Race Training? Check Yourself Before You Wreckity-Wreck Yourself
Yay, it's a fitness post!
I'm always talking about goals goals goals because I know, in my life, how crucial they are to keeping me motivated.I just opened up a special Facebook group to some of The 30x30 donors and so far, two people are in race training for Spring races.Training for a race is one of the best forms of motivation. If you're starting out in exercise, nothing will motivate you to be consistent quite like knowing you have to run for an extended period of time.Even if you're training to walk it, having a specific date set will help you keep your eye on what's important.Nothing, however, will kill that motivation quite like an injury will. These are super common amongst new runners, and are the unfortunate end to achievements one works so hard for!This, my friends, will not be you. Not this time.I train runners for speed, distance and to avoid injury. Today, I'm going to share some of my trainer wisdom with all y'all!There are many ways to avoid injury when you start out on a training program. You just have to know what to choose from. Here's a hint: you don't need any crazy expensive equipment or programs. You don't have to do yoga for runners (though it helps!). You don't have to go get the latest version of Vibrams or compression tights. You just have to check yourself before you wreckity-wreck yourself.Here are my top 5 tips to avoid injury while upping your speed or distance:
1. Roll with It
Friends, all me to introduce to you, the foam roller...*cue clouds parting and angels singing*Seriously, guys. Foam rolling is sooo important when taking on a lot of distance or upping your speed.The foam roller does what we in the training business call self myofascial release (you don't have to remember that). In other words, you're going to be massaging yourself... though it may feel like one long punch in the thigh the first few times.I've found that those who foam roll regularly are less likely to get injured than those who don't, and are quicker to come back from injury than those who don't. It will also decrease soreness, increase flexibility, and help make your runs feel easier.So here's the gist: You have this kind of skin around your muscles called fascia. When your muscles get tight, it's sometimes just the fascia getting knotted up and gnarly in there. You need something to get those kinks out. That's where our friend, Mr. Foam Roller, jumps in. When you foam roll correctly, you release those knots, allowing the muscles to perform to their fullest without compromising other muscle groups as they might when you're tight.How do you do it? Funny you should ask, because there are tons of ways to foam roll. For running purposes, we're going to stick with most commonly-affected muscle groups.The people over at BodyBuilding.com have done a great job with their instructions for foam rolling. Here are the important muscle groups to roll out before and after your runs (if you don't see the images, click the links to see them on BodyBuilding's website):