Making investments in your training
Making investments in your training
For a long time running wasn’t a sport where you could buy speed. At least not directly with something like cycling or triathlon where a light wheel-set, more aerodynamic frame, or speed suit could help you cut seconds off your time. Eventually they hit an unreasonable cost/ seconds gain and the denominator has always been this same – fitness. Running has been a sport that purely relied on long, consistent bouts of training to produce great times on race day. However, there are a few ways outside of equipment used on race day that can give you an edge on race day.
Carbon Shoes / Trainers/ Spikes
At some point you go from having one pair of trainers to having an arsenal to equip a local Junior College for both the track and cross-country season. As it sits – I currently have 2 pairs of road trainers I rotate, 2 pairs of trail shoes I rotate, a pair of Nike Turbos for Tempo runs, An older pair of Nike Zoomfly SP’s for speed work and races 10K and under, add to that a pair of Asic SP5’s for short races, 2 pairs of track spikes for Mile and 5K’s, and lastly a pair of Cross Country spikes. Yes, I use them all! I train in them regularly and specifically, this ensures that I’m comfortable and confident in the shoes and don’t have blisters or discomfort on race day.
Mechanical Advantage
What’s the controversy with Carbon shoes? Simply put, you get a mechanical advantage from a carbon plate in the shoe that both diminishes the amount of reaction force you take up and increases the amount of force you put out. This carbon plate pushes you further onto your forefoot and allows you to run faster for less output. These shoes often come with large stack heights, carbon plates, and alien like shapes. The days of minimal foam and as light as humanly possible materials are behind us. These new carbon shoes don’t beat your feet to death on the pavement but they can still give some issues because of how stiff they are compared to a regular trainer. So should you get them? Yes! Can they ensure an improved result? Simply put, No.
Not all athletes get a 4-8% improvement response
Shoes can be a huge benefit for athletes and help keep your legs fresher in longer races
Athletes should practice in 5-7 workouts before putting them to test on race day.
They can be expensive. Expect to part ways with $150-$250 for shoes that you might get 2-3 races out of. The cost mile is high!
Buying speed and improvement also means buying time
Where you can save time, opens new doors for additional training opportunities. So when we look at paying for speed, you can also read that as buying time back in your day. This could be more time for more mileage, increased strength, or better recovery.
Hiring a Running Coach
After buying a pair of shoes, the next largest ROI is a sport specific coach. This isn’t just a training plan, this is someone who’s taking an active role in your success and helping you dive into your weaknesses, actively guiding your progression and helping you help personal and specific goals. Coaches should come with a certification from a national governing body, offer regular conversation about your goals and training, as well as planning and delivering a regular training schedule.
Specific schedule to your goals
Invested in your success
Will push you to build on your weaknesses
Will moderate your training to help you avoid injury/ burn out
Recovery Tools
Percussion recovery guns, foam rollers, and air pressure recovery boots are they worth the coin? Absolutely, if you can find the time to use them regularly in your training. The foam roller is the cheapest with options starting at $10 and ranging up to $50+ for vibrating versions. Percussion guns are the newest tools on the market ranging from $100 to $250+. Percussion therapy doesn’t completely eliminate muscle soreness but it does increase blood flow to a specific muscle are, which helps reduce inflammation, muscle tension and break up pesky knots after particularly hard workouts. Air Recovery boots are the priciest of the tools ($550 - $1.2K+) and work a lot like a massage by increasing blood flow and circulation to the legs. This increase in pressure helps flush metabolic waste from the legs and quicken recovery after workouts.
The biggest barrier to success for athletes with all these tools is finding time to use them. I personally use them during my evening TV time after dinner, or directly after a workout before I get on to the next thing. I’ve used all the tools and an ol’ fashion foam roller and Theragun are my go-to items. I haven’t invested in boots because I prefer manual therapies and working with practitioners over this particular recovery tool.
Manual Therapies / Physical Therapy
This is one place I encourage athletes to invest heavily in – massage therapists are intuitive and learn your body and help you stay loose and at your peak. A good physical therapist should work hard enough so they see you less and less! I’ve been blessed to work with 2 great massage therapists and sports rehab specialists over the years. One great thing about out of pocket (vs. insurance approved) therapists is they can follow the trail of an injury and develop a strategy alongside you to recovery form injury or keep you injury free. Most insurance providers offer coverage for acute care and dismiss the necessity of massage or rehab that is seen as maintenance care. I got to sports rehab to get work done like dry needling, chiropractic adjustment, and massage to keep me operating at 100%. Expect to pay in the neighborhood of $1/ minute for practitioners worth their salt. You can likely find people for cheaper but you may struggle to get in on a regular basis. I highly encourage supporting your specialist by buying packages and booking in advance. This allows you to approach this as a regular part of recovery and not just trying to shoe horn a visit when something pops up.
Expect to pay at least $1/ minute
Focuses on the full body that guns and boots just can’t touch
Emotional element of relaxing massage and true self care is worth every penny
Insight on your training that you likely don’t/ can’t see.
Meal Planning
If time is money, how much money are you willing to spend on getting time back in your day? We want to maximize the time we spend working out, working, and relaxing after the day is done. We also need to eat well and fuel our bodies for what’s next. Most athletes could benefit from regular, healthy, and nutritious meals. I personally think that food services like Blue Apron, Green Chef, and Freshly are worth the cost. These services either require minimal food prep, or none at all and give you back time spent in a grocery store, prepping ingredients, cooking, and clean up. This additional cost has a high convenience factor that truly comes out to say “ you get what you pay for”. These meal portions are relatively large and great for athletic appetites, highly nutritious with fresh ingredients, and encourage a wide variety of vegetables that ensure you’re meeting your daily intake requirements. A meal service can save you up to an hour a day, which if you’re busy means time for a strength workout, a second run, or simply making room for any sort of workout that day.
Gives you time back in your day
Comes at a higher cost than grocery cost alone
Flavorful, nutrition packed meals
Minimal clean up, minimal know-how to get great meals
Time is money is fitness
There is always something more to be done in our training but the biggest barrier is time. All of these tools come with a cost/ benefit ratio that can only be maximized by making time in your day to use them to achieve the full benefit. To make the best decisions possible, take a little bit of time to do research in each category and assess the cost/ benefit ratio for your personal training. As always, if you’re looking for industry leading, certified coaches – look no further! You can learn more about our coaches here.