It’s that time of year, time to get stuck in and hit the cold frosty roads. The London marathon is just around the corner and for those out of the thousands who are taking part this is prime time. Running a marathon is going to put tremendous stress on your body. How you approach the event will determine whether you come out of it alive and injury free.

By this point you should have a decent fitness base. You should now be looking at your final phase of training, the Workout Training Phase. This should be a combination of short distance and interval/hill sprints as well as one long distance run once a week. A very important component of your training should be stretching and resistance training.

If you are a runner and you never perform resistance training you will be missing out. There are well documented studies showing that weightlifting is tremendously beneficial to running. Weightlifting helps to reduce the risk of injury and improve sporting performance.

As well as resistance training, mobility work, Yoga and the foam roller should not be ignored in your regime. They should become your best friends to help you with your performance and reduce the risk of injury.  Pay particular attention in maintain good flexibility on the following:

•           Tenson fascia latae (side of the hip)

•           Iliotibial band (the tough tissue that runs on the side of the thighs)

•           Hamstrings (back of thighs)

•           Hip flexor complex & adductors

For those of you who are prepping for the London marathon bellow you can find one of my example workouts.

These workouts are aiming to increase strength of the glutes & core. Improve mobility or stability of the ankles, knees & hips.

In this workout, we are combining a set of exercises in a circuit form. We are looking to strengthen the muscles around the hip joint and improve stability in the shoulders.

Workout:

1/Tri-set, complete the 3 exercises without rest. Total of 4 sets.

1a. Squat in to high row, 12-15 reps

1b. Inverted rows, 5-8 reps

1c. Lateral lunges, 20 reps

2/Super Set

2a. Bulgarian split squat, 10 reps

2b. kneeling face pull, 12 reps

3/Super Set

3a. Hamstring curl with stability ball, 10 reps

3b. single leg raise, 10 reps