Author: Modern Athlete

Wintergreen Ice Spray

As
a commentator on several trail running stage races, I have seen plenty of
tired, sore runners stop for a spray and rub at the Wintergreen Ice station,
because this product is that good. We all know that icing of muscles and joints
has long been advised to help reduce swelling and joint inflammation, so what
better to spray onto sore legs when you’re taking strain in a hard run up a
mountain? Added to that, the minty smell really makes runners perk up. So, the
other day when I was struggling with my calf, I whipped out the Ice Spray,
rubbed the offending muscle a wee bit, and soon I felt good to go again. Another
great idea is to spray it on after a run, to give your muscles an instant
soothing cool-down. – Sean Falconer

GET IT: at selected
Alpha Pharmacies, Cycle Labs & sports stores. More info: www.wintergreen.co.za or
[email protected].

Rush Endurance Bar or
Training Bar

Ancient
Ican warriors ate the maca root for stamina. In Born to Run, chia seeds are hailed as the food of choice if
stranded on a desert island. And the Amazonian camu camu fruit is
extraordinarily high in vitamin C. RUSH endurance bars contain all three, added
to Spirulina and Quinoa and other high-fibre, low GI ingredients for a natural
boost that will help you perform better in your chosen sport. The bars make an ideal
snack on the go – easy to chew, but the dates, almonds and gluten-free oats
also provide a satisfying crunch! It’s not sickly sweet, and it’s free of eggs,
dairy, wheat, gluten, preservatives and refined sugar, thus giving your body
and mind an extremely healthy option to fuel your sport. Also available in a
Training Bar that is slightly higher in fibre and protein. – Lauren van der Vyver

GET IT: R150 for a
box of 10 bars at www.in2sports.co.za. (See page 31 for more details about
limited offer sprint deals with a superb discount.)

K-Way Kamit Moistre-Manager Tee

All right, I will admit it, I was first drawn to the Kamit by its colour
– just love this blue! But once I had it on and was running in it, I saw
exactly why K-Way-sponsored trail running star AJ Calitz raves about this
shirt, both for training and racing. The moisture-wicking properties are very
effective in keeping you dry and comfy, but then you add the Cool Touch
microfibre technology that actually slows the speed at which the fabric heats
up, thus keeping you cooler for longer. Yes, you will still get hot, but I
definitely feel cooler for longer in this shirt. Also, since I am not exactly
the tallest, most visible runner, I always appreciate reflective logo
detailing, so that I feel more visible and safer when it gets darker and I am
still out running. – Sean Falconer

GET IT: R199 from all
Cape Union Mart stores. More info at www.capeunionmart.co.za.

Tom Cottrell’s Cyclists’ Guide 2014

As a keen cyclist, I love
paging through the Cyclists’ Guide, because it shows you all the route
profiles, so that you know what to expect on your races, which allows you to
plan ahead, not only in terms of racing strategy, but also feeding strategy. It
really is a very informative book, and one that I simply cannot do without each
year – I now have the latest one on my desk and the previous five on the
bookshelf! Also, as somebody who been mostly a roadie up till now, I appreciate
that the road and mountain biking races are split per province, making the
guide easier to use… but that said, I have just started mountain-biking, so
being able to find the beginner-friendly courses is a real bonus for me. – Nicole De Villiers

GET IT: R180 at www.in2sports.co.za,
the exclusive online retail partner to Tom Cottrell’s Guide Book Publications.

Many endurance athletes know the painful sensation of
shin splints: A localised, sharp pain on the front of the shin bone, which can
either strike in the middle of a training run, making you limp back home and
spend the rest of your evening with an ice pack applied to your leg, or can
stay with you long after the run and reduce your walk to a painful shuffle. The
first step in dealing with this condition is a reduction in distance and intensity,
or complete rest, because if you do not reduce the stress on the connective tissue surrounding the
tibia (shin bone), a stress fracture may eventually occur!

TOO MUCH TO HANDLE

Shin splints, or medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS), can be caused by a number of factors, says Johannesburg-based
physiotherapist Toni Hesp, a multiple Comrades and Ironman finisher. These include taking on longer distances too
quickly, using shoes that do not offer enough cushioning, or overloading your
training programme with intense days without allowing enough rest or ‘easy’
days in between.

“Anterior shin splints is a condition that presents
with pain on the inside of the shin bone and there is often exquisite
tenderness if pressure is applied along the edge of the shin bone,” she says. “Increased
strain on the bone causes an increase in the bone remodelling process that
occurs naturally and strengthens the bone. However, demineralization of bone
occurs in the first three months of training, while fitness improves after 10
weeks, so runners often increase their intensity just when the bone is at its
weakest.” At this point, increased stress on a weakened bone over a period of
time can ultimately cause a point of weakness that eventually cracks, resulting
in a stress fracture. It is therefore important to allow the bone to adapt to
the stress by following a conservative build-up, with regular rest days, so
that the bone can get stronger without being overstressed.

PRONATION PLAYS ITS PART

Increasing your intensity and duration of training can
also put a lot of stress on tendons that aren’t used to absorbing the impact of
the shock of landing so soon. For example, you wouldn’t take on a 10km if you
haven’t done any training whatsoever. Similarly, you may love running hills so
much that you want to tackle hill sessions four times a week, but that’s
putting added strain on those muscles. Excessive pronation and taking on
high-impact, irregular terrain can also be a factor.

“Consider the biomechanics of your feet and ensure
that you are wearing the correct running shoes – and if necessary ask a
podiatrist,” says Toni. “High levels of ankle pronation could cause localised
traction on the bone, or the twisting force as the foot rolls inwards could
lead to increased bone stress. Inadequate core muscle strength can also add to
stress on the skeleton and exacerbate the pronation, and core strengthening may
be required.” Toni also suggests that runners can try reducing their stride
length, as a greater stride results in the foot striking the ground with
greater force. The muscles in the front of the leg then have to work harder to
prevent the foot from slapping the ground, and eventually this results in pain
from the increased strain.

The bottom line is that you need to assess your
training carefully for any changes in mileage, speed, surfaces or shoes prior
to the onset of the injury. And then it’s all about recovery, with a week or
two to rest, assessing one’s programme to cut intensity or distance, all while
stretching the tibialis anterior (the muscle two-thirds up the shin bone). The following
tips should also help you to overcome your shin splints pain:

?        
Don’t run through the pain. It might come and go, but
it’ll be no help if you keep training like you do. Stress fractures might occur
and you’ll be out longer than you think.

?        
TLC for shins: Massaging and icing your shins can reduce the
inflammation.

?        
Check your shoes! Shoes with worn insoles are a no-no, so try
out a pair with supportive
material on the inside heel-edge of the sole.

?        
Mix it up: If your shins are burning on the run, rather focus on
creating some fitness off the road. Swimming or cycling doesn’t tax your shins
as much as going for a run every day.

?        
Build it up: If you have a goal distance in mind, then work up to
that distance slowly and efficiently.

Just like being behind the mic, running is a habit
that will always follow Phindi. “I remember finishing my first Comrades and I
had lost three toenails. I said I’ll never go back, but I was on the road again
two weeks later! I think the thing about running is that you absorb the environment
and connect with runners,” she says. So it’s a little like radio then…

MANNING THE MIC

Initially, being on air wasn’t on the cards for
Phindi. After school, she studied chemical engineering in Cape Town before
working for SAA as an analyst programmer. “Then I discovered radio and called
Metro FM. I got the job and started reading the news,” says Phindi, who knew
that this was her calling, despite still being at SAA. “I went through training
and Voice of Soweto then asked me to host a show from nine to 12 in the
evenings.” However, Phindi chose to stick to SAA, which provided more security,
but fate had its way when YFM came calling. “I became part of the new station’s
original crew,” she says, “I was there for five years before moving to East
Coast Radio in 2003.”

For six months, Phindi flew from Jo’burg to Durban to
host weekend shows before she got a weekday slot and made the permanent move to
the coast. She spent five years at East Coast, then took a year off to form her
own marketing company, but it wasn’t long before radio came calling again and
Phindi was asked to host the 9am to midday show on Gagasi FM. After another
successful five-year stint, newly-formed Vuma 103 FM approached the radio veteran
to become station manager at the end of 2012. “After two years, Vuma has gained
120 000 listeners and my goal is to take it to 1 million in 2015,” she says. “We
started from scratch and we look out for the community. We’re committed to give
local presenters a shot and we inspire on air.”

GUNNING FOR COMRADES

As much as Vuma FM keeps Phindi busy, overseeing the news,
the sales teams as well as the presenters, keeping active is another top
priority. “I was never into running – I was a yoga and Pilates girl! I was
lucky enough to grow up in a household where eating healthy and exercising was
important, but my running was all due to my husband Kevin.” In 2012, having run
four Comrades Marathons, he dared Phindi to take it on herself after she been
his race-day supporter through the years. “After going to races, giving Kevin
water or food and seeing him afterwards, I figured I should join,” she says, “and
one day after going on a run, he dared me to take on the Big One.”

“I had about eight months to get to the start in
Pietermaritzburg, and while some said ‘go for it,’ others thought I was crazy!
Luckily, Kevin helped me through and I progressed from 10km to 21km to my first
marathon in Soweto, my hometown.” In her debut Comrades, Phindi says she was
humbled by the togetherness, getting to the finish in 11 hours 59 minutes and 3
seconds. “Comrades runners have a common goal: To get to the finish! It doesn’t
matter if you’re a CEO or a security guard, it is touching that every runner
helps those in need. I was near the Hilton Hotel and I remember hearing that we
have four minutes till the cut-off. I made it and felt like I could do
anything!”

Phindi is already setting her sights on this year’s
Comrades and running for the PinkDrive, dedicating early mornings for a run
before work. “I also spend some evenings running with the New Balance team, as
I’m a brand ambassador, and Kevin joins me. We’re also in for this year’s
Brighton Marathon and my goal is to run one international marathon a year.” In
between her running, Kevin, who is a chef by profession, also makes sure they
eat healthily.

She is also involved in the Comrades Marathon Women
Seminars and being a race ambassador means it’s important that she shares her
story, encouraging other women to run, especially first-timers, and sending out
the message that Comrades can be
done. “I guess I’ll rest when my heart stops beating!” she laughs. “People make
excuses. Do yourself a favour and set a goal for yourself instead of trying to please
others.”

Follow Phindi on Twitter: @PhindiGule

In 1993, Linford became the first man
to hold the Olympic, World, Commonwealth and European 100m titles at the same
time, and in 1994, the Jamaican-born sprinter successfully defended his
European and Commonwealth titles to extend his reign as the world’s dominant
sprinter to a second year. He had also won gold in the 60m and 200m at the
European Indoor Champs in earlier years, and the only major championship gold to
elude him was the World Indoor Champs, where he had to settle for two silvers. He
was the first European to break the 10-second barrier and still holds the
British record of 9.87s, he formerly held the world indoor record over 200m, he
was the oldest Olympic 100m champ aged 32 when he won in Barcelona, and he
finished his career with 24 major championship medals, including 10 golds, making
him one of the world’s most decorated athletes of all time.

LET
ME ENTERTAIN YOU

Today, aged 53, Linford remains a
popular figure in athletic circles all over the world and is often seen signing
autographs or posing for photos with fans. Naturally, he is often asked about
his career, and says he looks back fondly on his competitive years. “I enjoyed
many highlights in my career, made terrific friends and visited incredible
places, and I loved what I did for a living. And the more you enjoy what you
do, the harder you work and the better you do.”

He adds that he was driven by
competition and his ambition to always be the best. “If you believe that
anybody else is better than you, then go do something else. That’s why I never
walked onto the track in the correct following order for the lane draws. I was
already overtaking the other guys, to show them I was faster, and ready to take
them on. They must have thought Linford is mad, but that was just part of who I
am. Athletes are entertainers, like actors on a stage, and I always wanted to
put on a good show for the audience, but what I really loved was when they
played the national anthem for me. I lived for that.”

CONTROVERSIAL
FIGURE

Unfortunately, Linford was competing
in an age rife with drug-use, and he had close shaves with positive testing for
banned substances at the 1988 Olympics and the 1994 European Champs, but
escaped sanction. However, in 1999, having all but retired and just running
occasional invitational meets, he tested positive for the performance enhancing
drug nandrolone at an indoor meet in Germany and was given a two-year ban by
the IAAF, even though UK Athletics controversially ruled that there was
reasonable doubt whether the drug had been taken deliberately. Christie continues
to deny any wrongdoing. “If I took drugs there had to be a reason to take
drugs… I had pretty much retired from the sport by then!”

This did not mean the end of Linford’s
athletic career, however, as he turned his hand to coaching, and he helped
Katharine Merry to win bronze in the women’s 400m in the 2000 Olympics, and
Darren Campbell won gold in the 4x100m in 2004 and silver in the 200m in 2000.
Darren also added golds at the Commonwealth Games and European Champs, for a
final haul of 12 major champs medals.

Linford’s take on coaching is very
much like his personality, laid back on the surface and deeply intense if you
delve deeper. “You’ve got to love training, or you won’t make it in athletics,”
he says. “I trained on Christmas and other holidays, no matter what the weather
was doing, and I remember once doing 800m intervals in the snow. It was so
cold, I curled up on the track and went to sleep until the next rep! And I
believed that opponents must suffer to make up for my suffering in training,
and I think that gave me an advantage over them.”

“Today I use 90% of what I did with my
coach, because he had athletes winning medals in all the major championships,
and I believe if it aint broke, don’t fix it! I’ve never done any coaching
courses, but my athletes are running personal bests and medalling, and I
believe that tried and tested methods work best. Some may not agree with me,
but it worked for me, and is working for my athletes. I also use the same
motivational talk my coach used on me: The quicker you finish, the quicker you
can go home!”