Going the distance: mental stamina in sport and life

My name is Dr Chris Stevens and I'm a senior lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science at Southern Cross University.

Runners should be doing three types of training sessions, these include long slow distance sessions where the aim is to be able to run for a long duration at a slow pace without fatigue. These sessions increase the lactate threshold which allows a runner to be able to run at a higher intensity for a longer period without fatigue.

Another type of session that runners should be doing are interval training sessions where the aim is to run faster than usual by alternating periods of fast running with periods of rest. These sessions allow a runner to increase their maximum aerobic running pace so that the race pace is now a lower percentage of the runner's maximum running capacity.

Runners should progress their training over time, this usually means increasing the amount of training that is done each week. For an inexperienced marathon runner it's important to progress a long slow distance session every week as well as the total running duration or the kilometres completed each week.

A useful rule is that the amount of training should not increase by more than 10% per week. Progressing every training session every week would be far too much so runners should pick out only a couple of training sessions to progress in their plan each week.

Pacing is an important consideration for any runner but especially a marathon runner. Often runners will start a race too fast and then they are forced to slow down and run at a slower speed than their potential. The goal for a runner is to try and run at an even pace throughout a marathon.

Less experienced runners should start their race a little bit slower than what feels comfortable and aim to increase their pace in the second half of the run if they can.

So hello! My name is Holly Muggleston and I work at Southern Cross University. I'm a nutritionist.

Runners trots is also known as runner's guts basically starts with a rumbling in the stomach and that may be all that it is it may also be this extreme urge to defecate and the other one might be you have diarrhoea.

So if you're doing high-intensity exercise like an endurance run the blood that would normally go to your gastrointestinal tract to digest food gets diverted to other muscles as you run it gets jumbled up and it jars and it basically makes you feel like you need to have a poo. If you have less blood flow from less fluid being in your body that can exacerbate the problem because there's even less blood flow going to the GI tract.

Two to four hours after eating is when you would run. The meal should be low in fibre, protein and fat. It's best to drink water or a sports drink.

What's the best recovery meal?

Okay you need to have something soon after you do a run but that meal should contain some carbohydrates to contain protein, electrolytes and fluid.

Hi my name is Scott Goddard and I'm a PhD candidate here at Southern Cross University and I research in the area of sport and exercise psychology.

So the best way to motivate yourself to get started is by not putting too much pressure on yourself initially by having too many expectations especially if you're new to running or it's the first time that you're attempting a marathon.

We should be looking at running a pace that's comfortable or a distance that's comfortable and a good way to think about this is focusing on finishing the run, feeling happy to run within the next day or two.

So to keep up motivation post-race I would suggest changing up the types of running that you've been doing so for instance changing the distances or the environments that you're running in or potentially the routes that you've been running.

Anything that you can change up to keep running feeling new and fresh is a good way to continue to enjoy your running and keep that motivation up. 

Hi i'm Dr Paul Butterworth I'm the course coordinator of the podiatry and pedorthics programs here at Southern Cross University on the Gold Coast. 

So the best way to prevent common injuries is wearing good supportive footwear, making sure that that footwear suits your foot type whether you've got a flat foot, a neutral foot or a high arch foot.

Other ways to prevent injury are making sure that you're strapping your ankles if you're susceptible to ankle sprains, making sure you're wearing orthotic devices if they've been prescribed and if they haven't, getting an assessment done prior to any marathon to see whether you are at risk is a good idea and your local podiatrist should be able to help you.

In that space if you do get injuries we do have a health clinic here at Southern Cross University we can offer podiatry, pedorthics, osteopathic services amongst many others please feel free to come and see us.

Obviously, you can see your local GP or your local health practitioner should you need to.

I am Dr Paul Butterworth from podiatry and pedorthics here at Southern Cross University and we're here in our manufacturing lab where we deal with footwear and our students deal with footwear on a daily basis.

If you're running the Gold Coast Marathon or the ten kilometre run perhaps footwear is going to be something you'll be thinking about so I'm here to just give you a few basic tips on things to consider prior to your run.

What we have here are some examples of shoes. Now footwear have different aspects to them we often refer to it as footwear anatomy so we have a heel counter, we have a toe box, we have the upper of the footwear and it al varies depending on make and model.

What you should be doing is firstly using a little bit of common sense and making sure that your footwear fits, that it's supportive that it's not causing any blisters or irritation.

You should be using your runners for a period of time prior to the main event to make sure that those things don't happen.

If you have a neutral foot then a neutral runner will be appropriate if you have a really flat foot you may require something with a little more support in the heel counter that gives you some rigidity to prevent your foot flattening out too much because as we know flat feet can cause problems.

At the same time having high arch feet can also cause problems and so making sure that you get the footwear to fit your feet is very important particularly with such a big event coming up.

So go to a good footwear store. I can't recommend one over the other, make sure that your shoes fit and that you're comfortable with them and that you wear them in prior to your event.

Good luck with your event and hopefully your feet survive the ordeal and if you need to see us here we have a student clinic where we can assess any foot problems you might have.

My name is Bimbi Gray I'm a registered osteopath and a clinical academic at Southern Cross University.

All training and competing causes some degree of physiological stress, whether you're running the ten kilometre, the half or the full marathon you may feel this physiological stress has caused some strain or injury to your body.

Osteopaths are government regulated allied health professionals who have extensive knowledge of functional anatomy and biomechanics. People often see osteopaths. for short and long term complaints Common problems that runners may see an osteopath for are neck and lower back pain ankle sprains knee pain shin splints and muscular strains such as hamstring or calf strains.

Osteopaths will review the way your body moves including any restrictions to your range of movement speed agility flexibility and strength for your running. Osteopaths combine the results of multiple clinical tests to develop a working diagnosis and clinical management plan which often involves manual therapy. Manual therapy is a hands-on treatment used to support tissue repair movement and recovery.

Book in to see your local osteopath or the highly trained osteopathic students at the Southern Cross University health clinic to support your healing and recovery following the Gold Coast Marathon.