February 2010
Marathon training tips
1st February 2010
1. Proper Running Shoes: The most important decision you can make is proper running shoes for the biomechanics (way your foot moves) of your feet. The wrong footwear can be a major cause of injuries during marathon training. There are three types of running shoes: stability, cushion, and motion control. Stability shoes are designed for those that have neutral to slight pronation (rolling your foot inward) during running. Cushion shoes are designed for people with high arches to help absorb shock, and motion control shoes are designed for people that over pronate or roll their feet too far inward.
At body rehab studios we would recommend visiting a running shop like Run on Blatchington Road, they will assess your running style and foot type to match you with exactly the right trainer for your needs. Click on this link to see their site.
2. Nip Injuries in The Bud: Don’t wait for an injury to become severe before seeking help. When you are doing marathon training injuries rarely disappear whilst they are constantly being stressed. Three weeks before the London Marathon is a peak time for people to seek help, often they have tried to keep on training through the pain and have only irritated it further - as the race looms closer then they come for physiotherapy. Don’t let this be the case the sooner you seek help the better, taking a week off earlier on in your programme is much better than having to rest off two or three weeks before the big day.
3. Take in the right fuel: It is essential that you are putting the right things into your body to get the best performance out. A good diet should include around 60% carbohydrate, and often extra protein than you would eat normally in the form of meat or fish to maintain good muscle health. Also make sure you are drinking enough, not just water but the correct electrolytes. Especially running in heat people sweat out tons of electrolytes and without replenishing them stay dehydrated even if they drink water. Electrolytes are found in salty food, sports drinks, and many of the running gels you can purchase.
4. Interval Training: Most marathon training programs only put interval training into the advanced programs. Interval training is actually great for people at every level. Interval training is workouts where you repeat short durations of high intensity followed by short durations of low intensity running. Interval training is the most efficient way to increase your speed and your body's ability to produce more energy.
5. One Long Day: You actually only need to do one long run a week. If you can do it once you can do it for your race. Most people do too many long runs each week, which puts too much extra toll on your body. This extra toll causes so many of the marathon training related injuries. Most injuries occur from people doing too many miles, not running to fast.
6. Plenty of Sleep: Your body needs the rest from all of your training. The best way to have a poor race is not to give your body adequate amounts of sleep. Getting rest the week before your race isn't good enough. To be in peak shape for your marathon you need to get a good nights sleep for the entire training program. One night of bad sleep isn't going to do anything though consistent lack of sleep will greatly damper your results.
7. Keep motivated: To run your best marathon it is good to get a training partner. A person that will help you be accountable to your training program and get out of bed on some of those tough days. Also regularly update your MP3 player with just the right mix of tunes, try and time in your favourites to play at that point in your long run where you know you start to struggle.
8. Rest: You want to be in peak shape for your marathon race day. A good taper for a month before you race is ideal. A taper is a slow decrease in the mileage each week allowing your body to recover. You are not going to make any training improvements that will matter for your race, so give your body the rest and run the fastest race for you.
9. Start Slow: We all want to start fast and look good at the start of the race. Most people take off too fast and burn a high percentage of their stored energy in the first mile. Taking off to fast will drastically slow down your pace for the whole marathon. To run a fast time start even slower than you think and gradually pick up your pace until you get to a good pace for you. Starting slower will give you energy to go at a fast pace for the entire race and even go faster at the end. The greatest way to run a poor time is to be slowing down the whole second half of the marathon.
10. Warm up, cool down and stretch! : Here at Body Rehab Studios we are always advising people on these aspects of their training – but it seems that most people only take time to do this once they are injured! Don’t wait for a problem to develop before you get into good training habits.
GOOD LUCK WITH ALL YOUR TRAINING, IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS PLEASE COME IN AND VISIT AND LET US HELP YOU TO BE READY FOR THE BIG DAY, BEN DID....
See Ben's success story here