I was enjoying dessert in the bar of the Omni Hotel in San Francisco the other evening when my boyfriend’s father passed me a section of The Wall Street Journal. “There’s a running article in here,” he offered, in what I can only assume was his way of showing me he’d listened when Justin told him what I liked to do in my spare time. 

“Thanks!” I took it, not wanting to seem ungrateful, and started to read. 

In the piece, The Next Level of Marathon Training is Here, the author shared her “secrets” to gaining an 11-minute PR in the London Marathon. Every single one of them prompted an eye roll from me, and my take was echoed on Twitter. From jumping into a CVAC machine to improve her VO2 max to using a three hundred and fifty dollar glorified car buffer to ease her sore muscles, every recommendation—especially the $55 water bottle that literally reminds you when to drink—was an expensive (and usually impractical) media-hyped product or service.

Unless your gym or physical therapy clinic has a TheraGun or NormaTech recovery boots you can rent or use, it seems silly for common, everyday athletes who aren’t earning any purse money upon crossing the finish line to pursue these out-of-this-world recovery techniques. An hour in the CVAC at ReCOVER, New York’s first recovery studio, costs $100. My clients pay less than that for an entire month of my tedious training plan scheduling and coaching wisdom!

For those of us who don’t have an extra $1000 around per month to spend on fancy recovery buffoonery, here are my favorite ways to gain a competitive edge: Continue reading “The Next Level of Marathon Training is… Probably Too Expensive For You” →