5 WEEKS TO GO CROSS TRAINING. BENEFITS OF X TRAINING Give your legs a break and try cross training for a change.

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1 5 WEEKS TO GO CROSS TRAINING BENEFITS OF X TRAINING Give your legs a break and try cross training for a change. PLANTAR FASCIITIS Spot the early warning signs of plantar fasciitis and find out how to treat this annoying injury. NEED MOTIVATION? A little American but a great video if you need a bit of motivation to carry you through these last few weeks.

2 Aim of the week This week and next week are big weeks as far as your training is concerned. You are now a stones throw away from your last long run, before you begin to taper and ease back on your weekly mileage. So, in the run up to Sunday s long run, look after any niggle you have by icing it and if necessary, give niggles some time to heal up and leave off the running until Sunday. Do not fear that your fitness will disappear overnight. It won t Cross Train instead The desire to run everywhere to get your fitness up might be overwhelming, but there is no shame in keeping your running kit in your wardrobe and instead use the gym to swim, row, cross train or bike. They are all are great alternatives, especially if you re nursing a sore knee, hip or ankle. Just try and exercise at an intensity that makes you breathless (though not excessively so) for at least an hour and that doesn t aggravate your injury. If you are injured and running isn t particularly comfortable, on training days, work up a good, long sweat on a cardiovascular machine which doesn t aggravate an injury and RICE (Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate) your niggles whenever you can. As hard as it is to believe, even if you don t run one step from now until race day, you will still have a very high level of fitness for the race and very possibly be able to finish it in a good time. At this stage of training, your body loves rest so don t deny it a bit of R & R if it s asking for it. If all is well, then this week s long run should really be in the region of 8-10 miles and preferably run in the same clothes as you anticipate running the race in

3 Injury of the week - Plantar Fasciitis Running underneath the foot from the bottom of the heel bone to the toes, is a long fibrous tissue known as fascia. This elastic sheath can sometimes become inflamed and cause a great deal of discomfort. Symptoms Pain in the bottom of the heel, especially in the morning Pain feels like stepping on a stone A burning sensation on the arch of the foot Relief can be felt when standing on the heels Causes Predictably, as with the most other injuries, the causes of plantar fasciitis can be a result of over pronation, tight calf muscles, over training and increasing your training intensity too quickly. Prevention A good warm up and stretch prior to a run will ensure that the muscles are properly prepared for a run and tightness does not have a knock on effect on the plantar fascia. Taking time to stretch after a run is also important to make sure that the muscle fibres are stretched out and realigned. Resisting the temptation to train harder than your body and muscles are ready for, is also a good precautionary measure. Treatment As is the case with any inflammatory injury, the RICE protocol must be followed at the onset of any plantar fascia discomfort. Under no circumstances should running be resumed until symptoms have disappeared. In cases of chronic (long term) pain, the advice of a professional should be considered so that a biomechanical assessment can be carried out. If the root cause of the injury is a result of excessive over-pronation, shoe inserts can be prescribed to reduce the stress and over stretching of the plantar fascia.

4 Nutrition tip of the week Are you eating healthily? The difficult thing about eating the right food is that, often, some of the things we think are healthy are in fact either bursting with hidden fats and/or salt, or contain vast quantities of hidden sugar. This is bad enough for you when you are leading a sedentary lifestyle, but when you eat poor-quality foods when you re in training for a half marathon, it can have a serious impact on how you feel and how well you perform in training. To give you an idea of some of the hidden nasties out there, here are a few obvious ones, plus some that might surprise you. A single Big Mac contains approximately 490 calories to expend that much energy, you d need to run just under 5 miles. A Starbucks grande Caffè Latte contains 223 calories this will take just over 2 miles, or 20 minutes, of running to burn off. A small (175 ml) glass of wine contains approximately 150 kcals so just two glasses in the evening will take you about 3 miles of running to burn off. Even a couple of healthy eating sausages can contain up to a third of your recommended daily allowance of salt. Even the most innocent and healthy looking of snacks can have some pretty awful things in them, so always have a good look at the label of your favourite snack and make sure that it isn t excessively high in sugar, salt, fat or other rubbish. You are what you eat and come race day, you do not want to be fuelled on something that is inherently bad for you.

5 Video of the week - Motivation Weeks ago, you made a commitment. A promise to your friends, your charity and to yourself that you would put the hours into the training and do whatever it takes to get you to the finish line. However, after the weeks of training you have already done and knowledge that there are many more weeks to go, right now some of you might be on the verge of throwing in the towel out and quitting. You re not alone in feeling like this. Had thoughts of exaggerating an injury to make quitting a bit easier or even blaming your boss for giving you too much work to find the time to train? These thoughts are all coming from a certain part of your brain which controls your instinctive animal emotions. It is referred to as your chimp and your challenge right now is to learn how to control the chimp and overrule him! Endurance training is hard and there are times when you feel you want to throw in the towel, so you can reclaim a more relaxed lifestyle and simply to make the hours of relentless training go away. Fine if that s what you want.. but we both know it isn t! You want to finish what you started and prove to everyone not least of all yourself that you re not a quitter and that you can achieve something which you once thought would never be possible. So, if you are feeling overwhelmed then find a quiet moment and watch the video above. Listen to the commentary and have a think about what it is you want and what it is that made you start this journey to finish an endurance event...welcome back!