Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 114, January 2019 | Page 52
OUT OF
THE By BOX
Norrie Williamson
Brought to you by B4 Play Products
NEW YEAR, NEW STRATEGY
Einstein compared insanity to doing the same thing in the same way and expecting a different result... yet runners do it
year after year! There is absolutely no science or logic to commencing Two Oceans and Comrades distance training on 1
January every year. None, zilch, zero!
Individuality is key, as each of us has different
responsibilities, constrictions of time, and levels of
stress, and so while the key principles are common,
the final outcome needs to be tailored to individual
circumstances (while keeping the principles). Just
remember that we all think we are ‘special cases,’ but
we can’t do more, nor do we need to make excuses
to do significantly less.
BY THE NUMBERS
So what defines your Comrades or Oceans
potential? It’s not the distance that
determines what your fastest time can
be, it’s your speed over the short
distance. For example, a runner
with a 10km PB of 60 minutes
will never win Comrades, nor
make a silver or Bill Rowan,
or even the new Bob (Robert
Mtshali titanium medal for a
finish between 9 and 10 hours),
but may get perhaps a bronze, or a Vic
Clapham for a finish between 11 and
12 hours.
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And what is the maximum peak distance you can run
in a week? Again, it relates directly to your speed over
the shorter distances. Research has shown that the
amount of time the average club runner has to train
in a week is between 10 and 12 hours. If you go over
this, you quite simply do not have the time to recover
sufficiently to gain the benefit from the training.
Remember, training breaks down muscle, and
recovery allows the muscle and system to adapt and
get stronger. Without recovery, we constantly break
down, which leads to injury, fatigue and overtraining!
From this, our peak distance is our average training
pace (over a week) by 10 to 12 hours. This is the
great equaliser amongst amateur runners: While
a runner who runs a sub-3 hour marathoner (37
minutes for 10km) can perhaps average a pace of
4:22 per kay in the quality period, his pace will drop
to, say, 4:35/km in the endurance phase. With those
paces, this runner can have a weekly total of 90km
from January to mid-March, and a peak in May of
150km. With exactly the same emphasis on quality
and endurance, a 55-minute 10km runner will only
achieve 65km per week in quality, and a peak of
110km in May. The time commitment is the same,
but your ability at short distances determines how
much you can do before overtraining!
PUTTING IT IN INTO
PRACTICE
It’s clear then that it is important initially to use
the full range of the ‘gearbox’ and to keep the
total weekly distance to a moderate level, so
that there is quality recovery from the quality
work. Therefore, in the final 10-12 weeks before
Oceans (starting 1 February to 15 February) or
Comrades (starting 17 March to 1 April), your
training should focus on endurance with the
ISSUE 114 JANUARY 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za
majority at the average pace you will be running
in the race. The progression from the early weekly
distance to a 3-4 week peak distance is gradual, with
10-13% increase over a 7-9 week period.
For example, our 55min runner focusing on
Comrades may train at an average pace of 5:40/
km for the period of January to mid-March and total
around 65-70km per week, then gradually increase
and change emphasis towards endurance until the
last week in April, where he or she would be doing
110km with an average pace of 6:20/km and long
runs at 6:25/km with a sub-9:40 Comrades finish in
the crosshairs!
The key issues here are:
•
Not using the full training time allocation in the
period from January to mid-March, allowing
family, work and social life to fit comfortably
alongside your training, hence only doing
around 6-7 hours training per week.
•
From mid-March, the longer, slower, ultra race
pace runs increase, thus gradually increasing
overall weekly distance from 65 to 110 km, and
also increasing training time towards doing 11
hours for three weeks, when work, family and
social life will have to be sacrificed.
After that, a three-week taper decreasing from 110km
to 55km, then 35km, to a restful race week, will
ensure the runner is fresh, fit and ready to tackle the
Comrades Challenge.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Norrie has represented
Scotland, Great Britain and South Africa in ultra-
distance running and triathlon, and he is an IAAF-
accredited coach and course measurer. You can
read more from him at www.coachnorrie.co.za.
F
or years, runners have seen 1 January as the
starting point for serious Two Oceans and
Comrades training – Simple Logic says this
CANNOT be true. For a start the race dates of both
events have changed… If 1 January was ideal for
Comrades on May 24 th , then when it moved to 31
May it should have been 8 January – and then when
it moved to 16 June and now 9 June, it would have
needed to change again. Two Oceans is even more
diverse, as Easter varies from early March to late
April. So let’s get real for 2019, and let’s build a
usable strategy to get to the start line with fresh legs,
a fresh enthusiastic mind, and the best shape to
capitalise on our individual ability!