The art of tapering…….

So we are fully into marathon season so with many races on the horizon for the running community I thought I would discuss the value and art of tapering for race day.

Tapering before a marathon should ideally begin around 2-3 weeks out for most runners.

So what does tapering mean? What does it achieve?

Tapering is the opportunity for your body to get some recovery and rest from all the mileage you have accumulated throughout your training. Evidence would suggest that a 2-3 week taper allows muscle glycogen (energy stores), enzymes, antioxidants, and hormones to return to optimal ranges. It is also an opportunity for muscle damage that has occurred during high volume training to repair and this improves muscle strength. Immune function also improves meaning you are less likely to get ill leading into the race.

 

However a common mistake during this period can be to over taper! Here is some guidance on how to manage you load during this period….

Weekly Mileage

A reduction to 80% of your weekly mileage in the first week, 70% second week and 50% in the final week should be sufficient to provide the necessary physiological adaptations required without leaving you feeling sluggish on race day. So if your weekly mileage is 50 miles then your taper mileage for week would be 40miles per week.

Long Run Volume

Whilst you don’t want to eliminate long runs you should reduce the volume, most coaches would recommend reducing this by 20% week 1 and 50% in week 2.

Intensity

You should also make sure you maintain some intensity to your sessions. Training at race pace is still beneficial during this period. One higher intensity session per week will be sufficient in week 1, a moderate intensity session at 60% volume of your normal hard day. In the final week this session can be in the form of mini session e.g. 6-8 x 2mins at race pace with 2mins recovery.

The day before the race it useful to get out a do a light run. This has the benefit of stimulating the nervous system and provides some psychological comfort by alleviating nerves. An easy 3 miles would be appropriate.

Whilst this blog has provided some insight into the reasons behind tapering and given some examples of how to manage tapering load, it isn’t a one size fits all model. You will need to find a tapering model that suits you and best prepares you both psychologically and physiologically for the race. It takes time to develop a routine and be comfortable with a tapering regime, so the more you do the more you will find what works for you!

As always…. Have a great weekend from the Physiokinetic team!

Cheers Becki

Slouching for healthy shoulders and good posture!

At Physiokinetic we see a lot of shoulder injuries.

They are most prevalent in people that complete activity in the overhead position.

Quite often this is also the main symptom that people will seek physiotherapy,

“I get pain when I reach up to dry my hair”

“My shoulder hurts when I reach upwards to turn the light on”

“I can hit a forehand but as soon as I try to serve I get shoulder pain”

Quite often these symptoms will come with a diagnoses of “shoulder impingement”.

This is an accurate description of the symptoms. However it is just that, a symptom of a problem, not a diagnoses.  The diagnoses is derived from what is causing the shoulder to pinch. This is due to multiple factors.

The most significant factor and improvement people can make in the early stages of injury is to relax and allow yourself to slouch! The misleading information that creates the need to relax comes from the ideal that sitting up straight and pulling the shoulders back is a good idea while you move the shoulder.

This causes more problems and can quite often worsen the symptoms of impingement. 

This is as a result of accidentally fixing the shoulder blades in once place.

The shoulder moves! To create space and to give you a stable platform for the arm to work, the shoulder blade needs to move forwards and rotate upwards. Any lack of this movement and the shoulder will function sub optimally.

To promote this movement I use the cue to relax and as the arms raise up overhead, expand the back between the shoulder blades. The exact opposite to pulling them back! You can try this now, simply try and hold your shoulder blades together and raise your arms, then do the same while relaxed and letting your shoulder blades move. Which is easier?

When you have the feeling of this you can then train to maintain the muscular balance around the shoulder to keep this rotation occurring efficiently.

 

Have a good week!

 

Dan

A Royal Affair

So we’ve had an interesting week here at Physiokinetic!

We started the week with a Royal visit on Monday. The Princess Royal met Physiokinetic staff and some scholar athletes when she attended the site to officially open the Sport & Fitness Club.

Having discussed with the Queen’s daughter to some of the services we offer, I thought it would be a good opportunity to remind everyone of the diversity of skills we have to offer.

Physiokinetic we provide physiotherapy services to over 20 different sports at the University of Birmingham. Additionally, we are the regional provider of physiotherapy to the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS) which provides support to talented athletes aged 16 and over in over 30 sports.

Alongside this we also work in collaboration with Birmingham Children’s Hospital to provide physiotherapy assessment and rehabilitation services to children in the region. Our input supports children at a range of levels from accessing school PE, grass roots football and international para-skiing.

At Physiokinetic we understand the mindsets of patients and athletes of all levels. We understand the time sensitive nature of injuries and the needs of patients. As such we have developed a Sports Medicine Clinic that runs fortnightly on site to provide assessment for all our University Scholars, TASS athletes and patients. The service is headed up by Dr Kim Gregory. Dr Kim Gregory is the Chief Medical Officer for GB Para-Olympic Team at the Winter Olympics this year.

For those patients that don’t require sports medicine review we have worked hard to develop strong links with Orthopaedic Specialists in the area and have excellent knowledge of local services should patients need onward referral.  This is through both NHS and Private pathways and as such we can support all patients with their needs.

 

I hope this has provided some insight into the range of expertise and services we have here at Physiokinetic!

 

Have a great weekend

 

Bex