Flora London Marathon - 2008

What do, George W. Bush, Nell Mc Andrew, Al Gore, Oprah Winfrey, Gordon Ramsey, Joe Strummer and Balances Graham Anderson all have in common?  All have run a marathon!

If there's one thing this proves, it's that anyone can run a marathon. You don't need any particular athletic ability, talent or special equipment. If you've got the gumption and some decent running shoes, you too can run a marathon.  Balance Performance Physiotherapy can help you through the whole process to achieve your goals.

• Good luck and best wishes to all of our clients currently training for the Flora London Marathon. If your not, take them as your inspiration and choose an event to train for.

Anyone who really likes running, has run a few 10K races while still smiling and has 6 hours a week to train can complete a marathon. You don't need to take a year off, you don't need to train 6 days a week. That being said, running a marathon is still a very hard thing to do. But it is an enriching experience (if approached in the correct way)!

So how can we, the team at London's sports injury and performance centre, help you?

1.Proactively:

• protect your feet
• we can provide you with the correct shoes
• supply off the shelf and bespoke orthotics
• digitally video and analyse your running gait and identify how we can improve toprevent injury and improve performance
• improve running style

2. Physically:

• formualate  a running programme that suits you rather than a one size fits all programme based purely on the time you want.
• advise you on fitness regime that supports your running rather than overshadow it.
• heighten your endurance
• improve your conditioning and run capacity
• help you achieve personal bests in speed and race times.

3. Mentally:

• provide a running club to support you all the way Clapham Runners. Their website currently resides athttp://www.nitrovortex.com/claphamrunners/
• advise and provide sports drinks and carbohydrate rich supplements
• offer marathon day advice

 4.Reactively

•  If injuries do arise we have a team that is expert in treating them.
• Optimise your healing time whilst minimising the impact on your training schedule
• Prevent further injury
• provide sports massage to ease training soreness
• provide sports psychology

ALL IN ALL - YOUR ONE STOP RUNNING SHOP(*we are currently unable to run the marathon for you!) 

Three general rules for marathon training.

• The key to successful marathon training lies in the weekend long run. Assuming you can run a 10K in an hour or less without keeling over, then you just start adding 1-2 miles every other weekend to make it your long run.
  
• You should also run 2-3 times during the week, preferably for 45-60 minutes or more. In four months time, you'll be ready to run a marathon. Ok, it sounds easy. Realistically, those last 1-2 miles of your long run will always be hard. But when you get to the point you can run 18 or 20 miles, you'll be amazed at how easy the first 10 miles are.
  
• There are a range of different training programmes. CJ Swaby and Graham Anderson can help you with running programmes, typically 14-16 weeks (assuming a base line of 20-30 miles per week) other programmes can be found in books and online but they may not suit your body, your fitness or accomodate the way you move! You don't have to follow the programs exactly.
  

Other important considerations

*As you get to 90 minutes or more of training time, you need to start thinking about fuel management. In other words, drinking water, and consuming carbohydrates.

**Be careful not to over train. If you have a dull pain, you can probably run through it, but if you ever experience a sharp pain, stop immediately as you could end up tearing tissue and the time to repair will be that much longer. If injury does occur, remember the acronym RICE; Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. If you're in doubt about any injury it's best to give us a ring. 

***Marathon training is very much a balancing act of pushing yourself close to --but not over --the edge of injury. Even taking two weeks off of running during a 16 week program is unlikely to seriously affect your performance.  Plan on tapering for 3 weeks prior to the race, cutting your mileage in half each week.

****Make sure you get fitted with the proper running shoes to accommodate your feet and running style. We sell all leading styles of Asics running shoes and with expert video running analysis we can make sure you're getting shoes that support your running form. At Balance we have specialists who can digitally look at your running style and advise. If you have a foot biomechanics issue our chartered podiatrists can again help with advice and orthotics.

Balance has vast experience working with runners from recreational to elite and all of our sports physiotherapists can advice, prevent and treat injuries through assessment and analysis.

• Paula Coates of Balance Performance Physioitherapy has drawn on the collective experience of the team, added her own unique perspective and expertise and written a book called Running Repairs, available at amazon. It’s full of tips and self help ideas – a must for any marathon trainer.

Ask anyone who's done it, there's nothing like finishing a marathon. You'll be fit, happy, and mentally strong. And you can do it all in just a few months!

For the official site visit 
www.london-marathon.co.uk/