Don't do it the night before - the bedsheets will feel like sandpaper on your legs, you'll toss & turn all night (even more than from just the usual pre-race nerves) and you'll run worse, not better.
Don't do it the night before - the bedsheets will feel like sandpaper on your legs, you'll toss & turn all night (even more than from just the usual pre-race nerves) and you'll run worse, not better.
he said he's not doing it for any aerodynamic advantage...
I did this before my first college 10k and I won the race. So, I would recommend you DO shave them. It looks and feels awesome.
Here is my advice.
1) You are going to want to TRIM before you shave. It's like shaving your head. Buzz them. Using a razor if you have any amount of leg hair will feel terrible and you probably WILL get razor burn.
2) Use a ton of shaving cream and a brand new razor. For the first time, this is essential.
3) Clean out the razor after almost every stroke, and DON'T RUSH.
4) Wash your legs thoroughly afterwards, and use moisterizer on them to keep them from getting dried out and itchy. That can get uncomfortable.
5) Don't shave up too high. I'm talking on your thigh here... bad idea. If you start hitting thicker, darker hair, STOP IMMEDIATELY. Not worth the risk.
Good luck!!!
who ever said this was a guy?
maybe it's a chick who SHOULD shave her legs...
ray wrote:
Got to love the high school kids I've seen this year who shave their legs to feel fast for cross country and then proceed to wear Shaq's shorts for the race.
Most underrated post of the day.
reading comprehension wrote:
he said he's not doing it for any aerodynamic advantage...
if he's not doing it for the 8 second aerodynamic improvement, which would be bad enough, and is instead doing it to "feel faster" then I have to hate him. Don't be such a mental softee. You must be a recreational jogger.
I've run my best races with shaved legs, no s***. Last fall, I took 72 secs off my 10K PR (the old one only 4 weeks old) and then two weeks later ran a 15-min. PR on the marathon. (For scale, the times were 35:03 and 2:42)
I had never shaved before and haven't done it since, but I didn't do it to "feel fast". I was getting sports massages twice a week for a hamstring injury and that is f***ing PAINful with hairy legs. So for a couple of months I'd shave every 10 days or so, and I actually did like how it felt. You feel the wind in a different way when you run, sort of like if you've been running in long tights all winter and then wear shorts for the first time.
However, it feels less great after a week when the stubs are scratching up your legs at night - or your girlfriend insists you keep your legs on your own side of the bed.
secure masculine wrote:
your girlfriend insists you keep your legs on your own side of the bed.
my girlfriend will not let me have a girlfriend.
Go with the clippers idea instead of the razor. Works much better, no cut, and no goose bumps. You will need to do it every 2-3 weeks this way.
Second the clippers. I mean, your not looking for having nicer legs than your girlfriend? Me, I use the clippers with the extesnion thing on it. Cuts close enough so I don't look like sasquatch, but not short enough to look, well you know what I mean.
Leave at least 2 or 3 nights out to shave, as shaving the night before anything will drive you nuts, (speaking from experience here, a biker) your legs will feel ultrasensetive against the sheets and will give you this almost-itchy sensation that drives you absolutely nuts and basically prevents sleep til it goes away in several hours. If you can't get some clippers before hand to shorten the hair before the shave, plan to spend at least an hour and a half shaving it all off.