Find your weakness:
We all have a predisposition to injury whether it be calf strains, hip tightness or cramping hamstrings. And if you can already feel the creaks and its week 1-4 they will generally get worse as the miles pile on. Find the source, and build a progressive strength plan around this with the goal of high weight low rep.
Start short and easy:
Many easy runs make for a powerful stimulus. To run well over the marathon distance you need to become an aerobic monster. By aerobic we mean the vast majority of your runs easier than 80% max HR, or c60-90sec slower per km than your recent best 5km pace for example. First build frequency and routine.
Find the right shoes for you:
Without an assessment or a lot of experimentation its tricky to know which shoes are right for you. And a friend telling you ´get these´ probably wont work either. If you´ve shoes you get on with it can be worth getting multiple of the same shoes to spread the wear rate.
Adding miles & cross training:
The old add´10%´ rule can work ok, but there will be a point at which you feel you start to get niggles. Training volume needs to be viewed on a multi year scale not just weeks. Athletes who are run big miles generally have been in the sport for multiple years, so if you are relatively new to running it pays to add cross training into your routine to supplement your training.
Sleep & food:
American College of Sports Medicine found that sustained periods of time with less than 7hr of sleep lead to a 1.7 x increase in musculoskeletal injury. If you are training consistently try to aim for over 8 hours. Make sure you fuel for the work required, especially female athletes avoid fasted workouts, fuel in the window after exercise (within 45min). Apps like Fuelin, or even a consultation with a nutritionist can help steer you here especially if you are really ramping up your training volume.
Enjoy,
Col
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