In the midst of taper season, Chicagoan’s should not be surprised to see grown adults breaking into tears at Starbucks when their name is misspelled on their order cup or frowning at a fellow runner making his way onto the lakefront path. When runners are forced to take time off from running and/or dial back mileage, even if it is to prepare for a huge race, we throw TAPER TANTRUMS!
Most of you know I have had the pleasure of working with Robyn LaLonde, USAT Level-1 Coach, Certified Level II Metabolic Efficiency Training Specialist, Head Coach for Nike+ Run Club and owner of EDGE Athlete Lounge in Chicago. When faced with the daunting task of tapering down in preparation of the Chicago Marathon, my goal race, Robyn gave me some tips to not only take my mind off of the dreaded tapering, but also to prepare my body for my big race of the season.
“Precovery is a term we made up at EDGE for all of those things that you can do one to two days prior to a key training or race day to make sure that you toe that line with the freshest legs possible,” explained LaLonde.
LaLonde explains the three steps of precovery below:
STEP 1 Active Compression Therapy
You don’t always think about how much you’re on your feet before race – it’s a lot!
Everything from traveling, going to expo, even commuting to meals and errands – all of this can generate extra fluids, which means fatigued legs. Active compression Therapy uses air through sequential chambers to remove excess fluids, and drive new blood and oxygen to fatigued areas – up to 50X faster than your body does it on its own. It’s a big piece of the Precovery puzzle.
STEP 2 Laser and E-Stim Therapy
Zap last minute aches and pains by using low level lasers and electro-stimulation therapy. In as little as 2 minutes you can address any trouble or hot spots by flushing out inflammation, reducing swelling, and promoting last minute healing. Great for feet, ankles, Achilles, knees, fronts of hips.
STEP 3 Compression Garments
The final step – compression garments. You’ve done the work to get the fluids off of your system, now you can continue to promote that positive circulatory pattern by putting on your compression socks, shorts, or pants. Walk around in them, sleep in them, and toe the line with the freshest legs possible.
I will definitely be employing these three steps on Marathon weekend. EDGE Athlete Lounge offers a full recovery lounge, complete with a fireplace, television and two cute pugs!
At EDGE you can utilize RecoveryPump compression devices, hot and cold water therapy, electro stimulation and laser therapy. They even have an in-house Sports Chiropractic Physician, Dr. Ryan Verchota who focuses on diagnosis and treatment of athletic injuries.
Whatever you choose to do during your taper time, please refrain from yelling at your bartender, barista, spouse, co-worker and those that aren’t knee deep in marathon training, who just happen to be enjoying a relaxing run by the lakefront. Stay strong this last week leading up to the Marathon and let’s run this city together on October 8.
