10 Tips to Improve and Supplement Your Training
Whether you’re preparing for your first 5K at the Full Moon Run, or training to win the Madison Mini Half-Marathon, the following pieces of advice are valuable to those of all abilities and goals. By focusing on the ‘little things’, you can enable yourself to better reap the benefits of your training. The following list addresses some of the most often neglected supplemental components of race preparation and attempts to explain their significance.
1. Stick to the Plan
Consistency is key. You’ve heard this before and it’s certainly no exception when it comes to training. The less you deviate from your plan and skip workouts, the easier it becomes to follow the routine. Avoid making a habit out of ‘reasoning yourself’ out of a workout, as this will only make it easier to do in the future.
Conversely, this can be true when it comes to workout intensity as well. When the calendar says ‘easy’, take it easy! Recovery workouts serve a crucial purpose in letting your body repair itself prior to your next workout. The body responds best to varying levels of stress. This lends legitimacy to the importance of following the plan!
2. Relax… Don’t Overstress Your Training
While following your training plan is important, don’t do so to the point where you’re causing yourself undue stress. This will do more harm than it will good. If you’re feeling beat up coming into a workout or a long run, pull in the reins and push it back another day. Similarly, if you have a hectic day and simply cannot fit your run in, avoid stressing over it to the point in which it interrupts your daily life. If you’re in a bind, grabbing a quick twenty minute run in place of your full workout will do more than you think. Learn to listen to your body and learn to be flexible with your training.
3. Don’t Fixate on a Bad Workout/Race
While easier said than done, mentally beating yourself up over a bad workout or race can create trouble down the road. Elite runners understand that there are bad days, weeks, or even longer blocks of training, but that this is not necessarily representative of your ability. Following a poor race or pivotal workout, take a day to reflect on what might have been the cause, or what you can tweak in your training moving forward. After that, close the book and move forward. What’s done is done. Your potential as a runner is measured by your best days, not your worst.
4. Get Your Sleep
This sounds somewhat simple, and it is. Sleep is absolutely imperative, especially for runners. The best way to promote muscle tissue healing, and to counteract the stressors that the sport places on the body is to receive adequate sleep. While the exact amount needed varies dependent upon the individual, it’s important to aim for at least eight hours. While at the peak of your training, your body will likely need even more. Sleep is the period of time in which your body is most effective at promoting healing. Trying to have a routine (going to bed and waking up around a similar time) will also help your body get the most out of the time spent snoozing.
5. Eat Right
Eating healthy can have profound effects on the way you feel heading into a run. Likewise, it will also influence the manner in which your body repairs itself following a hard workout. Listening to the body, consuming the right balance of macronutrients, and ensuring you’re receiving a variety of vitamins in your diet are all key to proper nutrition. For a list of the best foods for runner recovery check out our previous blog post: LINK HERE? (Couldn’t find the previous piece I’d written.)
6. Drink Water
The human body is approximately 60% water. Following a run we become dehydrated due to sweat and respiration. It’s important to replace this, and to attempt to maintain a constant state of hydration. Often times we become dehydrated before we feel the need to reach for a glass of water. Bringing a re-usable water bottle with you wherever you go is an effective method to encourage yourself to drink more throughout the day. While a common rule of thumb to drink eight cups of water each day, runners will often need much more than this. Avoid reaching for too many sugary or alcoholic drinks, as these will often have the opposite effect. Try sticking to just water or tea.
7. Dynamics Before. Static After.
Avoid static stretching before your run (touching your toes, the flamingo stretch, etc.). Dynamic warm-ups (think ‘high knees’, skipping, and ‘butt kickers’) are much more effective at preparing the body for a run, as they more accurately simulate the impending range of motion. Static stretching is more effective after a run once the muscles have received increased blood flow and have already elongated.
8. Engage in Pre-hab
Weakness or muscular imbalance in the glutes, hamstrings, and quads are often the culprit behind most running injuries. Don’t wait until you’re injured to focus on strengthening these areas. Hitting the weights is not necessarily a requirement to doing so either. Try following a daily rotating schedule of PT rehabilitative exercises for these areas (leg raises, hip drops, one-legged lightweight deadlifts, clam-shells). Getting in the habit of doing fifteen to twenty minutes of light strengthening exercises and static stretching following your workouts is perhaps the most effective way to avoid injuries. Movin’ has a variety of equipment and tools to help aid the injury prevention process as well: Important Tools for Running Recovery
9. Do Your Strides
Ending the majority of your runs and workouts with strides is an effective way to both maintain footspeed and to cool the body down. These ‘elongated’ sprints can range from 50 to 200 meters. Start slowly and gradually build into a ‘slow’ sprint while exaggerating your running form and slightly lengthening your stride. You should reach your top speed two-thirds of the way in before proceeding to coast to a stop. Repeat these six to twelve times. Measure out a distance between mailboxes or landmarks in front of your house or apartment and make a habit of completing these after most of your runs. If you’re in a rush, you can also replace strides with 10-20 second accelerations with several minutes of easy running between during the last few miles of a run.
10. Strengthen – Core and Upper Body
Similar to number eight, getting in a routine of doing core-strengthening exercises and light upper-body work is an effective way to improve form and prevent injury. Make a list of ten to twenty abdominal exercises (crunches, planks, etc.) and switch it up each time, repeating each exercise for thirty seconds to a minute. When done right, push-ups and pull-ups are also great exercises for runners to help improve upper-body posture and form. As a guideline for a lot of types of supplemental work, one day per week will help maintain existing strength levels, two days per week will lead to gradual improvements, and three days a week is a really effective amount to make substantial gains.
