39 replies to this topic

[John Dawlings]

Just read the article on Socks. Apart from advocating synthetic material it ends with the line, "Additionally, it is important to mark socks "left" and "right" at time of purchase and not to switch them around to either foot."

Does anyone do this?

[slowaz]

No but you can get them pre-marked - Soft Soles I think they are called. Cost over $20 though. Have a look at Rebel or Athlete's Foot. I have one pair of these. Whilst I find them comfortable, there is not a lot of difference from basic ankle socks. I have not worried about marking the normal ankle socks and not experienced any problems.

[EatEm]

I have two pair of Asics Kayano socks that I use for races and long runs - very comfortable, right thickness (not too thick at all - less chance of movement leading to blisters) but not cheap at between $20 - $29 depending on the store.But not a lot about running is cheap ... ;)

[Sparkie]

I have just switched to Target CoolMax which I have found excellent (I now have 5 pairs), and a bargain at $9 a pair. These are marked left and right, so that's already taken care of.

[The Sloth]

I don't mark the socks, but have one pair of the pre-marked socks that I bought about 4 years ago. I use these on most long runs/races and always feel better in them.
Haven't been able to find them in ages though - I'll look at the above mentioned stores (thanks slowaz!).

[John Dawlings]

I'm having trouble working out what the advantage is of always wearing the same sock on the same foot. Presumably they will wear out quicker (which hardly ranks as an advantage) so there must be something else in it.

[Bristol City FC]

I love the Target socks marked left and right,...always had trouble working out which was which!!! :D

[malleyDuck]

[indent]quote:

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Originally posted by The Sloth:
I don't mark the socks, but have one pair of the pre-marked socks that I bought about 4 years ago.

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[/indent]you have socks that are 4 years old!! :)
Now that's what i call getting value for money.

[expozay]

Are coolmax synthetic socks? I have several pairs, but have no recollection that they are marked L and R or what they are made of.

[John Dawlings]

I'm with Bristol City. If my socks were marked left and right I would have to do the same with my feet.

[shark]

Well I wore cotton socks for the first time in months today and got a blister on the arch. Never again.

Target Coolmax or Thorlos only from now.

Target Coolmax are synthetic, don't blister, give good support, don't overheat, last well and are cheap.

I think the idea of L/R is to stop folds - they fit your feet better over time. I have never bothered.

S

[miners]

... was wondering why this thread had resurfaced - and now I see that the best socks on the planet are on sale!

Thanks for the heads up, also ran :)

[FakePlasticTrees]

The ones that I used to buy were the Target X-Static socks but Target have stopped selling them. I now hate Target for discontuing the best socks in the world.

[tim]

I saw them in the sale bin and knew it was not a good sign. yes I got a few pair for $2.99 but what will I do when they wear out!

Oh the humanity!!!

[alchemy]

I love the Target CoolMax socks, left & right markings and padded on top of the foot and at the top of the heel. I've got 10 pairs for running and cycling (various ankle heights), and you can choose blue or red trim...bonus.

I also use their cheapo aerocool vests for cycling undershirts and they just released Spalding quick dry tops which I snapped up for running and the gym.

I think I got about 4 singlets/muscle tops for the price of my long sleeve winter asics top.

Best & Less also have Slazenger quick dry singlets and t's occasionally at very cheap prices.

What I save on tops I can spend on shoes ;)

Alchemy.

[chilliman]

Speaking of Target Coolmax socks (which I love also), picked up 1/2 a dozen pair last week at Target Fountain Gate Vic for $3.89 a pair. Not sure if it was a national thing or just that store, none of the other socks seemed to have been reduced apart from all the coolmax styles.

Edit: Sorry just read back through this thread and looks as if it wasn't just confined to Fountain Gate, that'll teach me for only reading the last post.....

[tim]

how can they discontinue a range of socks that obviously are selling well. maybe we should start a campaign to force target to bring back the coolmax!! If I was a different person I would head up such a campaign. :P

[chilliman]

You can have my vote Tim :)

I'd better drop past on the way home tonite and pick up a few more years supply if they are being discontinued <_<

[moby]

[indent]quote:

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Originally posted by FakePlasticTrees:
The ones that I used to buy were the Target X-Static socks but Target have stopped selling them. I now hate Target for discontuing the best socks in the world.

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[/indent]Doh! I love those socks.

[Also Ran]

[indent]quote:

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Originally posted by Sparkie:
I have just switched to Target CoolMax which I have found excellent (I now have 5 pairs), and a bargain at $9 a pair. These are marked left and right, so that's already taken care of.

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[/indent]Currently they are $3.88 a pair at Target (at least at Target in Hoppers). After picking up 5 pairs there's still plenty of stock. :)

[Dani California]

I have a couple pair of the Target socks and like them. But found Injinji Coolmax Toe socks, which have a left & right, and love them to bits! They are about 14.79 a pair but have to be shipped from the US. :D

[Cirque]

I thought you were meant to label them on the part that sticks out above the shoe so at the end of a really long run you can remind yourself to keep going left, right, left, right.

[Screaming Knees]

Thanks for the heads up. Picked up 14 pairs of the Target CoolMax socks today.Confirming the long held belief of Mrs Screaming that I'm totally off the planet. :D

[Ian Mac]

Well lets hope that runout doesnt mean no further stock but just excess stock or new styles coming in :)

[moby]

I've just returned from a work trip to Swan Hill, where the Target store was selling the Coolmax socks for 86cents each!

I picked up the last 3 pairs of the X-Static socks that they had in stock for $2.80 each. :)

[pbig]

A belated contribution to the left/right issue...

I always wear my socks on the same foot, but no need to mark them as I can tell by the shape, ie. the sock will be longer where my big toe has been. It does feel uncomfortable to wear them the other way around, as they don't quite fit right, with the socks feeling loose and crumpled around the little toes, and I imagine this could lead to blistering??

[Davo]

Cirque,
It's a bit hard to read the tops of your socks when you're running, you have to keep stopping and bending down to make sure you've got it right.
Far better to have earphones (a la Tesso), and you could just make a tape saying "left, right, left, right etc." That would help. Also you could have in the background another voice saying "breathe in, breathe out.....etc", just in case you forget.
But you don't want the earphones to be too conspicuous or so loud that other people can hear them, or they'd think you were a silly person.

[Night Runner]

Why keep the same sock on the same foot? pbig got it right. As each foot is a mirror reverse of the other, your big toe wiil stretch the sock to its length. Then, if you swap them around, you'll have extra stretched fabric over the smaller toes which may lead to discomfort and blistering.

The degree of stretch depends on the fabric used. The Target Coolmax is certainly great value.

[DrJH]

You have got to be kidding! I can't believe there are so many posts about socks.

[MaxMTC]

[indent]quote:

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Originally posted by Night Runner:
you'll have extra stretched fabric over the smaller toes

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[/indent]I can only speculate about how much this has been holding me back. :P

[Davo]

Just deviating only slightly from the original question : does everyone agree that it's best to wear your socks inside out so that the seam doesn't dog into your toes.
I always do.
Then I just turn the top inch of the socks over so that the inside bit, which was really the outside bit, is now outside again and looks good.
I'm sure you all understand that.

[pbig]

Sound like a good question for a poll Davo :rolleyes: . I always wear mine the way they come, and never have any problems - I don't notice any seams in Thorlo Lights, the socks I mainly wear.

As for deviating from the original question, your post does at least follow the theme about how socks are worn, which is more than can be said for many others :P .

[Cirque]

[indent]quote:

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Originally posted by Davo:
Cirque,
It's a bit hard to read the tops of your socks when you're running, you have to keep stopping and bending down to make sure you've got it right.
Far better to have earphones (a la Tesso), and you could just make a tape saying "left, right, left, right etc." That would help. Also you could have in the background another voice saying "breathe in, breathe out.....etc", just in case you forget.
But you don't want the earphones to be too conspicuous or so loud that other people can hear them, or they'd think you were a silly person.

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[/indent]Phew! Thank you for saving me from some potentially embarrassing moments Davo! You mean that some people breathe WITHOUT the recorded message? BTW - I really wanted to meet you at Caboolture but didn't manage to, even though I was there for seven hours. Hopefully next time!
Returning to the original thread. One of my cirquelets was in the vicinity of Target the other day so I asked him to look out for some of these socks so I could replenish my supply. Unfortunately they only had male type socks so I ended up buying a few pairs for the cirquelets and I missed out.

So, as well as asking whether there is a difference between left and right, perhaps we should be asking about the difference between male and female socks?

Any thoughts?

[Davo]

Cirque,
You ask the difference between male and female socks.
Some interesting thoughts spring to mind, but I'll leave that sort of thing to Vegie-girl, she's so good at it! :P :P

[Vegie-girl]

[indent]quote:

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Originally posted by Davo:
Cirque,
You ask the difference between male and female socks.
Some interesting thoughts spring to mind, but I'll leave that sort of thing to Vegie-girl, she's so good at it! :P :P

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[/indent]'Ello, 'ello . . . did someone call "Puerile Comments R Us"?
At last; something I'm good at! :D

Cirque, I think what our mate Davo is getting at is that sometimes men only require one sock. ;) As proof of this, please refer to Boon's recent efforts at Caboolture (read the comments).

Aaah . . . too funny. :D

[tim]

that reminds me when I was young my family could only afford one shoe so I had to hop to school each day.

[Louise]

In my experience, female socks hang around in pairs or small groups, and can usually be found gossiping together in the laundry basket or on the clothesline; whereas male socks run rampant in the gym bag or behind the washing machine, shacking up with whatever unprotected loners they find or disappearing unannounced for weeks at a time.

[Davo]

I think male socks would be better in a race, because as we all know, males can only think of one thing at a time, so if you process them to think "forward, forward, forward" you're on to a winner.
Female socks, on the other hand, will be thinking "Hmm, he may have a nice body, but his shorts don't really match with his top; and as for that hat,...well!" And we don't want things like that around our feet when we're running, do we.

[Boonarga]

[indent]quote:

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Originally posted by Vegie-girl:

Cirque, I think what our mate Davo is getting at is that sometimes men only require one sock. ;) As proof of this, please refer to Boon's recent efforts at Caboolture (read the comments).

Aaah . . . too funny. :D

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[/indent]Maybe is was a deliberate ploy to test sock Vs no sock?
or not....

I don't mark mine left and right. It's more like.. "this end up"

[Kato]

Boonie, I'm curious to know: Were you only one sock wide, or only one sock deep?