Rebuild through recovery.
RUN, rest, repeat.
With the Gold Coast Marathon just six weeks away, it can be tempting to train harder and faster in pursuit of a good time.
But your next run is only as good as your last recovery, so start thinking about how you can turn rest into results.
In an ideal world, we would know what our maximum volume of training was before we crossed the line to fatigue or injury. Be aware of how you are feeling and make a call if you think a run should be substituted with a rest day.
Make a call.
It’s extremely important that your training program allows for ample recovery time. It is during the recovery period after a workout that your body rebuilds and becomes stronger.
Training again too soon and stressing your body through intense running may result in you being sore or tired when you start off on your next run, increasing the likelihood of injury.
The two nutrition priorities after a big training session are rehydration and glycogen replacement. Many runners suffer unnecessary fatigue after a run because they haven’t refuelled their muscles.
Most are aware of a need to replace fluids, but carbohydrate consumption after training is equally important.
During your run, you will have depleted your muscles of glycogen and the only way to refuel them is to eat or drink carbohydrates.
Inadequate carbohydrate consumption, in combination with muscle fibre damage, may delay muscle glycogen repletion for up to a week, resulting in poor training performance and fatigue.
Make sure you begin reloading immediately after a run. This will restore glycogen twice as quickly as eating
Fuel up.
more than two hours later. Also, keep up protein consumption which is necessary for muscle repair and recovery. Try snacking on almonds after your workout.
Active recovery is light exercise during the recovery phase, which stimulates blood flow to the muscles, helping reduce muscle pain.
Try a low-intensity activity
Keep active.
such as swimming, cycling or yoga to combat muscle fatigue.
If you put these steps into practice, you will recover faster and be able to train more consistently in the lead-up to the Gold Coast Marathon.
Pat Carroll is a four-time Gold Coast Marathon winner and former Commonwealth Games athlete.