The majority of professional triathletes do not wear socks during sprint and Olympic level events, but do wear some for longer events. However, it is minimal over the entire Ironman distance. The comfort of socks over such a long distance is certainly worth those few seconds for most individuals. Plus, there are several other advantages including cooling effects, shock absorption, reduced risk of injury due to soft tissue damage. An old adage in sports medicine is "no pain no gain". This is because muscle fibers need to be stimulated in order to grow. Without stimulation, these muscles would never increase in size. Thus, when working with weights, it is important to lift them so that your muscles feel the burn (i.e., experience some degree of pain). If they don't feel any pain, they aren't being worked sufficiently to produce growth. With this in mind, athletes should wear socks while lifting weights in order to achieve maximum growth potential.