Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 121, August 2019 | Page 70

COACHING
CO
R
N
E
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By the Coach Parry Team
SIMPLE FIXES TO BECOME
A BETTER RUNNER
W
e all want to be better runners, in order to go faster or further and reach
our running goals. Most athletes increase their mileage in order to achieve
this, but there are other things you can do to improve your running.
1. Get More Sleep!
Sleep is by far the best form of recovery. Forget ice-baths, shakes and
compression gear. Your body recovers the most effectively when you sleep. All the
right hormones that you need for recovery and improvements in performance are
released at night – studies have shown this happens by around 10pm – and so if
you’re not sleeping properly, you’re not getting the benefit of this.
Studies have also shown that athletes who get less than seven hours of sleep per
night are at a much higher risk of illness. Those who sleep less than five or six hours
are 4.5 times more likely to get a cold than those who sleep more than seven hours!
Pro Tip: Lose the technology in bed! From all the benefits of sleep above, here’s
how to maximise sleep: No phones, tablets and TV in bed! Studies have shown
that the blue light from smartphones, tablets and TV suppresses the sleep-inducing
hormone melatonin. Therefore, you should reduce exposure to these items up to an
hour before bed! And keep your room dark and quiet to maximise sleep.
getting any form of nutrition in. Sleep and
nutrition are your best forms of recovery,
and research has shown that 20 to 30
minutes post-session nutrition is the most
effective for recovery. This nutrition should
generally be in a two-thirds carbohydrate
to one-third protein ratio.
Pro Tip: Chocolate milk has been shown in
scientific papers to be an excellent source of
post-training recovery nutrition. (Yay for science!)
4. Strength Training
Strength training is a very important element
to help you become a better runner while
giving you some different exercises to
do instead of running! It has many
benefits that will help improve your
running, including reducing your risk
of injuries, as it strengthens your
joints and improves your form. It
also increases your lean muscle
mass while reducing your body fat
percentage, improves your eccentric
muscle strength and running economy,
as well as increases your power!
Pro Tip: Download our free strength training
programme that you can do once a week, at home
and with no expensive equipment needed, by clicking here.
5. Read, Listen & Learn!
2. Eat Better & Plan Your Nutrition
If you are following a structured programme, you will notice that your training
sessions are planned, i.e. there is some thought that has gone into why certain
sessions are in certain places. However, one thing that few athletes do is to plan
their nutrition to match this.
Your nutrition is your fuel and without it you won’t be able to perform the way you want,
like a car with an empty tank, or diesel in a petrol engine. Therefore, it is important to
start setting up your nutrition specific to the session you are about to do.
Pro Tip: It is vital to ensure that you have eaten before a quality session, so that you
are able to get the most out of that session, whereas you can perhaps do a longer,
slow training run in a fasted state with less fuel, to maximise the physiological effect.
3. Nutrition After Training
So many of us finish a run and then shower and head straight to work without
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ISSUE 121 AUGUST 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za
While there is a lot of generic information on
running, running health and running injuries out
there, try to find a reliable source of information
for all things running. (Like CoachParry.com and
Modern Athlete!) Being an athlete that understands
running, injuries related to running, and the
physiology of running, will make you a far better
runner, as you will start making better decisions
about your own running.
It’s obviously important to trust the source of this
information, and therefore it’s good to have a forum
like the Coach Parry Online Training Club, where
you can verify this sort of info. However, the more
you reliably read, the more you will be able to
challenge some conventional myths about running
and make positive changes in your training. So find
a reliable source, check the credentials of the writer
of the article or post, and challenge the authors by
asking questions.