Preparing your body for your event
Stretching regularly to maintain or improve your flexibility and range of motion is an essential part of training for your event. Here are our top tips.
- Never stretch cold muscles. A good stretching routine will help to restore the muscle balance and allow you to be more flexible.
- Repeat stretches 2-3 times if certain muscle groups seem particularly tight.
- Aim to hold stretches for 40-45 seconds each time and complete them after your training session.
- Consider investing in an MOT with a sports physiotherapist or having a sports massage to help manage the build-up in tightness which can occur during your training.
- A ‘foam roller’ can be used to help your stretching on a daily basis by giving you a self-massage.
Glutes
Hamstring (origin)
Hamstring (belly)
Lower back
Quads
Hip flexors
Calf (gastrocnemius)
Calf (soleus)
Finger crusher
Get into a sit-up position. Find the natural arch in your back and place your hands under the arch. Engage your lower abs and pelvic floor and push your spine down onto your hands, trying to crush your fingers into the ground. Aim to hold this for 45-60 seconds per set.
The next level: Add small, alternate leg lifts, while still keeping even pressure on your hands or extend your legs into a ‘bicycle’ movement.
Back extension
Lie on your front with your toes on the ground and fingers on temples. Raise your chest off the ground by using your lower back muscles. After a few seconds relax back to the ground - repeat this movement for up to a minute or as long as you are comfortable.
The next level: Extending your arms out in front of you will add a greater lever angle and make this exercise more challenging.
Plank
Lift your body up with your weight on your elbows and toes. Keep a straight line from the neck down through the legs to your ankles and engage your core. Keep your chest over your elbows. Hold for 30-60 seconds or for as long as you feel comfortable.
The next level: Add in small alternate leg lifts. If this is too hard to begin with, you can avoid lower back pain by doing this with your knees on the ground.
Side plank
Make a right angle with your supporting arm, your feet together and engage your core. Rise up, making sure you squeeze your glutes and push your pelvis through. Hold it for 30-60 seconds or for as long as you feel comfortable.
The next level: Lift your free arm into the air, keep your side really strong, and don’t let your middle sag.
Bridge
From a sit up position, raise your hips up so your body forms a straight line from shoulder to hips and knees. Hold this position for 45-60 seconds or for as long as you feel comfortable, by squeezing your glutes and your lower abdominal muscles.
The next level: From a bridge position straighten one leg at a time, aiming to not let your hips sag as you do so.
Single leg squat
Stand on one leg, use your glute on your standing leg, keep your hips facing forward and aligned with your knee and toe. Push your hips backwards while you bend at the knee. You don’t want your knee to roll inwards, so go down as far as you can without that happening before moving back to a tall standing position. Repeat 8-15 times.
The next level: You can use a Swiss ball or a wobble board under your foot.
Strength exercises are one form of 'cross training' or 'XT' in the training plans. Other examples include all different forms of cardiovascular training, such as running or aerobic exercises. These exercise the heart and muscles and will definitely keep you aerobically fit. Your heart doesn't know the difference between going for a walk or cross training, it just works as hard as you ask it to. You can really boost your fitness with additional XT in your week.
Managing injuries
Time and effort
If you are struggling to get out for your training session due to an injury or weather conditions, you can complete the session using cross training.
It's fairly common for people to panic and just stop training when an injury hits, but providing you can cross train safely and you are pain free (consult with a doctor or sports therapist) you can maintain and even progress your fitness. Simply reproduce the time and effort specified in the training session using other options available to you.
Don't forget your training goals
Keep it specific
Cross training can add a lot of value and variety to your weekly training, but don't forget your goal.
At the end of your block of training you need to feel you have the strength and the fitness to complete your chosen event. The minute your conditioning or cross training is becoming so hard that it's leaving you too tired to complete your key sessions, or even risk injury itself, then the cross training has lost its benefit. Remember, it's there to support your activity, not totally replace it.
Improving your cross training
Heart rate
If you want to get serious with your cross training, you may wish to buy a heart rate monitor to help you hit your training in the correct effort zones. A heart rate monitor can also help you to keep a track of your fitness as you train more. Over time your should find that you're able to train at a similar intensity but with a lower heart rate. You may also notice your resting heart rate going down a few beats!
Using the gym to support training
Gym classes
If you are a member of a gym or fitness class they can be a great way to motivate you to continue your conditioning and cross training. Pilates, yoga and other core classes can be a great option to add to your training mix.
More training plan ideas
Explore more training plans on the NHS website, such as Couch to 5K, as well as more ideas on how to get active and build up your fitness.
You might also be interested in joining a local 5K Your Way or parkrun group in your area. 5K Your Way events are held once a month for people living with and beyond cancer and their families and friends.
Or turn your training into a fundraising challenge and raise more funds for people living with cancer by taking on your own 40-day fitness challenge.
Why is nutrition and recovery important?
Protein rich carbohydrate clever
Carbohydrates are vital to fueling your training effectively. High quality, slow-release complex carbohydrates include oatcakes, sweet potatoes and whole grains. Protein provides the essential nutrients you need to heal damaged muscle fibre and tissues. You can get these proteins from lean meats, fish, nuts, sprouting seeds and tofu.
Hydration
Aim to drink 2-3 litres of fluid a day, sipping water regularly. Avoid drinking caffeine with your main meals as this can limit some of your nutrient absorption, and late at night which will impact on your sleep. As your peak weeks of training kick in you may wish to monitor alcohol consumption, which can have a big impact on your recovery.
Never hungry never overfull
Split those big main meals into 5-6 smaller meals, with mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks to make sure blood sugar levels are balanced.
Micro-nutrients
Vitamins and minerals will become lower more quickly as you train harder, so your demands will go up. Iron, vitamin D, B12, C, magnesium and calcium are just some of the basic ones to be aware of. Increase your nutrient density by eating as broad a range of foods as you can. Plenty of variety in your fruit and vegetables is a great place to start!
Depleted sessions
In some of our training plans you may see the occasional session where we ask you to do an easy session ‘pre breakfast’. The goal here is to encourage your body to become very effective at metabolising stored fats as an energy source. On these days, make sure you eat a high quality breakfast with carbohydrate and protein shortly after the session.
Fueling your training sessions
You will need to practice taking on fuel in your training sessions if you plan to do so during your race. If you are competing for a long period of time we highly recommend using gels. Aim to take on a gel after 45-60 minutes and then one every 30- 40 minutes afterwards.
Go to bed
Sleep is vital to adapting to training and getting fitter. Regularly getting 4, 5 or 6 hours sleep a night will limit your ability to achieve deep sleep, release growth hormones and will affect cortisol and stress levels. Get into a good pattern at night, avoid digital screens in the final hour before bed and limit caffeine and alcohol late at night.
Ignore the myths
No athlete should ever look to eliminate whole food groups unless recommended to do so by a qualified dietitian, nutritionist or doctor. Avoid the advice of unqualified bloggers and if you want to explore your own nutrition in depth, seek a fully qualified professional.
Avoid the terrible toos
Building your training up too fast, too soon and doing too much training too hard is a sure way to pick up injuries and gradually lose the motivation to get up and train. Stick to the plan, be patient, and don’t panic or back-fill training if you have started late or have had some time off.
Monitor your health
As you increase your training your body and your energy demands will change. Your diet will need to change and adapt with this. Become good at monitoring your energy levels and notice any sustained increase in fatigue or tiredness over several days. Keep a training diary and note down those sessions that felt fantastic what you ate and drank so you can repeat this in the future!
Know when to back off
You might be over-training if you:
- Are regularly tired no matter how much sleep you get
- Feel your nutrition is good but you still lack energy
- Struggle to improve or that you are going backwards despite doing more training
- Start to lose motivation to go out and train.
Listen to your body and be prepared to back off and take an extra rest day and adapt your plan if needed.
Consistency is vital!