Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Your body remembers
It is amazing how clever our body is. As we have mentioned in the marathon course, our body uses a "run-rest-repair" process. So we don't actually get fit when we are running we get fit when we rest. While we are running our body breaks down, then while we rest it repairs, but stronger than it was before. This is awesome, but also underlines the importance of rest.
Research has shown that the effect of running on our metabolism last for 48 hours. This is great because we have an increased metabolism and hence weight loss during this period. However this period is also the period where the body is running around repairing itself, while we sleep, watch TV, go to work. It's amazing - but can also be sore. The soreness we experience is this process of the body repairing and strengthening. Your body is really clever, it remembers what you did to it and it does not want to go through it again so it's going to try and make itself stronger - just in case you're crazy enough to do this again. Which of course we are :-)
However your body also remembers if you push yourself too soon after a long run. You may even feel fine, the memory of the long run faded into the pizzas and burgers of the intervening weeks. But your body remembers. I remember when we had run an ultra marathon and about 4 weeks later we went to run a marathon. Four weeks after a long run the stiffness is all a distant memory, you feel as good as new. But your body remembers. We started fine, enjoying the run - until we got to about 20kms. Then all of a sudden we felt tired, and it got worse and worse, until we crawled over the finish line. We couldn't understand it. We were fit enough - we'd run an ultra (56km) this should have been easy. But although we felt fine our body remembered the ultra too! It had not forgotten and was still busy repairing. So as soon as we hit a certain distance it threw its toys out the cot and we suddenly felt drained.
So the lesson is to make sure that you take it easy after a long run. This is not only true after running a marathon, but also your long training runs. Make sure the next day is more relaxing and the next run. This does not mean we cant push our bodies, as this is how they get stronger - but your body remembers and this memory is communicated in clear "pain" language. That is why our training program (and all good programs) have several weeks of taper to let your body repair and forget....
C:-)
Research has shown that the effect of running on our metabolism last for 48 hours. This is great because we have an increased metabolism and hence weight loss during this period. However this period is also the period where the body is running around repairing itself, while we sleep, watch TV, go to work. It's amazing - but can also be sore. The soreness we experience is this process of the body repairing and strengthening. Your body is really clever, it remembers what you did to it and it does not want to go through it again so it's going to try and make itself stronger - just in case you're crazy enough to do this again. Which of course we are :-)
However your body also remembers if you push yourself too soon after a long run. You may even feel fine, the memory of the long run faded into the pizzas and burgers of the intervening weeks. But your body remembers. I remember when we had run an ultra marathon and about 4 weeks later we went to run a marathon. Four weeks after a long run the stiffness is all a distant memory, you feel as good as new. But your body remembers. We started fine, enjoying the run - until we got to about 20kms. Then all of a sudden we felt tired, and it got worse and worse, until we crawled over the finish line. We couldn't understand it. We were fit enough - we'd run an ultra (56km) this should have been easy. But although we felt fine our body remembered the ultra too! It had not forgotten and was still busy repairing. So as soon as we hit a certain distance it threw its toys out the cot and we suddenly felt drained.
So the lesson is to make sure that you take it easy after a long run. This is not only true after running a marathon, but also your long training runs. Make sure the next day is more relaxing and the next run. This does not mean we cant push our bodies, as this is how they get stronger - but your body remembers and this memory is communicated in clear "pain" language. That is why our training program (and all good programs) have several weeks of taper to let your body repair and forget....
C:-)
Labels: pain, repair, rest, stiffness
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
The Psychology of the Taper
One of the strangest things is the taper. This is that period at the end of a training period where you dramatically reduce your running. We are now only just over a week away from the Big Comrades...89km of fun, pain, joy, suffering, pleasure...etc. And so the last 3 weeks of our program have seen our mileage drop off significantly.
We did a peak week about 4 weeks ago with one long run (being Two Oceans Marathon) of 56km and a 21km and a couple of shorter ones in the week to get us close to the magic 100 for the week. Since then we have been in the taper, dropping down to about 50...30...20...etc. It just feels weird every time we do this. You think "I just don't feel ready. Surely I should go and run a long run of 30km today". Yet this is when your body is actually getting fit. It is this rest that is so important. With 3 weeks to go there is little that can be done to build cardio or infrastructure fitness. You can maintain, but most importantly you need to rest so that the body can strengthen.
Yet even though we know this it always feels strange...but the great part is that it feels amazing go for a 10km run at a slow pae and hardly exerting any energy - that is really rewarding.
Only just over a week of the strange taper to go, and then the feet will hit the road for the Greatest Human Race!
Labels: Comrades, mind, psychology, rest, taper
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