The best headphones, watches and apps for half marathon runners

The RBC Brooklyn Half Marathon, which takes place every year in May, is a funny 13.1 miles course. You spend the first half with hills in the shade and the beauty of Prospect Park to exchange this for a new challenge in the second half of the race, the lightness of a relatively inferior downhill hike on the shady, Hot Ocean Parkway. The relaxed hill of the race promises a PR for many runners, while the discouraging heat is on other runners in a PW. Last year I met the former; This year the latter.

Tech is particularly important for such a race for many runners. They rely on their headphones to keep music alive and they motivate in the last miles. You are dependent on your watch to tell you exactly how many miles you are left. You are dependent on your massage gun to save your muscles as soon as you finally come home.

Entertainment Scroll caught up with a few people who run the race – or for the success of the race – to see the technology with which technology they train and lead the RBC Brooklyn. Personally, I used my Apple Watch (which ended me as soon as the race ended), Strava, Spotify and a few Plantronics Wireless Running Headphones, which I bought in 2019 and which are somehow still my point of contact for running headphones.

Alan Bersten

Bersten, the professional dancer from which you could recognize yourself Dancing with the starsUse this race to collect money for the New York Road Runners (Nyrr) Team for Kids, a charity that supports Nyrr’s free youth and community programs. It was his first race, but he was prepared with a Garmin, “especially because I saw a series of videos on Tikkok that I said in Apple Watch”.

For what it is worth, when Entertainment Scroll compared the Garmin Fenix ​​8 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2, the Fenix ​​with battery life was exceeded, an important quality for long races.

He also uses the Runna app, which has just been purchased by Strava, to follow his runs. He listens melodies with Apple Music and Shokz, although he admits that they can “hardly hear” the music, a frequent complaint from Shokz users because they use bone lines instead of typical in-ear speakers.

To recover, he uses a Theragun and Normatec boots, compression boots to improve blood circulation, reduce the sore muscles and to accelerate the recovery time, “which are amazing”.

Matt James

James, the title Bachelor from the 25th season of Of the bachelorsHas finished the TCS New York City Marathon four times, but this was his first RBC Brooklyn Half Marathon.

He uses the Coros Global Watch “at any time”, especially when running. On his phone you will find the Strava app, the Endorphins app, the Coros Global app for its watch and Spotify “for the Vibes”. He rolls out with a lacrosse ball (pretty low-tech) and loves a “good session in the sauna and in the cold jump”, but he also uses the Hyperice Normatec recovery boots. His last obsession? JLAB headphones.

Mere money Pena

Meris Pena works with Nyrr Striders, a free program for the hiking and fitness program for older adults. However, she did not work for this race – even though she doesn’t need much technology, even if she runs.

Pena does not use headphones when she runs because she “has fun”. She wants to “feel the love of the (ongoing) community”. She has a Garmin, but doesn’t use much. What she loves and needed-a low-tech app called Stepz, which she likes as a pedometer.

Nyrr CEO Rob Simmelkjaer

Simmelkjaer, the CEO of Nyrr, did not run the RBC Brooklyn this year, but he ensured that everyone else could do it, and he spends a lot of time to walk. His daughter gave him a Garmin for his birthday last year and he “loves it absolutely”. Before that, he used an Apple Watch, and although he says that they “have both advantages”, he estimates Garmin’s superior battery life.

He uses Bose headphones to hear Pandora while running because he “sometimes likes to be surprised” by the music that Pandora attracts. He synchronizes his Garmin with his Strava account and always uses him to follow his runs. He also uses the Runna app, which he helped with training for a successful Berlin marathon last autumn.

Rob Dalto

Dalto, a current content creator @Purusuitofperformance__, successfully (!) Tried a personal recording when he headed the RBC Brooklyn Half Marathon. To get there, he used his Garmin clock and followed his runs on Strava.

When he listens to music or podcasts in runs, he uses Shokz, Spotify and Apple podcasts, but they can often run it without anything that is inserted into his ears. He also uses lingo for continuous glucose monitoring. The two technicians he absolutely had to run the half marathon? His Garmin clock and iPhone.

Patina Miller

Miller, a Tony Award winner and singer who runs with Define New York Run Club, is “obsessed” with her Coros products: The Global Watch, Coros Pod 2, Coros Heart Free Monitor and The Coros App, V.O2, with which your trainer follows your data for a better performance. Of course she also uses Strava. To recover, she uses a low-tech role, together with the NORMATEC compression gear and a Theragun massage weapon.

She says that she mainly uses beats to run, but occasionally switches to Shokz OpenRun headphones.