TRAIL RUNNING
interesting . The men ’ s race tends to be a lot more exciting , and I hope we get the opportunity to have another women ’ s race like the one we had in 2018 .”
Focused on getting it done
In terms of training for Comrades , Ann says she is trying to find the right balance between road , trail and track . “ A few years back , Elana Meyer told me that if I want be a serious athlete , I must not limit my time on the track , so I do two sessions on the track each week – tempo work on Saturdays , speed work on Tuesdays , but no sprints , as there is no earthly reason for a marathon-ultra runner to do sprints ! So , my shortest interval will be 800m , but mostly I run mile or 3km repeats .”
“ To be honest , though , I actually hate running on the track ! I have to get up early and get it done while I ’ m still half asleep , otherwise I dread it all day . I would rather go run Comrades than do a track session . Lindsey is always trying to convince me to do speedwork on track , whereas I always ask if I can rather just add 10km to my next run , but he keeps me honest . He just laughed earlier this year when he told me races were coming back , so I can do a 5000m on the track , and I told him I had entered a 100km in the Drakensberg .”
“ That said , I have always followed the US running scene closely , and I see that many ultra-runners in the US dabble in trail , whereas in Europe the trailers tend to be specialists , not roadies . Quite a few of the US runners who have come over for Comrades have also done trail , so I ’ m interested to see if running some trail will benefit me for Comrades . Eventually , I would like to run the Otter Trail Marathon one day , but know I really need to train for that , and running the Ultra-Trail Mont Blanc in France is my ultimate dream . I would die happy if that is the last race I ever run .”
The moment Ann realised she had won the UTD 100km , after thinking she had been overtaken by two women in the final kilometres
Images : Cuan Walker & Jared Paisley / Ultra Trail Drakensberg
18 ISSUE 141 MAY 2021 / www . modernathlete . co . za