Chafing: The Unmentionable Running Injury

Chafe \Chafe\ (ch[=a]f), v. t.

1. To excite heat in by friction; to rub in order to
stimulate and make warm.

2. To excite passion or anger in; to fret; to irritate.

3. To fret and wear by rubbing; as, to chafe a cable.

Syn: To rub; fret; gall; vex; excite; inflame.

Source: Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Funny how sometimes all of the meanings of a word can apply, isn’t it?

Now, although I haven’t been writing much about my running lately, I
have been doing it. I’ve been a bit spotty in the 10K training (hence
the lack of writing about it) but I have still managed to get out 2-3
times per week and hit the pavement in my running shoes. Given all the
days I’ve missed, I’m through week four and onto week 5 of my training
schedule, which proceeds as follows:

WEEK 4: Walk 3 min, Run 2 min, Repeat 6X, Total Run Time 12 min
WEEK 5: Walk 2.5 min, Run 2.5 min, Repeat 6X, Total Run Time 15 min
WEEK 6: Walk 2 min, Run 3 min, Repeat 6X, Total Run time 18 min

So you can see that this week I crossed the line over from walking
more/running less into the realm of running more/walking less. And
that’s great…it makes me feel like a real runner, ya know? And working gradually up from running for 30 seconds to running for 2.5 minutes has been a great way to avoid getting musculo-skeletal injuries. On the downside, though, all the movement (remember, even when I’m walking it’s a really brisk walk…basically as fast as you can go while still having one foot on the ground) in this warm weather is leading to another, unmentionable (but extremely common) running injury.

CHAFING.

So. Do you want to know what parts of my body have been rubbing together, creating heat and causing irritation and inflamation? No? Well, I’ll leave it to your imagination then. Suffice to say there are multiple locations, and they involve body parts that typically come in contact with each other in the absence of a protective layer of clothing. Oh, and body parts that typically come in contact with each other in the presence of a protective layer of clothing – with seams.

So what to do? Well, I’ve been doing a bit of research on this one, and advice ranges from buying ridiculously expensive undergarments to forgoing undergarments altogether to the judicious use of – wait for it – diaper creams to ease the rash.

So far I’ve settled on the golden mean. A new running bra & panties (from MEC – good price) and a shiny new tin of penaten. How pathetic am I?

But the good news is I’m down 2 lbs this week (so far). Nice progress towards the Labour Day Goals I made last week.

But…anyway…I’ve gotta go. Kinda hurts the chafe to stay sitting on this hard chair, ya know? Guess I’d better get up and get moving then, right?