Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 112, November 2018 | Page 34

COACHING
TRAINING
Train, Test, Repeat
available, such as to determine how strong you are in a specific muscle group, and
there are those designed for sprinters versus long distance athletes. You have to be
able to interpret the data or result and apply the necessary corrections in order to
see improvement, so I suggest you keep things simple.
Find Your Benchmark
What you’re really looking for is some sort of benchmark that can determine where
you are in terms of your current fitness and whether you’re improving or not. In
order to create a benchmark, there’s one main ingredient needed: Consistency. For
example, in the build-up to Comrades each year, Bruce Fordyce ran hill repeats on
a 405m steep hill called ‘Sweethoogte.’ Bruce knew he was ready for Comrades
when he could run these hill repeats in 80 to 85 seconds. That was his benchmark.
These times will mean little by themselves, but as you keep track of them over a
number of weeks, they begin to form a benchmark or indication of improvement.
A A middle or long distance runner could do the following:
•
20 minutes of easy jogging followed by some stretching and 2 to 4 stride
repeats over 100 metres.
•
Time yourself over a hard 1600m or 3200m on the track.
•
Cool down with a 20-minute easy jog.
I was once approached by a client who, despite training regularly and pushing
herself on the track, began to get despondent when she was losing instead of
gaining places during cross-country races. In despair, she asked me why she was
getting slower. I asked her what her times were on the various routes and how they
compared with her previous times. Turns out that she had no idea what her times
were and had no way to gauge whether she was getting slower or improving. Try a time trial route every six to eight weeks, pushing the 4km or 8km as hard as
you can. Personally, I prefer this kind of testing to be done on the fastest, flattest
route, but wherever you run, use the same route so you can measure progress. It
will motivate you to go harder!
s a running coach, it didn’t take long for me to realise that everyone
responds to training differently. Give two athletes exactly the same training
to follow and one athlete may see huge improvements, while the other may
end up slower, or injured. That’s why monitoring is so important.
It’s simply not possible to measure performance on how others around us are
doing. We have to measure ourselves. Nowadays there are hundreds of tests
About the Author:
Ray Orchison is a USATF and NAASFP certified coach. Find him at
www.runetics.com.
NUTRITION
Cheers for the Beers!
Few things beat a nice cold beer after a hard run, but after
the last sip, you may feel like you’ve taken a couple of
steps backwards after all that hard work. Relax, because
there is no reason to feel guilty for having a pint or two.
– BY CHRISTINE PETERS, REGISTERED DIETICIAN
Let’s try a new approach: Instead of completely ruling beer out as detrimental
to our performance, let’s see how we can make it part of a healthy, balanced
lifestyle, so let’s start by learning more about beer. One small (330ml) bottle of
beer containing 5% alcohol is equivalent to 1.6 units of alcohol, and contains 142
calories, which is equivalent to two slices of bread or half a burger. It would take
the average 68kg man around 14 minutes of fast running to burn this off.
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ISSUE 112 NOVEMBER 2018 / www.modernathlete.co.za
The key to improving your overall racing times is to monitor
your training and evaluate whether it’s working for or
against you. – BY RAY ORCHISON, REGISTERED COACH
The protocol for a sprinter might look like this:
•
10 minutes of easy jogging to warm up followed by 4 to 6 stride repeats over
100 metres.
•
Get someone to time you over an all-out 20m sprint, followed by a 50m all-
out sprint, then a 100m or 200m all-out sprint.
•
Finish off with 5 to 10 minutes easy jogging and some stretching to cool down.