Ever heard the term 'hit the runner’s wall'?

Ever ‘hit the runner’s wall’?

The term ‘hitting the wall’ is mostly associated with endurance sports where your glycogen stores get depleted, resulting in sudden fatigue and loss of energy.

What causes this?

There are a number of factors that cause you to hit the wall and knowing just a few of them will help you to understand the term a lot better.

Often runners get so excited to start the race that they start off too fast. When you start off too fast, your heart cannot pump enough blood to ensure a steady supply of oxygen to the muscles, therefore glucose is burnt in the absence of oxygen.

Should you lose a lot of water through sweating, you may become slightly dehydrated. Dehydration can cause your blood to become thicker, which in turn makes it difficult to pump your blood, once again resulting in less oxygen being used. This will also result in too much glucose being burnt.

It is clear that the main cause of ‘hitting the wall’ is a depletion of glycogen. So the question is then how: can you avoid hitting the wall?

How to avoid ‘hitting the wall’

‘Hitting the wall’ is never completely avoidable but there are ways you can prevent it from happening as much as possible. So follow these steps:

• Pay attention to your nutrition. Consume enough energy-enriched drinks to get yourself to the finish line without running out of energy.
• Don’t start off your race too fast. Sometimes it’s better to start off slowly and finish strong.
• Don’t neglect carbohydrates. Test which carbohydrate works best for you: carbohydrates are in food, drinks or gel, based on personal preference.
• Fuel early and often, but not too much at once.
• Get your body ready. Run longer training runs and practice speed work.

Proper training and nutrition are the best ways to avoid the uncomfortable and often devastating sensation of hitting the wall. Be sure to incorporate these tips into your training and you’ll run right around it instead.