Mid season maintenance
Mid Season Maintenance
STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING
With running season well and truly underway, you might notice some aches and pains starting to emerge. As your long runs become longer you will likely feel that it is taking longer to recover. Taking caring of your body now, gives you your best chance of lining up to start your upcoming goal race.
- Step 1: Roll, stretch, massage. Do all the things you know you should now, before minor issues become major problems. It’s a useful strategy to foam roll muscles immediately after a run, then follow up with a few minutes of stretching. This has been shown to improve recovery time, and may help reduce injury. Regular sports massage can help identify possible injury risks before they materialise. If injuries do start to rear their heads, see step 2.
- Step 2: Ice. Minor niggles can sometimes be settled down using ice packs after the run. Try to ice as soon after a run as possible, and additional times throughout the day if able. Be sure to wrap the ice pack in a towel to avoid ice burns.
- Step 3: Take it easy. Make sure you factor in easy runs (and even an easy week) to maximise your recovery. Improvement from training comes through proper recovery, not the actual running.
- Step 4: Stop. If running gives you sharp pains and/or makes the pain worse you should stop running and have the injury assessed. Early intervention usually leads to faster recovery.
intraining Rehab Studio offer weekly Pilates and core strengthening classes designed specifically for runners, by runners.
Each Pilates session is conducted by our in house physiotherapist, which means that your health fund may cover your Pilates classes. Maximise your performance and avoid injury with a regular strength and conditioning program.