Comrades Supplement Comrades Training and Info Guide, January 2016 | Page 18
TRAINING PROGRAMMES
SUB-11:00
PROGRAMME
FOR A BRONZE MEDAL
WHO SHOULD FOLLOW
THIS PROGRAMME?
• Comrades finishers who have run
sub-11 hours.
• Comrades novices who can run a half
Marathon in sub-2:05.
• Comrades novices who have come
close to/or have broken 4:30 for a
marathon.
If you do not fall into these categories then read through the
introduction to the other programme options to select the appropriate
programme. DO NOT follow this programme thinking that the extra
mileage will guarantee a finish. The biggest single threat to you
finishing Comrades is getting injured, so place a premium on recovery
and ensuring this through following the appropriately designed
programme for you.
T
he second part of your Comrades Journey starts now, as you should have been building a solid foundation of mileage in the last few months
and improving your half marathon speed. Most of you should have been ready to run a marathon in November or December 2015, while some
of you still need to qualify. The principles of this programme remain the same: To finish Comrades in less than 11 hours, you must build up
slowly, become consistent, and remain healthy and injury-free. You will be expected to do a bit more work than the Sub-12:00 Finisher’s Programme,
but you should not be exhausted all the time.
This programme is time-based, so people of more experience and greater running ability will get relatively more out of the programme and
progress faster. Time-based programmes also prevent you from settling on a route that you need to run faster every time you do it. It is easier to
maintain discipline and run easy on the easy days. I must again emphasise here that being injury-free and consistent in your training is the key to a
successful race – easy days are there to ensure full recovery, so you can get the most out of every day’s training.
The aim is to be capable of running a sub-4:30 marathon before Comrades. However, if you did not achieve that last year, we will not attempt to do
so this year, as this will affect your training in the closing, most important months. You will be required to run two marathons and an ultra-marathon
as trainin