Five factors women should not ignore when marathon training

Training for any marathon depends on the lives of all participants; You’re running several times a week at ever-increasing distances.

For those preparing for london marathon Like me, there’s nothing to do except planning when to hit the pavement, balancing work and family commitments for the four months of the British winter.

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Men and women often follow similar plans, but coaches believe there are key areas that female runners may overlook. Here’s his advice on areas to focus on.

nutrition

Training for a marathon often involves large increases in activity and it is important to eat enough to support this.

“My number one piece of advice for female athletes is to always promote the work that you’re doing,” explains Simon de Waal, senior lecturer in sport and exercise science at the University of Gloucestershire. telegraph sport. “I think there’s more pressure on women to look a certain way, especially female athletes, (although) I think we’ve moved beyond just looking thin because we think it’s good for performance.”

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This is especially relevant for women given the risk of under-fuelling. Relative lack of energy in sportsWhich can have long-term effects on the body, from reproductive health to cognitive function and weakened immunity.

George Morris, who leads the strength and conditioning program at St. Mary’s University, says: “If you’re going to train for performance, make sure you’re energetic going into and coming out of training sessions; pay more attention to carbohydrates beforehand and then to carbohydrates and protein afterward.”

strength training

As a result of the increased focus on running, going to the gym may be less frequent, but it may be more important than many people think.

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Jo Wilkinson, who raced for Great Britain at the Commonwealth Games and was trained by the same trainers as Paula Radcliffe, says: “I think women absolutely need to do strength training, especially as you get older. If I have one regret, it would be not embracing weight training and strength training in my 30s. It’s very, very important.

“In an ideal world you would want to aim for two to three times a week; twice a week is probably the minimum as regular training gets you better and fitter.”

If someone hasn’t done any strength training for a while, the first few sessions will be “really hard,” warns de Waal, but after a few weeks the delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) will become manageable.

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rest and recovery

An important and often neglected part of training is to give the body time to recover between training sessions.

“I think all runners are very bad at rest and recovery,” explains Wilkinson, now a coach. “But I think women get dragged into caring responsibilities. Taking care of children and aging parents seems like a lady’s job and it really demands your time.

“If you go for a long run on a Sunday… I was an elite runner at the time, so my runs were only two and a half hours, but then I wanted to lie on the sofa all afternoon. I used to take my son to the cinema because I could sit for a couple of hours and be a parent without doing anything.”

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menstrual cycle

The menstrual cycle affects every female runner differently. Some people may want to ignore it completely while others may approach the training according to specific steps.

One size doesn’t fit all, as Wilkinson explains: “For some women they have their period and it doesn’t matter how they train, but I have other women who have bad cramps, feel bloated or sluggish and so we spend the day wandering around. So if you’re feeling rubbish, you’re not going to do a really hard session.

“There are other women who have the attitude of, ‘I might have to race during my period so I want to train during my period’, which I think is really valuable too.”