Mini-Marathon training has started, so be sure to balance your workouts
The summer season is fast approaching and with it extra hours of sunlight. The parks are starting to fill up with running groups as women begin to train for the Mini-Marathon on June 7.
The event is successful in many respects. It helps raise much-needed funds for charities, and it also gives people a goal and a target to get in shape for summer.
Think of your training like a pyramid. First of all it is important to make a plan and decide what time you want to finish in. Then build a solid base as you start your training and progress to a peak on race day.
It is important to analyse a number of factors before commencing a new exercise regime. People over 30 need to be medically cleared by a physician before starting exercise and you should also have an injury profile done by a coach, osteopath or physical therapist.
At BFit4Life we assess imbalances between legs and examine pre-existing injury history. This tells a coach what muscles need to be strengthened.
Balanced
Remember the saying — ‘You cannot fire a canon from a canoe’. What this means is that you need to make your knees, ankles and hips stable and balanced, in order to get equal power from both legs so you can run faster. This way you can also reduce common injuries such as knees and hips and as you increase your flexibility, your stride length increases so you cover more ground with less effort.
In aerobic training, there are two things to understand: power and capacity. Power is similar to a car’s speed and capacity is the size of the engine or the ability to maintain that speed.
In sports like soccer, which involve mainly anaerobic or interval work, it is important to train power before capacity because there is little point in being slow and being able to run slow for a long period of time. Ben Johnson’s former coach Charlie Francis once said there is no point in having speed endurance unless you have speed to endure.
In marathon work, especially for obese people, the capacity must be trained before the power. The person has got to be able to cover a certain distance before you increase the speed and obese people should walk on roads first before treadmills to reduce the risk of back injuries.
When you have dropped body fat and your fitness levels improve you can look at introducing interval work.
There are two types of aerobic training. Continuous refers to exercise performed for at least 15-20 mins, which is capacity work. Interval training refers to a series of repeated bouts of high intensity work interrupted by a pause period.
You can progress your running by increasing total volume, adding sets, shortening the pause period or increasing intensities or distances. You should increase volume — number of runs — slowly and your speed should dictate volume.
Distance
This means that when your speed starts to drop it is time to reduce the distance to maintain the speed or it’s time to end the session.
You should never perform the same session twice in a row — always try to change the variables such as rest times or distance covered.
Interval training increases the number of myoglobin, ie oxygen storage, proteins in the muscle and helps convert food into a usable form of energy in the muscles.
A common mistake in aerobic athletes is their lack of resistance training and stretching. It is easier to get lean in the weights room and the higher the percentage of body fat on someone the higher the oxygen demand.
A lower body fat increases your aerobic capacity and the added muscle enables the muscles to slide over one another easier and so less friction means faster motion.
Strong leg muscles reduce the stance phase. This is the period of time your foot stays on the ground during strides. Stong muscles mean you won’t exhaust so quickly.
If you train the hamstrings you can protect your knees more. Hamstrings also help increase stride length and act as decelerators when you need to put on the brakes.
Running is catabolic in that it eats muscle and so it affects your immune system. You must combine resistance training with running to give your body the tools it needs to achieve your Mini-Marathon potential.
Aerobic athletes become more deficient in calcium, iron and magnesium, as constant sweating depletes these minerals. It is important to ensure that you are eating a healthy diet because the foods you consume 48 hours before your workout dictate the quality of your session.
Training for a new goal is a challenging event. Get your body and muscles balanced so the pyramid reaches its peak in June when you need it, rather than resembling all the unfinished buildings lining the capital’s roads.
