This early May bank holiday was the start of an incredible week for me, I had the pleasure to be part of a team that helped two fantastic guys, that were doing,
7 in 7, Going Beyond, I mean 7 Marathons in 7 Days, these two men, I have come to admire and truly proud to have been of help to them.
First what they were doing , this was a major challenge, some would say impossible, but they were intent on doing it so they needed to have support, their challenge was to run 7 marathons in 7 days staring on the Bank holiday Monday
The reason to raise funds, for a Community project here in Norwich, you may ask why ? If you had met these two guys you would understand it just had to be done.
The original building for Soul church was at Heartsease Lane it had been burnt down 13 years ago, the intention is to rebuild and build it better, to offer more for the community of Norwich, to help with our homeless and the people that need us most in the community, it is not just about a building.
As a member of Soul Church Norwich, a very proactive church and with our pastor Jon Norman also a Chaplin for Norwich City being a very much a hands on get the job done type of guy, when he decided that he was going to do this, his enthusiasm alone made you want to be on board with it, so Jon then got together with his fellow Chaplin for Norwich City, Lewis Blois to undertake the challenge.
We had some great people involved all brought together and under the watchful eye of Nathan French, he took on the role of coordinator arranging the route to the venues the guys were going to visit like Carrow Road on the 6th day of the challenge also the day that Norwich City, went up to Premier League , also on board, Neil Featherby of Sports Link, Neil is know for the challenges he takes on and running is his passion, so who better to set out the target’s and regime for the guys, also the team of support staff for the guys.
The guys had to stay focused and keep ahead the goal in their mind, they had to stay positive and that alone is a challenge as any runner could tell you.
My job was to keep their muscles working to the best of their ability allowing them to push through each day knowing it would be a little bit harder every day for them keeping the muscles supple, we could not afford any aches pains or niggles.
Using Neuromuscular Techniques , Massage and when needed the input of The Bioneuro System, the guys had been making sure they were working to a build up regime warming up before they did any runs, keeping hydrated.
Muscles will get damaged if allowed to shorten, also they risked the high possibility of Lactic acidosis build up, this is when your body doesn’t have enough available oxygen to break down glucose in the blood, although Lactic acid does not cause soreness in muscles and massage does not remove lactic acid, what massage does do is to allow better blood flow that will help the muscles to be oxygenated by blood flow.
Lactic acidosi is the condition that was so important for us to avoid , this is a condition that is caused by a build up of Lactate in the body due to the amount of exercise the guys were going to be doing the risk of build up of L-Lactate in the bloodstream was extremely high along with the formation of an excessively low pH in the bloodstream.
Creating a form of metabolic acidosis, this is when the excessive acid accumulates go on to create a problem with the body’s oxidative metabolism ,causing a burning feeling in the muscle groups they were using the most, also nausea and weakness.
Massage and hydration allowed their bodies to replenish their fluids rid them of lactic acid
allow nutrients to create the energy they needed, therefore , relieving sore muscles. preventing muscle cramps and keeping their bodies performing at optimal levels, massage also helped prevent the onset of DOM’s keeping the muscles flexible .
