Today’s blog is courtesy of guest blogger and VR Compression customer Peter McGahan of the Celtic 7 Marathon Challenge. Peter and his good friend Stephane ran 7 marathons to raise money for some very worthy children’s charities and VR Compression and the Compression Advisory were there to help and advise them along the way.
Hear how they got on straight from the horse’s mouth:
“If there was an afterlife I wouldn’t want to come back as a sock. It’s hardly a bonus. You know, big smelly lumps of feet and all that goes with it.
But if you could come back as a sock, what could be better than being seconded into supporting an Irishman and a Breton to run the seven Celtic marathons only to be retired in Vienna (albeit by mistake).[The maid in their hotel threw them out!]
Stephane and myself decided, as fellow Celts living in Cornwall, we would like to challenge ourselves whilst doing some good for something close to us. We both have three children and after a conversation with our daughters and wives we decided on promoting exposure to Invictus Trust, Ellies Haven and Action for Children whilst also raising money where we could for their needs.
Thankfully we had some great contacts who looked after us. Our physio had seven Olympics behind him, including head physio at the London Olympics, and our psychologist was the head sports psych at the Olympics in London. We pulled together a team of nutritionists and advisers of the same ilk and off we went.
Tools were required… A Compex machine for recovery, strength and stimulation of fibres, a hard foam roller, and without doubt, a pair of compression socks were advised as vital by the advisers. Indeed one of the sports physios had been at Liverpool F.C. and England and explained that they all wore them whilst travelling or stationary.
After a chat with our advisers and a visit to Twitter, two pairs of socks from VR compression joined the Celtic Seven Marathon Challenge. The same socks that adorn Manchester united Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool as well as the England Rugby team would now make their way over an estimated 5,000,000 strides on our challenge.
How did they do?
Well we had to wash them. After a while they seemed to need that. Fair enough. I’m not sure the hotels favoured them hanging out of the window but the alternative was dismal.
My calf used to struggle as I often sit in front of a computer for hours without moving, and often with my feet incorrectly placed underneath me. Stephane is the head chef at Rick Stein’s and would spend most of his time stood up or alternatively in front of a computer and his legs would ache.
So I went for VR Performa Lite for running and both of us had a set of VR ProPlus Recovery for the running and for wearing during the day as we recovered.
My calf strains disappeared and I ran with confidence. Yes there’s a partial placebo effect I’m sure but it works and in a mind game like seven marathons I’ll use what I can.
Stephane loved the support and wore them when possible to Padstow in the kitchen. It seems logical that Rick might consider these for every member of staff there…perhaps VR compression can do a deal of some fine scallops for the support socks for the guys.
They aren’t easy to get on first of all and Stephane and I looked like a couple of giraffes trying to tie roller boot laces at first until we mastered it. Now it’s a couple of seconds.
I was between sizes and had the wrong size at first as my calves were bigger than the lower leg length expected and I ended up with a set of stockings and no suspenders…..an unattractive look when sat in an airport with ten flap jacks and a ton of pasta.
No problem, I sent the smelly ones back and the new ones arrived.
Jackpot…It’s a bit like getting a new windscreen for the car…you just want to get out there and use it.
There are clear health benefits to using VR Compression socks but this little blog isn’t here to cover that. You can find all that on the tech parts of VR Compression.
What we wanted to say is that we ran 7 marathons in our VR Compression socks/sleeves and we recovered in them religiously afterwards. No, they didn’t wash themselves, but they survived and we definitely felt the benefits of wearing them! We’re mad enough to be planning more marathons now that the Celtic 7 are over and we’ll be taking VR with us for those too.
VR did 7 marathons (among flights, recovery days and many other things) with us and we didn’t have a hole or a blister to complain about in that time.
The key benefits are the improved circulation which can struggle during periods of inactivity. The graduated compression claims to “reduce the risk of DVT, prevent swelling of the legs and ankles and keeps the lower legs fresh and ache free”.
And boy did it do that. All I know is that from five flights, a long boat ride and thousands of miles in the car, we never once had swollen legs, they have never ached, and are very comfortable to wear.
I’ve had compression socks before but they weren’t graduated and as our coaches explained, this is essential.
They do come in lovely colours as well as the plain black I received but actually the black hides the fact you’ve had them on for a fortnight without washing them so go for that!
Number one on the Christmas list if you spend long periods of time at work stationary, are over 60, have had recent surgery, have varicose veins, have a BMI greater than 25, are a female on (OCP) the pill, are a smoker, are pregnant, undergoing malignancy/cancer treatment or have had recent surgery.
It’s not sexy to get socks for Christmas but these are as sexy as they get.”
You can donate to Peter & Stephane’s Fundraising Page here, where they’ve raised over 90% of their £30,000 goal for these three very worthy charities: Action for children , INVICTUS TRUST and ELLIES HAVEN.
Follow them on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Celtic7Marathon
