The Ultimate High-Tech Meets Holistic Recovery Toolkit for Runners

In my mid-twenties, qualifying for the 2023 Boston Marathon was a huge goal of mine. I only cared about one thing: how fast I could cross the finish line. But training for the New York City Marathon in my early thirties feels...different. Missing a night of good sleep or forgetting my creatine and electrolytes takes a much bigger toll than it used to, so instead of chasing a PR this time around, I’ve shifted my focus to something I used to treat as a once-in-a-while luxury: recovery.

With limited hours to train and even fewer to unwind (a year into self-employment, I’ve learned “off days” don’t really exist), I’ve developed a routine that combines modern, high-tech recovery tools with more holistic practices, like acupuncture and nervous system regulation techniques. These rituals don’t just help us bounce back physically—they also help keep your stress levels and mindset in check, which is equally (if not more) important when covering 26.2 miles.

Recovery has become the backbone of my training plan, and these are the practices helping me get to the start line feeling strong. Here's everything in my holistic recovery toolkit, plus the expert-backed science behind each one.

Why Recovery Matters (Especially for Women)

If I’ve learned anything over the past 18 years of running, it’s that skipping rest days just leads to burnout. This is true both for seasoned runners and beginners: The body needs time to adapt to new physical demands, explains board-certified sports dietitian and registered clinical exercise physiologist, Jason Machowsky, MS, RD, CSSD, CEP, CSCS. When you train hard but don’t give your body enough time to recover, you’re more likely to deal with lingering soreness and overuse injuries like stress fractures, he says. That time to repair is critical for letting your muscles adapt to the demands of training, allowing you to get stronger, fitter, etc.

It’s not just your workouts or race day performance that will suffer from a lack of recovery—it can affect your physical well-being in a handful of other ways. “Heavy training can also weaken your immune system, which is why so many runners get sick during heavy bouts of training,” says Kaleigh Ray, a biomechanist, ACSM-certified exercise physiologist, running coach, and ultrarunner. Recovery is extra important for women who are managing ping-ponging hormone changes, like those in perimenopause, who need extra support preserving energy, improving sleep quality, and protecting muscle and bone health, Ray adds.

Recovery isn't just about your physical health though—it’s about restoring (or maintaining) emotional balance, too.

Your nervous system is the engine behind how your body performs, recovers, and responds to stress. When you’re juggling work, life, and marathon training, keeping your nervous system in check is just as important as logging miles. “It helps us recover from stressors, challenges, and perceived threats,” says Jessica Maguire, a physiotherapist and nervous system educator.

It's important to understand where the ventral vagal branch of your vagus nerve comes in—it’s the conductor of your parasympathetic nervous system, also known as the “rest and digest” response. It helps to maintain a steady resting heart rate during everyday activities and sleep. "You can think of your vagus nerve as the brakes on a bike," says Jessica Maguire, a physiotherapist and nervous system educator. "If you were on a bike and you were riding downhill but didn't want to go too fast, you'd have a little bit of engagement with your fingers on the brake the whole time,” Maguire says. But when our body faces stressors—whether that’s sprinting through a workout or dealing with emotional stress at work or in relationships—the brakes come off, she says. This is a normal physiological response, she explains—the body eases off the brake to let adrenaline do its job—but when you don't allow your body to come down from all of that stress, your vagus nerve may struggle to re-engage the brake that signals it’s safe to rest.

On the flip side: When your nervous system feels calm and balanced, recovery tools and even sleep quality become more effective because your body is already primed to rest, repair, and adapt.

The Recovery Tools and Practices That Make a Difference

There are a ton of high-tech tools out there, but massage guns—and good old foam rolling—are the two recovery methods that Ray recommends most often. “They can alleviate short-term pain, which is helpful for sore and tired muscles.” Research shows that foam-rolling before a workout can help increase blood flow to muscles, which helps prepare them for exercise. This same concept also helps tense or sore muscles heal. Studies also show that massage guns can help ease tension by improving flexibility and range of motion in stiff muscles.

I use the Rally orbital massager whenever I feel a muscle ache or tight spot forming in my legs or glutes. What I appreciate most is that it packs a punch without causing nearby muscles to tense up—a phenomenon called muscle guarding. “The circular motion of the orbital head creates a gentle, yet powerful massage, making it ideal even when your legs are extremely fatigued or sore from training,” says physical therapist Daniel Giordano, PT, DPT, CSCS, cofounder of Bespoke Physical Therapy (he is also on the medical advisory board of Rally). “This softer approach still delivers powerful results, helping to flush out metabolic waste, reduce muscle soreness, and deliver oxygen-rich blood to the tissues.” This isn’t to say other massage guns aren’t effective—it just does the job a bit differently—but you can also stack a percussive device like Theragun with Rally for a more comprehensive recovery routine.

Compression boots (also known as intermittent pneumatic compression) are another recovery tool beloved by athletes and experts alike, especially after a long or challenging workout. “Compression boots can be a great way to address swelling,” Ray says. “They are also relaxing, which is a feature that ranks highly for me when choosing a recovery method.”

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Inexpensive everyday items like an ice pack or a lacrosse ball can also help alleviate tight spots and support healing, according to Machowsky and Ray. “I like using a lacrosse ball for the bottoms of my feet, along the sides of my Achilles tendons and for more targeted pressure on areas that need it,” Ray says. “I recommend starting with a foam roller and testing the amount of pressure you can handle before using a lacrosse ball on larger muscle groups.”

Just know that while these tools are nice-to-haves—sleep and nutrition (a topic for another story) are musts. “If you aren’t getting enough sleep or fueling your body properly, it’s probably not worth investing in a less-proven recovery technique. I recommend getting an extra hour of sleep before spending an hour foam rolling, or using a massage gun,” Ray says.

The Holistic Approaches I Swear By

Preventative physical therapy: One nonnegotiable part of recovery during any training plan (in my opinion) is to go to physical therapy preventively—before your sore spot turns into an injury. My new obsession is Myo. I went a few weeks ago to have my hip flexor and TFL muscles rehabbed—they were uncomfortably tight, and it was making everyday activities like walking uncomfortable. My PT helped me identify the root of my pain and dysfunction, which believe it or not, was originating down at my ankle (thanks, Achilles tendonitis!) and it was causing me to push off my foot incorrectly. As a result, the tightness followed up the chain to my hip and IT band. One session, plus take-home exercises, did the trick—I no longer feel discomfort in those areas and my training sessions have been smoother.

Cold plunge and sauna sessions: I’m also a huge fan of sauna and cold plunge contrast therapy, so I have a membership at Othership in New York City. During these circuits, I focus on my breath, especially while sitting in the frigid cold plunge for two minutes, so that my body gets used to being stressed—an integral, but often overlooked part of marathon training: regulating your nervous system while putting your body through a lot of stress. As Maguire puts it, breathing through alternating sauna and cold-plunge sessions is like doing “bicep curls for the vagus nerve.” She explains, “You're essentially teaching your nervous system, ‘I can stay regulated even when things are hard, I can stay regulated under stress.’”

Ray agrees, adding, “Cold plunges are great for training your brain to handle your endurance load because they teach you to sit in discomfort,” she says. “That’s something you have to do a lot of during marathon training and racing. We have to be able to listen to our body’s signals screaming at us to stop and override them to a certain extent.”

Acupuncture and cupping: I’ve been a member at WTHN acupuncture clinic since 2022. I’m totally hooked, and it’s helped me manage a range of health issues. I also find sessions incredibly helpful for recovery. My acupuncturist regularly targets trigger points along my quads and hamstrings that inevitably become tight after pounding the pavement or track several days a week. I see my acupuncturist bi-weekly (though I admittedly wish I had the time and budget to go every single week). Acupuncture also helps me drift into a deep sleep, so I like to schedule my sessions after 7 p.m.

“Many runners use acupuncture and cupping to address common trouble spots like tight calves, IT band issues, hip flexor or knee pain, but these modalities can be helpful in overall relaxation and stress reduction,” says licensed acupuncturist Nicole Glathe, DAOM, LAc, DiplOM, who is head of product and service innovation at WTHN. It’s a reminder that athletic performance doesn’t come just from pushing harder but from creating space for the body to rest and recalibrate.

If you’re in the early days of training (whether you’re new to running, coming back from a long break, or gearing up for a marathon), Glathe recommends getting a hybrid acupuncture and cupping session done once a week and increasing to two times weekly, if you can, as your mileage increases.