Why I Wear Compression Socks During Races: It's NOT Why You Think...
I want to share a personal story in the hopes that what I discovered (thanks to some unusual symptoms) might be of help to others out there experiencing the same thing.
Last year, I began having weird feelings when I got off the bike. As soon as I’d swing my leg over the saddle to dismount, I felt a bit off. Not dizzy, but a bit lightheaded, more like a “cruise ship” type feeling.
My vision was slightly delayed in that weird way when you turn your head and it takes a half second for your vision to catch up.
The most obvious explanation was that I was a bit dehydrated, which could definitely happen during a long bike ride.
But that didn’t seem right, because I’d worked with a sports nutritionist to dial in my fluid intake…
Maybe I was a bit low on carbs and had low blood sugar?
Possible, but not as likely for the aforementioned reason…
What about an inner ear problem? That made sense, due to the positional change from being in aerobars to standing upright.
But it never happened on indoor rides. Only outdoors…
At this point, we’ll borrow a quote from Sherlock Holmes via Arthur Conan Doyle- “When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
So let’s review what we know.
Off-balance feeling when dismounting the bike.
It only happens on outdoor rides. Never on the trainer.
It happens during longer rides, not shorter ones.
Appears my fluid and carb intake is on point.
Now, it’s time to play detective and figure out why this might be happening!
Hypothesis Number 1: Mild Dehydration
Our first thought was mild dehydration. I live in Florida where temperatures reach triple digits in the summer. Also, I have a very high sweat rate of over 4 lb. an hour. So potential dehydration was like the most obvious reason.
Symptoms of dehydration include: headache, dizziness, fatigue, dry mouth, muscle cramps, decreased urination, and intense thirst. And it can happen very quickly over the course of a 2, 3, 4+ hour bike ride in the heat.
No matter how great your hydration plan is, all it takes is falling a bit behind, and before you know it, you’ve gone 30 minutes without taking a drink. That’s not great when you have to run off the bike during a triathlon.
That’s why monitoring fluid intake and having a solid plan that includes fluid, sodium, and carbs is so important.
The Problem: The issue with this hypothesis is that I experienced the same symptoms on a hot ride and a cool ride. It seemed unlikely I was getting dehydrated in cooler weather (although it can happen). Also, I was doing a good job of taking in the fluid, carbs, and sodium per hour that I was supposed to, so this hypothesis wasn’t correct.
Hypothesis Number 2- Low Blood Sugar
Our second idea was the off-balance feeling might be caused by a lack of carbs and low blood sugar. Symptoms of low blood sugar include dizziness, feeling shaky, hunger or nausea, vision problems, difficulty concentrating, and fatigue.
But I was taking 60g of carbs an hour, so unless none of that was being processed, or we had grossly underestimated my needs, this hypothesis didn’t hold water.
Still, we decided to test it out on a long ride. If the culprit was low blood sugar, then it was an easy fix. I could take a small swig of Coke (even more direct transport than a gel) that would rapidly introduce carbs into my system. I would feel better almost immediately.
The Problem: The weird feeling only lasted for a few minutes. By the time I got off my bike, changed into running clothes, and started to run, the feeling had mostly disappeared. If the culprit was low blood sugar, and I didn’t take in any additional carbs, I would’ve felt worse as time went on.
Hypothesis Number 3- Inner Ear Problem
This was my idea, mostly because I’ve had some issues with my ears, including tinnitus (ringing) and eustachian tube disfunction (air pressure changes). We thought that being in aero for long periods of time and then suddenly standing up when getting off the bike could trigger an issue with my inner ear, causing the weird feeling.
The diagnosis for this one was pretty simple. I went to an ear, nose, and throat specialist to do some tests.
We discovered a few things. First, I have the hearing of a teenager (much to my husband’s chagrin, because I always complain during rides that I can’t hear what he’s saying. I say it’s because of his incredibly loud hub on his wheels. He says my hearing is bad).
We thought about BPPV or (Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo) a spinning feeling that’s caused by a problem with the salt crystals in your inner ear. Matt actually tested me for this at home with the Dix-Hallpike Maneuver, and it was negative. (He’s a doctor).
There’s also POTS or (Positional Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) which causes fast heart rate, dizziness, and fatigue when you rapidly change positions, like lying down to standing up. You might’ve read that Katie Ledecky has this condition. However, after doing a tilt table test, the results for that were negative too.
The Problem: If it was an inner ear problem, I would’ve experienced symptoms due to the positional change from being in the aero bars to standing upright. But the weird feeling didn't happen on all rides. Only those that took place outside. Also, I would’ve experienced symptoms at other times, not just when riding a bike.
This led us to our last hypothesis. We suspected it didn’t have to do with the locationof the ride, but the length of the ride.
We only ride indoors on the trainer during the week. Those rides range from 1 hour to 1:20. On the weekend, we ride outdoors. Those rides are around 3 hours.
So if it wasn’t dehydration, low blood sugar, or positional changes, it seemed like low blood pressure was the most likely cause!
During exercise, your circulatory system transports oxygenated blood from your heart to your muscles, and back to your heart again. Over the course of a long bike ride, your legs are working harder than the rest of your body. Therefore, those muscles get priority for supplies.
In some athletes who have low blood pressure (common in females) this can cause the blood not to circulate as well back up to the upper half of your body- most importantly your heart and brain. I’ve chatted with pro triathlete, Emma Pallant-Browne, a bit about this in the past. I know she’s had issues related to low blood pressure and low blood volume.
The test for this hypothesis was to wear compression socks on the bike. These long socks have graduated compression that extends from your foot, over the ankle, and stops just below the knee.
There’s mixed feedback as to whether they can help with performance duringexercise, or whether they’re best used as a recovery tool. But what they definitely do is gently squeeze the legs, which promotes blood flow back to the heart, so it doesn’t pool in your lower extremities.
And the result was…
No weird feeling when getting off the bike while wearing compression socks! Hooray!
(Special thanks to my coach and my husband for helping me figure this out.)
That’s why I wear compression socks now during training and racing.
The only downside to compression socks is they’re hard to get on in a race environment. They have to be tight in order to provide compression, and that makes them hard to get on wet legs after you come out of the swim.
Luckily, I have a little trick to help out with this…
*Paid subscribers: In the paid subscriber section this post, you get a informative video where I run through the different types of lower leg apparel in triathlon (compression socks, calf sleeves, and aero sleeves). I also explain the rules regarding their use during a race and share my cool trick for getting compression socks on quickly and easily!
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