Endurance Training for Athletes

Endurance Training for Athletes

Dr. Masaru Furukawa: An endurance athlete could be somebody who's doing their first half marathon, or somebody who has run 50 marathons, one in each state. One thing about training plans is you have to listen to your body. You can't push to follow those plans to the T; you have to listen to your body. If you feel like your body's not keeping up with the training plan, you have to rest, and rest is just as important as training. Plan out your training with plenty of time.

When people are getting into endurance sports I think, rather than a span of a few weeks, it should be thought out as several months to years to build up your ability to tolerate long distances. I think that's the most important thing, to build up gradually over the period of a season or two, to reach your endurance goals. When I talk about endurance sports, specifically marathons, I'd say any distance over a half marathon, you have to consider building up very slowly to.

In general, I think a 20-year-old or even 30-year-old who is trying to start endurance sports does not need to see their doctor, unless they're having concerning symptoms such as chest pain or excessive shortness of breath with exercise. Those symptoms should be investigated for sure.

I love talking about training plans. I really enjoy talking about endurance sports in general. It's really fun to have endurance athletes in my clinic for sure. Endurance sports is a growing sport for sure, and it's really fun to see people getting into the sport. I think meeting new endurance athletes is one of the best parts of my job, for sure, because I was there at one point and I still remember how hard it was to get started. But, it's definitely rewarding. I really like working with endurance athletes for sure.

River Valley Clinic
436 Sunrise Drive
Spring Green, WI 53588
608-588-2502