Nike Precool Vest

Author: Ferenc Soma Kovács (middle-distance runner of the SVSE national team, World Championship participant and European Championship bronze medalist)

History

Nowadays, fewer and fewer people deny the fact of global warming. Although, due to my age, I do not have enough experience to compare decades, I still feel that the climate of our country has changed a lot in the past ten years alone. Nowadays, for example, the thermometer rarely drops below zero degrees Celsius in the winter in Pest County. The milder winters are combined with 35-37 degrees Celsius days in July and August. For example, at the 2024 adult national championship, the outdoor temperature during the men's 5000 meter run was 35-36 degrees Celsius. This raises the question: how can you still perform well in such hot, summer (athletics/) running competitions? The answer to this question is multifaceted: on the one hand, you need to stay hydrated throughout the day, on the other hand, you need to take care of replenishing minerals (especially salts), and thirdly, you need to avoid unnecessary exposure to the sun's rays right before the race. But there is another trick, which is none other than the cooling vest. There are two types of cooling vests. The first type includes cooling vests that can be inserted into the pockets of ice packs stored in a freezer. In this case, the ice packs provide the cooling. Representatives of the second group operate with built-in cooling modules (such as Peltier elements), which actively cool the body using electric current. The energy is usually provided by a rechargeable battery.

About the cooling vest itself in a nutshell

In my opinion, a cooling vest is a real “game changer” in the summer heat. At age-group European and World Championships, I saw it mainly on runners from Scandinavian countries warming up, who are probably more affected by the high temperatures. However, they usually keep an ice cooler in a professional manner, in which they store ice packs that can be inserted into the pockets of the vests. The Nike Precool vest consists of a white, body-fitting vest and four, rubber-walled ice packs. On the front of the body-fitting vest, one ice pack can be slipped into the long pockets on the right and left sides. Similarly, there are two pockets on the back.

Advantages and disadvantages

I consider three main aspects in a cooling vest besides the price. First, the weight of the vest. Well, the ice pack solution makes this vest quite heavy, as the ice packs weigh about 0.8 kg each. That is, 4 ice packs mean 3.2 kg of extra weight. Honestly, when warming up, I usually have to drastically slow down my pace, because I don't want the extra weight to tire me out too much before a race. The second aspect is the design of the vest, so that it doesn't feel like you're wearing an extra layer. Although this vest is close to the body, the ice packs still move up and down while running. This forces additional corrections in the runner's movement, which greatly worsens the economy of running and ultimately makes me more tired during the warm-up. For example, I instinctively lean forward more to counteract the unwanted up and down movement of the ice packs. Finally, I usually consider the quality of the cooling provided by the vest itself. In this, the vest performs particularly well. When I took off the Nike Precool vest for a short time and felt my deep back muscles, they were ice cold. Finally, a few words about the price! Unfortunately, this vest is out of stock in most places, so you can only find one with a persistent Google search. I personally bought it from mrtennis.com two years ago for about 100 euros. This price is much lower than the price of electric cooling vests, which range in the 300-400 euros range.

Final Judgment

If you don't want to spend 300-400 euros on an electric cooling vest, I definitely recommend this one. Although it is bulky and not perfectly designed, it can still add a lot to your performance on race days... I recommend wearing it on the track before the race until the start of your warm-up run! Then take it off and wrap a wet white mini towel around your neck! Finally, put the vest back on for gymnastics and running school and keep it on until your runs...! This way you will save yourself from unnecessary fatigue caused by the extra weight, but you can still keep your body cool.