1. Stretch After Each Run
One of the best ways to stretch before a marathon actually occurs several months before your marathon: after your long runs! During your training, one of the best ways to increase your muscle endurance capacity and to prevent injury is to stretch your muscles after each run. It is important to stretch mildly before the start of your run, but once muscles are warmed up, the greatest benefit is to elongate your muscles with various stretches. Stretching after your run helps reduce post run muscle fatigue and soreness, which can occur with the build up of lactic acid in the muscles. This continuous stretching throughout your training allows for fluid muscle movement and injury prevention.
2. Focus on Technique
How you stretch can have just as much impact as to when you stretch. Stretch your muscles to the greatest point of extension. You should feel slight tension, but not pain. Overstretching an injured area can cause additional damage. Static stretching is the slow movement of muscles into extension, holding in that stretched position for 20 to 60 seconds, then releasing. Each stretched position is followed by an equal amount of rest time. Repeat the stretch two or three times.
Remember to stretch all of your muscles: shin, calf muscles, quadriceps, hamstrings, your groin area, buttocks, back and even arm muscles. Most people may be surprised at the end of their first marathon to realize how much their shoulders and arms hurt. Although for energy conservation, you should be minimizing the swinging of your arms while running, carrying your arms for 3 to 5 hours in a runner's stance can take its toll on your upper body.
Never bounce when stretching. This is called ballistic stretching and can increase your chance of injury.
3. Hydrate Those Muscles
Increasing your fluid consumption the week before the marathon helps to saturate your muscles. Saturated muscles means there is a full supply of glycogen in your muscles. Glycogen is the energy source your body relies on to help your muscles run efficiently. Glycogen consists of sodium, potassium and carbohydrates. When your muscles are depleted of glycogen, you run the risk of dehydration and your muscles tightening up. Water and sport drinks with sodium, glucose and a carbohydrate mix help store glycogen in your muscles. Continuous consumption of liquid throughout the race will help to lubricate your muscles and joints and prevent dehydration. Hydrated muscles are muscles that have been conditioned with training stretches and stored with the right amount of glycogen.
