The Yeppoon Running Festival is fast approaching! Run at your own pace and choose a distance that suits you with 1.6km, 5km, 10km, Half Marathon or the Full Marathon.
Now is the perfect time to make sure you are tracking along nicely in your preparations and remain both pain and injury free in the lead up to and throughout the event.
JESSE’S Top Tips…
- CROSS TRAINING
With the run approximately less than 3 weeks away, you will be wanting to get some longer runs under your belt. However, it’s still important you get in those rest days, particularly after the longer runs to ensure your body recovers adequately and you reduce your risk of injury. Cross training days can be a great form of active recovery. A bike ride is a nice way to recover from the runs you do during the week, while still getting km’s into the legs.
- INJURY MANAGEMENT
Address any injuries now so that they don’t sideline you later. Just because you have a niggle now, doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t be able to participate in the event. Getting onto an injury early means that you can take it into consideration when training. A health professional such as a Physiotherapist, Osteopath, Chiropractor or Podiatrist will work with you, and help you to achieve your goal. Early injury management could be as simple as modifying your training program, designing an appropriate warm up/cool down, or looking at your footwear. The sooner you address an injury, the sooner you can implement a management plan and give yourself the best possible chance to complete your run.
- FOOTWEAR
As mentioned above, footwear can be vital in the management of an injury, as well as prevention. Ideally you will have run at least 100km in your shoes before hitting the Start Line, meaning that if your shoes are looking a little worse for wear, now is the time to update them. When buying new shoes it is important that they are fitted to your needs. Meaning, if you want to run in them, then have them fitted to your running gait rather than just walking. This will help ensure that you get the shoe that is the best fit for you. We recommend having your shoes fitted locally by the team at Active Feet in Yeppoon.
- HYDRATION
Given that the run falls in July, it can be dry here in Central Queensland, so try to get a few training runs done in dryer conditions. This will help to condition your body to the dryer environment and help prevent heat stress/dehydration on the day. Of course with a dryer environment comes increased fluid intake, so ensure you stay well hydrated during your training runs and practise your hydration regimen for the event prior to race day.
If you have any lower limb injuries or niggles in the lead up or after the event- please reach out or book an appointment online. We’d love to help!
Jesse Harrison
Podiatrist
Pro Feet Podiatry/Active Feet Yeppoon
