness. Except now, I don’t get to take the additional weight off when I complete the exercise… my weight is just permanently attached to my body! This method is also how many people start their weight loss journey. It seems obvious to me (but you only know what you know, and you don’t know what you don’t know… if you follow me?), however I am forever seeing this question being asked on social media running forums, that is ‘how do I get into running?’. There is a real name for this process, but I call it (as do many) the lamppost method. Find a route with lampposts or trees at regular intervals that covers, one or two miles (whichever you feel most comfortable with at your ability level). The next bit is dead simple… walk to the first lamppost/tree. Once you get there… jog or run to the second lamppost/tree. Once you get to the third lamppost/tree… walk. Repeat this process until you have covered the whole distance you intended to cover. The next time you go for a run, do the same but this time try to complete more running sections. If you need to walk more… then walk more. The important thing is showing up and being consistent. The more running sections you complete, typically the faster you will get. Eventually you will be jogging the whole distance, and you will be looking to increase the total distance. It’s usually that simple.

If you have off the shelf trainers from a sports shop (and I’m not advocating custom trainers at this stage), then there’s a very real possibility that your trainers don’t fit properly. Everyone’s feet are unique and so is everyone’s gate when running. That’s not even considering the weight of the runner either. Every step compresses the sole of the trainer and when running, the trainer is compressed more. There are certain shops out there now who will record you running and analyse your running style. They can then advise you on the correct running trainer to purchase. That said, for us off the shelf’s customers… the requirement for shoe makes to make shoes that fit everyone, ultimately means they make shoes that fit almost no one! This means that your foot may slide slightly in your shoe, press against the side a bit or your big toe touches the front of your trainer. Day to day activities in these trainers is unlikely to produce hot spots or blisters. However, at the end of your first mile in them, you’ll know something is off with them.

I spoke previously about the 7Ps (see last week’s blog). When doing these longer distance sessions or longer in terms of time training sessions, you need to prepare these areas of your body which are at risk of causing you to pick up an injury and prevent you from training. If you have blisters or chafing, every step or movement will be painful, and you’ll be more likely to give up on yourself… and you weren’t raised a quitter!

Lube up those cracks… Vaseline and other variants of petroleum jelly work just as well as some of the top end running lube products and is much cheaper too. But don’t skimp on the application… apply liberally in between your legs on your inner thighs where they touch and right up in the groin. Get right under if you need to and get those cheeks too. A further bit of advice… make sure you apply this before you go outside. People can get the wrong impression if you’re applying this in a car park!

If you identify hotspots on your feet (hotspots are areas where your feet rub excessively against the shoe and if left unchecked, will become a blister on longer runs), use zinc oxide tape or Compeed Blister plasters before you start exercising. If you get particularly sweaty though, the plaster tends to fall off, where as the zinc oxide tape can be applied liberally AND really should marketed towards structural engineers. This stuff is super sticky… but like rocking horse s**t to get hold of! You can also buy relatively unexpensive running socks designed to prevent hotspots and blisters. I tend to use Karrimor and New Balance running socks as I have had particularly good experiences with them.

I’m yet to find a perfect answer to runner’s nipple… Vaseline helps but even with a black t-shirt, it looks like you’re crying through your nipples (who knows, maybe I am). Plasters almost always fall off mid run exposing me to maximum chafing! The times where plasters have endured the process, I’ve found it particularly painful in removing the plasters from a hairy chest! Perhaps there is a solution contained in here somewhere… I’m just not willing to admit it yet (shave nipples, apply zinc oxide tape?) I have often run my nipples to destruction… there’s a sentence I never thought I’d say out aloud… where they bleed (it’s a long road to recovery from this too). If you’re wearing a light-coloured t-shirt… you’ll get a lot of weird looks from those who have never experienced runner’s nipple and a lot of sympathy from those who have. Most people do get runner’s nipple, it’s just some people have to run further before it catches up to them.

But know this, as we get skinnier and lighter these problems reduce in severity… but usually get replaced by something else! And that’s the joy of running when heavy though troops.