Tester - Ashley Relf Entry 2

Last week ....

Wow the skins saved me during the Napa Valley marathon this Sunday, March 1, 2009; even though I biked rather than ran the race to help cheer on my teammates and thanks to the skins as they came through and kept the rainy weather bearable and my muscles warm.

A couple of days ago ...

I ran a pretty fast pace 10 mile run with a few of my teammates and felt great during the run, but my legs started feeling a bit tight/sore a few hours later. So I decided to throw on the skins and right away they started to feel compressed and the tightness/soreness seemed to quickly lessen.

Yesterday ...

I took the day off running and swam 1900 yards in the morning before heading to work and did a spin class with my teammates in the evening for an hour. Both my arms and legs were feeling a little stiff so once I got home and cleaned up I decided to throw on the skins and slept in them. I woke up this morning feeling refreshed and ready to hit the gym for a strength session and a short spin. Now I am off to run 7 miles this evening which is my usual Wednesday night Panhandle run through Golden Gate Park.

Tester - Adam Zastrow Entry 3

02/23/09

I had the best of intentions of working out today but the combination of school and wet weather changed my mind and I decided to take the day off. I was tired most of the day, but I believe it was more a mental tiredness rather than physical. My legs were a little sore but for the most part my body actually felt pretty good. For some added recovery I put the long tights on for a few hours after school while I did some homework and chores around the house.


02/24/09

I was back at the hospital for another 8 hour shift wearing my long tights underneath my scrubs. I was feeling good all day. In fact I was a bit anxious to workout since my day off yesterday. I took it easy anyway because this is my rest week and it’s a very important part of the training cycle. My workout today was an easy 90 minutes on the trainer while watching a movie with some core exercises afterwards.

02/25/09

Today at the hospital I wore the long tights again and I was even more anxious to workout then yesterday. I don’t remember ever feeling this anxious this early in my recovery week. I decided to do a small brick workout: 60 minutes on the trainer and a 40 minute run. I felt great during both workouts.

The Skins Sport tights and top were designed to enhance your performance in training and recovery, so after over a week of wearing the Skins primarily for recovery I thought I would spend the last few days wearing them during my workouts in order to give you a look at both of their uses.

02/26/09

This morning I was really looking forward to my workouts. I did an easy spin around town for 2 hours so as to keep my legs fresh for the upcoming track workout tonight. At the track I wore my Skins top and bottom in order to test them both together in action. It was a cold night and I had a little trouble warming up, but once we started I felt good. The workout was intense with a lot of wind coming from the west. The wind made me appreciate the Skins tight fit because they decreased the amount of wind drag I would normally get from my other clothing. I could have had even less drag if I didn't wear the t-shirt over the top, but I'm not really the type to workout around a bunch of people wearing only a spandex suit. I was impressed with both garments, however, my only complaint was the top kept sliding up where it overlapped with the bottoms. It bunched up around my umbilicus(belly button) but it didn’t cause any problems.

02/27/09

Friday I swam for an hour and road my bike for 60 minutes. I didn’t get a chance to wear the Skins because I left them in the wash.

02/28/09

Today was my first big brick workout of the season; 3 hour ride followed by an hour run. If I exclude the wind it was a great day. During the ride I wore my long sleeve top under my jersey for added warmth. I was feeling a bit warm during parts of the ride but I noticed how well the vents worked under my armpits, they’re a nice added feature.

03/01/09

Today was a cold and rainy day that started at the pool. Sometimes I find it difficult to find the motivation to swim in an outdoor pool on a day like today because my warm bed at home seems so much more appealing. But once I jump in I don’t have much of a choice, either swim or freeze, and I hate being cold. Afterwards a few of us headed to the nearby state park for a 9 mile trail/mud run, one of my favorite workouts. I wore my long sleeve top under my windproof jacket and it worked out well. I didn’t have any problems staying warm and I also didn't have any chafe, which is something I have problems with under my arms and on my nipples during cold wet runs.

Video Review of Skins

Does compression clothing really work? Coach AJ was able to try out a line of compression wear by Skins during the 2008 Annual Hawaii Ironman Triathlon. Check it out here.