• April 25, 2024

They say that even elite athletes make mistakes when preparing for a race. The absence of a training plan, the obsession to run without preparing thoroughly or the ravages of dehydration are some of the failures that many athletes commit and face.

Reach the goal!

Vicente Úbeda, contributor to the Spanish newspaper BRAND and coach of popular and elite athletes, explains what are the 7 most common mistakes in a 10-kilometer race.

1. Colleagues, I have no plan! Úbeda points out that the ideal is to go to a coach so he can create a tailor-made plan for us. As an alternative, we can follow a standard plan of a Web page or specialized magazine. Even, one must elaborate his plan - although it is mental - of what he must do until 'D-day'. Even though it's bad, it's always better to have a plan than not have it, he adds.

2. Train each day as if there were no tomorrow. It is very important to go from less to more. The expert says that the intensities of training have to be varied. "Facing each day like a competition is the fastest way to 'overtraining' and injuries," he says. He recommends alternating high-intensity days-like series and changes of pace-with other days of soft and comfortable workouts. Our body needs both types of work.

3. Believe that more training is to be better. "Sometimes the obsession to reach a goal leads us to believe that the more we train, the better we will be," says Úbeda. There must be a balance between our effort and the time of recovery. Two identical runners should not train the same if one is on vacation and the other works 12 hours in the field. Find your balance!

4. Start "at the rhythm of Ethiopian." This is a frequent error in both training and competition, adds Úbeda. "In the initial part of the training we feel good, so we think we should go faster. In the last part we pay the initial effort and we are forced to slow down or take the body to unsuspected extremes to keep it. The ideal is to maintain a uniform speed, if at all in slight progression, "he recommends.

5. Do not do stretching or other types of exercises. The expert points out that, if we want to run more and with less risk of injuries, we must dedicate some time to other types of exercises. "We should dedicate between 10 and 20% of the weekly training time to complementary work: stretching, abdominal, general strengthening," he suggests.

6. Drink plenty of water. Dehydration is a determining factor in the decrease in performance, says Úbeda. "We almost never remember drinking during workouts, although many times we do sessions of much more than an hour. In addition, drinking training allows us to get used to it so that we do not feel bad about the provisioning of the races ", explains the coach.

7. Brand new clothes and shoes on race day . Big mistake! Especially, in the case of women. Úbeda points out that any garment that we use in the race has to be tested at least a couple of times in training. Otherwise, we can suffer blisters and chafing. He also recommends having everything prepared one night before the race and read the regulations, travels and other points of interest, "It is quite common to find lost and disoriented runners, who always arrive late at the start," he says.

Finally, the specialist points out, one of the biggest mistakes in a 10-kilometer race or any other distance is ... forgetting to enjoy!

Video Medicine: ORIGINAL 'Reach the Goal' | Get It On Itunes Now!! (April 2024).