How to survive your
first marathon.
Post-run recovery tips to keep you on track.
Mike Phillips, Myovolt Ambassador, at 2020 Queenstown Marathon
New Zealand has been one of the few countries in 2020 to hold mass participation sporting events with the Auckland and Queenstown Marathons being highlights for many runners in October and November.
The Auckland Marathon, which has been running since 1936, is the country’s largest sporting event. This year, even though New Zealand’s borders were closed to entries from outside the country, the number of sign-ups for the event still reached 14,000, the same number of attendees as in 2019. It was great to see the big names in the pro line up including Hannah Wells - the 2019 ASB Auckland marathon winner and Myovolt Ambassador.
The Queenstown Marathon is dubbed the world’s most scenic marathon taking in mountains, rivers and lakes along a spectacular route. Usually attracting large numbers of overseas participants, this year it was a home-grown event with Mike Phillips, Pro Ironman and Myovolt Ambassador placing second in the men’s elite category.
The Myovolt team was on the ground at both events with recovery stations at the athlete check-in villages in Auckland and Queenstown. It was great to meet those entering the events, both experienced runners and first timers, giving them a bit of help with some last minute niggles or pains they were experiencing pre-race.
“Recovery is where you gain fitness. You have to train hard
but recover harder.”
Dr Hannah Wells
Winner 2019 Auckland Marathon, Myovolt Ambassador.
Finishing a marathon leaves you feeling elated by the huge sense of achievement, but your body may not be feeling the same way! Being a distance runner is not easy and running or training for a marathon challenges your physical and mental limits.
Every runner has to learn how to take care of their body and avoid injuries to make it over the finish line in one piece, especially if you intend to keep on running throughout the year. Punishing your body and not following the post-run recovery rules can be a great mistake that leads to injury and keeps you away from your passion longer term.
For anyone who loves sport, major events like marathons give people the opportunity to set specific training goals and look forward to the personal challenge and enjoyment of taking part. In Auckland and Queenstown we met many people who had never run a marathon before and although they had trained hard in the lead-up to the event, they had not developed specific routines around recovery.
Muscle pains are the most common issue arising after your race or training and it’s normal for that pain to increase for three or more days after the run (this is called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness or DOMS). Inexperienced runners may think that this pain is par for the course after long distance running and that collapsing on the couch is a valid recovery routine, but there are better ways.
What do the experts say?
“Running a marathon is definitely something that is, overall, very taxing on your body when you’re doing it,” said Dr. Malissa J. Wood, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Exercise-Induced muscle damage occurs after rigorous physical activity of long duration. There are many symptoms like pain and inflammation. The worst impacted body part would be the leg muscles which would be tired and can lead to cramping and soreness”.
“Running continuously can cause damage to the muscle fibers and other parts, but many don’t realize that the damage is natural due to continuous workload on those muscle fibers. Initial damage doesn’t affect us much but the inflammatory process which arises after is accompanied by oxidative stress. These oxidative stresses can further worsen the initial damage”.
Top tips for muscle recovery after long distance running.
1. Drink lots.
Everyone sweats when they perform rigorous running for a long duration and of course you lose the salt and water from your body. When there is less water in the body it reduces the blood volume, which in turn reduces the circulation of blood throughout the body. This can lead to muscle soreness and cramping. Drinking water and energy drinks helps to regain the water and salts.
2. Walk it off.
You would expect most runners to sit down after they cross the finish line or complete their training, but to reduce the muscle soreness you should do some slow walking to cool off.
3. Eat well, very well.
We feel good when we eat well. One of the best ways to recover from soreness is making sure to have good nutritious meals for 3-4 days after the race. Meals which are rich in protein and carbohydrates should be good enough to repair your muscles.
4. Rest, of course.
Resting is always considered a good way to recover from any physical activity, so sleeping well is a great way to recover.
5. Massage it.
Massage is great for getting rid of sore muscles, stiffness and reducing DOMS. This can range from using tools like foam rollers or massage sticks, to visiting your local physio or massage therapist to reduce sore calf and leg muscles.
New recovery and massage technologies using vibration therapy are now available and these are a really convenient way to get rid of sore muscles. Vibration therapy increases circulation, it also helps to loosen and lengthen muscles to increase flexibility and to reduce muscle soreness and stiffness for improved recovery.
Myovolt targets focal vibration treatment directly where it’s needed on the body and has clinical research to validate its effectiveness for reducing DOMS soreness and stiffness. Quick and easy to use post-race or after every training run to relax and loosen up your muscles for faster recovery, You can even crash on the couch and let Myovolt do all the recovery work for you.
Get stuck into you training and achieve those marathon goals without the pain… or at least less of it!
Featured in this story
Great for recovering tired, overworked knees, quad, calf or hamstring muscles. The neoprene leg brace has an adjustable fit ...
How to survive your first marathon.
Post-run recovery tips to stay on track.
Mike Phillips, 2020 Queenstown Marathon
New Zealand has been one of the few countries in 2020 to hold mass participation sporting events with the Auckland and Queenstown Marathons being highlights for many runners in October and November.
The Auckland Marathon, which has been running since 1936, is the country’s largest sporting event. This year, even though New Zealand’s borders were closed to entries from outside the country, the number of sign-ups for the event still reached 14,000, the same number of attendees as in 2019. It was great to see the big names in the pro line up including Hannah Wells - the 2019 ASB Auckland marathon winner and Myovolt Ambassador.
The Queenstown Marathon is dubbed the world’s most scenic marathon taking in mountains, rivers and lakes along a spectacular route. Usually attracting large numbers of overseas participants, this year it was a home-grown event with Mike Phillips, pro Ironman and Myovolt Ambassador placing second in the men’s elite category.
The Myovolt team was on the ground at both events with recovery stations at the athlete check-in villages in Auckland and Queenstown. It was great to meet those entering the events, both experienced runners and first timers, giving them a bit of help with some last minute niggles or pains they were experiencing pre-race.
“Recovery is where you gain fitness. You have to train hard but recover harder.”
Dr Hannah Wells
Winner 2019 Auckland Marathon
Finishing a marathon leaves you feeling elated by the huge sense of achievement, but your body may not be feeling the same way! Being a distance runner is not easy and running or training for a marathon challenges your physical and mental limits.
Every runner has to learn how to take care of their body and avoid injuries to make it over the finish line in one piece, especially if you intend to keep on running throughout the year. Punishing your body and not following the post-run recovery rules can be a great mistake that leads to injury and keeps you away from your passion longer term.
For anyone who loves sport, major events like marathons give people the opportunity to set specific training goals and look forward to the personal challenge and enjoyment of taking part. In Auckland and Queenstown we met many people who had never run a marathon before and although they had trained hard in the lead-up to the event, they had not developed specific routines around recovery.
Muscle pains are the most common issue arising after your race or training and it’s normal for that pain to increase for three or more days after the run (this is called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness or DOMS). Inexperienced runners may think that this pain is par for the course after long distance running and that collapsing on the couch is a valid recovery routine, but there are better ways.
What do the experts say?
“Running a marathon is definitely something that is, overall, very taxing on your body when you’re doing it,” said Dr. Malissa J. Wood, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Exercise-Induced muscle damage occurs after rigorous physical activity of long duration. There are many symptoms like pain and inflammation. The worst impacted body part would be the leg muscles which would be tired and can lead to cramping and soreness”.
“Running continuously can cause damage to the muscle fibers and other parts, but many don’t realize that the damage is natural due to continuous workload on those muscle fibers. Initial damage doesn’t affect us much but the inflammatory process which arises after is accompanied by oxidative stress. These oxidative stresses can further worsen the initial damage”.
Top tips for muscle recovery after long distance running.
1. Drink lots.
Everyone sweats when they perform rigorous running for a long duration and of course you lose the salt and water from your body. When there is less water in the body it reduces the blood volume, which in turn reduces the circulation of blood throughout the body. This can lead to muscle soreness and cramping. Drinking water and energy drinks helps to regain the water and salts.
2. Walk it off.
You would expect most runners to sit down after they cross the finish line or complete their training, but to reduce the muscle soreness you should do some slow walking to cool off.
3. Eat well, very well.
We feel good when we eat well. One of the best ways to recover from soreness is making sure to have good nutritious meals for 3-4 days after the race. Meals which are rich in protein and carbohydrates should be good enough to repair your muscles.
4. Rest, of course.
Resting is always considered a good way to recover from any physical activity, so sleeping well is a great way to recover.
5. Massage it.
Massage is great for getting rid of sore muscles, stiffness and reducing DOMS. This can range from using tools like foam rollers or massage sticks, to visiting your local physio or massage therapist to reduce sore calf and leg muscles.
New recovery and massage technologies using vibration therapy are now available and these are a really convenient way to get rid of sore muscles. Vibration therapy increases circulation, it also helps to loosen and lengthen muscles to increase flexibility and to reduce muscle soreness and stiffness for improved recovery.
Myovolt targets focal vibration treatment directly where it’s needed on the body and has clinical research to validate its effectiveness for reducing DOMS soreness and stiffness. Quick and easy to use post-race or after every training run to relax and loosen up your muscles for faster recovery. You can even crash on the couch and let Myovolt do the recovery work for you.
Get stuck into you training and achieve those marathon goals without the pain… or at least less of it!
Featured in story
Great for recovering tired, overworked knees, quad, calf or hamstring muscles. The neoprene leg brace has an adjustable fit ...