Easy question about technical clothing (overheating/overcooling)

Quoted message said:

Can someone please tell me the advantages of wearing "technical

clothing" (polypro and moisture-wicking fabrics) when performing
intense physical activity?>

Very simple! Your wallet will be much lighter, enabling you to run
faster.

Quoted message said:

At the risk of sounding like an extreme newbie:

Can someone please tell me the advantages of wearing
"technical clothing" (polypro and moisture-wicking fabrics)
when performing intense physical activity?

It is my understanding that the human body sweats to cool
itself down (the sweat on the surface of our skin evaporates
and cools us down). If I am running a race in the heat of
summer, why would I *NOT* want to wear a fabric such as
cotton? Cotton retains water, which will hold my sweat
close to my body, cooling me down.

It also might weigh you down. Cotton absorbs all
the water it comes in contact with. You can wear
cotton, but given the amount of sweat during running
I doubt it'll keep you cooler while running. When you
stop maybe, but during a run you'll just be warming
the cotton. If you want max cooling try a synthetic
fishnet tank top or none at all (assuming male.)

Quoted message said:

By using wicking fabrics, aren't we essentially moving the
sweat off of our skin? How exactly is this supposed to cool
down the body?

Cotton is sometimes described as "dangerous" and "lethal" to
wear in survival situations, because of the hypothermic effect
it has on the body. But isn't this EXACTLY what I want when my
body's overheating?

Well one, it doesn't have to be freezing air temps
for the body's core to suffer from hypothermic
issues. People can "freeze" to death in temps as
warm as 50F. Two, I don't know what you mean by
overheating. Heat exhaustion/failure of the body's
thermoregulation is usually caused by a combination
of things, including not enough fluids, electrolytes,
and not being used to working in hot environments.
If you're sweating a lot in hot weather even a wicking
fabric can get pretty damp, just not as damp as cotton.
I don't think a cotton vs. poly t-shirt will make
that much difference but in colder temps the poly will
still insulate and will dry faster.

Quoted message said:

I prefer the reply be sent to my email address ([email hidden]),
but I will also check on UseNet for the reply.

Thanks in advance to all who reply!!

Tom Phillips said:

Quoted message said:

At the risk of sounding like an extreme newbie:

Can someone please tell me the advantages of wearing
"technical clothing" (polypro and moisture-wicking fabrics)
when performing intense physical activity?

It is my understanding that the human body sweats to cool
itself down (the sweat on the surface of our skin evaporates
and cools us down). If I am running a race in the heat of
summer, why would I *NOT* want to wear a fabric such as
cotton? Cotton retains water, which will hold my sweat
close to my body, cooling me down.

It also might weigh you down. Cotton absorbs all
the water it comes in contact with. You can wear
cotton, but given the amount of sweat during running
I doubt it'll keep you cooler while running. When you
stop maybe, but during a run you'll just be warming
the cotton. If you want max cooling try a synthetic
fishnet tank top or none at all (assuming male.)

Quoted message said:

By using wicking fabrics, aren't we essentially moving the
sweat off of our skin? How exactly is this supposed to cool
down the body?

Cotton is sometimes described as "dangerous" and "lethal" to
wear in survival situations, because of the hypothermic effect
it has on the body. But isn't this EXACTLY what I want when my
body's overheating?

Well one, it doesn't have to be freezing air temps
for the body's core to suffer from hypothermic
issues. People can "freeze" to death in temps as
warm as 50F. Two, I don't know what you mean by
overheating. Heat exhaustion/failure of the body's
thermoregulation is usually caused by a combination
of things, including not enough fluids, electrolytes,
and not being used to working in hot environments.
If you're sweating a lot in hot weather even a wicking
fabric can get pretty damp, just not as damp as cotton.
I don't think a cotton vs. poly t-shirt will make
that much difference but in colder temps the poly will
still insulate and will dry faster.

Quoted message said:

I prefer the reply be sent to my email address

([email hidden]),

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

but I will also check on UseNet for the reply.

Thanks in advance to all who reply!!

It occurs to me that modern engineering has yet to take 'moderate'
advantage of material technology.

For example, it would seem that one could construct a running shoe
which would preserve sufficient 'energy' in the foot slap through
restitutional 'bounce' so as to have a significant impact in the
overall outcome. One limitation of <such> a techgnology might be a
running shoe which wears out very quickly ...

Hey, it's only 'money'! The glory of the win is <everything> ...

Similarly, one could conceive of clothing which would store energy in
the stretching and provide some of that energy back in the restitution
of the former shape.

When is "enough", enough?

.... a serious issue for some of you

Quoted message said:

At the risk of sounding like an extreme newbie:

Can someone please tell me the advantages of wearing "technical clothing" (polypro and moisture-wicking fabrics) when performing intense physical activity?

I agree with most of what Tom said, but a couple other points.

My understanding (no personal experience, trust me) is that cotton is
used in hot races like Badwater where temperatures get above 120F for
the cooling effect. Maybe our desert ultra expert (Steve C.) or others
can comment. From what I've read, there's different approaches to what
you wear depending on temperatures (hot or cold) and whether its
hot/humid (nothing's going to evaporate anyway) or hot/dry.

Quoted message said:

It is my understanding that the human body sweats to cool itself down

Yes, but my understanding is that it may also sweat when the outer skin
is cold and internal furnace kicks into overdrive. (I think I posted on
this several months ago, but details aren't relevant at the moment.)

Quoted message said:

By using wicking fabrics, aren't we essentially moving the sweat off of our skin? How exactly is this supposed to cool down the body?

Some of us run predominantly when the weather is 50F or below, sometimes
down to -20F (others may go down to -60F). It's almost impossible to get
the layering right so you don't get frostbite and don't sweat. Wicking
fabrics remove the moisture.

Quoted message said:

Cotton is sometimes described as "dangerous" and "lethal" to wear in survival situations, because of the hypothermic effect it has on the body. But isn't this EXACTLY what I want when my body's overheating?

I've heard it said that any temperatures below your body temperature are
potentially hypothermic temps. Hypothermia is when your body is losing
more heat than it's producing. This is not good. It's particularly not
good since the brain is one of the first things to stop normal
functioning - that is, you lose the ability to recognize that you're in
trouble and do something simple like put more clothes on.

Ask the people that did Barkley this past weekend about clothes (not
sure if anybody here did it or not).

"Cotton kills" is the phrase frequently used, but as I mentioned,
people wear cotton when it's hot. I wear cotton t-shirts in an indoor
cross-training class, but then get cold when we stop to stretch.

Keep in mind also that temperatures can vary radically over the course
of a long race, so the best approach is to keep dry.

FWIW, I've personally seen one DNF due to hypothermia, and I had a
running friend end up in ER with body temperature in low 90s a month or
so ago. (she's ok) And the problems are as likely, if not more likely,
to occur at the front of the pack - at least it seems that way.

Dot

--
"running is a mysterious journey that we take not just to beat other
people or to stay in reasonable physical shape - but to find out more
about ourselves" - Owen Anderson

x-no-archive: yes

Quoted message said:

At the risk of sounding like an extreme newbie:

Can someone please tell me the advantages of wearing "technical clothing" (polypro and moisture-wicking fabrics) when performing intense physical activity?

It is my understanding that the human body sweats to cool itself down (the sweat on the surface of our skin evaporates and cools us down). If I am running a race in the heat of summer, why would I *NOT* want to wear a fabric such as cotton? Cotton retains water, which will hold my sweat close to my body, cooling me down.

By using wicking fabrics, aren't we essentially moving the sweat off of our skin? How exactly is this supposed to cool down the body?

Cotton is sometimes described as "dangerous" and "lethal" to wear in survival situations, because of the hypothermic effect it has on the body. But isn't this EXACTLY what I want when my body's overheating?

I prefer the reply be sent to my email address ([email hidden]), but I will also check on UseNet for the reply.

Thanks in advance to all who reply!!

Run a long run when it's 98 degrees in a cotton tshirt like I did last
summer. You'll see why.

Speaking strictly for running in the deep south where temps and humidity
often reach 95 degrees and 95% respectively, sweat really dosen't
evaporate sufficently to get any cooling effect.

The plus side of plastic shirts over cotton is that the chafe less, as
the fabric is smoother and doesn't retain the sweat, see the thread on
socks. If one wouldn't run in cotton socks why would one wear a cotton
shirt?

Quoted message said:

At the risk of sounding like an extreme newbie:

Can someone please tell me the advantages of wearing "technical clothing"
(polypro and moisture-wicking fabrics) when performing intense physical
activity?

It is my understanding that the human body sweats to cool itself down (the
sweat on the surface of our skin evaporates and cools us down). If I am
running a race in the heat of summer, why would I *NOT* want to wear a
fabric such as cotton? Cotton retains water, which will hold my sweat
close to my body, cooling me down.

By using wicking fabrics, aren't we essentially moving the sweat off of
our skin? How exactly is this supposed to cool down the body?

Cotton is sometimes described as "dangerous" and "lethal" to wear in
survival situations, because of the hypothermic effect it has on the body.
But isn't this EXACTLY what I want when my body's overheating?

I prefer the reply be sent to my email address ([email hidden]),
but I will also check on UseNet for the reply.

Thanks in advance to all who reply!!