Monday, October 12, 2009

One Week Until Columbus!

Okay, we are one easy training week away from the Columbus Half Marathon!

I am SO excited for all of you who are running on October 18th!!

And, put your mind at ease, you ARE READY! Just one easy week worth of running, and then it's 13.1 for you!

You've already completed a Half Marathon Distance. So the week before the race, the VERY BEST thing you can do is drop down in your mileage to allow your body to be ready for the upcoming event.

Sometimes people think they should keep training hard, even in the week leading up to an event. But, that's an approach that leads to being tired on the day you've been working so hard to get to.

Why should we taper down before the Half?

A review of 50 studies on tapering published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise shows that levels of muscle glycogen, enzymes, antioxidants, and hormones - all depleted by high mileage - return to optimal ranges during a taper.

The muscle damage that occurs during sustained training is also repaired.

And if that isn't enough, immune function and muscle strength improve, as well, which reduces the odds you'll catch a cold or sustain an injury just before the race.

And for those shooting for a specific time goal, the average performance improvement by those who tapered in these studies was 3 percent.

That works out to be an improvement of almost 20-30 seconds per mile! That's significant!!

In short, the taper will allow everyone to perform at their best while enjoying this major event!

Okay, so, here's next week's running schedule:

Monday- Strength Training

Tuesday- Run 4 miles easy pace

Wednesday- Strength Training

Thursday- Run 4 miles easy pace

Friday- Strength Training

Saturday - REST, Relax & enjoy a carbohydrate loading dinner together!

Sunday - 13.1 Miles in Columbus!! Enjoy it!

And, here's a short video introduction to the Columbus Half from Scott Weaver, Executive Director of the Columbus Marathon!

See you tomorrow at the studio (at 6:30am). For those doing Columbus, you'll go 8 miles...for those training for Indy on November 8th, you have the option of running 14 miles tomorrow, slow and easy!!

Your friend in fitness,

Brian Calkins

HealthStyle Fitness, Inc. 4325 Red Bank Rd Cincinnati, OH 45227 513-407-4665, x-105 www.CincinnatiFitness.com

No comments: