Men of the 80s, sweat pants or long johns in the cold

I was in HS in the 80s, and I had 2 pairs of running tights. One was shiny silver, and one was shiny blue. I also had a pair of those nylon-ish pants. I never ran long enough in them for chafing to be an issue.

You were poor? Our team had just a few guys with actual running gear and I remember the early GorTex stuff to be really expensive. I was stuck with long underwear, cotton gloves or sometimes socks on my hands. We also tried covering the exposed skin on our faces with Vaseline.I was always too cool to wear a long sleeve under my singlet while racing though. Someone should have straightened me out.

Shorts over thermal underwear.

I didn't start running until the fall of '79, and by then we had those nylon pants. Permanently "borrowed" my first pair of tights in '82 from an ex-collegian when I was a sophomore in college, they had a few tears here and there but worked great.

But mostly the way I remember, it had to be REALLY cold to wear something other than just shorts and over-the-calf socks during long runs. Runners were a lot tougher back then IMHO.

Shorts and long socks in the 80s...like a boss.

http://www.solotravelgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Huber-DadCoaching.jpg

Long johns were not a baggy so they were preferred. When it go really cold then both together. The nylon stuff was crap back then. On race day if it was below freezing then sometimes nylons I got from mom.

Leg warmers, of course.

We wore heavy sweatpants and my headphones were approx 3 lbs with horrible reception. Winter running is much better these days!

angry willy wrote:

There was a company in the northeast ... cant remember the name, that made nice running gear, but at the time the price seemed really high.

Sometimes the "good ol' days" werent always so good. ;-)

That would be GUTS (General Universal Training Supplies or Moss Brown probably.

I was in high school in the mid 70's--in Maine-- and all there was then was the sweats that the school gave you, and long underwear. Funny, we did fine anyway. I had one of the first Frank Shorter running jackets in Maine (1977)--I still have it, and still wear it occasionally.

Late 60's through 70's it was cotton sweatpants and layers of cotton under a heavy thermal sweatshirt. Really cold days, thermal pants under the sweats. One learned to be mindful of the wind direction, getting hot with the wind at your back and finishing into the teeth of a northwest wind was nasty! Rain and wet snow was the worst. It is so much easier now with all the "magic" materials available. In retrospect running in that thermal sweatshirt was like resistance training, it was so heavy. I really looked forward to spring and shedding that.

CarlHott wrote:

Sweatpants. After a jog you can wear them to Newberry's for a copy of the Times and a diet Tab and still look great.

diet Tab is redundant

HS from 81 thru 85, I ran in cotton sweat pants about half the time, long johns the rest (especially in the rain), and both sometimes when it was bitterly cold. Occasionally I ran in panty hose - they were surprisingly warm and much lighter/less absorbent than the sweats or long johns.

I also ran in (and still have) a fish-net undershirt that is light-weight and, worn under a tight-fitting long sleeve thermal shirt, makes a terrific bottom layer in the cold.

long johns just like Salazar!

Top seven on my HS XC team got nylon Sub4 suits-- everyone else was issued sweats...

Socks.

Wear socks over your hands not gloves. I remember H Rono wearing a pair of white cotton socks on his hands during workouts in the cold. Gloves force the fingers apart. Socks allow allow your hands to remain 'normal' and warm.

I still use socks as mittens in really cold weather - all 5 digits stay toasty.

guys on my HS team (NY State) we cut long johns to the length of what would look like bike shorts and put basic running shorts over them

Bought a pair of black, Hind (I think) running tights in HS in 1983 or so. Wore those, with shorts over them. Had a Frank Shorter Polypropylene turtle-neck Long sleeve, that I would wear over a t-shirt. If it was really cold, I would put my Moss Brown silver, Gore-Tex jacket on. New Balance running hat, and usually the black jersey gloves. I still have the Moss Brown running suit, Frank Shorter Turtle-neck, and NB running hat, though I seldom wear them now. I remember kids making fun of me all the time in HS about the running tights. They weren't laughing when they were eating my cinders during track season!

Hopefully, this thread will make people realize how tough it was for guys in the "old days"

I always think about Jim Ryun running through the Kansas winters in those crappy old cotton sweats.

TOUGH!