Participating in the City Marathon? Here’s how you can prepare

POLOKWANE – Planning always leads to positive results, however, planning for a marathon is not as easy as one would think.

With the upcoming Polokwane City Marathon on Saturday at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium, runners are expected to up their game and be as productive as possible on the day.

Read more: City marathon gets new venue ahead of race

Investing more time into preparation not only ensures that one will win the marathon, but has various benefits. These include keeping you fit and preparing your heart, bones, and muscles for pressure.

“I wouldn’t advise someone to start preparing a week before a marathon. Prepare well in advance. See what your body tells you, because your body is very smart and tells you what you can do and what you can’t,” said Dr Kulani Tibana.

Dr Tibana also stressed the importance of planning and advised aspiring comrade marathon runners to visit a doctor first and check if they are well fit before embarking on any comrade marathon as there might be certain medical conditions that might make a person not eligible for participation.

Tips to ensure you are well-fit before the marathon:

· Eat healthy food.
· Drink lots of water to stay hydrated.
· Eat more proteins, to repair your muscles.
· Drink lots of sports fluids as they contain bodily water and salt that you lose when running, and they provide you with energy as well.
· During the preparatory period, ensure that you rest more often so that your body can recover.
· Have an exercising schedule.
· Avoid over-the-counter drugs or drugs on the streets.

Dr Tibane added that if one experiences chest pains, palpitations, not passing urine as per usual, or sore muscles, they should visit the nearest doctor as soon as possible.