“Watch out for chafing.” – Martin Hartley.
While I have received a number of words of encouragement from donors on my Team in Training (TNT) personal web page, there may be no more caring, nor truer words written than those above from Martin Hartley. After heat stroke and dehydration, chafing and blistering are the two of the greatest dangers to triathletes (getting hit by a car or drowning, along with other catastrophic dangers exist, too, but they are among the more unlikely dangers and those dangers were also present in my day-to-day life before I started training for a triathlon). TNT leadership does a great job of educating us about appropriate hydration, and though blistering is a serious threat (see my “Princess and the Pea” post) it can be mitigated with a good pair of sneakers and socks.
Chafing, on the other hand, is subtle danger, creeping up on you silently and painfully. Chafing can occur anywhere that skin makes contact with, well, anything else. Thighs, arms, chest… you name the place and chafing can occur, much to your chagrin and to the delight of your dermatologist. The more you exercise and the more you sweat, the better the chances that you will experience the enjoyment of raw, enflamed, chafed skin. In addition, when you ride a bike for a long time, there are other causes and locales where chafing can occur, sometimes known as saddle-sore) namely where one’s rear end and thighs make contact with the bicycle seat.
I have learned that the first line of defense to chafing is wearing the right clothing. Immediately, upon beginning training for the triathlon, I switched from cotton shirts to moisture-wicking shirts and I wear running (low or no-cotton content) socks, only. Sure, these shirts and socks retain the smell of sweat more than breathable cotton, but this is a necessary sacrifice (on my family’s part). Those changes were easy to make, since I have been using moisture-wicking shirts and socks on and off, prior to starting training. However, there was one major change that I have made in my life that is evidence of my evolution as a person, as a result of this triathlon.
Ever since I hit puberty, and had the autonomy to choose my own clothing, I have been a hetero-shortsicle. While I have worn a variety of types of shorts, be they basketball shorts or board shorts, my shorts would always fall into the category of long, baggy shorts. I have been firmly committed to that way of life. I also have to admit to looking down on others who chose a different way of life. I hated short-shorts (like running shorts) and was baffled by people who wore them. Jean shorts were an obvious sign of character weakness, in my eyes. However, I reserved my truest and deepest disgust for those who I truly could not understand, nor fathom, the nature of their shorts decisions. My true wrath was reserved for male spandex-wearers, specifically men who wore bicycle shorts.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I was alright with spandex that was hidden under baggy shorts, as was popular in the NBA in the mid 90’s. As long as you hid your affinity for spandex, so the world was exposed to your basketball shorts, I was cool with it. I even forgave those who intimated their affinity for spandex, letting it peak out under their basketball shorts, like Kenny “Sky” Walker, of the New York Knicks. If you were a spandex-wearing man, that was fine, just keep it in the closet, or at least under your basketball shorts.
So, when I told my wife that I was signing up for the triathlon, she laughed at me, saying that she couldn’t wait to see me in spandex. I responded that she would see me in them on race-day and no sooner. I knew that I was a hetero-shortsicle and I would stray from the one true path ONLY if forced.
After my first 15-mile bicycle ride, I knew that I had some soul-searching to do. I had to explore the person that I had been for the past 21 years to see whether I had made a major mistake. What was my motivation for this self-questioning? Chafing. My heart told me that I needed to explore my true needs, but my mind told me that I needed to stick to the dogma that I knew to be true. I was able to hold my heart at bay for a while, but after I got back from my second 15-mile bicycle ride I knew that I needed to go beyond the boundaries within which I had been living in my entire life.
I knew my life had changed sometime in the middle of my third 15-mile bike ride. I was more comfortable with myself. The pain that I had experienced my last two bike rides was no longer there. I was finally comfortable. I realized that I was comfortable with the fact that I was a bi-shortsicle. That morning, when I pulled on my bicycle shorts for the first time, I knew that they looked so wrong; but as I rode my bicycle, pain free, I knew that being a bi-shortsicle was so right. Though, at times, I was embarrassed going out in public as a bi-shortsicle, I knew that I had to embrace who I was, and slowly but surely, I became more comfortable in my new, spandex skin.
However, soon enough, my “bi” nature was challenged. TNT training on Sunday mornings begin with a bicycle ride, and these past couple of weeks training concludes with an optional run component. The run component posed a challenge to my bi-shortsicleness because the padding in bicycle shorts is not conducive to running, since the padding is very thick. Therefore, for two weeks I arrived at training in a pair of bicycle shorts, completed the bicycle ride, ducked into my car, used a really large towel as a cover, and then changed into a pair of (long, almost down to my knees) running shorts. I did this for two weeks, and came to the realization that I needed to evolve past my bi-shortsicle self and take the next step.
Triathlon shorts are specifically made to have enough padding to be pretty comfortable on a bike, yet the padding is subtle enough to that you can run in them comfortably (allegedly). It took only a short while to take the next leap. I am now a tri-shortsicle.
I have worn my tri-shorts swimming and they are great (the shorts are designed to dry quickly, since you wear them under your wetsuit, while swimming, and then when you come out of the water you take off your wetsuit and wear your tri-shorts for the bicycle and run portions). I have worn them for bicycling and they are comfortable, too. I have yet to take my tri-shorts out for a run, but I am comfortable with the idea that the world will see me and know me as a tri-shortsicle.
So, there you have it, I am out of the closet about what I take out of the closet to train for this triathlon. I am a tri-shortsicle. This journey has not been easy and I am not always comfortable with this fact. However, I am embracing who I am, as I continue to engage in my journey of self-discovery.
