Running without Races

As the racing calendar continues to wilt, due to the Corona Virus pandemic, it means that the Summer and possibly Autumn ahead are looking sparse for competitive opportunities. Many of us rely on races to motivate our training and to use as a target for peak fitness.  In the absence of races over the coming months we look at what you can do to keep motivated and make good use of your hard training.

Virtual Racing

Over the last couple of months we have seen a growing number of virtual race formats being staged. These challenges have ranged from 1km time trials to 100 mile events. Courses are chosen and measured by the individual, which can lead to some “flaws” but these are sure to be picked up and identified quite quickly by eager-eyed Strava fans.  At the end of the day virtual racing won’t be for everyone as lack of competition can reduce how hard you can work. However, racing your watch over a given distance (even if that is 4.9km) can provide a great training tool and way of working yourself more than usual in the current circumstances. Virtual race results can be shared on social media platforms to further add to the competitive drive. Setting up challenges within your running club or social groups can further motivate quick performances and create a sense of community during these unprecedented times. There may be nobody to chase but the incentive of someone seeing your results or comparing them with others can still replicate race effort and keep the juices flowing until we can toe a start line again.  

Try something new

Extra time at home and off work for many can provide an opportunity to add activities in to your training regime that you’ve always wanted to but maybe have been too busy for. If you use all the extra time to ramp up the running miles it could lead to injury, fatigue or reduced motivation, therefore taking up activities such as cycling, walking, home/garden circuits or online workouts could offer great training methods to get even fitter than normal. Less cars on the road makes for safer cycling at the moment and the non-weight bearing nature can offload the running legs and reduce injury risk whilst still using the large muscle groups of the legs. Walking is a great way to get outdoors and explore new paths around home as well as a way to be outdoors in nature which can greatly offload mental stresses, that may be building up during this global pandemic. Walking, again is much more gentle on the body than spending the extra time running and can provide an activity for the whole family to do together.  You could even incorporate the family into outdoor circuit routines, making them fun and engaging whilst providing strength benefits important for running. The added strength can also lead to reduced injury risk and aid performance when we get back to a racing calendar. Try not to get giddy and add everything in at once, but there are plenty of ways to improve fitness without doubling your run training; online workouts, yoga, pilates, HIIT, Tabatta can all offer fun and diverse ways to challenge yourself and make strength and fitness gains to be reaped at a later date.

Address strength weaknesses

Continuation of training or in many cases increased training during the past few months may have led to niggles or injuries. Physio clinics are currently closed but many are offering virtual consultations to help diagnose and advise on injuries. If you are someone who suffers with recurrent problems, now could be a good time to work on injury proofing yourself. We have the time to commit to rehabilitation exercises to strengthen underlying causes and help ensure happier and healthier running when things ramp up again in the future. Contact your regular physio or have a read of some general exercises that can keep you strong in the right areas here; https://www.letsgetrunning.co.uk/coaches-log/strengthscreen

The ongoing global situation continues to provide challenges and restrictions on our normal life, racing is not the be all and end all but for many runners who have trained hard they can provide a way of objectively measuring themselves against a given distance and against other runners. We hope, in the absence of races, some of the above advice helps to maintain competitive drive and motivation during this difficult time. This week the first race since March 8th was held in Norway, 7 people donned a number to race around an industrial estate. This could provide hope of some return to racing situations, even if that includes different formats and very small fields. As much as we all love racing, now is the time to find new ways to challenge ourselves and make sure we are in peak physical and mental health for the resumption of the race calendar whenever