Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 66, January 2015 | Page 10

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Ethiopian

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ADVENTURE

Modern Athlete November.fh11 10/18/13 8:06 AM Page 1

After a week, we felt brave enough to join one
of the main marathon groups in Ethiopia for
training. We organised a driver to pick us up at

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ISSUE 66 JANUARY 2015 / www.modernathlete.co.za

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Every run in Ethiopia was a great adventure,
but what I will treasure most is all the kids we
encountered on our runs. Some were walking as
far as 6km to school, and it is so special to hear
their laughter echoing through the valleys. I’m
grateful for the joy that Ethiopia brought back to
my running, and I learnt to appreciate the small
things again... like opening a tap with clean
running water. Ameseghinallehu (thank you in
amharic) for the humbling experience, Ethiopia, I
look forward to seeing you again soon.

The secret is not to train too hard, too soon,
so the first three days we took it really easy,
adapting to the high altitude of 2700m. It is
quite a shock to suddenly run 5:30min/km whilst
it feels like running sub-4:00min/km. It feels
like your lungs want to climb out of your chest,
and when running uphill, my upper body would
just go lame. Julia, a.k.a. Mountain Heidi, just
kept reminding me that “altitude is my friend”
and that I had to accept kilometre splits as slow
as 7:00min/km going uphill. I must confess,
the first week my eyes were just glued to her
footsteps in order not to take a plunge on the
trails. It was a great adjustment to do most of
my training off-road, compared to running mostly
on tar roads in SA.

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Images: Courtesy Rene Kalmer

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5am
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after an
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we were in Sebata,
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where 90 runners met at
6am for the Saturday session.
All the runners were very friendly,
welcoming the two “forengi’s,” and we
were more than 30 girls attending the session,
so the coach divided us into three groups. I was
more than happy to be in the slowest group, and
the session for the day was 3km, 4km, 3km, 4km
and 3km. I averaged 3:25min/km in this session
and had to give it my all to keep up with the
‘slow group’ – a real eye-opener for me!

During November I had the great privilege to join
Julia Bleasdale from the UK at the Yaya Village for
some altitude training in Ethiopia. Julia finished
seventh in both the 5000m and 10,000m at the
2012 Olympics and has been going to Ethiopia
since 2006. She is one of the most adventurous
and interesting runners I have met, and gets very
excited about contours on Google maps and new
routes waiting to be explored! – BY RENE KALMER

’m sure most of you have heard about
altitude training, where athletes train at
altitudes of 2000m and more above sea
level. The thinner air has a lower oxygen
content, which causes a shortness in
breath and forces the body to form more red
blood cel