Five weeks before the Pittsburgh Mara-
thon on May 5, my coach scheduled this
workout: a 2-mile warmup, back-to-back
mile repeats at sub-6-minute pace, 30 min-
utes at just around my marathon pace, and
another pair of hellacious mile repeats.
I laced up a test pair of orange Vaporf ly
4% and drove to a nearby rail trail. The
path was smooth and mostly f lat, the late
March air contained that bit of “perfect,”
and my previous workouts gave me confi-
dence that I wouldn’t be left dry-heaving.
I nailed this run—there were 5:39 mile
splits, and I felt good enough to hold some
6:30 miles for that steady-state running.
Hopefully, it was a sign that I could finally
break 3 hours in the marathon.
The only key difference between this
speed effort and every other one before it
was the shoes. I had been chasing 3 hours
for a decade, but was that all I needed?
I decided I’d put too much faith in
myself for years to give the credit to the
impressive Vaporf ly. But when I got home,
I buried them deep inside my shoe trunk.
Science of New Shoes
Since it launched, the Vaporf ly has shown- GARMIN 245 MUSIC
/$350
This update to the
popular Garmin 235
helps you nail your
pace with heart-rate
monitoring, and
syncs your favorite
music or podcasts.
3. CEP COMPRESSION
RECOVERY SOCKS /$50
Whether it’s a pla-
cebo effect or they
actually do improve
blood circulation to
sore muscles, these
feel good after your
long run. - SALOMON PULSE
HANDHELD /$24
Constantly bonking
on long runs, but hate
bulky handhelds?
This crushable bottle
fits comfortably and
securely in your hand
to keep you fueled.
GEAR THAT
HELPS YOU
TRAIN BETTER
You Don’t
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BY BRIAN DALEK28 RUNNERSWORLD.COM PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAKOTA GAMBILL