I chat to people about their fitness and exercise programme on a day to day basis, and the amount of people who suddenly decide they want to run a marathon within the same few months with zero running experience is crazy.
I would never tell a patient that they can’t run a marathon, unless their injury or medical health proves otherwise, however I do warn them that a marathon requires full commitment and progressive training that reaches quite serious levels.
A lot of people think that all they need to do is run in order to prepare for a marathon. Just run and increase distance day by day and week by week. Yes, the running is important, of course it is. However, if you want o avoid injuring yourself you MUST follow a progressive strengthening programme which effectively should be started even before you begin your running practice. Having strong muscular foundations and correct timing of muscle activation will give you more power, more stability, more acceleration and therefore faster and safer run. Do you want to reach your target time? Do you want to do it free from injury?
My next blog will demonstrate which muscles you must focus on before and during marathon prep, and I will be giving a few examples of how you can get going with it. In the meantime please email me if you have any questions [email protected].
