Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 105, April 2018 | Page 34

COACHING
TRAINING
Get
Stronger,
Run
Longer
Most non-elite endurance athletes will find
themselves somewhere between Poor and Below
Average, which is strange when you consider that
this test lasts just two minutes, while a marathon or
ultra lasts anything from four hours and up!
TARGETING THE MUSCLES
Training for a race is basically conditioning the body
to perform a single movement over and over, but
using the same muscles in the same way increases
the risk of overuse injuries. Therefore, it’s crucial
that you strengthen these muscles, and in running,
the most important are the calves, hamstrings,
glutes, quads and hip flexors. When these muscles
are weak, they cannot perform their task efficiently
to move the body forward, which results in smaller,
less-trained muscles doing more work than they’re
designed to do. That’s when niggles turn into full-
blown injuries.
L
et’s do a quick experiment to test your fitness for a long race: Do a short warm-up, then with stopwatch in
hand, stand with your back against a wall, feet shoulder-width apart, and slowly slide down the wall into a
seated position, keeping your knees bent at 90 degrees. Now lift your right foot just above the ground, start
the stopwatch and hold for as long as possible. Make a note of the time, then repeat the process with the left leg.
In most cases, you will be able to hold one of your legs up longer. This indicates a muscles imbalance between your
left and right side. Ideally, you want your muscles balanced so that you’re working both sides equally, without one
side overcompensating for the weaker side, which often results in an injury or strain on the stronger side, because
it’s doing the bulk of the work. Then, look at the number of seconds that you could hold this position, and compare
your tim