My journey to purchase the Air Relax recovery boots started when I listened to a podcast on the topic of his success at an older age featuring Craig Alexander. Obviously he was advocating a much more expensive branded recovery boots, but he stressed the importance of recovery and how it has gotten him faster. He iterated that an athlete is only as good as how quickly they can recover for the next workout. And why not spend the same amount of time and energies into recovery as we do into our training efforts. His advice resonated through my mind as I thought of the best way to take my racing to the next level, with recovery in mind.
Crowie’s suggestion for the more expensive brand was something out of the question, because I couldn’t afford it. I realized that with the birth of our second son that budget would be a huge consideration. I couldn’t put a huge cost on our budget when our family was just growing, but I still knew I needed to step up my training. In my mind, I just tried to compromise by saying that I could just use the same old foam roller and stick more often to have the same effects of the compression boots, but it just wasn’t the same.
I wasn’t sold on the idea of compression boots, until I went to support a friend in their first Ironman race. We were walking all around the course trying to cheer him on. I’m sure I walked about 15 miles that day. There was an expo that was showcasing all kinds of stuff during the race and they happened to have a pair of recovery boots. Oh my gosh! I felt so good using those boots that I realized that it was cemented in my mind to purchase one, but I wasn’t sure how yet.
Later that year I became a USAT Level I certified coach. The one thing they stressed? Recovery. Yep. Fast forward to my coaching responsibilities in cross country and I find myself struggling to keep up with the kids. It wasn’t until I did some extra part time work that I was able to save enough money. I contacted the guys at Air Relax and asked them for some info on the boots. You know what? Not only did they provide me all the info I needed, but they also gave me a promo code. That’s when I knew I had to purchase it.
You know at first, I wasn’t convinced that it was the best decision. I used it for a week and I was about to return it back. I was training several days and thought, this is how my legs usually feel. My friend was interested in the boots and he heard me raving about them, so I let him borrow it for a week. Boy, was that a regret. Immediately the following week I tried to the same training load only to find that my legs were suddenly sore. I realized that I took the recovery boots for granted because I thought that was how your legs were supposed to feel. Since then, I haven’t looked back and have been using it every week.
Has it helped me? Of course. Would I recommend this product? Absolutely.
By Roy Chin, 2017.