Prevent Injury & Perform better: Strength for Endurance Athletes

Strength and Conditioning can allow you to not only perform better at endurance sports, like marathon running, but also help your body avoid injuries.

Strength and Conditioning coach applies scientific knowledge to train individuals with the primary goal of improving athletic performance. This typically involves strength, power, mobility, balance work to optimise individual performance in sporting events such as running events or triathlons.

Why do I need Strength & Conditioning support for my race? #

The key objectives of any training programme for an event are to stay injury free and achieve your race goals, be they a personal best, seasons best or simply completing the race. Strength & Conditioning work has been shown to optimise your current endurance training by improving the efficiency of the musculoskeletal system and more generally condition the body to the demands of training and the race. 

Strength and Power training in particular have been shown to reduce energy cost of each step/​stroke/​pedal revolution to maintain form and reduce the demands on the cardiovascular system and reduce the impact of imbalances caused by previous injury. 

How do I prevent injury during endurance sports? #

The reality remains that anyone preparing for an endurance event is likely to suffer some form of injury, be it a minor disruption to training or a major issue that prevents you from making the start line. Our S&C coaches are experts at designing individual specific programmes that reduce risk of injury, and minimize training time lost through application of Strength, Power, Mobility, Balance and coordination work. Even something as simple as a warm up for running or 10 mins of swimming injury prevention performed once a week can make a significant difference to injury incidence.

There are many factors I need to work on to set my personal best (PB), how do I fit it all in? #

Organisation of your training week is another key factor where our coaches can help maximize the efficiency of training. We all have busy lives and it can seem daunting to try to accommodate endurance training, strength training and injury prevention work into an already crowded life. Professional advice, based on your specific schedule, can help with those key scheduling decisions to ensure the right sessions are performed on the correct day to maximize effectiveness of training sessions and recovery. 

Seeking a specialist for each specific aspect of your training has its benefits but it is arguably more important that each of these elements are able co-exist and you are obtaining the maximum benefit from each of them.

I already have a personal trainer or specific endurance coach, what role would a Strength and Conditioning Coach provide? #

Strength and conditioning coaches are specialists in preparing individuals for specific sporting events and provide a key part of the process. Rather than looking at general physical goals (i.e I want to be stronger) as an end point, a strength and conditioning coach is specifically qualified to enable the athlete to perform better in their chosen event or sport. Your running or triathlon coach may have set you the ideal series of sessions to build your endurance for the race, and in this case a Strength and conditioning coaches role to ensure that you are able to perform those sessions optimally and avoid associated injury from overreaching.

What specifically would a Strength and Conditioning coach provide to prepare for my race? #

  • Physiological assessment of fitness levels to determine what steps you need to take to succeed.
  • Movement and strength assessment , including discussion of previous injury, to determine appropriate focus for training.
  • Injury prevention and performance enhancement programmes to add to your current training régime.
  • Advice around optimal organization of training to ensure all elements are addressed and adequate recovery is taking place.
  • Marathon Nutrition

If you’re training for a marathon or a different endurance event, get in touch with of our S&C coaches to see how they can help you. Fill in the form below and our team will be in touch.

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