THE RUNNING MANN the running mann by STUART MANN
The Sub-3 Quest
Due to the COVID-19 lockdown , I have not been able to get my usual marathoning and travel fix in for a while , but I do have some great memories of races I have run in years gone by . So until we can race again , you ’ ll have to make do with me taking running trips down memory lane , and this month I have gone back to 2008 ’ s Kaapsehoop Marathon , the last marathon I did BC *, when I went after a running goal that had till then eluded me . * Before Children
Picking a fast marathon towards the end of the year is quite challenging , as most of the “ easy courses ” are packed into the first four months of the year to entice Two Oceans and Comrades participants to use them as seeding qualifiers . Although there are some great marathons in the second half of the year , there are very few that scream out “ PB ,” so I would really have preferred to find an unassisted , circular course , but it turned out that the only option was a point-topoint downhill flyer in the form of the Kaapsehoop Marathon .
Getting ahead of myself , I was worried that I would feel slightly uncomfortable and embarrassed bragging about a sub-3 hour marathon on such a soft option , although I consoled myself that it would still be a lot more credible than people who call themselves “ the beer bus ” and drink Millers Lite ! ( They know who they are .)
Sounds Easy Enough …
And so , for marathon # 78 , the equation was really quite straightforward : To come within 56 minutes of Haile Gebrsellasie ’ s ( then ) marathon world record 2:03:59 . ( For the mathematically challenged , 2:03:59 + 0:56:00 = 2:59:59 .) This would require running at an average pace of 4:16 per kilometre for 42.2km .
( Marathon # 78 / 8 November 2008 )
Anyone who has ever had the ( mis ) fortune
of running with me for any period of time will know that my primary running goal has always been to run a sub-3 hour marathon on an unassisted course . With my biological clock ticking away – the baby is due on 1 January , which I understand will result in some drastic lifestyle changes – there was a certain sense of urgency in achieving this goal before the year was out .
The Kaapsehoop Marathon is very much a downhill race , but there are still a few challenging uphills
The race is point-to-point between Kaapsehoop and Nelspruit , with loops at the start and in the middle to make up the marathon distance
The hard part of attempting a sub-3 marathon is the training . In my opinion there are four facets of training , none of which can be neglected :
1 . Endurance : Easily enough achieved by running between 100km and 120km per week for several weeks .
2 . Speed : Easily enough achieved by a healthy diet of 8km time trials every Tuesday and hill repeats every Thursday .
3 . Mental toughness : This is a far harder discipline to prepare for , because what could possibly prepare one for three hours of pain , anguish and mental torture ? ( For anyone wanting to see how hard they can push this aspect , I would recommend a Fourways Road Runners bus trip back from Loskop after some members have had a few too many bottles of loudmouth soup .)
Getting ready to go on a misty morning in Kaapsehoop
Images : Martyn Mulder & courtesy Stuart Mann
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ISSUE 135 NOVEMBER 2020 / www . modernathlete . co . za