If, like me, you’re a ridiculously heavy sweater, you may have been told after a run: “You look like you jumped in a pool.” And if you’ve been paid that compliment, you’re in luck, because the Ciele ATShort is designed for exactly that—dipping in a pool or a lake during or after a run—so they are exceptionally adept at managing moisture. This makes them the best warm-weather shorts I’ve owned in my 46 years of running.
You see, I don’t just sweat when I run. I get post-run puddles when I wring out tops and socks, complaints from training partners about being sprayed with my sweat, and the dreaded squishy foot, in which my shoes are so soaked that each moist footstep is audible.
We heavy sweaters need to choose our warm-weather running gear with extra care. When your shorts, shirts, and singlets get saturated on an easy 5-miler, you want them to somehow still facilitate air flow, so that the sweat can do its intended job of cooling you. You also want gear that doesn’t cling like plastic wrap once wet, to reduce your risk of chafing. And it’s a nice touch if the items resist odor buildup enough that you can wear them more than once between launderings.
The Ciele ATShort excels in all of these properties. The “AT” in the shorts’ name stands for “all terrain.” Meagan Smith, Ciele’s production and sourcing manager, says, “A lot of our customers are running on trails or running in nature, and these shorts encompass that summer vibe of wanting to run and then jump in a lake, jump in a river, and just get wet.”
Ciele ATShort
$75 at Ciele $75 at Backcountry
According to Smith, design details such as a weft (horizontal) stretch, fine-gauge shell that’s chlorine- and salt-resistant, lightweight knit liner, self-draining pocket, and PFC-free durable-water-resistant coating distinguish the shorts as run/swim candidates. The weft stretch, for example, reduces the clinging that can lead to chafing.
When I started testing the Ciele ATShorts, my hope was that they wouldn’t distinguish between getting soaked because I dove into a pond or because I ran for an hour around a pond. And I was right! I wore the ATs on three consecutive days when the daytime highs were close to 100–in Maine!–accompanied by stifling humidity. Of course, the shorts were soon saturated. But they didn’t bunch up or create rivulets down my thighs or rub me raw or any of my other usual experiences in severe heat. Nor, incredibly, did they smell like an ammonia factory. A few days later, the weather shifted to low 60s and rain. I wore the ATs on a nearly four-hour trail run, and thought about them only when I realized I wasn’t thinking about them. Meanwhile, two of my four companions on the run suffered some fairly significant chafing.
In less extreme conditions, the ATs are simply a pair of attractive, light, stay-out-of-the-way shorts that I find myself regularly reaching for. The 5-inch inseam is perfect for my tastes—not circa-1982-style too short, not movement-impeding clownishly long. (The women’s version of the AT has a 4-inch inseam.) Their length and moisture-management properties make them my go-tos for warm-weather hard workouts and races.
Ciele didn’t invent the run-swim apparel niche. Almost a decade ago, Tracksmith introduced what it then called its Run Swim Run shorts. Now known as Run Cannonball Run, the shorts are thoughtfully constructed and high-quality, as you would expect from Tracksmith. I’ve used various versions as I do the ATs, as a bulwark against extreme sweatiness. But I’ve found their weight and thick waistband lean too much toward the swim side of things.
If you want a running short that’s going to perform well on the run when wet from water you’ve jumped in, water that has fallen on you, or water you’ve produced copious amounts of yourself, the Ciele ATs have no peers.
