Gold Coast Marathon Blog Series | Nxt Level Integrated Health
With the Gold Coast Marathon coming up on July 5th&6th, there’s one thing that separates runners who show up feeling confident from those crossing their fingers at the start line:
👉 A consistent training plan
👉 Recovery support that keeps you moving
Whether it’s your first marathon or your fifteenth, the lead-up is where performance is built. At Nxt Level Integrated Health, we’re not run coaches but we’ve treated enough runners to know:
💬 If you don’t have a plan, your body will let you know the hard way.
📈 Why a Training Plan Matters
A structured plan isn’t just about logging kilometres, it’s about:
- Managing training load
- Improving tissue resilience
- Avoiding injury and burnout
🚫 One of the most common mistakes we see?
Runners increase their mileage too fast, say hello 👋 to:
- Shin splints
- Plantar fasciitis
- ITB syndrome
- Achilles issues
📚 In fact, research shows that increasing training load by more than 10% per week significantly raises injury risk (Soligard et al., 2016).
A smart plan includes:
✅ Progressive overload – gradual volume increases
✅ Deload weeks – lighter sessions to recover
✅ Cross-training – support for joint and muscle balance e.g. strength training
🧠 What’s Actually Happening in Your Body?
When you train, especially with longer runs or hill work, you’re creating micro-tears in your muscle fibres. This is totally normal and part of the adaptation process. But without enough recovery, your body struggles to:
- Repair these fibres effectively 🧵
- Clear out waste products like lactic acid and cellular debris ♻️
- Rebalance your nervous system (from high-alert “fight or flight” into rest-and-digest)
Massage and Myotherapy help by:
- Increasing blood flow to bring nutrients and oxygen to healing tissues 💉
- Stimulating the lymphatic system to drain swelling and waste 💧
- Calming the sympathetic nervous system, which can improve sleep and reduce overall tension 🧘♂️
This means you recover faster, feel less tight, and can stay on track with your training plan, instead of being sidelined by niggles or fatigue.
💆♂️ Where Recovery Fits In
You don’t have to wait until something “goes” to book in.
Regular Myotherapy and Remedial Massage during training helps:
- Tackle small niggles early 🔍
- Boost joint mobility & muscle elasticity 🧘♂️
- Support circulation & lymphatic flow 💧
- Improve sleep & nervous system regulation 🧠
✨ Massage has been shown to reduce DOMS and improve perceptions of recovery (Davis et al., 2020).
🧬 Your Body Doesn’t Just Need to Survive—It Needs to Adapt
Muscles, fascia, and tendons respond to mechanical loading, but they need support to rebuild and stay strong.
If you’re skipping recovery, you’re skipping results.
💡 You don’t want your body to peak at the start line. You want it primed for the finish line.
👟 Final Thought
You’ve got:
✅ The shoes
✅ The watch
✅ The training plan
Now it’s time to back it up with recovery that helps you go the distance.
At Nxt Level, we’re already treating runners prepping for the Gold Coast Marathon. If you’re ready to train smarter, recover better, and avoid injury, we’re here to support you every step of the way.
👀 Keep an eye out for Part 2 of this blog series, where we dive deeper into recovery—why it’s your most powerful performance tool and how to use it to your advantage in the final marathon prep weeks.
📅 Book your pre-marathon recovery session:
📍 Bundall, Gold Coast
💆♀️ Myotherapy | Remedial Massage | Sports Recovery
🌐 www.nxtlevelih.com
📞 Call us: 07 5679 2077
📅 Fresha Online Booking
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