SO, October is upon us and there are 244 days to go. You should be feeling fit and confident and ready to handle this month’s challenge. Your aim at this stage of your Comrades training is to run shorter distances faster than your planned Comrades pace, which is likely to be 7.6 mins/km.
At this stage too, you should feel fresh, strong and highly motivated. If you are missing any of these ‘x-factors’, it is likely that you are doing too much, too quickly. You need to adapt your body slowly to give you the endurance that the training programme demands of you.
We often break down races into bite-sized chunks and this month’s new ‘mouthful’ will be the move from a four-day training week to a five-day training week, and to run a 21km race (ideally in two hours and 30 minutes).
Whilst you run your 21km race, you will question yourself the whole way, wondering how you will ever manage to keep this up for 86km. This is very natural and as you become a more seasoned runner, you will learn just how powerful your mind is. Remember, the Comrades pace is also much slower.
Your training speed will vary per individual, but most midweek runs will be about 6.5mins/km at this stage. With the change in temperature and lighter mornings, this is the right time to move to a five-day training week. It is also very beneficial at this stage to include a weekly time trial with your local club, 4km or 8km.
It is wonderful to meet other Comrades runners and also good to monitor your improvement with the use of an official timekeeper. Learn within this monitored environment to run an equal split (each 4km route run at the same pace).
As discussed in last week’s newsletter, eat sensibly, much like you have been doing, and don’t start introducing specialised diets, which may well give you problems as you increase your training workload.
Tip: To increase the effort in a training programme, you can either increase the distance run per week, or run the same distance, only faster.
Runners’ time trial: every Wednesday from Striders club in Uvongo at 5.30pm. Walkers’ time trial: every Wednesday from Uvongo Pier, Lilliecrona Boulevard, at 5.15pm. For more information contact Shelagh (walking captain) at 083 6746180.
This week’s walkers’ tip: Flip your forward foot up and land slightly to the outside of your heel, with your toes right down in front of your body. In practice, it is so close that it feels almost as though you are landing straight down, rather than out in front. Most of the foot and leg action in racewalking is behind the body. Landing too far out in front will cause your knees to bend. Land heel down and toes up to lock the knee straight.
The Pink Drive Fun Run on September 23 went well, with 77 runners taking part and a profit of R1500 made. The wind was quite strong but the event was enjoyed by all.
Corinne Parsons and blind runner Judy Smith helped with the water table at the Lucien end of Lilliecrona Boulevard and Mignon Klusener and family helped at the water table at the finish.
This event would not have been possible without their help and support. A big thank you to everybody who attended the run.
Look out for details of the next run on December 16.
