| MARATHONS & BEYOND
GET STRONGER TO RUN LONGER
With races coming back and minds turning once again to the marathons and ultras that South Africa is so famous for , it ’ s essential to make sure you include strength work in your training programme now in order to be ready to race the long ones in the New Year . Therefore , make sure you get yourself to a gym , because long-distance runners need to prioritise strength training in order to minimise overuse injuries . – BY RAY ORCHISON , REGISTERED COACH
So , you think you ’ re fit and ready for an ultra ? OK , then let ’ s do a quick experiment : Do a short warm-up , then with stopwatch in hand , stand with your back against a wall , feet shoulder-width apart , and then slowly slide down the wall into a seated position , keeping your knees bent at a 90-degree angle . Now lift and hold your right foot just above the ground and start the stopwatch – hold for as long as possible and make a note of the time , then repeat the process with the left leg .
In most cases , you will notice that you were 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 . More importantly , look at the number of seconds that you could hold this position , and compare your times with the table below .
RATING
MEN
( seconds )
Excellent > 100 > 60
WOMAN
( seconds )
Good 75-100 45-60 Average 50-74 35-44 Below Average 25-49 20-34 Poor < 25 < 20
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 an ultra lasts anything from five hours and up !
TARGETING THE MUSCLES
Training for an ultra 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 . To avoid strain , 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 in moving the body forward , which results in smaller , less-trained muscles doing more work than they ’ re designed to do . And that ’ s when niggles turn into full-blown injuries .
Athletes will often start a race with good form and posture , but by the end may find themselves bent over at the hips , leaning toward one side , or struggling to lift their legs . These are all indications that their muscles are not trained to go the distance . And as your form breaks down , so your speed decreases and you find that certain muscles go into spasm , because they ’ re being overworked . The solution is strength training , which enables us to maintain good form for longer .
Start off using light weights and focus on doing exercises correctly , slowly and controlled – that ’ s far more important than how much you can lift . In the first three to four weeks , use the lightest weight possible and perform two to three sets of 15 repetitions each per exercise . After that you can increase the weight slowly over the coming weeks , while decreasing the number of repetitions as you increase the weight .
GETTING THE RIGHT BALANCE
Of course , as runners we tens to focus on the leg muscles , but don ’ t forget to work on your upper body as well , especially your core muscles . You don ’ t want to bulk up too much in the upper body , as that will just result in a lot of extra weight to carry while running , but upper body , core and lower back strength will all help your running . And equally important , if you don ’ t know quite how to work the different muscles groups , ask a qualified trainer for help , because doing strength work the wrong way is just as likely to cause injury as running an ultra-marathon with weak muscles .
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