Are You Prepared To Return To Racing Or Competitive Play?
Gyms and Sports Teams are planning to reopen and return to training. Can you train effectively and plan to return to the gym or your chosen sport without a high risk of injury?
Football Clubs have returned to competitive sport following the lockdown. Following a period of little to no training and low levels of training load, the players’ intensity and volume of games and training have dramatically increased. With this there has been a dramatic increase in injuries. If you are looking to return to sport, the gym or are planning to run a competitive event, can you train smarter and reduce the risk of an injury occurring on your return?
Throughout lockdown I have been looking forward to, as I am sure many of you have been, the reopening of gyms, the return of competitive running races and the return of team sports. The lockdown introduced a change in training loads and volume on all of us. No longer could we lift heavy weights, train for and run in competitive timed races or play team sports on a regular basis. Now that there is light at the end of the tunnel, have you been planning effectively for your return? Can you use the next few weeks or months to change your training loads and adapt your plan so that you are ready for your return to competitive sports, the gym or running races? Whether it is a park run, semi-professional football or a personal best on a deadlift how can you change your training to maximise your return and reduce your risk of injury?
Previously I have talked about the acute:chronic work load ratio (read here). The premise of the workload ratio is that any new training load that your body is not used to leads to an increased risk of injury. If we can increase the chronic load (what the body is used to) then the changes or new training loads will not have as large an injury risk. The changes in loads can be varied, for example, a casual 5km run versus a timed personal best (PB) effort for a 5km at maximal intensity or HIIT home workout classes with light weights versus lifting heavy in the gym or kicking a ball around with friends in the park versus sprinting around the football pitch in a competitive game (watch the premiership for all the new soft-tissue injuries). Any new load carries a large risk of injury unless we prepare the body correctly for their inclusion and return. So, can you prepare for your return?
Traditional pre-season training for team sports or planning for an event or run would normally have a definitive time frame with a end date in mind. This would lead to a long preparatory phase where the intensity and volume of training could slowly be increased up until race day or the start of a season. Unfortunately with Covid-19 and the lockdown, traditional training plans go out the window. Most sports, events and gyms have no definitive date for when they can start or open. This leads to challenges in how you increase the intensity and the volume of training when there will be a very short window of warning to when the gym will reopen or whether your race will go ahead. Therefore we need to adapt our plan to meet these unknown timeframes.
This blog is part one of a two part series. The second section will focus on the return to the gym and team sports.
Part 1 - Running
There has been a huge uptake in running throughout the lockdown but what has been missing is competitive timed races. For some this may be the reason for all the rainy day runs, the search for a new PB. Many running plans will build you up week by week with an end race date in mind. This may be a 6-week plan or in relation to marathons, 16-weeks. But, how do you plan your training for the unknown race or marathon date that keeps moving due to postponement? The key is to vary your intensity and volume of training. With increased intensity comes an increased risk of injury, with an increased volume lies a risk of overtraining and thus an increased injury risk. So, how do you maintain your performance goals and reduce the risk of breaking down?
Intensity = the speed you run at, the perceived effort of the run, the heart rate variability of the run
Volume = the frequency, distance or time that you run for
Race Preparation 1
This example is for when runners are given limited notice period before race day. It enables runners to progress the performance aspect of their running, leading into race day with the aim of running a fast time.
The risk of injury is high in running a PB however, it can be reduced by still running quickly throughout your training but reducing the distance and time (volume) that you run.
This preparation phase can be used when you have a good base of training (12+ weeks of lock down running) but you may only be given 2-weeks notice for race day. Initially you will need to gradually increase the intensity of your runs until you are running at a perceived effort or speed that you require for race day. Once you have reached your desired intensity (blue line in graph) your aim is to maintain this throughout the unknown period (grey area in graph), but at varying volumes (red line in graph). The goal is to include a high level of intense training to maintain performance aspects of running. To reduce the risk of overtraining injuries during the “unknown” the volume of training follows ebbs and flows. This continues while you do not know the date of your race. When you receive notice of your race day the aim is to reduce the volume of your training but to only drop the intensity of your training by 10-20%. This in more commonly known as a taper (green area in graph). The duration of the “unknown” should not exceed 4-weeks but this is dependant upon your training history and other forms of training (e.g gym work, HIIT etc.)
Race Preparation 2
This example can be used if the runner is likely to be given a minimum of 6-weeks notice before a race.
The unknown period (in grey) is our current cycle of training - a gradual increase in intensity and cycling the volume through ebbs and flows. Once your race day has been announced you can move into the 3-6 week preparatory period (shown in yellow on the graph) before tapering prior to the race.
Initially there is a gradual increase in intensity at low volumes. This ensures that the runner is exposed to the loads and forces of high speed running that a competitive race requires. The volumes of load then plateau as the race date is announced so that the individual can build back into a short training phase (think of your 6 or 12-week plan condensed into 4-weeks) before building up towards race day. As the overall time period is far greater than that of the race preparation example 1, we have the ability to expose the runner to high speed/high intensity running, plateau and build volume in distance/tempo/recovery through the training phase before moving into the taper.
Summary for Runners
I have previously written that up to 70% of running injuries are down to training error (read here). With the lockdown measures of the last 14-weeks and changes to the racing diary everyone’s training has been interrupted. Most individuals have continued to train without any timeframes or end goals in mind. Now as the lockdown restrictions begin to ease and provisional race dates may be announced it is time to start planning your training with a timeframe in mind. The above information offers advice on training volumes and intensities and how simple changes to the goals of each running session can reduce your chance of ending up injured due to training errors but also how you may be able to still achieve your goals of running quickly in a timed event
Take home points/Questions to ask yourself:
Have you planned your week to be:
A) high intensity (increased speed, perceived effort, higher heart rate)
or
B) high in volume (duration of running, distance or frequency of runs)
Should your week be both high in volume and intensity? If so, how long should you train at this high intensity and volume?
Plan each week and pick intensity or volume
Set training schedules and pick time frames
Once a race date or event is announced go back to the drawing board and plan your training up to race day
Part 2 - Team sports and the return to the gym (coming soon!)