Way back in 2003, when I first started running, I asked myself this question. Over the years, I’ve become more and more convinced about which shirt is better.
I am solidly on the side of the dry wick, aka “technical” shirt. Regardless of whether it’s hot or cold, the dry wick shirt is better than a cotton shirt any day.
The beauty of the technical dry wick shirt, is that it pulls moisture away from your skin. In the summer, it helps cool you down, but in the winter it helps keep you warm. It’s like magic.
Yes, the shirt feels a bit weird when you first put it on, and yes the shirts require special care (don’t put them in the dryer) if you want them to last longer but all in all they are definitely worth the cost and effort.
I’d gotten too fat to fit in my technical shirts until just recently so I’d been running with sleeveless cotton shirts. The sleeveless cotton shirts were better than cotton shirts with sleeves in the 100+ degree weather we’ve been having so I thought I was doing well by wearing sleeveless shirts.
The problem with the cotton shirts, is that when they get wet, the moisture acts as insulation and helps the shirt retain the heat next to your skin. The heat in turn makes you sweat more and so you get a nice little vicious sweating circle.
The other day, I tried on one of my technical shirts and was relieved that I fit in it. I wore the technical shirt on a run and I felt like it was 15 degrees cooler than it actually was. Despite having sleeves, the dry shirt was way cooler than the sleeveless cotton shirt.
Why am I making that face? I swear I'm having a good time.
The dry shirt did it’s thing and pulled the moisture away from my skin which helped cool me down and made that run the first truly pleasurable 105 degree run of the summer.
You don’t have to spend $50 on a dry wick shirt either. Wal-Mart has Starter brand dry shirts for about $12 the last time I checked. Start off buying one of those shirts, and if you like them and can afford to spend more, buy some of the $50 ones, but you’re not really getting anything extra for the money.
Since I’ve started to fit in to my dry wick shorts now also, I’ve been contemplating training for the Austin Marathon in February of 2012.
It’s on now.
I likewise use the dry wick shirts whenever I work out, and I enjoy them to the fullest extent. I wish they had these things when I played football (or handegg, if you prefer). Though, I must say that I did not realize that putting them into the dryer was not advised (I suppose those tags on the inside mean something…).
Anyway, I would like to know if you have any insight on “thermal” dry wick shirts? I see Nike, Adidas and Under Armour shilling them during the handegg games I watch, but are they sufficient enough to block out the elements and help the athlete during a workout?
You know, I’ve always been skeptical about anything new that supposed to do something that sounds too good to be true. I haven’t tried any of those “thermal” shirts, so I can’t say anything first hand about them. If they cost the same, I might try one now that it’s starting to get cooler, but I don’t usually have a problem with being cold. I’ve found that layers, a beanie hat and gloves works really well and keeps me plenty warm. Now, if I lived in Minnesota or some other cold place like that, I might have a different opinion.
I guess hand egg players at Lambeau field might have a different opinion.