02 Sep 22 | By pp-admin | Fitzs, Guest blog
Sponsored content from the Canberra Physio Clinic
Our team at the Canberra Physio Clinic are passionate about our clients achieving their own goals, regardless of if they are related to elite sport, weekend warriors or those just beginning their fitness and health journey. An event such as Fitz’s Challenge is not for the faint hearted and in taking on this challenge, your physical and mental resilience will be tested. It will require, strength, endurance balance and some pain. But the pride of accomplishment is all worth it.
To support you to perform at your peak for Fitz’s Challenge, we have the following tips:
- Correct equipment- if you are riding regularly and for long distances it is important to have well fitted equipment, this includes the bike, helmet, shoes, clothing and gloves. This can help minimise injury as the weight can be better distributed across the body and not focused on one area such as your back or knee
- Sufficient training- you will know in yourself if you have been training regularly and often enough, but it’s important to not overtrain. Significant increases in training and activity load, often known as “spike” can also lead to increased injury risk. The Fitz’s Challenge are events that include cycling over extended and long periods so it is important to gradually increase your training over a number of months in a sustainable and safe way to prepare for this endurance event. It is generally recommended that at least 3 months is needed to provide sufficient training base for endurance events.
- Nutrition- our food is our energy source and provides us with the fuel to sustain exercise over long distances. It is important to fuel our bodies with appropriate foods and drinks to be at peak performance. This includes during training and competition.
- Past injury management- if you have previously sustained an injury to a particular body part you are more likely to have another injury to the same area or even a new injury. If you have any injuries or niggles it is better to have them assessed and treated sooner rather than later to allow you to continue to train and compete.
- Rest and recovery- it is important to have sufficient rest and recovery to ensure you can train at the optimal level and perform at you peak for the event. Getting enough sleep at night is critical for any exercise recovery, less than 6 hours per night can have negative impact on concentration, coordination similar to the effects of drinking alcohol. There are also various other recovery options such as cryotherapy (ice baths), compression, massage mobility exercise can also but used to help if nutrition and sleep are optimised.
Remember as you begin or continue your training journey for Fitz’s Challenge, the team at the Canberra Physio Clinic are here to offer our support, guidance and expertise to ensure you can perform at your best on 30 October. If you would like to discuss or need our support contact us at the clinic or via our website.
Happy cycling!!