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Planning A Fun Run This Year? Read This

Fun Run season is arguably the most popular ‘health related’ season in Australia.

All states tend to get excited about it and there are achievable options for most people, allowing the nation to fight their limits and test themselves.

Whether you are running 3km or an ultra marathon, one area where people can go wrong is their lack of preparation, particularly if this is new territory for you.

Here are my tips to help you prepare for fun run season.

NUTRITION

In the weeks leading up to the event, make sure that you are consuming the right types of food including protein, whole grain carbohydrates, fats and vegetables.

During the race, you want to ensure that you maintain constant energy levels, so the types of food that you consume both on the day and in the lead up to the event are very important.

You want to try to avoid upsetting your stomach or have too many fluctuations in your energy on the day, so with that in mind, the day before the race is not the day that I am going to choose to splurge on pizza!

If you want to experiment with different foods and supplements, make sure that you do this a few weeks ahead of the event. The last thing that you want to do is change your diet and supplements the day before, only to find that it has affected you and therefore your performance.

Your nutrition practices on the day of the event will depend on the distance you are completing. If I am competing in a half marathon or a marathon, I would carry an array of gels as well as a bladder of water and a second bladder containing a mix of IsoWhey Sports Electrolyte Formula and BioCeuticals Ultra Muscleze, to help me rehydrate as quickly as possible and get a quick boost of energy.

Work Towards Your Goal Gradually

Beware of going too hard too soon, this is how injuries occur! Your training needs to be gradual, particularly if you are new to this type of event.

Do some research online or engage the help of a coach to help you write your program. Make sure that you are gradually increasing your distance each week and that you are training on different terrains to prepare yourself for any curve balls that may come your way during the race.

You don’t want to practice on the same flat surface, at the same speed every day. For starters you won’t progress and secondly, if you get to your last kilometre and find that you have a huge hill to run up it may break you!

For an amateur looking to participate in a half marathon, spend your first week running no more than five kilometres per day and break that up into hill sprints, easy jogs and running on different terrains including sand, grass and concrete. Gradually work your kms up each week.

Recovery

My biggest tip is to listen to your body and train smart. If you start to feel a strain in your muscle or you are feeling fatigued and are struggling to recover, then you may want to consider consulting an expert until you sort out the issue. In many cases, I find that it takes more discipline to pull back than it does to recover.

Recovery is so important - not only for injury prevention, but to also help you avoid an all over burn out.

Stretch before and after your training sessions and try to use a foam roller daily to roll out any tight spots.

In the weeks leading up to your event, you may also opt to see a sports massage therapist to make sure that nothing is tight and muscle pain won’t hinder your performance.

I also like to wear my compression tights to boost circulation, particularly after a training session.

MORE: The dangers of barefoot running

Shoes

Just because a popular new show style is now available, it does not mean that it is the right shoe for you.

Your feet are the most important thing to consider when participating in a running event, so make sure you have correctly fitted running shoes.

There are lots of sports stores that offer testing to ensure that you get the right shoe to suit your needs and foot shape. Some people have flat feet and some people have high arches so you need to ensure you have the right shoe for your feet, particularly when you are running distances.

Also, make sure you wear your shoes in the weeks leading up to the event to avoid a blister from new shoes that haven’t been worn in yet. There is nothing worse than getting a blister 2 km in when you want to complete a marathon!

Andrew ‘Pap’ Papadopoulos is an elite endurance athlete, owner/ operator of Battle Fit Australia, IsoWhey® Sports Ambassador and the star of search4hurt Season 2.

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