Saturday, September 1, 2012

Breast Chafing With Running. Ouch!

Training for a marathon, as the miles increase, my body begins to change too. Two weeks ago, after a 13 mile long run, I found chafing under both breast & along my front chest where the lining of my high impact Champion 360 sports bra was rubbing.  It was a surprise.  A year ago, I experienced the severe chafing when I first began running. I started using anti chafing Body Glide. This didn't work.  During this time I tested the Victoria Secret sport bra, Old Navy sports bra, Under Armour sports bra, before coming across the Champion 360. It stopped the chafing up until now.   I began researching for a new bra.
Once again, I have lost inches around my chest.  My first Internet search, I found the Enell http://enell.com/ . The reviews told me, the bra does take time getting use to, but does compress the breast to keep them from moving.  The Enell isn't pretty, but sounds like it would do what it promised.
The next bras, I researched, were by Moving Comfort:   http://www.movingcomfort.com/ .  The Juno and the Fiona both promised to minimize bounce and decrease the chance of chafing.  I found the Road Runner Store carries this brand of bras and headed into the store. 
First I tried on the Juno. I had found this blog site showing a woman putting on the Juno: http://didyougetanyofthat.blogspot.com/2011/09/moving-comfort-juno-bra-review-and.html . Let me tell you, it took a lot of dexterity to get into this bra. I couldn't get into the bra the way this woman had gotten into it. I did put it over my head but undid the straps. Once in the bra, it fit very snug and had no bounce. The back of the bra has large crisscross bands and a regular bra closing. I like the crisscross design because the weight isn't distributed over my shoulders. The straps are a super-stead-fast Velcro and adjust easily in front. The Juno has no plastic parts or pieces. The fabric was soft and thick.
I thought since the Juno fit all my criteria, I wasn't going to try on the Fiona, but I drove the distance to the store, I thought I might as well see the comparison. The Fiona made fun of the Juno as far as getting into the bra. Unlike the Juno, the Fiona looks like a regular bra with the claps in the the back. The claps has the same super-stead-fast Velcro it has on the straps to insure it stays in place.  It has all the same elements and fitting snug but does have a little bounce. By adjusting the straps, again in the front,  stopped the most bounce.  The bra's material, like the Juno, is very soft, but really thick.  The banding around the chest is wide.  The Juno & the Fiona have the wicking material and are pleasant to look at with various colors to choose from.
I choose the Fiona bra because it was easier to get into. I took the Fiona for a few short runs and there was no bounce but because the material is so thick, it felt hot! I ran in the Fiona during the Heartbreak Ridge Half Marathon.  It caused chafing on the outer edges of my breast on both sides near my armpits.  Man this hurts!
 My step daughter ran the San Diego Rock & Roll Marathon 2012. She swears by Vaseline. I read a blog that said to first use deodorant followed by an application of Vaseline. Desperate, I gave it a go and found it worked! I retried my Champion 360 running bras with this deodorant/Vaseline combination and found it worked again! Gosh I'm so happy. I also found the product New Skin to apply onto the chafing areas in transition of healing. It burns like the old school "monkey blood" use to, but the blowing on the boo boo made the stinging go away quicker. I plan on using the Fiona for winter short runs. Chafing can really make you want to toss in the towel. Try not to get discourage and try different bras to see what works best for you.

6 comments:

  1. I hope you've been able to find a good anti-chafe solution! Using BodyGlide, I haven't chafed in the Juno yet at any bra-related points. I do sometimes chafe in this weird spot under my arm on runs longer than 6 miles if I don't use the BodyGlide or vaseline.

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  2. XLMI,
    The Fiona bra caused more chafing with the large under the breast band. The BodyGlide seems to create a surface to burn my skin. It was aweful. I don't remember where I found the information, but it was in a blog. I first apply deodorant and then vasaeline. I went back to my champion 360 bras and it work perfectly! So happy to get back to training.

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  3. I have two favorites: Yvette zippered sports bra from Amazon ($29.9) and Champion Molded Cup Racer from Target ($18.99) - love, love, love them!

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    1. I'm going to check them out! Thanks Dailone :)

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  4. The Fiona is giving me such chafing. I just bought some of the body glide but haven't tried it yet because i'm still healing. I was going to buy a really expensive bra that swore not to chaff but I think I will try your recommendation first.

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  5. Whenever women work out they must invest in comfortable sports bras. I highly recommend Carbon38 sports bras because they are professionally made with care and their fabric is very soft. I also use them for my workouts.

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