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Athletes Excel in Rio!

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Fans at the Olympic Stadium in Rio are in a dream world and have been afforded the chance to see the fastest men in the world in the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m in the same Olympic Games. 24-year-old Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa stunned the world by running 43.03 seconds on his way to 400m gold on Sunday night.

Wayde bagged his gold medal shortly before Bolt grabbed the 100m title. Wayde's incredible sprint bettered the 17-year-old mark of 43.18 set by American sprinting legend Michael Johnson. The South African athlete left pre-race favourite LeShawn Merritt (who won bronze) of the USA and defending champion Kirani James (silver) of Grenada in his wake.

American legend Michael Johnson was present as a media commentator and looked shocked that his long-standing mark had been bettered. Wayde celebrated his 400m world record at the Rio Olympic Stadium in Rio alongside Usain Blot.

Usain Bolt cut short his TV interview with American TV broadcasters NBC to congratulate Wayde van Niekerk on his 400m world record run. A gesture that shows true sportsmanship and a great sense of friendship between two athletes.

Usain Bolt's unique Olympic Games 'triple triple' bid began with his blistering 100m final. Next up is the 200m. The fastest man on the planet and the current holder of the world records in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay is attempting to pull off an unsuspected 'triple triple' in Rio. 

By defending his titles in all of these events, Usain Blot will cement his name in the history books as the greatest sprinter the world has ever seen. Bolt completed the first part of the bid with his win in the 100m on Sunday, 14 August 2016.

He won in a time of 9.81 seconds and was followed by Justin Gatlin of the USA and Andre de Grasse of Canada who finished third. Bolt's 200m campaign began on Tuesday, 16 August 2016 when he cruised through his 200m heats and earned his spot in the semi-finals set to start today.

Bolt said he wants to break his world record in this event and dip under the 19 second mark. Can he do it? The answer will come tomorrow as the 200m final is set to take place at 10:30pm, Rio time. “I think that if I can get a good night's rest after the semi-finals, it is possible for me to do it. I’m going to have to leave it all on the track and do the best I possibly can,” said Bolt.

Four runners have gone quicker than Bolt over the 200m distance this season. Heading the list is Lashawn Merritt of the USA, who shocked the athletics community with an incredible 19.74 earlier this year at the US Olympic trials in Eugene on 8 July.

100m silver medallist Justin Gatlin of the USA clocked 19.75 last month. The closest Bolt has come to his 2009 record is the 19.32 four years ago when he won the gold at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Can he do it again? Everything will be revealed tomorrow morning!

Following the heroics of Wayde van Niekerk and Usain Bolt, David Rudisha of Kenya obliterated the men's 800m field as he took top spot in the event. Competing at his first Olympic Games, David ran a staggering time of 1:40:91 in the 800m final at London 2012 to supersede Wilson Kipketer's previous mark of 1:41:11.

This was the only athletics world record at the London Games and David successfully defended his title in Rio on Monday, 15 August 2016 at the Olympic Stadium in a time of 1:42:15. David had his eye on the final the whole time and he defended his gold medal successfully.

Romancing the Road

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I think this happens only once in a lifetime… You find someone, a best friend and there is this special connection. And right from the beginning you just know that it’s not the norm. It isn’t just ‘click,’ or that you really like that person, it’s much deeper than that. This is an epic story of two runners. – BY HANETTE STRYDOM
 
I met Shaun Naidoo at a 25km race in Pretoria. It was around the 15km mark when this humble Nedbank runner came past me, and due to the fact that I am also a Nedbank runner, he introduced himself to me. We started talking and before I could wipe out my eyes, we were at the 21km mark. We had been talking and laughing non-stop, but then I started struggling a bit.
 
Actually, “a bit” is an understatement… more like “a lot,” as this was only my second 25km race. That was when I experienced his encouragement and caring nature for the first time. He had a lot more in him, but he chose to stay by my side and help me through this.
 
I finished that 25km race with a big smile on my face… and a new friend by my side. What I didn’t realise at the time was that Shaun was a well-known runner, known by almost every road runner in Gauteng. I was still a newbie, but one thing I could tell: I was touched by his presence and the way he encouraged and inspired his co-runners. It was only much later that I realised that ‘Horsepower’ (his nickname) was a legend on the road.
 
BEST RUNNING MATES
We became good friends and saw each other at every race that I ran – definitely not every race that he ran, because that would be impossible for me. I mean, Shaun ran every race in Gauteng, and more outside the province as well! I just wouldn’t be able to keep up. Meanwhile, it had always been my dream to run a marathon, but it just didn’t feel possible, because I had suffered from a lot of injuries – an old knee injury from school, an Achilles tendon, to a long-term hamstring injury.
 
I had lost my dream… but then Shaun ignited it again. He lived legendary Olympic sprinter Jesse Owens’ saying, “We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.” And he added his own flavour to it: “Be patient, believe in yourself… and never lose your dream.”
 
Later that year I became part of the Green Machine, a Nedbank social running group of which Shaun was a founding member. I entered the Kaapsehoop marathon and on the 1st of November 2014, I completed my first marathon, qualifying for the Two Oceans and Comrades Marathons in the process. Shaun and members of the Green machine were waiting for me at the finish line and made it a very special moment in my life. That was the last race we ran apart… from then on we ran every race (that I ran) together, and we became best friends.
 
We fell in love, and shared wonderful memories on the road as soul mates, but everything wasn’t a bed of roses. We had to face certain challenges in our relationship. Like most people, we had a history, with baggage, and it wasn’t easy. Although my first marriage was long over, I was not legally divorced yet, and I was criticised a lot (the hardest by myself). So I broke up with Shaun – I wanted to do the ‘right thing,’ but that was the hardest time of our lives… and in the process I lost my best friend.
 
TOUGH TIMES…
We spent a month apart and it was during that time that we both realised what we really wanted. For me it was a huge growing process – I realised I should worry less about what people say or think, because judgement is not for us. Each one of us is on a journey and we are living our life stories every day. As Edmund Lee wrote: “Surround yourself with the dreamers or the doers, the believers or the thinkers…
 
But most of all, surround yourself with those who see the greatness within you, even if you don’t see it yourself.” I realised that Shaun and I truly see the greatness in each other, but more than that, we share a love for people and it is important for us to be “that person that sees the greatness and beauty in the people around us.”
 
During these difficult times we stuck to our Comrades training programmes and that was our therapy… As a mom, training wasn’t easy – I had to fit my training in around my other schedules, and sometimes it was 4:30 in the mornings and sometimes it was five in the afternoons – but whenever I got an opportunity, I laced up my running shoes to experience the joy and freedom of being on the road.
 
We found long-distance running to be just like our life journeys – along the way you encounter many obstacles, and it takes patience, commitment and courage to overcome them, but in the process you learn not to give up, to see these obstacles as stepping stones to work towards a reward that is priceless. Our outlook on life was always positive and all the obstacles brought us closer together.
 
LINING UP TOGETHER
In April last year we ran the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon together, and on the morning of the 31st of May 2015, we lined up together at the start of the 90th special edition Comrades Marathon. Shaun had prepared me well for this, my tenth marathon in a period of seven months, but more than that, for both of us it was symbolic of “new beginnings” in our lives.
 
It was my first Comrades Marathon, Shaun’s fourth, and we knew it was going to be hard. The day before Comrades some fellow runners were jokingly saying, “If your relationship survives this, you’ll survive anything… because after the 70km mark nothing is beautiful anymore.”
 
Well, it was hard, it was painful, it was everything that everybody said it would be, and more, but it was the most amazing journey that I could ever ask for. Shaun was by my side the whole way except for the five minutes that I continued on my own because he wandered off to buy us ice creams in Pinetown!
 
At 70km we were tired, and our friends were right – things weren’t rosy anymore – but Shaun was still there, holding my hand through all the up-hills, tying my shoe laces when I couldn’t bend down anymore, encouraging me every step of the way. And on 31 May 2015, we finished the Comrades marathon… together.
 
ON TOP OF THE WORLD
After Comrades, as a ‘recovery run,’ we hiked the route of the Mont Aux Sources 50km Mountain Challenge in the Drakensberg. We had to carry all our food, bedding and a tent up the mountain, and Shaun took his Go-Pro to capture some of the memorable moments of our three-day hike. Now I have a fear of heights and this hike challenged every bit of that as we camped on top of Mount Aux Sources, right next to the Tugela waterfall, the second-highest waterfall in the world… in the middle of Winter.
 
But we had the most amazing time together, and this is where Shaun proposed to me – literally on top of the world – and so was I… It was an overwhelming “Yes!” When we arrived back at civilisation, I watched some of the footage that Shaun took, and what struck me once again were his encouraging words to me from beginning to end. He knew my fears and shortcomings, and he inspired me all the way. That is Shaun…
 
Soon after our Drakensberg adventure we got the most amazing news that we were expecting a baby girl. For Shaun it has always been a dream to have a child of his own, but after numerous fertility treatments and disappointments in his previous marriage, he had given up on that dream. Meanwhile, I was 41 and could not possibly imagine that we could have a child of our own. The news to him was almost surreal and we knew from the beginning that she was a precious gift from God.
 
We continued training at a much slower pace, under the supervision of our gynaecologist and with the commitment that I would listen to my body, and Shaun committed to do every bit of this with me while I ensured that he did his personal worst race times ever! However, during these slower training sessions and races, our family fell in love with the road in a completely different way… the bonding time, and enjoying every moment of this pregnancy.
 
Our life story continues. We share an incredible love and passion for family, running and the people that cross our road. We are definitely not the fastest runners, but we love the journey. “Whether it’s a 7-minute mile or a 20-minute mile, it’s still a mile.” Life is short, but running makes it seem longer, and our dream is to do what we love, to live in the moment and to touch people in a positive way along the journey. We want to run every race with a big heart, including our marathon of marriage, family and life.
 

Stick With the Programme

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Planning your training for a big race can be daunting. How long should your long runs be? What type of speed should you be doing and when? How many hill repeat sessions do you need? So you download one of the thousands of options glaring at you in your browser and now you’re ready to roll.
 
It’s a better option than blindly trying to figure your way through what you think you should be doing for the next 100 days of training, but you still need to customise, adapt and tweak to suit your own needs.
 
These generic training programmes are designed to be suitable for the masses and will never be an exact match for you, so if you’re looking for a specific training programme for your needs then you need to go to a coach, but now that you have your downloaded programme, here’s what you need to do.
 
1. Listen to your body
Unless the coach who developed the training programme has a crystal ball, there is no possible way to know anything at all about you – apart from the fact that you’re a runner and that you’re planning on completing an event. Only you know when your body begins to ache or when you’re waking up tired and fatigued. You know when you’re getting sick or when you’re heading for an injury. You know when your body is not handling both the training load and other outside stressors. You know all these things because your body tells you, so learn to listen to your body.
 
2. Make it your own
Unless the programme already comes in an editable spreadsheet format, start by opening a blank spreadsheet and retyping the programme. Next, insert your planned long runs and races – most programmes for the ultras will have suggested time frames for a qualifying marathon – and adjust the training in the weeks leading up to and following these long runs and races. With just these few adjustments you’re individualising the programme to your own needs.
 
3. Rest and recover
This leads on from point 1: You know your body. Determine if the rest and recovery scheduled in the programme is adequate. If not, adjust by adding additional recovery days where you feel you may need them. You can also move rest and recovery days around, but always remember that a hard day should be followed by a recovery or rest day. Allow for some flexibility in each week’s training so that you can listen to your body when it’s calling for additional rest.
 
4. Keep it up!
Following a programme often keeps us motivated and helps us to listen to the body and overcome the mind. The mind says things like, “It’s too hot! Maybe I should rather just run tomorrow.” All you have to do is stick to the programme.
 
Good luck in the coming months and may you achieve the goals you’ve set for yourself.

Healthy Options for Winter Comforts

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When winter hits, many of us change the way we eat. Instead of salads and light dishes, we want warm, comforting food, such as soups, hearty casseroles and creamy mash. And then we add our winter kilos. Sound familiar? The good news is that there are tricks to have our comfort food and stay lean and mean.
 
When it’s cold outside and you just want to fill up on something that warms you up, and also cheers up your blue mood, you may feel a twinge of guilt or remorse about your choice, but the good news is that you don't have to substitute the foods you love when the cold season rolls around.
 
1. Pack in the protein
• Eggs are satisfying at any time of the day, whether they're poached at breakfast, scrambled at lunch or an omelette for dinner.
• Canned fish is an easy way to include a satisfying protein at lunch, and boost your omega-3 at the same time.
• Low-fat milk or low-fat yoghurt with your cereal or smoothie at breakfast will keep you going.
 
2. Find your fibre
High-fibre meals don't necessarily affect how much we eat straight away, but do reduce how much we eat at the next meal, because we're not as hungry.
• Add a high-fibre cereal to your breakfast regime.
• Use whole grain breads, rice and pasta.
• Add chickpeas, lentils, red kidney beans, cannellini beans or other legumes to salads and stews.
• Use hummus on bread or crackers.
 
3. Get your veg on
Bulk up meals and snacks with low-energy vegetables, because they help us stop eating thanks to the weight of food influencing how much we eat and how full we feel. The water and fibre in these vegetables add weight, so we fill up with fewer kilojoules.
• Snack on baby carrots, sliced capsicum, cherry tomatoes and other small or sliced vegetables.
• Other low-energy veggies include broccoli, beans, beetroot, rhubarb and turnips.
 
4. Grab the good fat
Unsaturated fats stimulate a hormone which helps us feel fuller for longer. You don't need to go overboard though – it's the same hormone (cholecystokinin) which fibre stimulates.
• Add small amounts of seeds and nuts to snacks.
• Drizzle a little canola, olive, or rice bran oil over salads or vegetables.
 
And enjoy! There is room to eat healthily even when the temperatures are low. Plus, you don't have to minimise taste!
 
 
Recommended Recipe
 
Spicy Carrot and Pumpkin Soup
Serves: 6
Preparation time: 6 hours
Perks: Dairy-free, low fat, low kilojoule, vegetarian
 
Ingredients
1 large onion, chopped
2 fat cloves garlic
2 tablespoons oil
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped in chunks
2 medium potatoes, cut in chunks
4 generous cups pumpkin, cut into chunks
3 tablespoons plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon curry powder
1 pinch ground chilli
2½ teaspoons paprika
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
3 cups vegetable stock
pepper (a good grind)
1 additional cup water
Handful fresh mint, chopped
 
Instructions
Step 1: In a large pan, heat the oil and add the onion and garlic. Cook until softened. Add the prepared vegetables and the flour and mix, allowing the flour to absorb the oil.
Step 2: Put the mixture into the slow cooker. Add the spices, salt, pepper, stock and water and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours.
Step 3: When the vegetables are tender, purée or process the soup until smooth and return to the slow cooker to keep warm.
Step 4: Adjust the consistency to suit your personal taste – I like it thick with a little sour cream and some chopped mint. It’s also good thinned with a little coconut cream and garnished with coriander.

Tribute to a Fallen Comrade

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It was a real shock to his family and friends when Sihle Mlaba passed away on 3 June, due to stomach complications, five days after finishing his sixth Comrades marathon in 10:10:04 and seemingly good health. He was a passionate runner who loved the Comrades, and he will be sorely missed by his Midrand Striders clubmates. 
 
There are two dates that both involve tragedy for Sihle Mlaba and the Midrand Striders club: 22 October 2011 and 3 June 2016. The first date was when five runners from the club were killed by a drunk driver while out on a training run in Midrand. It was so nearly seven runners killed… Sihle and his close friend Vusumuzi Madonsela survived because they were late that morning for the regular group run, and having nearly caught up to their friends just before the accident, they were the first people on the scene. As Vusumuzi says, “We could have also died there, but I guess God still wanted us to spend more time together.”
 
According to Duane Newman, who was Chairman of Midrand Striders at the time, “It was a really traumatic time for Sihle, but he showed his strength of character, and even though he was hurting, he gave of his time to ensure his friends would be remembered. The driver was eventually convicted and sentenced to 12 years in jail – some closure for a tragic event – but Midrand Striders promised Sihle that we would continue to remember and honour his friends. We now have an annual memorial run on that day from Vodaworld to the place of the accident, and at this sad time of Sihle’s death, we also need to remember Moroese, Reneilwe, Given, Isaac and Nomvula.”
 
Recovery Time
Given his horrific experience, Sihle could easily have packed up his running shoes, and though he shared with Duane that at times it was tough to cope, he showed resilience to actually come back even stronger. That saw him run his best Comrades in 2012, clocking 9:56:24. “He was a man of strength,” says Duane. “Looking at all the races he ran, it is clear that he picked the tough races: The Tough One, Sunrise Monster, Om die Dam, Soweto, Slowmag, City to City, Jackie Gibson… and of course, the Comrades Marathon.”
 
“I think Sihle suffered from a common runners’ ailment called ‘ranmesia’ – a runner’s ability to forget, often just seconds after crossing the finish line, all the pain, blisters, aches, muscle cramps, chaffing, lost toenails, blood, sweat and tears,” jokes Duane. “Personally, I will remember Sihle as soft-spoken, polite, and always with a smile. As a fellow runner, I will mourn his loss, but celebrate his achievements.”
 
Big C Exponent
Sihle was known as a ‘Comrades evangelist,’ because he talked about the race all the time. It was even jokingly suggested that he should have been paid by the Comrades Marathon Association! As close friend and fellow Midrander Monde Matyesha says, “Sihle would take us through the Comrades route during our morning runs, giving us every detail along the route. These narrations were what novices in our morning runs used to enjoy, and it would equip them with a clear visual picture of what they will encounter. This Sihle did without struggle, because to him Comrades was the culmination of all that we would put together in our training sessions.”
 
Monde continues, “Before this year’s Down run I shared my race strategy with him and when he saw me flying past him, he reminded me, ‘Mfundisi, remember what you said,’ and I immediately pulled back – and after three attempts, I finally landed my first Bill Rowan. It was thanks to him… and it is a bitter pill to swallow that I can’t celebrate it because he is gone. One thing that soothes the pain of the loss, though, is knowing that we had a few days after the race to celebrate our achievements together.”
 
Another training partner, Collin Mothlabi, says, “Sihle taught me so much about running. I’m struggling to understand or accept his departure and that I will never see him again. I feel robbed…” These words are echoed by Tim Walwyn current chairman of Midrand Striders: “We at Midrand Striders will miss Sihle, as he made a huge difference to our running community.”
 
Last Word…
As one of Sihle’s best friends, it is fitting to allow Vusumuzi the last word: “I thank God for having afforded me a once in a lifetime opportunity of having a brother like Sihle. He was always there when I shared my struggles about my calling, and not once did he turn his back on me. As his friends, we surely can never take his place, but we would like to let his family know that we are also their sons and daughters – we truly thank them for having changed our lives for the better through Sihle, and we will always be there for them. Sihle, you will forever be part of me, my friend, brother, running partner and confidante.”

Chasing the Golden Dream

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In life we are taught to lead by example, and Dana Coetzee does just that. The current KPMG Running Club National Manager completed 20 Comrades Marathons, 15 Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathons and 25 RAC Tough One 32s, amongst many other races, and today he still pours the same passion into the sport as he did in his running heyday. – BY ROXANNE MARTIN
 
It all started way back in 1974 when Dana saw his technical drawing teacher, Koos Sutherland, take second place in the Comrades. Inspired by this, he decided, “This is what I want to do,” and began training with Koos in the Vaal area, even getting a training programme to follow. In 1976, aged 15, Dana entered his first race, the Vaal Marathon, and being the first time he had run that distance, he didn’t know what to expect… and neither did his father, who was seconding him.
 
“He drove alongside the route to support me, making sure I had all that I needed,” says Dana. “Later in the race I was completely dehydrated, and my dad, who had my little sister with him, took her sippy cup, filled it at the tap and gave it to me. I ran the rest of the race with that sippy cup!” Dana came home in a respectable 3:50:50 and received a race badge branded with Coca Cola, the sponsor of the race at that time – only those runners who finished in a sub-three hours received a medal. Not that this worried Dana: “I was very, very proud of that Badge,” he reflects, adding the hardest thing about the day was, “to realise what a 42km marathon is!” However, the running bug had bitten.
 
THINGS GET SERIOUS
Running shorter distance road races, Dana soon started mixing with the crème dela crème of South African running of that era – Bernard Rose, Johnny Halberstadt, Matthews Batswadi, Willy Farrell and Kevin Shaw – who inspired him just by being in the same race. “Yissie they could run a ten-miler in sub-50 minutes, while I struggled to get in under an hour,” says Dana, but that just made him train harder, and eventually he also got to that sub-50 time. However, his dream was the Comrades, and in 1980 he finally made it the start line. Having finished school in 1979, he started preparing for his first year of National Service, but as his call-up was only in June, there was time to do the race that had inspired him to start running.
 
For that 1980 Comrades Dana once again had his Dad as his second. “You were only allowed a second from Cato Ridge onwards if your second was on a bicycle. My dad had a big sticker with my race number that he put on a special zinc plate and tied to the front of his bike, and he had a crate filled with bananas and koeksisters, and a small portable radio so he could follow the race,” says Dana. “He stayed with me the whole way, but I would overtake him on the hills and he would overtake me on the downhills!” Dana finished in 8:17:00 and his first thought was, “Wow, I just finished Comrades,” but it wasn’t long after that race that he realise he wanted to do still better… that more than anything, he wanted a Comrades gold medal!
 
RACING FOR GOLD
Dana continued to get stronger and faster, and in 1982 he thought he was ready to push for a silver in his third Comrades, and he did it in style, cutting more than an hour off his 1980 time to finish in 7:13:05. He went even better in 1983, clocking 7:07:59, but it wasn’t enough, because Dana still had serious ambitions about claiming a gold medal for a top 10 finish. “I wanted to get serious about running,” says Dana, but in 1986 he didn’t finish Comrades for the first time since 1980 because of an overtraining injury. “I realised that I needed to train properly!” he says.
 
Bouncing back in 1987 he clocked 6:44:26, and in 1988 doing everything just right paid dividends as he posted his best time of 6:33:15 for 101st position. Even better, as he ran into the finishing stretch, he was handed a rose, and that made him feel like he had achieved his goal. “In that moment I knew how Bruce Fordyce felt, because everyone around me was screaming, cheering me on. I got my ‘gold’ in that moment,” says Dana, who eventually amassed an impressive 12 silver medals in his 20 Comrades runs, as well as seven sub-four hour silvers at Two Oceans, including an impressive best of 3:48:01. He last ran the big ultras in the early 2000s, but today he is still supporting the top runners through his work at KPMG, including Caroline W?stmann and Christine Kalmer, helping them to strive for gold.

News of the Week

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If there is any truth in the saying ‘big surprises come in small packages’, then Lebogang Shange’s performance in the 20km race walk tonight at the Olympic Games in Rio should be worth watching.
 
Lebogang from High Performance Centre (HPC), in Pretoria weighs only 56 kilograms and is 1.60 metres tall, but he compensates with guts and determination for his lack in physical stature and has a totally fearless approach to international racing.
 
Chris Britz (TUKS Coach) is of the opinion that if Shange should come close to doing a repeat of his best time of 1:20:06 tonight, he could finish in the top five. Depending on how tactical the race turns out to be, the South African might even be in contention to win a bronze medal.
 
Chris thinks the temperature will probably rise to only about 26 degrees with the humidity being around 80. If this should be the case, it may slightly favour Lebogang. Because it is the Olympics, Chris does not expect the athletes to race for a fast time.
 
“It will be all about winning a medal, which means it will be a tactical race. I expect the winning time to be round about 1 hour 19 minutes.” In spite of being an Olympic novice, Lebogang is not one to walk just to make up the numbers.
 
“I won’t lie. There can be no greater honour than winning a medal for my country at an Olympic Games. For me that would definitely be the ultimate. If I should manage to do that, South Africans would hopefully begin to consider walking as a serious sport,” said the HPC athlete.
 
According to Lebogang, it will be important to stick to his own game plan. “I am going to race aggressively and stick with the race leaders, but I have to be careful not to start off at a too fast pace. If I do that I might end up paying for it later when the real racing begins.”
 
Last year’s Spanish world champion Miguel Angel Lopez will resume his rivalry with China’s Olympic champion, Chen Ding, tonight. Wang Zhen and Cai Zelin, also from China, will be the other race walkers to watch.
 
It was the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, and in particular Jared Tallent’s double medal haul in both the 20km and 50km events, that first inspired the 25-year-old Lebogang to have a go at the discipline.
 
“Because I am slightly ‘lazy’ by nature watching the race intrigued me. It looked so easy, almost like a walk in the park, and it was hard to believe that it was an Olympic Sport. So I started walking, but I soon realized that there is more to race walking than meets the eye. I then started reading up about it on the internet. I also tried to meet up with as many other race walkers and pick their brains, trying to find out how I should go about walking faster times.”
 
Lebogang’s keenness to learn has led to him improving the SA 20km race walk record on three occasions during the last 14 months. He also set records in the 3000m, 10000m and 20000m.

Strike a Running Pose

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I read somewhere that the first rule of race photos is that no one looks good in their race pictures. The second rule of race pictures is that no one looks good in their race pictures. Looking through my own pics, I think they’re right… especially since I keep pulling off the same goofy poses!

When I started running races more than 20 years ago, I loved it when one of the race photo companies was ‘on duty’ to capture me in full flight or crossing the finish line. As a result, I tended to buy all the pictures sent to me in the post (this was in the pre-digital era), even the not-so-good ones, because I wanted the ‘memories’ to go with my growing collection of medals. I especially loved the pics where I was running with a clubmate or friend, because those were the most special memories.

However, the one thing that got to me as my collection of pics grew was that I never seemed to look good in my pics. I was always grimacing or looking half-dead, or alternatively smiling like a lunatic who just escaped from the asylum and found a road race to disappear into while making his escape! And some of the faces I pulled over the years defy explanation!

I have therefore come to the conclusion that race photos are much like ID photos – no matter what you try, they always seem to come out badly. And yet, the next time I see a camera pointed at me in a race, there I go again, throwing the same old poses, pulling the same faces or doing the same crazy thing that ruined the previous set of pics. There simply is no explaining it. And looking through my many race pics, I can see a few standard poses through the years…

The Winner: For some reason, in my early races I felt compelled to raise both arms in the air when I saw a camera pointed at me, which made me look like I was about to win the race. The fact that I was actually 975th out of 1427 runners had no bearing on my pose! There is even one race pic where I am finishing the Safari Half Marathon, coming down the finishing straight, and there just happens to be no other runner in sight, so it looks like I’m actually about to win the race. Totally ridiculous!

The One Finger Salute: You raise one hand nonchalantly, extend the forefinger while balling the rest of your fingers loosely, and point in the general direction of the camera, but taking care not to point directly at it, so that the extended finger can still be seen. I have no idea why I do this all the time, and I have way too many pics like this to count. On rare occasions I have seen runners do a double-handed one-finger salute. Again, can’t explain it…

The Talker: As many running friends know, I enjoy a good chat during a run, and sometimes I’m so busy chatting to the runner next to me that I don’t see the cameras. Cue a wonderful side profile shot of my face, because instead of looking at the camera, I’m looking at the runner next to me. And with my receding hairline, side profile shots are not flattering!

The Ignorer: This is my standard pose these days, in a valiant effort to avoid all the above-mentioned poses. I guess the logic is that if you pretend to ignore the camera and concentrate on running while looking ahead with a determined look on your face, the camera will hopefully, for once, capture you looking like the elite runner you wish you were. Problem is, invariably the camera button gets pushed just as you gasp for another breath, so your faces is slightly contorted, your cheeks are wobbling, your eyes are slightly glazed and you look like you are just about to collapse. At least, that’s what I look like in some my more recent pics…

Of course, there are others, which I also try to avoid at all costs…

The Flexor: These runners flex their muscles at the camera when they see it, usually the biceps, because it’s blinking hard to flex your leg muscles while running. Just take my word for it…

The Waver: For some reason, these runners feel the need to wave at the camera. I mean, come on, when does anybody wave at a camera? All that waving does is put a blurry object vaguely resembling a hand right in front of your face, or in front of your race number, meaning that the race pic company can’t identify you to send you your pic, or you ruin the pic of the oke next to you – and Murphy’s Law says it will be the one time that oke actually managed to strike a good pose and it’s the one race pic he would really like to buy for his collection, and order the enlargements for once, but now your blinking hand is right in front of his face!

The Reluctant Hand-Holders: Sometimes the camaraderie out on the road makes us want to hold on to each other, and what better way to do this than holding hands and raising our arms as we cross the finish line? This pose works well if both or all runners involved in the pose participate fully, but invariably it is one runner grabbing another’s hand and raising it, and you can see how reluctant the grabbee is by the fact that the grabber seems to be hanging on to the grabbee’s limp hand. A pained expression on the grabbee’s face is usually another sign, as if to say, “Dude, I’m tired, I’m grumpy, and I can barely lift my arms anymore. So give me my arm back, you madman!”

The Flasher: On cold days we wear jackets or shells over our race vests, which means our race numbers are covered. Then suddenly we see a camera and the first thing we do is lift our outer top to show our race number, and just like that, we’re caught flashing. Don’t know what we’re thinking, because it makes a lousy photo.

The Thumbs Upper: You see the camera and immediately give a thumbs up sign. And if the race is really going well, and you don’t have a cramp in your other shoulder, you give two thumbs up! And it is usually accompanied by the biggest grin you’ve ever seen – so naturally you look cheesy when the pics arrive. And the runner next to you is looking at you with that perplexed look, obviously wondering what kind of drugs you’re on.

But my ultimate no-no pose…

The Walker: For some reason, us runners have this morbid fear of being caught ‘on film’ walking. We have no qualms about taking a walk break during a race when we get tired or face a really steep hill, but just let somebody point a camera at us and we heave ourselves back into running motion, even if it means we may lose our breakfast around the next corner, or makes us look like a walrus trying to drag itself up a steep beach! Just as long as nobody sees photos of us walking!

Chasing the Golden Dream

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In life we are taught to lead by example, and Dana Coetzee does just that. The current KPMG Running Club National Manager completed 20 Comrades Marathons, 15 Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathons and 25 RAC Tough One 32s, amongst many other races, and today he still pours the same passion into the sport as he did in his running heyday. – BY ROXANNE MARTIN
 
It all started way back in 1974 when Dana saw his technical drawing teacher, Koos Sutherland, take second place in the Comrades. Inspired by this, he decided, “This is what I want to do,” and began training with Koos in the Vaal area, even getting a training programme to follow. In 1976, aged 15, Dana entered his first race, the Vaal Marathon, and being the first time he had run that distance, he didn’t know what to expect… and neither did his father, who was seconding him.
 
“He drove alongside the route to support me, making sure I had all that I needed,” says Dana. “Later in the race I was completely dehydrated, and my dad, who had my little sister with him, took her sippy cup, filled it at the tap and gave it to me. I ran the rest of the race with that sippy cup!” Dana came home in a respectable 3:50:50 and received a race badge branded with Coca Cola, the sponsor of the race at that time – only those runners who finished in a sub-three hours received a medal. Not that this worried Dana: “I was very, very proud of that Badge,” he reflects, adding the hardest thing about the day was, “to realise what a 42km marathon is!” However, the running bug had bitten.
 
THINGS GET SERIOUS
Running shorter distance road races, Dana soon started mixing with the crème dela crème of South African running of that era – Bernard Rose, Johnny Halberstadt, Matthews Batswadi, Willy Farrell and Kevin Shaw – who inspired him just by being in the same race. “Yissie they could run a ten-miler in sub-50 minutes, while I struggled to get in under an hour,” says Dana, but that just made him train harder, and eventually he also got to that sub-50 time. However, his dream was the Comrades, and in 1980 he finally made it the start line. Having finished school in 1979, he started preparing for his first year of National Service, but as his call-up was only in June, there was time to do the race that had inspired him to start running.
 
For that 1980 Comrades Dana once again had his Dad as his second. “You were only allowed a second from Cato Ridge onwards if your second was on a bicycle. My dad had a big sticker with my race number that he put on a special zinc plate and tied to the front of his bike, and he had a crate filled with bananas and koeksisters, and a small portable radio so he could follow the race,” says Dana. “He stayed with me the whole way, but I would overtake him on the hills and he would overtake me on the downhills!” Dana finished in 8:17:00 and his first thought was, “Wow, I just finished Comrades,” but it wasn’t long after that race that he realise he wanted to do still better… that more than anything, he wanted a Comrades gold medal!
 
RACING FOR GOLD
Dana continued to get stronger and faster, and in 1982 he thought he was ready to push for a silver in his third Comrades, and he did it in style, cutting more than an hour off his 1980 time to finish in 7:13:05. He went even better in 1983, clocking 7:07:59, but it wasn’t enough, because Dana still had serious ambitions about claiming a gold medal for a top 10 finish. “I wanted to get serious about running,” says Dana, but in 1986 he didn’t finish Comrades for the first time since 1980 because of an overtraining injury. “I realised that I needed to train properly!” he says.
 
Bouncing back in 1987 he clocked 6:44:26, and in 1988 doing everything just right paid dividends as he posted his best time of 6:33:15 for 101st position. Even better, as he ran into the finishing stretch, he was handed a rose, and that made him feel like he had achieved his goal. “In that moment I knew how Bruce Fordyce felt, because everyone around me was screaming, cheering me on. I got my ‘gold’ in that moment,” says Dana, who eventually amassed an impressive 12 silver medals in his 20 Comrades runs, as well as seven sub-four hour silvers at Two Oceans, including an impressive best of 3:48:01. He last ran the big ultras in the early 2000s, but today he is still supporting the top runners through his work at KPMG, including Caroline W?stmann and Christine Kalmer, helping them to strive for gold.

Taking on the Hills

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Looking for that one sure-fire session that’s going to help you run that elusive PB? Then make sure you include hill work in your training programme, as it will boost your strength, endurance and speed. – BY RAY ORCHISON

Hill training is a session that includes a number of short repetitions run up or down a specific hill or section of a hill. A typical hill session would start with an easy 15 to 20-minute warm-up jog, followed by running 100m up the hill at a fast pace before turning around and jogging very slowly back to your starting position, and then repeating a number of times. Your session would end with an easy cool-down run. It’s hard work, but a fairly simple concept, and you will reap the running benefits.

1. Strength: Hill training develops strength and power, which are the foundation for developing speed. For strength training, the length of the hill should be kept short (a maximum of 180m). Longer than this and you’re no longer achieving the purpose of the strength session, so look for a steeper hill instead of a longer hill. An example would be sprinting up the hill 15 to 20 times for 20 seconds, focused on a high knee-lift, with a slow jog or walk back to the bottom.

2. Endurance: Hill training also builds endurance, and this type of session would typically be done on a gradual or a moderately steep hill, with the length of the repeat between 300m and 600m. In most cases, 300m is more than adequate for building your form. However, for someone training for a 100km mountain trail run, a few sessions consisting of 600m hill repeats might better meet their needs.

An example of an endurance hill session would be two sets of five repeats of 300m with three to five minutes rest between sets. The speed at which you run the hill should be somewhere between 5km and 10km race pace, and your focus should be on maintaining correct form by leaning into the hill from your ankles, letting the hill come to you and allowing you to land on the forefoot and under your centre of gravity, head looking forward and shoulders relaxed with arms moving comfortably with each stride. Keep a good rhythm, control your breathing, and keep the pace constant.

3. Eccentric and speed development: To build eccentric strength – when the muscle is lengthening and contracting at the same time – find a gradual downhill, one so gentle that if you were running up this hill during a race you wouldn’t even consider it a climb, then run fast down the hill, concentrating on leaning forward from the ankles and shortening your stride to ensure that you land on the forefoot. You need to make sure that you’re not leaning backwards and landing on the heel, as is our tendency. A typical session would be three to six repeats of 300m to 600m.

THE HILLS ARE CALLING
When training for an upcoming hilly race, include a few endurance sets and one or two eccentric hill sessions, and for races where you want to push times and go for that PB, include some strength hill sessions. Also, if you’re looking to get faster by introducing track workouts to your programme, first start by including one hill session per week for six weeks, to develop the necessary base strength and speed for the track. Just make sure you don’t do too many hill sessions, thus risking injury, with downhill repetitions being especially tough on the body.