SV's Sophie Vowden may be on the other side of the world at the moment, but she's still thinking of all the SV clients preparing for the 2017 London Marathon. She sent us these wise words...
1) CONSISTENCY
Continue to be consistent! You are nearly there, not long to go now! You may start to feel very tired, bored and fed up with your marathon training, but hang in there! It will all pay off in the end. A lot of our previous marathon clients have said it's actually the training that is the hardest part compared to the actual marathon race. The crowd, friends and family will pull you along on race day, trust me!
2) HELP
If you are resting from an injury, which you have yet to have diagnosed by a sports therapist, physiotherapist or osteopath, please go and seek treatment ASAP. Do not rely on anti-inflammatory drugs and other medication; this will only help the pain symptoms short-term. Most running injuries are caused due to repetition and as soon as you start recommencing your running, your symptoms and injury will very likely return because you have not addressed the original cause. Instead you have just taken drugs and rested. Please seek treatment ASAP as this injury could actually prevent you from crossing the finish line on race day.
3) SLEEP
Recovery is the key at this latter stage of your marathon training. Make sure you are getting enough sleep and that your social calendar is not full to the brim in March and early April. Your friends and family will understand, especially if they have ever trained for a marathon before!
4) PLAN
Now is the time to start thinking about what you should wear on race day and start training in these clothes. Will you be too hot or too cold? What is the weather forecast? Do you need to wear a race bag to carry gels, drink, asthma pump, mobile phone, etc? The common mistake we see every year is runners go to the Marathon Expo a few days before the race and get drawn into buying new running attire and brand new shoes. Then on race day, they wear their new outfit but chaffing occurs, bloody nipple syndrome and sports bra cuts. So plan plan plan and don’t try anything new on race day!
5) GET A SPORTS MASSAGE
Treat your legs to a sports massage the week of the race. You want your legs to be as energised as possible and for muscles to be rid of waste products to ensure optimum function. A sports massage can do just that. It is not a painstaking, agonising massage where you are biting into the pillow; quite the contrary. It is an overall ‘flush’ to the legs, concentrating slowly on some of the tighter areas whilst not going in too deep.
All that is left to say is have a fantastic rest of March, you are nearly there and should be extremely proud of yourself. Remember why you are training, in whose memory you are training and keep that smile on your face. You CAN do this!
“Remember what I said about fear...? It’s a choice. Don’t choose it” (US Navy Seal)
