Red Bull Athletic Performance Center (APC)

2XU LONG BEACH MARATHON 2026
Title

Prepare. Perform. Recover. How the Red Bull Athletic Performance Center Crew Is Taking on Long Beach

At 2XU, we know your best race isn't built on race day.

 

It's built through the work that happens long before the start line: the training plan you commit to, the fuel you practice, the recovery you prioritize and the small decisions that prepare your body to perform when it matters.

 

This year, team members and friends of the Red Bull Athletic Performance Center are putting those principles into practice as they prepare to take on the 2026 2XU Long Beach Marathon. With backgrounds spanning performance nutrition, coaching, athlete development and training, they spend their days around high performance. Now, they're putting themselves to the test.

Here are a few lessons we're taking with us to Long Beach.

PREPARE

Preparation starts with a plan — and the discipline to follow it.

 

For Gabby Childers, that means having her training mapped out while making strength, recovery and performance nutrition part of the program. Aaron Martinez also relies on a prescribed plan to keep every session serving a purpose rather than simply making every workout harder. Because the goal isn't to win training. It's to arrive at the start line ready to race. And preparation goes beyond the miles. Performance dietitian Lauren Puscheck has been experimenting with gels, chews and electrolytes throughout her training, effectively training her gut alongside her legs. Long runs become rehearsals: test your fuel, understand what your body tolerates and make race-day nutrition one less unknown.

 

For Gordhan Mahtnai, that preparation has led to a simple pre-race routine: a peanut butter bagel topped with bananas and a flat white. The specifics will look different for every runner, but the principle is the same — find what works for you before race day, practice it and stick with it. It's the same thinking behind the PREPARE stage of 2XU compression. Our graduated compression is engineered to provide targeted muscle support, promoting faster muscle warm-up while helping minimize muscle oscillation, micro-tearing and exercise-induced muscle damage.

 

Put simply: prepare your body for the work you're about to ask it to do.

PERFORM

Once race day arrives, preparation gives way to trust. Aaron plans to use his watch to control his pace through the first half before checking in with his body and deciding what he has left. It's a reminder not to let the energy of the start line undo months of smart training. Settle in. Find your rhythm. Give yourself the opportunity to use the fitness you've built.

 

And when it gets hard? Expect it.

 

Anne Shadle approaches racing knowing discomfort will come. Rather than seeing it as a signal that something has gone wrong, her reminder is simple: This is part of racing. I can handle this. Slow the breathing. Focus on what you can control. Find a cue — strong and smooth, one mile at a time — and keep moving forward. It's also where the PERFORM stage of 2XU compression comes into play. During exercise, our compression is designed to stabilize working muscles, reduce muscle vibration and support circulation as the workload builds.

 

Technology can't run the miles for you. But the right equipment can support the body doing the work.

RECOVER

Training creates the demand. Recovery gives your body the opportunity to adapt to it.

 

Lauren uses rowing and cycling alongside running to continue developing fitness while managing her overall running load. Gabby similarly treats recovery, nutrition and strength as part of training — not something separate from it. We take the same approach at 2XU. Post-exercise, our extra-firm compression supports circulation and is designed to help reduce swelling and delayed-onset muscle soreness. It's the RECOVER stage of the equation: supporting your body after today's work so it's better prepared for tomorrow's. Because more isn't always better. Better is better. And eventually, there is nothing left to prepare for.

 

The miles are in the legs. The fuel has been practiced. The gear has been tested. The work is done.

Anne describes race day as a celebration of the work you've already done. Gabby's approach is equally simple: trust the training, trust the plan and have fun.

 

We couldn't agree more.

Prepare. Perform. Recover.

There isn't one secret workout or perfect training plan that creates your best performance. It's the accumulation of the work.

 

Prepare deliberately. Perform with confidence. Recover with purpose.

On October 11, the preparation becomes performance as the Red Bull Athletic Performance Center crew joins thousands of runners at the 2XU Long Beach Marathon start line.

 

Now it's time to see what the work can do.

 

Human Performance. Multiplied.