Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 90, January 2017 | Page 40

By Norrie
Williamson
t is my belief that in every sport there are five areas of
preparation: Physical, Skills/technique, Nutritional, Logistics
and Psychological. The tendency is to place most, if not all
of the emphasis on the physical, but truth be told, the
importance of this diminishes with the distance of the race.

For example, Eleanor Adams, a British teammate of mine from
the 1990s and a world-class six-day, 48-hour and 24-hour runner,
often said she ‘de-trained’ for the longer events, rather than go in
at her peak. This is totally logical: Trying to start a 1000km race
at peak fitness often leads to overtraining and injury! However,
Eleanor never started a race without logistic, nutritional or psychological
preparation.

The Key Factors

Leaving aside the physical training, what are some of the key aspects to
be considered? Firstly, nutrition is not generally about race day but rather
about a lifestyle. The objective of training is to inflict minor damage to
soft tissue and then to get the best recovery, which will improve future
performance. Only in events longer than two hours is race nutrition really
a consideration, but of course breakfast and post-race meals are important
to speed of recovery, etc.
Skill and technique are more important than initially considered: The
assumption that everyone knows how to run is flawed, and not assisted
by the incorrect choice of shoes that impact on running style. The loss of
basic PE classes at school has further impacted on technique. Learning to
run with good posture, ‘natural’ landing on the ball of the foot and driving
backwards, will continually improve running efficiency and performance,
and this is probably the most overlooked aspect of preparation for road
runners.
Logistics are critical and often these are handled or influenced by others,
particularly at provincial, national or international level. An excellent
example was last month’s World 100km Championships, where the South
African team faced 22 hours of travel to Spain and arrived just 30 hours
before the start. With minimal additional investment, they could have
been given an extra three nights’ recovery in basic accommodation, but
the potential benefit to the performance can make the difference when
it comes to medals, records and good times. (For the 1984 Olympics,
Britain’s Sebastian Coe took six weeks to travel from the UK to Los
Angeles, in order to minimise the blood gas level changes, because the
Gold medal in the 800m and 1500m races could b e won by 0.1seconds.
Everything counts.)

On the topic of logistics, simple things such as entries still require
attention: The SA 100km team were entered for the main event, but not
initially entered for the concurrent World Masters Championships, and
without those entries Gift Kelehe and David Getebe would not have earned
their age group Gold and Bronze medals. Food, seconding, pacing, medical
support, time of rise and arrival at start, as well as preparation for weather
and training on courses as close to race day conditions, are a sample of
the myriad of logistics that prepare an athlete, give peace of mind, and
improve performance levels.
Finally Psychological considerations: It is vital that the athlete enters
the race with a confident, positive and determined mindset. Ironically, the
more attention given to the other four preparation aspects, the greater
the chance of entering the race with a positive psychological approach,
because all other concerns will have been addressed. That said, the
mindset for running laps differs from a point to point race. Also, athletes
have the option of standing nervously or excited at the start line: The body
reacts in the same heart-pumping, sweaty fashion, but one is dreading the
gun, the other is excitedly awaiting the gun…

Getting the Mix Right

As in theatre, the performance is on the stage, but that performance is
only as good as the co-ordination of lighting, make up, scenery, music and
stage management, none of which is up-front and most remains unseen
and unsung. The same is true of great athletes such as Carl Lewis – and
the same applies to Usain Bolt – whose coach remained in the background
and was not one of the ‘me-me’ coaches that Lewis has said are destroying
the sport by taking front stage. Certainly, the coach frequently drives and
stage manages the preparation of the team, and the athlete is the vehicle
that turns preparation into reality, but what many do not understand is
that it’s not the coach and not the athlete that is the star, but it’s the
performance that determines the success of preparation.

About the Author
Norrie represented Scotland and Great Britain in numerous ultra-distance events, then
emigrated and represented South Africa in triathlon. He is an IAAF-accredited coach and
course measurer and is the official Old Mutual Virtual Coach. He has authored two books
(Everyman’s Guide to Distance Running and Every Beginner’s Guide to Walking & Running),
and counts 21 Comrades medals amongst his more than 150 ultra-marathon medals. More
info at www.coachnorrie.co.za.

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ISSUE 90 JANUARY 2017 / www.modernathlete.co.za

Images: Fotolio & Jetline Action Photo

I

Success is About
the Performance