London Marathon
The first time I saw London marathon was last year on the TV, and I thought ‘I want to do that, it looks like fun!’ Well now that it’s over, I can’t say it wasn’t fun in the conventional sense but in a less apparent way. Testing my mind and body in an attempt to discover something about yourself is always high on my list of satisfying activities, but more satisfying is the science (and trial and error) involved in manipulating human physiology for a specific event. I love that is 12 short weeks you can go from struggling to run four miles to racing 26.
This was my fifth marathon and probably one of the most disrupted training, in fact looking back on my training program I did not manage to complete even one week of my 12 week plan (well except the taper). Unfortunately due to illness and injury my preparation was not ideal, but by not panicking and following a few things that worked for me in the past I survived with a somewhat respectable three hours and 20 minutes. These are the gems I have learnt.
Listen to your body. Even if your training program says you have to run, if you are still tired and sore there is no point in pushing on. The point of training is to restructure the body; that is the breaking down and rebuilding of better muscles and better developed cardiovascular system. The breakdown is generally, but not always signified by fatigue and soreness. The real magic happens in the next 36 hours when supercompensation occurs. If you train again during this time you are rendering the last session mute and void as you have not reaped the rewards. Similarly if you think you have the beginnings of an injury….GO TO THE PHYSIO! (For the record skiing like a loony doesn’t help either- you could get injured.)
Gets lots of sleep. I know it’s a tough one for busy people, but as the body restores its muscle tissue and associated connective tissue, you need to give it time. I generally find when I am training hard I need another 40-60 minutes of sleep a night. Work on muscular imbalances. Good running is basically a result of three things. Your aerobic capacity, your lactate threshold and your running economy. Long runs and interval work take care of the first two; however a strength program is essential to address the latter. Muscle groups that usually need to be targeted include gluteus medius and gluteus maximus, hip flexors and your core. Similarly knowing which muscles are tight will help with freeing up your running stride. The usual suspects that need stretching are ITB, hamstrings, hip flexors and calves.
Don’t run long runs with music (sorry iPod). I realise you would think on the long ones you need the motivation, but from experience music increases my heart rate by about 15-20 beats per minute and over two to three hours that’s a lot of unnecessary work and possibly resulting in training the wrong energy system. The reason for this, I think, is I can’t hear my breathing, hence control it, and the beat of the music dictates my speed, thus mucking with running economy and ironically my rhythm. In a nut shell, the music helps me dissociate, however staying associated is better for good running. The best runners in the world stay associated so they can stay in tune with what is happening in their bodies.
Train with a heart rate monitor. My tendency is to run as fast as I can for as long as I can because…it’s fun! However as previously mentioned, it is essential to work on your aerobic capacity and your lactate threshold and naturally these systems work at different percentage of your maximum heart rates. The aerobic system is usually below 75% and the anaerobic (when lactic acid and its by-products begin to accumulate) is around 85 percent. It is worthwhile mentioning that the lactate threshold differs from person to person. By training at your lactic threshold, it can be boosted, Paula Radcliff can run at 95% heart maximum for an entire marathon. Finally, get enough protein! Endurance athletes need more protein than body builders. Due to the microtrama caused from long runs and interval training a slightly higher intake of protein is required.
So hopefully, there are a few of you who watched this years Marathon and thought ‘that looks fun!’ and will be able to use some of these tips to run next year.
If that’s a little too far away we have several shorter planned runs in the next few months, including our very own Invigorate fun run. Just ask one of us next time you come in to train.
Happy running
Kat