Recofit calf compression sleeves

(Originally published February 19, 2011)

Calf sleeves look goofy.  I’m sure we can all agree on that.  Despite their goofiness, many elite runners, like Chris Solinsky and Shalane Flanagan, have been seen racing in them, and increasingly everyday runners and triathletes are giving them a shot. The theory behind them is that the compression will help improve blood circulation and thus performance and recovery.  As such the  sleeves provide greater compression toward the ankles and less toward the knees as they aim to stimulate flow back to the heart.

Last fall I bought a pair of Recofit calf sleeves in hopes that they would help reduce my calf soreness while I was transitioning toward minimal shoes.  Do they work?  From my experience - yes.  The science out there is very mixed on whether they provide any performance benefit while exercising, but it is much clearer about recovery.   If I had sore calves after a run in my Vibram Five Fingers I could put the Recofits on and feel almost instantaneous relief.   I’ve run in them a couple times and not noticed any real benefit.  Several times this winter I tried wearing them underneath tights and I did not like that at all as it just felt like there was too much tightness around my lower legs.  This past week when it was warm enough for shorts I gave them another spin during a long, hilly tempo run.  Again, I didn’t notice anything during the run.  Earlier in the week, however, I was out for an easy 5-6 mile run in the VFFs and ran into two college friends out doing a speed workout.  I was, of course, “forced” to join them.  I ended up doing a lot more speed work than I’ve done in a long, long time and way more than I’ve ever done in VFFs.  My total mileage for the run was more than I’d ever done before in VFFs.  I also had no time to stretch before going out on for a Valentine’s dinner with… my mom.  During dinner I could feel my calves tightening up and I started to think that the next day was going to be rough.  I ended up putting the Recofit sleeves on before bed and slept in them and wore them the entire next day.  No pain or soreness in my calves!  My hamstrings?  Yeah, over four days later there is still some lingering soreness and tightness from Monday’s workout.

I’m definitely a believer in compression for recovery.  If full compression tights didn’t cost so much I’d for sure be trying a pair right now in hopes that the hamstrings would improve.

I think the Recofits were a good choice for $40 and I would definitely recommend them to anyone who gets some soreness in your calves, or who wants to look like Solinsky or Flanagan.

The calf sleeves are available here.