Marathon Training with Springfield hospital Physiotherapy
Department
Marathon Training the safe way.
Faye Pattison - Senior Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist at
Springfield Hospital, Chelmsford has a particular interest in
sports injuries and developing training programs for the individual
for injury prevention. Faye Currently is studying for her Masters
in Sports and Exercise medicine sponsored by Springfield
Hospital.
Faye says:
“If you are reading this article and are about to embark on
running the London Marathon, then congratulations. I am sure that
you are well aware that running 26.2 miles needs respect and
deserves adequate preparation to ensure a successful finish, along
with discipline to complete the training. At this late stage of
three months to go training intensity and frequency needs to be
around four to five times per week completing runs around seven to
fifteen miles, averaging around twenty-five to thirty-five miles
per week. However as the frequency, intensity and duration
increases so does the risk of overuse injury, fatigue and
de-motivation. The reason you have entered the race is to enjoy
running the 26.2 miles on the day, not just to survive it. This
article aims to give you a guide and a insight of how to do so.
Training:
Whatever your experience of running is, you should at this stage
of training already have a training plan of action and goals
planned of how to get yourself through the remaining three months,
to progress your fitness and maintain your motivation to still get
up each morning or go out after a long day in the office, to
complete that all important training run. Remember to keep your
goals real and specific and not unattainable and generalized, as
the latter will lead to de-motivation and no progression, rather
than taking it a step at a time and progressing steadily. Run with
friends or a club, it is a great way to keep each others motivation
levels high and encouraging each other to keep pushing through to
the end outcome. Remember whether you are doing this for a charity
or for your own personal achievement, that you must reward yourself
intermittently. Being continuously harsh on yourself will not get
you results. It is healthy to have a reward a day here and there;
the best way to integrate a reward would be to have a sports
massage, available at Springfield hospital. This is beneficial on
multiple levels, as it gives you time out to relax along with
facilitating your muscles and body by allowing them to replenish
and recover, flush toxins away and regain normal length and
alignment.
As mentioned previously at this stage you should already have a
training programme insitu and know exactly where your heading to
progress over the last few months before the big day. However if
you are beginning to find yourself becoming de-motivated then
consider training on the same days each week, to have a routine,
also set a route that you need to complete and not just run local
circuits, as it is easy to give up after two when eight need to be
completed, also try to make these routes are different each time to
add some variety. Lastly at this stage you should consider entering
some road races such as a half marathon. This will allow you to
adapt to running with hundreds of people rather then yourself, be
able to take the challenge on of having to dodge slower runners and
help you to become mentally focused for the big challenge
ahead.
Training for the marathon is not all about running at a
continuous pace, it needs to be mixed up to challenge the body to
allow adaptations and progression to take place. Such sessions
could be designed to include frequent interval, hills, sand, water,
trail and trek training. These training methods integrate various
speeds, inclines and terrains, which will all aid beneficial
adaptation to take place in regards to your aerobic and anaerobic
training systems. Resistance training should also be integrated
within the training programme, to aid power and endurance, which is
vital to facilitate muscular performance when training to run 26.2
miles. As well as resistance training, it is important not to
forget about core stability and flexibility training to improve
posture, giving numerous benefits to the runner allowing the
running gait to become a lot more efficient and effective.
Lastly to monitor how you’re progressing, it is worth investing
in a heart rate monitor, which is integrated within a watch
including GPS to track running distance, speed and cardiovascular
progression monitoring the intensity at which you train at per
session. This allows documentation to formalize a graph for example
to see whether you need to maintain, ease or up the pace.
Warming up / Cool down:
This is vital to do before embarking on a run, if not the run is
difficult due to the inefficacies of the body and the potential for
the body to become injured. By warming up, it increases the heart
rate, body temperature, directs the blood flow from the internal
organs to the muscles brining oxygen and key nutrients, which are
needed to be metabolized into energy facilitating contractions of
the muscles, for the body to utilse the correct energy system, gets
the joints moving and lastly helps the runner to become focused on
the task ahead.
Begin the warm up by walking, light jogging, high knee skips,
heel kicks, leg swings, walking lunges into stretching all upper
and lower body muscles. This will help reduce muscular soreness and
injury to muscles, joints and tendons. This format should be
completed post run to as a cool down.
Tapering:
It is important to begin tapering around three weeks before the
marathon, to allow your performance to peak on the race day,
arriving feeling refreshed and recovered from the training and to
be able to complete and enjoy the big day in a efficient and
effective manner. Tapering does not mean stop all together, as you
can then begin to feel lethargic and ill, just decrease the
intensity and volume in which you are training at. During the extra
time you have, utilise it to rest and get a sports massage as
previously mentioned.
Nutrition:
During physical activity the body requires energy, dependent
upon the intensity / duration and the type of training. Achieving
the optimum energy balance for training and competition is
dependent and specific to the individual.
Meals should be eaten often in little portions, throughout the
day not forgetting to eat a main meal. Meals should include high
complex carbohydrate, such as pasta, rice, baked potatoes, which
are slow releasing energy source of glycogen essential for long
distance running. Along with protein such as chicken, turkey, fish,
lentils, beans, nuts or protein shakes, to aid muscular repair and
regeneration. By maintaining adequate nutrition will aid muscle
metabolism.
Hydration is key whilst training, water is the most important
nutrient and a medium to allow energy to be converted. Aim to drink
around a pint of water an hour before running and then half a pint
every minutes. On training days you should try to consume around
five litres of water or isotonic sports drinks.
As the training intensity and duration increase so does the rate
of fatigue as energy supplies diminish. It is worth considering
taking a small snack to give a boost to get you through. This could
be a packet of jelly beans, isotonic drink / gel.
Things to bare in mind:
1. Well fitted trainers - Do they provide enough support to the
whole foot and the arch of the foot? Do they absorb shock well? Are
they loose? Do you toes hit the top of the shoe? Are your toes
squashed in the trainer?
2. Running gait / biomechanics - Is your running gait efficient?
How does your foot strike - do you toe run or heel strike? Do you
roll through on to the arch of your foot or do you roll on to the
outside? Do your knees roll inwards? Do you run with your shoulders
high by your ears or are they relaxed? Is your running style
streamline?
The above points should be considered carefully, as if the
running gait is inefficient and there are defects in the above
points then injury is likely to occur. Not necessarily straight
away, but over a prolonged period. If you are unsure about any of
the above points that speak to the sports physiotherapists at
Springfield hospital for a running biomechanical assessment.
3. Potential injuries:
Foot - Blisters, blackened / bruised toe nails, stress
fractures, planter fasciitis, Achilles tendinopathy
Lower leg - Anterior compartment syndrome
Knee - Patella tendinopathy, ITB syndrome, anterior knee
pain
Upper leg / hip - Hamstring strain, Bursitis
Other - Overtraining / fatigue
If you experience any pain on training see your local
physiotherapist or visit us at Springfield hospital for an
assessment and advise to aid your recovery and get you back out on
the road asap.
Tips.
1. Wear two skinned socks made with climacool material to reduce
the incidence of blisters
2. Have at least two pairs of trainers to alternate running in, to
prevent one pair wearing down increasing the risk of injury.
3. Have a biomechanical assessment, to make sure that your running
efficiently and effectively, flag up any areas of weakness to
reduce the risk of injury.
4. Have regular sports massages to promote healing, maintain
flexibility and flush toxins away
5. Reward yourself to maintain motivation
6. Keeps goals real and specific.
Faye Patterson from Springfield Hospital, Lawn Lane, Chelmsford,
Essex. CM1 7GU.