Time to Train!
Firstly establish your experience and ability in the event you are participating. Honesty is essential in order to establish an achievable and challenging program.
General Advice
Set Goals – regardless of how big or small they may be.
Realistic – ensure your goals are challenging and achievable.
Preparation – ensure you are aware of the specifics of your event. For example surfaces, weather conditions and course details (toilet locations).
Overload – guarantee constant improvement by tapering the intensity of your training as you get closer to your event. Try to ensure intensity increases with every session.
Reversibility – understand that a dip in your training will result in slowing your improvement.
Rest – understand rest is essential for improvement to occur.
Organisation – enter training sessions and rest days into your schedule.
Specialized – obtain the appropriate medical support and advice in order to recover from or avoid injuries. Honestly admitting injuries is critical to being 100% the day of the event.
Flexibility – although it is important to have plans understand that they are not set in stone. If you start to feel exhausted rest, switching training days is not the end of the world.
Nutrition – without the right fuels your body is unable to adapt and develop according to your training. Always eat after training!
Focus – it doesn’t matter how much advice or encouragement you receive you are the person who chooses to put the hard work in. The more training and hard work, the more you will get out on race day.
Mental Challenge – often your biggest obstacle in achieving your goals will be yourself. Understand that your brain tells you to stop exercising before your body is exhausted. If you can overcome this your physical and mental benefit will be significant.
Running Events
Equipment
– Comfortable and durable trainers are essential for those participating in running events.
– Both men and women should think about chronic problems like chafing and blisters. Recognizing these problems before soreness sets in will reduce the chances of them becoming major issues.
– As you get closer to the event train use the same equipment. Breaking in a new pair of trainers on the day of the event is a bad idea.
– A water bottle to run with is an investment for those doing long runs as hydration is critical to performance.
Training buddy
– If possible train with someone, this not only makes training more fun but choosing an able training partner will help you to push yourself harder.
– Sharing your training experience with someone else and having someone to encourage you will keep you motivated.
Breathing
– A consistent breathing pattern will ensure you can run for longer and reduces the possibility of stitches or hyperventilating.
Technique
– An efficient technique is one where you keep your legs and arms are in a tight medial position moving only up and down. Lateral movements will waist precious energy.
Environment
– Try to train on different surfaces and places to keep yourself interested. For example one treadmill session, one track and one park (grass) in a week.
Specificity
– Exercise specifically to your event. For example if you are doing a 5km run, five 1km runs a week is not going to help a great deal. It’s ok to run either slightly longer or shorter distances, however you should taper this closer to the event.
Pacing
– Run at a consistent and realistic pace. This will help you maintain energy levels and is particularly important for those running longer distances.
Exercise Type
– Surprise your body and allow it a chance to recover from one specific type of exercise by throwing a different exercise type in every two weeks.
Multi-Discipline Events
Equipment
– Particularly important in this type of event and can make a big difference to your success. For example those competing on a mountain bike compared to a road bike during a triathlon will tend to be a lot slower.
Specificity
– Ensure that your training is appropriately spread over all disciplines. If there is one discipline you are weakest in ensure special attention is paid to it.
I hope you have found this information sheet helpful. If you require more specific advice then please contact me at [email protected].
Good Luck in your event and thank you for kindly choosing to support CLAPA!
Best Wishes,
Max Woodcock
