Because the yr winds down, the vacations close to, and working targets of 2026 start to daybreak on the horizon, I’m as soon as once more fielding the annual query from sufferers and runners alike: What do you get a runner who already owns each working shoe, efficiency sock, and gel taste recognized to humankind?
Every December, I pause to understand the true items working bestows — resilient our bodies, hard-earned classes in persistence, and the quiet satisfaction of staying wholesome sufficient to maintain displaying up.
In that spirit, right here’s an up to date vacation reward information from a sports activities medication perspective, that includes gadgets chosen from my bodily remedy clinic, teaching follow, and years spent on the roads and trails. They’re sensible instruments for restoration, damage prevention, and long-term sturdiness.
Presents for ultrarunners might help them run farther, sooner, and injury-free. Picture: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
On this yr’s haul, I’ve a handful of items in three classes:
- Underneath the Tree: Physique work instruments to boost mobility and efficiency
- Stocking Stuffers: Dietary items for fueling and restoration
- Spoiled by Santa: Greater-ticket, indulgent, however high-utility items
Underneath The Tree: Physique Work Instruments
These are two old-school self-massage instruments nonetheless close to and pricey to me. They’re those I most frequently advocate to my physio and working purchasers.
The Stick: A versatile, spindle-lined therapeutic massage rod designed for fast, moveable, self-myofascial launch. This was my go-to therapeutic massage instrument throughout my early working days and after I started teaching over 20 years in the past. With the exploding reputation of froth rolling, they fell to the wayside. Within the clinic, I’m bringing them again.
Moreover their superior portability, therapeutic massage sticks permit runners and physique staff alike to use mobilizing power at a shallower angle. This targets extra superficial fascial tightness, the place many dysfunctions dwell, notably within the decrease legs. A therapeutic massage stick can be an effective way to work on sure areas extra comfortably. Rolling the quadriceps with a therapeutic massage stick is far simpler and fewer excruciating than placing one’s full physique weight on a curler!
A therapeutic massage stick is an effective way to focus on particular muscle tissues for self-myofascial launch. Picture: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
The Orb: A agency 5-inch therapeutic massage ball delivers focused, deeper-tissue work, not only for the legs, pelvis, and rib cage, but additionally for the stomach. It’s my go-to instrument for visceral mobilization — a key technique for an ultrarunner’s orthopedic and digestive well being.
Stocking Stuffers: Fueling and Restoration
Vitamin merchandise for working, notably for endurance athletes, are like the most popular toys for teenagers: They’ve large hype, however not at all times the most effective endurance.
Two of my favourite choices are straightforward to make use of, cheap, and supply large advantages for the hardworking athletes in your loved ones.
Creatine: As soon as reserved for the bulking gymnasium athletes, creatine has gained traction as a high-utility complement for all athletes, particularly runners. Latest knowledge has proven that creatine not solely builds muscle but additionally aids in sooner muscle and connective tissue restoration. Extra not too long ago, it has confirmed to be a neurological support, enhancing nervous system restoration and supporting mind and nerve perform in periods of sleep deprivation and extended train — the precise calls for of ultrarunning. Creatine is cheap and straightforward to make use of. It may be added to restoration drinks or scorching espresso within the morning, which is my technique.
Creatine can support in sooner muscle and connective tissue restoration, so you may profit from your runs. Picture: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Gelatin: As soon as considered reserved for grandma’s vacation Jell-O dish, or to thicken her winter-warming soups, gelatin is gaining main traction within the well being and wellness spheres for its distinctive amino acid (protein constructing block) profile. Whereas gelatin is a protein complement, it differs from whey or plant protein and collagen, all of that are additionally helpful in rebuilding muscle and connective tissue. Gelatin is an animal-based, connective tissue protein product of 19 amino acids. It incorporates roughly 30% glycine, 15% proline, and 15% hydroxyproline, three amino acids which can be considerable in connective tissues however comparatively scarce in muscle meats.
What makes gelatin distinctive is that it offers many restorative results to a number of physique programs. It helps restore and construct muscle and connective tissue, repairs and maintains intestine well being, helps the immune system, and aids in nervous system perform and restoration, all main physique programs that require and readily gobble up these key amino acids. Like creatine, it’s a pure complement that’s comparatively reasonably priced and has minimal unwanted side effects. And if you happen to can’t get grandma’s Jell-O year-round, you may simply add gelatin to your morning espresso, post-workout restoration drinks, and even your post-long run scrambled eggs and pancakes!
Spoiled by Santa: Large-Ticket, Excessive-Utility Presents
These two items, whereas higher-priced, could present the most important return for runners and their supporters.
Handbook Remedy and Sports activities Drugs Present Certificates: Working is without doubt one of the most hectic actions on the physique, with the repetitive affect load straining even essentially the most environment friendly our bodies with impeccable working strides. The calls for of path and ultramarathon working solely add to that load. As such, each runner can profit from each routine tender tissue mobilization — sometimes the purview of therapeutic massage therapists — in addition to routine orthopedic check-ups from sports activities and working specialist physiotherapistswhich assist assess and restore mobility, power, and working effectivity.
The rising pattern in sports activities medication is that the highest-value sports activities medication and physique staff are direct-pay suppliers, fairly than being contracted via particular insurance coverage firms. Though it’s possible you’ll be eligible for reimbursement from insurance coverage or well being financial savings accounts, seeing these gifted sports activities and efficiency practitioners requires a direct money or card cost. The excellent news is that the majority supply discounted multi-visit packages.
A present certificates for bodywork from a extremely skilled physio can restore mobility, power, and working effectivity. Picture courtesy of Joe Uhan.
Throughout my aggressive ultrarunning profession, I noticed my orthopedic physio as soon as a month. Every go to was beneficial, and we by no means ran out of areas to work on. Furthermore, I left these visits not solely feeling higher, but additionally geared up with particular instruments and techniques — workouts and working cues — that helped maintain me transferring and working higher.
To get a present certificates for the runner in your life, examine in with their favourite supplier. Many people are working end-of-year or “open enrollment” reductions on therapy plans for 2026 and past. These vary from three to 4 visits — usually priced as little as $150 per hour session — upward to twenty visits, redeemable for a yr or longer.
Common visits to a therapeutic massage therapist or physio might help maintain you working injury-free. Picture: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Infrared Sauna: It is a nice reward that the complete household can profit from. Sauna utilization has well-documented well being advantages, together with improved circulation and lowered blood strain, decreased systemic irritation via cleansing by way of sweating, and enhanced sleep and restoration.
For runners gearing up for blazing scorching races just like the Western States 100 or Badwater 135 Milethe sauna is a vital technique for warmth acclimation. It could possibly drive the diversifications that assist the circulatory system disperse warmth, improve sweat fee, and generate extra “warmth shock proteins,” that are buildings that assist defend working muscle cells throughout scorching occasions.
However moreover warming and cleaning the Nordic people on winter days and tempering the loopy ultrarunners for these hottest days, sauna use has now been proven to boost restoration, well being, and efficiency for all runners. Warmth coaching with saunas has been proven to spice up VO2max and improve neuromuscular perform, leading to sooner high speeds and improved endurance, whatever the temperature through the race.
Better of all, as soon as thought of luxurious gadgets, the know-how for in-home saunas has improved, and their costs have decreased. Two-person saunas are broadly out there, together with at low cost chains like Costco, for below $2,000, and so they plug into the usual 110-volt, 15-ampere shops present in all houses.
A sauna not solely offers well being advantages, however is an effective way to heat up after a cold run. Picture: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Remaining Ideas
Whether or not it’s a slender therapeutic massage stick slipped right into a stocking with care, a scoop of creatine stirred into Christmas morning cocoa, or an infrared sauna glowing quietly within the nook of the storage, the most effective items aren’t about extra stuff — they’re about giving the ultrarunner in your life a couple of extra wholesome, quick, pain-free miles within the years forward. Ultimately, each greenback spent on higher mobility, stronger connective tissue, sooner restoration, or skilled bodywork is an funding within the one factor all of us need most: the privilege of getting out and working.
Glad holidays, and right here’s to a quick, far, and enjoyable 2026!
Name for Feedback
- What items have you ever given ultrarunners in your life?
- What significant items have you ever obtained prior to now?
(Creator’s Word: The writer is neither affiliated with nor compensated by any firm or product talked about. Particular merchandise manufacturers don’t essentially characterize an endorsement for the most effective product in a selected area; they’re solely an instance of novel or high quality merchandise.)
