This week we discuss the training of marathon runners! Most PT's likely won't need to know about marathon training in the detail provided by this article, so we try to also distill down the main concepts. These are: more easy volume is associated with improvements in performance, therefore if you are working with marathoners you want to really push them to make sure their body can withstand the stresses they are going to be placing on them. Since most runners do not do much, or any, strength training, this is a big bucket that can be maximized. For the recreational runner that wants to improve their marathon performance, but does not have the time to do more volume, they may want to emphasize time doing zone 2 and 3 running. Since this is a higher stress to the body, it is vital to educate on proper recovery (sleep, nutrition, stress management) to ensure their body can appropriately tolerate the demands of running. Again, emphasizing strength training will help to build the body's capacity to training.
The abstract can be found here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39616560/
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