Author: Modern Athlete

Dumisile Mthalane transformed her body and her life when she discovered triathlon, and after her recent successful outing at the Discovery Triathlon World Cup Cape Town in February, she reckons everybody should start preparing now to be part of the event next year!

Looking at the harbour sea water as she prepared to dive into the swim leg of the Discovery Triathlon World Cup Cape Town, Dumisile Mthalane admits she was panicking a bit. “Everyone had told us that the water in Cape Town is freezing. I come from Durban, where we swim in water of 20 to 21 degrees, so when I heard the water in Cape Town was only about 14 degrees, I started to panic, because I had never swum in water that cold before, but I actually found it OK,” she says.

“In the end the swim was lovely, especially since the water in the harbour is nice and flat, with no waves. After that the bike leg had amazing views, plus we had a bit of wind to cool us and sometimes push us from behind. Then the 10km run was also great, all run in the Green Point precinct, with lots of spectators and more than enough nutrition on the route. I never once felt dehydrated.”

Unsurprisingly, after enjoying such a great day out, Dumi says she can’t recommend this event highly enough. “It was very well organised, all the way from registration to the finish line, and I really enjoyed it. I loved the great atmosphere, with all the spectators shouting your name, and I also love that the event caters for everybody, whether you’re just starting out with triathlons and want to try a sprint distance, or doing the longer standard distance, for those of us who want to push it up a bit or improve our times. It’s a great event, and I hope to see even more people joining us at the start next year.”

Getting into Triathlon
Dumisile’s adventure began when her weight really started to hold her back in 2014. “I felt heavy, and would huff and puff from climbing just one flight of stairs,” says the 35-year-old project manager. At this point she weighed 82kg, with a body fat percentage of 36.9 and cholesterol of 6.9 mmol/l, and says that her weight had gradually crept up over the years. “It started when I moved to varsity in Joburg. I stayed in residence, where the food was not the healthiest, and because I didn’t exercise at all, I gained a lot of weight.”

Having decided enough was enough, Dumi started running in order to lose weight. “I love to be outdoors and I have the beautiful Durban Promenade on my doorstep, so it made sense, but I didn’t enjoy running, so I moved to cycling,” she says. “However, my diet was still not great, so I wasn’t seeing results. Even when I added trail running to my exercise programme, the weight-loss wasn’t happening. Frustrated, I visited a dietician and went from eating three meals a day to eating five, with adjusted portion sizes. That’s when I started seeing my weight drop at last,” she says.

“Then in June 2015 I volunteered at the inaugural Ironman 70.3 Durban, and was so impressed by the athletes. I thought I would also like to see if my body can go the distance in a triathlon. Because I couldn’t swim well, I started lessons with stroke correction a few months later, and I set a lofty goal for the year of my 35th birthday: To do the Ironman Durban 70.3.” And so in August 2016, she took on her first multisport event, at the 5150 Bela Bela Triathlon in Warmbaths, and she says it was a nerve-wracking experience at first.

“I was so scared I would be cut off during the swim leg, because I had no confidence in the open water, even though I had done a few sessions in the sea. Fear of being in the middle of the water surrounded by lots of people swimming faster and better than me, and not being able to touch the ground or a wall, terrified me. But I made it, and I was incredibly proud to win my first triathlon medal! Then I entered my first Ironman 70.3 event in Durban, taking place in June 2017, and having entered, there was no turning back! I enjoyed the training and became far more confident when swimming in the ocean, and I completed that 70.3 in a time of 7 hours, 58 minutes and 38 seconds.”

Change of Focus
These days Dumi says her focus has shifted completely. “My training is no longer about weight-loss, because I found something I love doing, and activities that make me happy. Training for races and collecting medals are much more exciting goals.” Nevertheless, nutrition remains a major part of Dumi’s regime. “I eat healthily because I need to fuel my body with good, nutritious food to perform well in training and races,” she says.

“I used to eat three meals a day, but often I would get so hungry I would buy junk food to fill me up until I got home for supper. Now I eat five smaller meals, so there’s no need to find unhealthy fillers, and I prepare my meals based on my training demand for the next day. I also cut out juice and fizzy drinks, and I drink a lot of water now. I train too hard to be on a bad diet, as poor food affects my energy levels.”

To those who also dream of accomplishing a sporting goal, Dumi says: “Have a plan and stick to it. Remove ‘I can’t’ and ‘I don’t have time’ from your vocabulary. I also find having a buddy or training with a group makes you disciplined, even on days when you don’t feel like training. You become accountable to your training partner, you motivate each other, and it becomes more fun. Do something that you love and enjoy, and I promise you, you will meet your goals. You will see results.”

Make it Fun
She adds that you need to focus on maintaining a healthy lifestyle every day, but you should still make it enjoyable. “If it’s fun, you are more likely to continue with it, and Discovery Vitality has made this healthy lifestyle more fun. I have Vitality Active Rewards and this pushes me to train in order to meet my weekly targets. My team members and I check up on each other achieving our targets, so it goes back to the idea of accountability – you’re in it for the team.”

“I'm a Discovery Vitality member on Diamond status, so the rewards help a lot in that you get cash back and discounts on many of the items that you need to achieve your goals, such as training gear, fitness devices, healthy food, travel discounts, gym memberships and so on. Added to this, the annual health screening tests make you aware of your health status and if you’re not within healthy ranges for things like cholesterol, blood glucose and blood pressure, you get a wake-up call to change your unhealthy habits.”

Since starting training, Dumi says she is more energetic and more focused. “I now look after my health, as I know the consequences if I don’t. I'm doing things that I never thought I was capable of. I am trail running in breathtaking places that I never knew existed; I have met incredible like-minded individuals and made valuable friendships. I feel so much more confident, and it’s amazing to focus on something, see great results, and as a bonus, have fun doing it!”

Ready for the Next Challenge
Besides the Cape Town event, Dumi has also done her first international event this year, at the Ironman 70.3 Dubai. “It was also an amazing experience, with the race village full of athletes from all over the world. The organisers really went all out. The best part for me was getting through the swim, because the water was very choppy and a lot of swimmers pulled out, but I told myself I am going to keep going. I decided that they can cut me off if I don’t make it in time, but I won’t give up, because if I keep pulling out of races when the going gets rough, I will never know if I am winning or losing.”

In spite of swallowing a fair amount of salt water and feeling a bit sick when she came out of the water, Dumi powered through the bike and run legs to add yet another tri medal to her growing collection, as she continues to smash old boundaries and new goals for herself, which include the Ironman 70.3 Turkey this coming October. She now sports a leaner frame at 69kg, and dramatically lower cholesterol levels, and says her achievements have attracted the support of friends, colleagues and family. “They are thrilled that in the process of pushing my body to new limits, I have found new happiness and joy.”

Runners have a way of talking about their running passion that a non-runner will never quite understand, or appreciate, so I thought I would issue a little apology for our running obsession… – BY LIZETTE DU PLESSIS

If you’ve ever run a marathon, or a half marathon, oh heck, any sort of race, ever, you’ve totally done this before: Bored someone to tears with every intricate detail of every single second of your racing endeavour. On the one hand, you should be proud of your accomplishment. You did it, you’re awesome! But on the other hand, does the rest of the world really need to hear about the stitch you developed at 7.6km, or that nasty blister you developed around 14.5km, and how you had to stop for a minute at the next water station to pop it? No, they definitely do not.

We’ve all caught ourselves doing this from time to time, humble-bragging about our various running-related accomplishments, but let me show you how annoying it is… and I must warn you, this is going to be pretty unbearable.

Do I have a story for you!
Let me tell you about my race last Saturday. But first I simply have to go pretty in-depth about my months of preparation, talk about all the encouragement and support I received from friends and family, and give you a kilometre-by-kilometre assessment of my state of mind and physical condition during the training and build-up, and then the race itself.

I hate to say it, but this is going to take quite a bit of your time. Split times, cramping, hydration levels, chafing, you're about to hear all of that, plus I'll be dwelling on one point around 17km when I considered stopping, but then decided to keep going because I'd already come so far. There's a lot to cover, so make yourself comfortable.

I'll inevitably start with how I carbo-loaded the night before the race, which by itself will not be a particularly long or objectionable story, but let me assure you it will segue right into an excruciatingly detailed explanation of the diet I maintain to stay in peak physical shape. And that, in turn, will lead into my training regimen, my special lightweight marathon gear, and, unfortunately for you, a lengthy period during which I expound upon the health benefits of distance running.

Bear with me…
I know this isn't the kind of thing you want to listen to – hey, no one does, not even fellow runners – but the good news is I'm going to include several funny anecdotes about my running partner, Esna, a person you don't know and couldn't possibly be interested in hearing about. But including her adds so much more important detail to my story!

Believe me, if I could stop myself from talking about this, I would. But I can't… and so I'm going to tell you all about my personal best time, and out of politeness, you will have to pretend to be impressed by that number, even though to you it will seem completely arbitrary and hold no meaning at all.

You'll also be hearing quite a bit about the sense of accomplishment I felt upon finishing the race. You're really going to hate that part, trust me, because there will be detestable phrases like, “I never thought I could do it, but I made it,” and “It truly was a life-changing experience,” and “It's a huge commitment, but definitely worth it.” I can barely express how insufferable I'm going to be.

But wait, there’s more!
I'm so sorry, I know you've done nothing to deserve this, but right when you think I'm finished talking, just when you get your hopes up, I'll mention how this wasn't my first race, and then you're going to hear details of three other races of similar distance, just for comparison. I can't even imagine how horrible it will be for you to hear still more running stuff, and how I believe I've progressed as a runner, etc, etc, but by this point, there just won't be any getting around it.

And while it is at best tangentially related, I may at any moment during the conversation launch into an agonising digression on the merits of five-day juice cleanses. I beg your forgiveness. Again.

Worst of all, though, I'm definitely going to run more races in the future, so I'll have to tell you all about the various races I'm thinking about entering, and the pros and cons of each course, the start times and travelling distances and entry fees and qualifying requirements, and more. Please, accept my deepest apologies in advance, because as excruciating as today's discussion already is, it won't end here.

Just can’t help myself…
Here's the truly awful part: Every single day during my weeks of preparation leading up to the next race, I'm going to make you stop whatever you're doing to tell you the number of kilometres I ran the previous evening, and what my heart rate was. I'll also tell you that you should run one of these things, too, because if I can run, so can you. Yes, I will actually say that to you.

I honestly can't convey how intensely sorry I feel that all these words will soon be coming out of my mouth, but you have been warned. I'm really, really sorry.

The immune system is the body’s defence against illness and infection, and it is boosted by regular, moderate exercise. On the flip side, intense training may cause immuno-suppression in athletes, so to minimise the risk of infection and improve recovery, remember these nutritional tips. – BY ESMÉ MARÉ, REGISTERED DIETICIAN

When you’re training hard, especially in the build-up to a target race, it is often the combination of intense training and inadequate nutrition that decreases your athletic performance, and this will also create a higher risk of illness. Therefore, take some of this advice into consideration in the next few months, especially as the flu season hits the country just as you may be preparing for a big race.

Health Checklist
Start by keeping a simple health check-list for yourself, and make sure you meet all these requirements:
• Get enough rest: Incorporate sufficient rest days in your training programme and ensure adequate sleep for at least seven hours per night.
• Avoid crash-dieting and rapid weight-loss: Chronically undersupplying energy, often done by athletes, compromises the immune cell activity, so it is important to time meals to meet your requirements. Even a subtle delay in food consumption after training may have negative effects. For example, to prevent the degradation of the immune system, ensure that within an hour after strenuous training there is a sufficient intake of energy (carbohydrate and protein) to avoid hypoglycaemia.
• Plan your meals: Organising your daily food intake is of great importance to ensure that the correct foods are consumed in order to meet the nutritional goals for optimal training, recovery and competition.
• Get the essentials: Having an adequate dietary intake of protein and specific micronutrients, including vitamins A, C, E, B6 and B12 along with iron, zinc, copper and selenium, are all critical for the maintenance of optimum immune function. Probiotics also play an important role in enhancing gut and immune function, minimising the risk of illness. The important question for athletes is whether or not supplemental form or mega doses of these nutrients are beneficial. Athletes should rather invest in nutrient-rich foods and fluids that are critical for maintaining immune system health, which will provide them with sufficient energy, vitamins, minerals and other important chemicals found naturally in food.

Healthy Tips
So that’s the theory… here are a few examples of putting it into practice:
• Include high-fibre carbohydrates such as whole-wheat, multi-grain or low-GI seeded breads, fibre-rich cereals (or add oat bran to meals), brown-rice or whole-wheat pasta in your diet.
• Select a variety of fruits and vegetables that are packed with nutrients, and keep your plate colourful – the more colour, the better! Fresh fruit makes a good snack between training sessions, and include the peels and skins of the fruit and vegetables to increase your fibre intake.
• Include dairy such as milk, cheese and yoghurt that contains probiotics.
• Consume whole-foods instead of processed foods.

These nutritional tips cannot guarantee that you will not catch a cold or the flu as your training peaks, but by eating healthier you will give yourself a much better chance of staying on the road instead of staying in bed!

We had always wanted to visit Siem Reap in Cambodia, with its amazing temples like Angkor Wat and Angkor Bayon, so when we came across the Angkor Ultra Trail website by chance, we just had to adjust our trip to fit in with the race. – BY LIONEL & MARIE HILL

Scrolling through information regarding a vacation in Cambodia, our eyes fell on an item about the Angkor Ultra Trail, to be run for the third time in January. We had never done an international race on our previous travels, but here was an opportunity to combine travel with participation in a unique race right near the Angkor World Heritage Site that we wanted to visit. The friendly website made the entry process easy – the only stipulation was that entries must be accompanied by a medical clearance – and everything was put in motion to make this a reality.

The site said, “Runners will cross several exceptional sites dominated by mountains and temples, evolving through impressive landscapes over a vast area, where rice fields, forests and villages offer panoramas of surprising diversity,” and offered five distances, the Ultra Trail Angkor 128km, Bayon Trail Angkor 64km, Marathon Trail Angkor 42km, Jungle Trail Angkor 32km and Temple Run Angkor 16km.” With our age and fitness level in mind – I’m 76, Marie is 72 – and even though we still run races up to 21km most weekends, we still wanted to be capable of enjoying the holiday, so we opted for the 16km race.

Historical Site
Angkor Wat, or Capital Temple, is the largest religious monument in the world. It was originally constructed by the Khmer Empire in the early 12th century as a Hindu temple, but by the end of that century had transformed into a Buddhist temple. Since then it has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on the national flag, and is the country's prime tourist attraction. Today it forms part of the Angkor UNESCO World Heritage Site along with Angkor Thom, the inner royal city, and a number of other temples, including Angkor Bayon.

We arrived in Siem Reap a week before the race, allowing us plenty of time for sightseeing and getting acclimatised. We did a lot of travelling, walking and climbing to see all the temples, then took a day off to rest and prepare for the race. Registration was in the Angkor Paradise Hotel, and it was no problem organising a tuk-tuk to this venue. Finally, race day arrived, and once again we took a tuk-tuk in the dark to the start point at Elephant Terrace, in front of the ruins of the Royal Palace. The venue was a hive of activity, with various briefings for just over 700 athletes from 40 countries doing the various distances, and soon we were on the bus to the 16km start.

Although the humidity was high, forcing us to walk much of the way, it was bearable, and the terrain was mainly shaded footpaths through the dense forests, past majestic temples, as well as dirt roads through rural villages. However, at one stage we had to cross a river, with water about knee-high. (Guess who had to carry who?) The refreshment tables were stocked with drinks, chocolates and fruit, so no chance of getting hungry here, and very interesting was seeing the Tourism Police as marshals on the route.

While running amongst so many nationalities made it hard to communicate at times, we runners are a friendly lot, so we managed, especially when the fitter, younger athletes participating in the longer events wanted to pass us. Marie and I took our time, stopping to take countless photos, but finally after just over three hours, we ran past Angkor Wat and arrived back at the Elephant Terrace to enjoy the aftermath of the race and the company of our fellow athletes. All participants also received a Participation Pass which allows one to stroll through the Conservation Area and temples on the day. What an experience!

You’ll find more info on the race at www.ultratrail-angkor.com

IMAGES: www.photos.sdpo.com & courtesy www.gde-fon.com

Trust the process, always bring the fire… that’s the attitude of two young distance running friends and rivals from Cape Town, Ashley Smith and Timmy Timoteus, who have both overcome difficult upbringings to chase success in running. – BY PJ MOSES

The action on the track has really hotted up in Cape Town in recent months, thanks in part to the efforts and attitude of two young guns of running. Ashley Smith posted the third-fastest time over 5000m in SA in 2017 with a blistering 13:55 personal best, while Anthony ‘Timmy’ Timoteus started this year with a sub-30-minute 10,000m on a windy day in the Mother City. Sometimes running against each other, sometimes helping each other push for faster times, these two young athletes bring a healthy friendship and rivalry to the track, to go with their incredibly positive outlooks.

Bring the fire
When he was younger, Ashley wanted to be a soccer player, so he enrolled at the Western Cape School of Sport, but says the coaches didn’t see any footballing talent in him. “They told me the soccer teams were full, so I tried out for running instead. I have no regrets about that now.” That saw him competing in distances from 1500m to 5000m as well as the steeplechase, and says, “I had a successful high school career, making the provincial teams every year, and that’s where I met Timmy and many of the other guys who are currently making their mark on the Cape running scene.”

His performances led to the offer of a scholarship to study at California Baptist University in the USA. “It was an amazing chance, and I’m glad I took it, but after one semester I knew that it was not for me. I decided to come back and rather focus on building a career and a life here, where my heart is. I felt I need to be an example and give back to my community, by showing them that even though life is not easy, success will come if you are prepared to put in the work. Before I left for America, people saw me running around Mitchells Plain and thought I was a bit nuts. Now they see me differently, and have become more supportive, and even cheer me on.”

Coached by Duane Fortuin, Ashley is aiming to qualify for some European races this year, and with the backing of Endurocad and mentors like Nolene Conrad and Elana Meyer, he says he is not putting limits on his dreams. “I am making a lot of sacrifices to reach my goals. I’ve always been very involved in the Cape Minstrel culture, which is an important part of who I am, but athletics has a limited lifespan and I need to put everything into it now. I take running personally, and the losses hit me hard, but also motivate me. Like American running legend, Steve Prefontaine, I am committed to pace, and there is a fast group of young guys in Cape Town now, so I believe that if we bring the fire, then the running world will burn.”

Trust the process
Bellville South is a hard place to grow up, and many kids from this area grow up without much hope of an escape to a better future. In contrast, Timmy always saw sport as his ticket out, and not just for himself, but his family as well. “It was never easy, but I kept going, because I knew this is the path that is right for me,” says Timmy.

“My first coach, Elton Esterhuizen, believed in me, after a lot of nagging on my part for him to become my coach, and he allowed me to express myself as a 13-year-old. I won all my cross-country and track races that year, and then I was offered a scholarship from two high schools, but I chose Bellville South High. I wanted to make a difference within my community, to inspire others and show them that nothing was impossible. You need to work hard to be rewarded, and I even ran from my house in Bellville South to UWC for training. People thought I was crazy, but I was just a kid working toward his dream.”

Timmy has had to overcome some hurdles along the way, notably when he was 17. “I made my first WP team that year, but it was also the year that my father passed away. I felt like all my dreams were coming to an end, but I was blessed with a second father figure and a new coach, Glenn Bentley. He kept me on the right path, and with his help and guidance, I am now a fourth-year student at UWC, something I never thought possible, and this year has started well.”

“I broke 30 minutes in the 10,000m at Green Point, with Ashley’s help, and I have been selected to go to Switzerland with the SA University Team later this year. Trust the process is my motto, because I have faced setbacks, but I always remember that your current situation is not your destination. This talent that I have been blessed with won’t be realised if I am not willing to work hard and sacrifice for it.”

IMAGES: Roger Sedres/ImageSA

When the surgeon says you shouldn’t be alive, you know you’ve had a narrow escape, says Wendy Seller, and when he adds that it’s probably only the fact that you run that you survived, you find extra motivation to keep running! – BY SEAN FALCONER

It was two weeks after her first 42km at the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon last September, and Wendy Seller’s thoughts were already on her next race. Her goal was to fit in five more half marathons by November in order to celebrate the one-year anniversary of her first 21km by running her 21st half at Soweto, and she had several pre-entries lined up for the various races she intended running… but something was not quite right.

The 39-year-old Johannesburg-based graphic designer and mother of two young boys, Diego (10) and Rocco (5), had struggled with various injury niggles all along her right side for several months before the marathon. “I think I picked up the injury at the MTN Half Marathon in June, and that led to a never-ending battle, because the injury kept moving up and down my left side. Then I woke up one morning and my left side felt lame. The chiro realigned my hips, and like a typical stubborn runner, I said I was doing that marathon, whether I run it or crawl it on my eyelashes!” says Wendy.

She ended up running the marathon with her whole side taped up under her running kit, but says she still managed to dance at all the water tables and have a real ‘jol’ the whole way. “I ran it solidly, and did much less walking than I expected, but hyperventilated at the finish. At the time I thought it was due to the excitement of finishing my first marathon, but it turns out it was actually due to too little oxygen.” And things were about to get a lot worse.

Mystery Symptoms
Two weeks after the marathon, she woke one Sunday with a sore neck and shoulder on the left side, which she put down to having slept badly. “I also had a headache and was off-colour, but didn’t think too much of it,” she says. “On the Monday it was still there, so I decided not to run; Tuesday there was no change, and there was now a constant headache behind my right eye. On the Wednesday I played golf with the kids, who were on holiday, and on the way home I stopped at the chemist for an anti-inflammatory. That afternoon I started to swell, getting puffy around the jaw and collar bone, which I thought was just a side-effect of the anti-inflammatory.”

The following morning she took her car in for a service, then Ubered home, where she saw herself in the mirror and realised she was now so swollen that she couldn’t make out her jaw line or shoulder, due to a massive fluid build-up, so she decided it was time to see a doctor. All the tests seemed normal, and the X-ray just showed fluid, so the doctor couldn’t pinpoint the problem and scheduled Wendy for a sonar at 2pm that afternoon. “I phoned my mom to fetch me, as my car was at the mechanic, and we drove there in heavy rain that afternoon.”

“They did a quick scan of both sides, and I then had to wait an hour for the results, but eventually they gave me a little brown envelope and said I must go straight to my doctor immediately. As my mom reversed out of the parking lot, my doctor phoned to say it was an emergency and that I must get to Sunninghill Hospital urgently, because the surgeon was waiting for me. My 70-year-old mom grabbed the envelope, then took off. I’ve never seen her drive like that – she even ramped pavements, which the kids thought was very funny! Meanwhile, I googled a deep vein thrombosis in the carotid artery… It said survival prospects were 0%.”

Trying to Stay Calm
When they arrived at the hospital, Wendy told her mom to take the kids home while trying not to panic in front of them, and called her friend Sandy to come help her. “She filled in the forms as they put sensors all over me and took 26 blood samples to test every marker in my body! At 5pm the surgeon came to see me and spotted that I had no vision in my right eye, which he said was due to the limited supply of oxygen my brain was receiving. I hadn’t even noticed – instead, typical runner, I actually asked when I would be able to run again. He just laughed, and said he should have known I would ask that, since he was also a runner, then said, ‘You will run again, but first we need to save your life.’”

Wendy was told she would go into surgery on Friday afternoon and was put on blood thinners, endured numerous injections in the stomach and made to drink a lot of water. Unsurprisingly, she barely slept that night. The next morning, the anaesthetist came to check on her prior to the operation, saying she was third in line and scheduled to go in at 1pm, but she says he kept looking at the monitors. “Fifteen minutes later I was in theatre. I didn’t know it at the time, but he had spotted my oxygen levels dropping at a rapid rate. I was literally dying in front of him!”

The surgeon did an angioplasty through her arm in an operation that lasted three and a half hours, and when she came round again, he came to see her. “He told me only God knows how I was still alive, because the blockages appeared to have been there before the marathon. It turns out I was born with some veins and arteries in the wrong place, between my ribs and collar bone, so every time I moved my arm I would pinch them. However, the body adapts, so I had grown many smaller capillary veins to compensate. He said that probably would have given me problems later in life anyway, but the real problem now was the birth control pill I was on to maintain a normal cycle. It had caused microscopic blood clots, which had built up and begun blocking these tiny capillaries, so I had no bloodflow and oxygen on my left side from my throat to my elbow. He said he didn’t know how I had survived, let alone run a marathon, but that my running fitness had probably saved my life!”

Back on the Road
Thanks to that fitness, Wendy bounced back from the operation quickly. By the following Tuesday she was already driving her kids to school, and the next day did her first walk, but to her great regret, she had to ask her running friends to sell all her half marathon pre-entries lined up for the next few months. Another operation followed 20 days later, to remove the rib that was pinching her vein, and she says that actually knocked her more than the first operation. Still, she was walking again soon after the second op, and walked her first parkrun 5km four weeks later.

She then ran the Pirates Hat Race in Joburg, followed by the Gansbaai 10km down in the Cape while on holiday, but says it was an interesting experience. “I actually managed to run most of it, but with a different posture. I had been hunched and slouched, due to not getting enough oxygen, and that had led to the injuries, because I was dragging my legs.” She then did the Dis-Chem 5km Dash in Joburg, the Randburg Valentines 10km and the new Hot Legs 15km race as she steadily built back up to fitness. “I can run fairly hard again, but have to run consistently so as not to spike my heart rate. I’m just enjoying the time on my legs, and finishing races with a smile on my face.”

Doing Things Differently
These days Wendy wears an ICE band on her wrist with her brother’s contact details, in case anything happens while she is out running, and she says she has been amazed by the phenomenal support her running family gives her. “We have a WhatsApp group where I let them know when I am going running, and they check my Strava results, and encourage me. Also, thanks to social media, my running club and running friends, I can’t go anywhere without people hugging me and saying welcome back, and how surprised they are to see me running again so soon.”

“I’m actually more determined than ever to run… it is hard to accept eight minutes per kay when I can remember flying at 5:45 per kay, but I’m getting there bit by bit. Fortunately, I’m off the blood-thinners now, which had side-effects that included low energy, fluid retention, and sore bones in my feet, and my blood tests show that the markers for blood clots are gone. Added to that, I am watching my diet carefully and trying to get more sleep.”

Unsurprisingly, this frightening near-death experience has made Wendy rethink a lot of things about her life and attitude, and she says she is doing things differently now. “I could have gotten out of bed one morning, dislodged a clot, and died on the spot, or during a race. It made me realise that my life had been passing me by, and that life is there to be lived, so whether you choose to climb a mountain or take up painting, or run marathons, you should just go for it.”

“It’s given me a new lease on life, and I’m now doing much more with my boys, going on new adventures, and giving them more time. I’m also encouraging them to run, and we do parkruns together as well as the Zoo Trot events each month. Overall, I’m no longer focused on having the right house, a pool or car, but on quality of life and relationships. And if my story and my new attitude can inspire one other person to get off the couch to take up running, then I will be happy.”

Many athletes dream of turning pro and making a career out of their favourite sport. They know it will take hard work and discipline, but the thought of getting paid to train and race is just so appealing. However, only a handful of endurance athletes actually achieve that level. One who has made the dream come true is Annah Watkinson. Well, almost… because she is still holding down a full-time job in the finance world on top of being a pro triathlete, so she has two demanding jobs! – BY SEAN FALCONER

The seed was planted in 2015, at supper the night before the Full Ironman in Port Elizabeth. Annah had finished fifth overall and first age grouper at the Ironman 70.3 in East London a few months earlier, and her coach, Raynard Tissink, mentioned that she should consider turning pro, since she was already the age grouper to beat in SA long distance triathlon. However, Annah says she wasn’t convinced. “I told him, let me just get through tomorrow, and then we can talk about it.”

She went on to win her age category again, coming home eighth overall and qualifying again for the Ironman World Champs at the end of the year in Kona, Hawaii, and so she decided to see how that went before deciding about the professional route. “I decided that if I won my age category in Kona, I would turn pro. I didn’t have a great race overall, finishing third in my category and 23rd overall, but as Raynard will attest after all his Ironman races, you can train hard, but the perfect day rarely comes, and you just have to push through. At the same time I was having to make hard decisions about work and life, and after a lot of talking, I decided to take myself out of my comfort zone and race in the pro division, but still keep the day job.”

Annah (36) grew up in Johannesburg, earning provincial colours in gymnastics while at school and went on study chartered accountancy, then became a CFA (certified financial analyst), and is currently Head of Global Finance for the Coastal Region at ABSA Investment Banking. She says investment banking is a demanding, high-pressure line of work, but she is managing the workload on top of the tri training. “Fortunately, my job requires deliverables, so I can adjust my working hours as long as I meet deadlines, and can invest time in both careers. Still, people sometimes think things are easy for me, but it’s hard to do both full-time, so the cracks are starting to show a bit. Sometimes things are unbearable, but at other times they bring me incredible joy.”

Starting Out
Annah was a relative latecomer to triathlon. She only took up running in 2008, aged 26, then tried her hand at triathlons in 2011, completing the Ironman 70.3 in East London. She went back in 2012 and won her age group with an overall top 10 finish, which earned her a slot for the 2012 70.3 World Champs in the USA. In 2013 she missed East London after breaking her wrist and collarbone in a crash near the end of the 947 Cycle Tour, so raced her first full Ironman in PE instead. There she won her age category and earned her first qualifying slot for Kona, but decided she wasn’t ready for that yet. She also raced for South Africa at the 2013 ITU Long Distance World Champs in France that year.

In 2014 she once again won her category at Ironman SA, then did the Ironman-distance Challenge Roth in Germany as build-up to Kona and finished eighth, giving her great confidence ahead of her Kona debut. However, another bike crash while training in the Cradle resulted in another broken collar bone, just three weeks before Kona! “The trip was booked, so I still went and watched my friends compete. It was horrible up to race day, but I actually enjoyed watching the race, and the trip really helped me a lot to find the best accommodation and location ahead of going back in 2015,” says Annah.

Highs and Lows
Having turned pro, Annah says she really enjoyed 2016, as she was never outside the top 10 in all her races. Besides smaller, local races, she finished third overall at 70.3 East London, placed second on her birthday at Ironman Lake Placid in the USA, was third at Ironman Barcelona, and also took eighth at Ironman SA. She qualified for Kona again, but decided to skip the World Champs that year. “I decided to wait, because I hadn’t been as competitive as I wanted at Ironman SA, even though I did well in very competitive races in Barcelona and Lake Placid, racing some top girls. Kona is so highly competitive, with the top 20 girls all capable of winning on the day, so I first wanted to prepare more.”

Ironically, while a lot of people tell her that 2017 was another successful year, Annah says she feels it was a terrible year. “I was fifth in East London, but didn’t finish the full in Port Elizabeth due to illness. I just couldn’t get any nutrition down and was vomiting on the bike, so I bailed after four hours. It was my first ever DNF, having never understood how people cannot finish a race, and I found the emotional pain of pulling out far outweighed the physical pain, so I questioned my decision. You sometimes see pro’s bailing a race in order to save themselves for another day, and I never wanted to fall into that category.”

With all that training done for Ironman SA, Annah decided to put it to good use and went to race Ironman Brazil. She had a much better day out, finishing seventh in a brilliant 9:04, just two minutes behind the fourth-placed woman, but she returned to a life turned upside down. “I moved to Cape Town to start my current job that same time, so my house was packed up and moved while I was in Brazil. I arrived back to a new life and new job, and had to re-establish myself. In Joburg, everything was close and familiar; now I had to go find everything.”

Meanwhile, she was doing a lot of travelling, racing five Half Ironmans around the world from July to September, and that made things still more challenging. “My bike was damaged twice in one month and all that travelling was emotionally draining, but what got to me most was not seeing the results of my hard work, which was a bit demotivating.” Then she went to Ironman Taiwan, arriving a week early to acclimatise, and felt a niggle in her calf, but decided to still race. “I felt in great shape, and typical athlete, I thought it was just in my head. I had a good swim, but running up the beach I heard a pop and felt my calf go. I couldn’t believe it, so just walked slowly to my bike. I had a great ride, climbing to third position, but 3km into the run I realised I was going to do huge damage and bailed. Nobody can believe I got through the bike leg with a torn calf!

Change of Attitude
The one good side to the injury was that it allowed Annah time to settle into her new job and home. “I had begun to feel like a mother who feels guilty for working and not spending enough time with her kids. I also realised that I have been lucky in life – what I put in has always been reflected by the results – but 2017 was the first year I didn’t see that. I think every athlete needs to go through that, and it was a period of emotional growth for me, so I came into 2018 feeling much more positive. I realised that four plus five equals nine, but so does six plus three. In other words, there are different ways of getting to the same result…”

Bolstered by her positive new outlook, Annah retained her title at the recent MiWayLife Durban Ultra, and looking ahead, her goals are to race Ironman South Africa and a few other 70.3 or full events in order to get enough points to qualify for Kona. “I’m thinking about heading to the USA for Ironman Texas, because it’s also the North American Champs, so it’s a high-scoring event,” she explains. Her other goal is to qualify for the Ironman 70.3 World Champs, which will take place in South Africa this year. “I tend to do better over longer distances than that, but I still want to give it a good go. I’ve noticed that there is a lot of excitement about the event building amongst the international pro’s, and everybody I know is taking up slots for the event. The added bonus will be how easy it will be to get to the race, instead of the usual long trek.”

Another factor counting in her favour for 2018 is that Annah is clearly in the form of her life. “People keep asking me what I’m doing differently, because my whole body has changed, but it’s thanks to consistency and progression over time. I do two sessions of training in the mornings, then put in a full day’s work, followed by a third session in the evening. It’s hard, but I always feel amazing afterwards, and I always remind myself of these words: If you choose to sit on the couch, remember it is your choice, so be OK with it. Or get off the couch.”

“My goals have steadily changed, from just finishing my first tri, to beating certain times, to beating others, to qualifying for Kona. When I turned pro, I asked Raynard, on my best day, do I have the ability to win an Ironman and finish top 10 in Kona. His answer was yes. I won’t be pro for the rest of my life, but I am willing to risk failure as well as open myself to great success. I want to walk away feeling I left my greatest race out on the course. I haven’t done that yet.”

IMAGES: Kevin Sawyer/Gameplan Media & Chris Hitchcock

With a frustrating injury lay-off now behind him, Lusapho April is determined to get back to the world class marathon performances that saw him win or podium at Big City Marathons in Europe and the USA, as well as run in two Olympic Marathons, and it starts with the Boston Marathon this month. – BY SEAN FALCONER

Boston is not only the oldest Big City Marathon in the world, having been run for the first time in 1897, it is also one of the most prestigious, but getting into the starting field is not easy. As an average Joe runner, you need to qualify by running another marathon, and the qualifying time standards are pretty steep. A male runner in the 18-34 age category needs to run 3:05 or faster just to be considered, and even then your entry goes into a ballot system if there are more entries than spots available – which there usually are.

Another way to get into Boston is to be invited to be part of the elite field – as an IAAF Gold Label race, the Boston organisers needs to invite a certain number of elite athletes capable of world class times, from a certain number of countries – so to get an invite, you need to consistently be amongst the best in the world. It is therefore a real feather in the cap that 35-year-old South African marathon star and two-time Olympian Lusapho April will be lining up for his third Boston Marathon on Monday 16 April.

His previous two Boston runs in 2014 and 2015 produced commendable 15th and 12th positions respectively, and having recently returned to action after a frustrating injury lay-off for the last few months of 2017, he says he is aiming to improve on those results. “The injury is a thing of the past and I am ready to race. Hopefully my body will respond on the day of the race and I will do well,” says Lusapho.

“I want to improve on my previous performances in Boston, so I’ll be going for at least a top 10. The downhill course hammers your quads, but I know what to expect, and the races in the USA tend not to be fast from the start, more like a champs race, which plays to my strengths. It just depends which way the wind is blowing… the guys have run 2:03 on that course, but they had a strong tailwind that year. Both times I went there, we had no tailwind; it was just very hot or very cold.”

Running Talent
Lusapho is one of the quietest elite runners in SA – in terms of speaking. In fact, the phrase “under the radar” seems appropriate in describing his character, and he prefers to let his feet do the talking. That began in primary school, in Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape, where early success saw him selected for the Eastern Province under-13 cross-country team. In 1996 he started training with long-time coach and mentor Karen Zimmerman, joining her Atalanta Athletics Club training group in Port Elizabeth. She later became head coach at the University of Fort Hare, where Lusapho enrolled for a B.A. in Human Movement Studies. While there, he won numerous SASSU Student Champs titles and represented SA at the World Student Games.

Now based in East London, having followed Karen there, Lusapho says they’ve developed not only an effective working relationship over the last 23 years, but also a strong bond. “We’ve got a good relationship and I think we make a good combination. We don’t worry about the competition, we just think about doing better for us. But she’s never happy – even when I win, she always says I can run faster!” says Lusapho with a naughty grin.

Amongst his many running accolades are multiple Eastern Province and Border titles at both junior and senior levels in track, road and cross-country, and he was South African Junior Half Marathon Champion in 2001. He also medalled at both the SA Track & Field and SA Half Marathon Champs, was crowned SA Marathon Champ in 2011, and still holds the SA record for 25km. Added to that, he has represented SA in numerous international competitions, including the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Marathons – he finished 43rd in London, after taking a fall mid-race, and 24th in Rio – as well as the World Cross Country Champs and World Half Marathon Champs.

Big City Pedigree
However, it’s in the Big City Marathons where Lusapho has really made his mark. Besides those two top 15 finishes in Boston, he is the only athlete to have won the Hannover Marathon in Germany three times (2011, 2013 and 2016), with a PB of 2:08:32 run on that course, and finished third in the New York Marathon in 2013, followed by 11th place in the Big Apple in 2014. Then in the second half of 2015, he wanted to qualify for the SA Marathon team for Rio, so he went to the Berlin Marathon aiming for a fast qualifier, but was unfortunately forced to bail late in the race.

“Three weeks before the race I developed a niggle in my leg, and it just got worse, so I ended up DNFing in Berlin. I eventually bailed at 38km because I just couldn’t carry on. That meant I was under pressure in early 2016, but I knew I could clock a good time for Rio, so I went back to Hannover and won my third title there.” He duly represented South Africa in the Olympic Marathon, but says the conditions knocked the stuffing out of him.

“Rio was good, except for the humidity. I don’t like running in the heat, which is why the marathons in Europe and the USA suit me so well. They are usually quite cold. The Big City Marathons have also been good for my career. Winning Hannover opened doors for me, leading to invites to run in New York, Boston and Berlin, and I love going back there, because I am always treated well. The people in Hannover even recognise me now. But Boston is the big goal now, because I have not ran as well there yet as I think I can, and then I plan to run another marathon before the end of the year. I would love to go back to New York in November, Besides the wonderful race, I also love sightseeing in the city, visiting places like the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building and Times Square.”

Coming Back from Injury
Following his good performances in Hannover and Rio in 2016, Lusapho was also selected to run the marathon at the 2017 World Champs in London, but an eleventh hour technical problem with his paperwork prevented him from travelling to London, and then he picked up the injury that put him out of action for the rest of 2017 anyway. Now that the injury is behind him, he says he is ready to push on again, and wants to repay the faith shown in him not only by Karen, but also his sponsors, adidas and Volkswagen.

When not running, Lusapho likes to spend time with his two daughters, Avuzwa (8) and little Aluyolo (eight months), with reading and sleeping filling most of the rest of his ‘down time,’ but there has been little of that lately as he has rebuilt his fitness. “We’ve been doing altitude training in Hogsback, at between 1500m and 2000m above sea level, and I’ve been doing up to 220km a week in peak mileage weeks, with two sessions a day. Most of my training in East London is on the road or track, because the city doesn’t have much in off-road options, but in Hogsback it’s great to hit the trails.”

A notable aspect of Lusapho’s career thus far has been his sparse racing schedule. Not only has he resisted the lure of the high-paying ultra-marathons that dominate the SA road running scene, but he also limits the number of local races he does, preferring to focus on quality training and a steady build-up to big goal races overseas. In contrast, many a promising young athlete in this country has burnt out quickly from over-racing, or moved up to the ultras at a young age and lost much of their natural speed. “I’ve got a few more years left in my legs to do well in marathons, and with the approach my coach and I are using, we’re not going to change anything, we’re going to stick to what works for me. I know what I’m capable of, and I believe in what we’re doing.”