Training tips to help your running

Weekly training tips and strategies you can use to improve your running, stay motivated and use as form focus.

If you have a topic you’d like us to cover or a question about training click HERE.

Happy Running,

Steve and Margot Manning

AUGUST 2021

Train, Race, Repeat. Racing teaches you so many valuable lessons for your future races.

Look at how regular parkruns and BRRC races have helped improve your ability to run faster in a race. Your second marathon or half marathon is always easier than the first, simply because you have prior knowledge and know what to expect. Secondly, regular racing keeps you motivated. You don’t have to run fast every time as some races need to be for you to just ‘participate’ – your mental health race where you surround yourself in the running community. BUT… to run, race, repeat you do need to know how to plan your long runs and your speed work so that you don’t make a training mistake and get injured. Make sure you talk with your coaches and if you get stuck come get a training program with us and we’ll help you design your training program to keep enjoying this race season.

Principle of perdiodisation. Take a moment to breathe.
While we’ve all had to reset in our heads for our marathon or half marathon goals, you do not have to reset your training. In fact, now you can take advantage of all those months of work you have done, and fine-tune your running. This works on using the principle of periodisation. Periodisation is the training theory that is based on training differently depending on the time of year and how close it is to your major goal race.
It involves cycles of hard training followed by racing and then easy training. Since you have cycled through this, you can switch to a slightly different cycle that does not require you to have to do the really long runs again. Instead, you can focus on strength from shorter, faster work and more frequent weekend threshold-like runs. As the weekend races all open up again, take advantage to use these to fine-tune your race prep, with only one or two more longish runs.

Achilles Tendon Injuries: There are two main types of Achilles tendon injuries: Insertional and Mid portion.

INSERTIONAL Achilles Tendon Injury is Pain on the back of the heel (calcaneus) and often related to the heel counter of the shoe putting excessive pressure from its shape or being worn out.
If yours is sore, check the inside of your shoe, or the inside of your work shoe. The second, MIDPORTION Achilles tendon is more common and if not attended to in a timely manner can lead to thickening and lumps on the tendon.
Both these Achilles tendon injuries need a mix of exercise, active rest, ice and footwear management.
Your first strategy is to get shoes on your feet ( aka no barefeet or Oofos), then come see our podiatry/physiotherapy team for a check. Different strategies may be used at different stages of the injury process, but the sooner you catch this one the sooner it goes away.

Stay on track and keep training like tomorrow is going to happen.

Setbacks happen and we are still in a time of change. Don’t let these deter you from your bigger goals.

Your challenge now is to develop greater resilience to change and find new ways to stay motivated.

If you are training for Sunshine Coast Marathon Festival, keep focused on that goal and do your power session and tapering as planned. If everything returns to normal, you will be primed ready for an amazing race.