In the run up to the Galway Bay Half Marathon Darren shares his tips on how to prevent injury during the lead up to the big day and recovery tips following the event.
One of the most important aspects of training for any Marathon is to slowly build up endurance for the long distances while staying injury free. The last thing you want to happen is that after signing up you become unable to compete on the day due to injury.
Warm up
A proper warm up is a key component to preparing the body for the demands of any training session or competition. Developing a pre-race warm up is unique to each individual. Performing a warm up will elevate heart rate, VO2, and increase blood flow to the connective tissue and local muscles to be trained. This in turn will raise muscle temperature and help decrease joint and muscle stiffness, therefore improving range of motion. Warm-up periods of five to 15 minutes are recommended. Warm muscles are less susceptible to injuries and a proper warm up is essential for injury prevention. As part of the warm up you should incorporate some dynamic stretching.
Cool Down
Incorporating a proper cool down will help clear lactic acid from muscles and prevent muscle soreness. This should be a low intensity light jog. Just like the exercise began with a stretching routine it should end with one. Warm down stretch’s should be static stretch’s. Stretching is key to preventing nagging soreness. Stretching thoroughly before a training session is important, but stretching afterwards is key to helping muscles recover from the strain and stress.
Incorporate Recovery Techniques:
There are a number of ways to incorporate recovery into your routine. Bio foam rollers and massage sticks help sore, achy or stiff muscles recover from exercise. The most important piece of stretching equipment you can own is a foam roller. Foam rolling helps sore achy or stiff muscles recover from exercise. You can roll out knots in muscles and serves as a sort of deep tissue massage that you can do on yourself. Be sure to hit IT bands, your lower back and your calf’s. Foam rolling should be done after stretching.
Because of the pounding that your joints can take over the course of a long run, icing your sore spots – particularly knees or hips – can prevent inflammation and next-day soreness. After a long run, you can simply jump into the sea or a cold river or take an ice bath or wrap your legs with cold wraps. Ice naturally reduces swelling and aids muscles in healing. Having an ice pack in the freezer is handy to treat any strains or aches.
Have Regular Sports Massage
Sports massages are critical to muscle recovery. Most people find scheduling appointments on the lighter training days more beneficial. This is mainly because it enables the therapist to treat any specific muscular tightness allowing a couple of day’s recovery before the long training session on Sundays.Alternatively some athletes enjoy having the massage following their longer training session to allow them to maximize their training performances throughout the week.
It is suggested that whilst people are training for a half marathon they receive weekly mas-sages. It is especially important to have massage towards the build up to the longer training weeks prior to the race. It is also wise to have a massage a few days before an event to loosen up the muscles and relax the athlete as part of the final week preparations for the race .It is also as valuable to receive massage as soon as possible following the race, as this helps to improve the recovery rate and reduces the intensity of delayed muscle soreness (DOMS) experienced 1-3 days post event.
Stick to a Healthy Diet
Pay attention to your diet. Not fuelling yourself correctly or overeating can lead to real problems. You need to be sure that you are getting enough protein and iron to allow your body to recover. Food is the fuel that helps you compete. Bad fuel can lead to bad results. Taking in protein following long workouts is also crucial to helping muscles recover. The goal of post-exercise nutrition is to restore muscle and liver glycogen stores, improve hydration and help those sore legs get the nutrients they need to recover and get stronger and more importantly to repair muscle tissue. You should eat 15 to 30 minutes after a long workout, preferably as soon as possible, when the muscles are most receptive to fuel. Muscle replenishment and tissue repair can be accelerated if you combine carbohydrates and protein together in a ratio of 4 to 1. You will also need Increase your consumption of carbohydrate during periods of heavy training
Footwear
Finally, listen to your body. Over the many miles of half marathon training, your ability to tell the difference between soreness and the beginnings of a possible injury will become more finely tuned. If there is nagging pain in a joint or muscle, vary your workout schedule or take a day or two of rest. Swimming is obviously low impact and is a good way to keep fitness up while giving your tired legs a break. If you are hurt, you won’t be able to stick to your training schedule. So, focus on staying healthy and then work on keeping up with the training. If you have sore shins when you run or back pain, don't ignore those symptoms. Treat even seemingly minor injuries very carefully to prevent them becoming a big problem for you.
Recovery days reduce injury rates by giving muscles and connective tissues an opportunity to repair between training. Plan a day of rest once a week into your training schedule. It will not hurt your performance, but will actually help it and is critical in muscle recovery. Athletes with high consecutive days of training, have more injuries. While many athletes think the more they train, the better they'll play, this is a misconception. Rest is a critical component of proper training. Rest can make you stronger and prevent injuries of overuse, fatigue and poor judge-ment. Avoid training when you are tired if you experience pain when training STOP your training session immediately.
Contact Darren at our Galway Clinic on 086 1957378 for a pre Galway Bay Half Marathon sports massage and post-Race recovery massage.
http://www.sportsinjurytherapy.ie/
