by Matt BarnauskusTop 5 ways to stay healthy as an an endurance athlete.
The chronic repetitive motion of endurance sports lead to many debilitating overuse injuries such as runners knee, plantar fasciitis, and IT band syndrome; These injuries are written off as just part of the sport and aren’t appropriately addressed until its too late, causing the athlete to stop training. Here are some tips to keep you healthy and moving.
- Stay Adequately Hydrated - You have heard this a million times but it is worth repeating. Drinking enough water is crucial to sport performance. Water is used to eliminate toxins from the body and even helps lubricate your joints. The average person is 1 - 2% dehydrated. If you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated. To avoid this aim to drink 1 gallon of water throughout the day.
2. Getting enough fat in your diet - Every cell in your body is made up of fat. Suffice it to say it is important that you are getting enough from the foods you eat. If you have achy joints try taking a fatty acid supplement.
3. Learn Proper Form for your sport - If you are going to continually pound your joints for miles on end it would be beneficial for you to learn how to actually use good technique. Not only is this detrimental to your joints and soft tissues but you are also limiting how well you will be able to perform in your sport. Have someone video tape you running, swimming, or biking so you can see where your form is lacking.
4. Maintenance is key - #1 and 2 go along with this point. With all of the miles you are putting in it is wise to take time to take care of your body. Along with proper hydration and nutrition taking time to take care of your soft tissues will go along way to keeping you healthy. Take 10-15 minutes a day to foam roll and do some stretching/mobility work and you will be surprised how much better you will feel.
5. Strength Training - This ties in with #3 and it is the biggest thing lacking in endurance training. If you aren’t strength training as an endurance athlete you are missing a huge piece of the puzzle. Perhaps your form is terrible and no matter what you do you can’t correct it. Chances are you have muscle weaknesses/imbalances that are preventing you from getting into proper positions. The force of impact when you run is up to 4 - 5x your own body weight. Now compound this with the repetitive nature of endurance sports and you can begin to see why it is important to be strong enough to withstand this impact. When I say strength training I don’t mean doing db curls for 1000 reps, I mean actually picking heavy things up. With proper periodized training not only will you get stronger and feel better but believe it or not you will also get in better cardiovascular shape.
Try adding these five things into your lifestyle and you will start to notice the everyday aches and pains of endurance training will begin to diminish.
Comments and questions are welcomed.
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