Author: Modern Athlete

In the typical Western diet, meats such as beef, lamb, pork, veal, poultry and fish are the predominant sources of protein, B vitamins, iron and zinc, but considering that iron and zinc are the most cited nutrients that may be deficient in the diet of athletes, we look at which types of meat are most beneficial for athletes. – By Christine Peters (Registered Dietician)

Most runners know that red meat is packed with protein, which is critical for muscle growth and recovery. It's also packed with iron, zinc and B vitamins, which boost the immune system and keep red blood cells healthy. However, just as no single vegetable or fruit can provide all of the critical nutrients common to its food group, so no single type of meat can provide all of the nutrients necessary for a healthy and well-balanced diet. It is the variety of types and cuts of meat that provide the total array of nutrients necessary for an adequate diet, so let’s take a closer look at a few meats.

BEEF
An excellent source of zinc, a mineral essential for a strong immune system. You'll also get two milligrams of iron, a plus, because running, especially high mileage, breaks down red blood cells, so athletes need about 30 percent more iron than non-athletes. Beef is also a good source of niacin, riboflavin, thiamin and vitamin B6, which help convert carbohydrates into the fuel needed to make it through a training run, and all are particularly plentiful in beef. If you can, opt for grass-fed beef, which supplies more heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidant vitamin E than grain-fed.
• Shopping Tip: Lean cuts include eye of round, sirloin, filet mignon, tenderloin, flank, or extra lean minced beef. The perfect portion is the size of your palm – minus your fingers.

DARK MEAT CHICKEN
All too often runners believe that the juicy meat found in chicken thighs, wings and legs is off-limits. That's a myth. After all, a breast has around 161 calories, while an equivalent portion of dark meat runs only 200 calories. Yes, dark meat has more fat (11 grams versus four grams in white), but fewer than four grams are saturated fat. Compared to bland breasts, flavour-packed dark meat is also higher in zinc and iron. Bottom line: If you love the taste, dark meat is a healthy way to add variety to your diet.
• Shopping Tip: Stay clear of basted rotisserie or crumbed chicken. Rather roast and make your versions.

LAMB
A rare find on the dinner plate these days, lamb is a surprisingly good source of heart-healthy omega-3s. Because the amount of omega-3s depends on the lamb's diet, look for either “pasture-fed” or “organic” on the label. One study published in 2011 in the British Journal of Nutrition found that people who ate grass-fed red meat, including lamb, three times per week for four weeks, increased the levels of healthy omega-3s in their blood, while decreasing inflammatory omega-6 levels. Like beef, lamb is also a good source of zinc and iron.
• Shopping Tip: Choose leaner cuts like loin and leg, and trim visible fat. Because lamb can dry out without this extra fat, try roasting, broiling or braising the meat for a stew.

PORK
It's the best substitute for lovers of chicken. Compared with chicken breasts, a serving of pork tenderloin packs 13 percent fewer calories and the same amount of fat (four grams) and saturated fat (one gram). It's an excellent source of vitamin B6, which helps your body metabolise protein and carbs, and produce energy during exercise. Pork is also an excellent source of thiamin (vitamin B1) and iron, a good source of niacin (vitamin B3) and only an average source of riboflavin and zinc.
• Shopping Tip: Grill up centre-cut pork chops or roast pork tenderloin. Lower-fat meats, especially pork, need to be seasoned well to maximise flavour. Rub on a mix of spices (like cumin, paprika and chili powder) and fresh or dried herbs, plus salt and pepper.

Generally speaking, red meats like beef and the dark meat of poultry are better sources of iron and zinc than are white meats like fish and light meat of poultry. However, there are some exceptions, one example being pork, an excellent source of iron. Because vitamin B12 is a by-product of animal metabolism, virtually all types of meats are good or excellent sources of vitamin B12.

It seems Panda Qamata of Cape Town has the ‘Midas Touch’ when it comes to running-related competitions, which will see him packing for Paris next year. – BY SEAN FALCONER

Having never won anything before, Panda Qamata (39) was understandably elated when he won a pair of New Balance shoes for submitting the winning Athletes in Action photo for the November 2014 edition of Modern Athlete. Those shoes were immediately put to good use, as Panda was already in training for the 2015 Old Mutual Two Oceans and Comrades ultra-marathons. “I was so excited when I received the e-mail from Modern Athlete, because I had never won anything before, and I wanted to change my running shoes anyway, so it came at just the right time.”

Then a few months ago he heard that he was one of 10 finalists in the competition to win a trip for two to the 2016 Paris Marathon, thanks to having entered the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, but at first Panda thought it just sounded too good to be true. “When I entered the marathon, I entered for myself and four other club members who do not have a credit card, so when the organisers contacted me to say I was a finalist, I still asked if they were sure it was actually me… Then on the Thursday night before the race I received a call from organiser Janet Wellham, asking me to come to the pre-race media conference on the Friday. Disbelief, shock… I didn’t sleep much that night, because I was so excited! Also, I was planning to chase a sub-four in the race that Sunday, because I had been struggling to get there, with a 4:12 at Soweto and 4:15 in the Peninsula, but the sheer joy of winning that prize carried me to a new PB of 3:56!”

Excitement Building
“My wife Abongile and I are so very excited about this trip, because Paris is on a Sunday, which means we can run it. We are Seventh Day Adventists, so we don’t run on Saturdays, our Sabbath… I was actually going to decline the prize if the race was on a Saturday. Even better, the race will be at the same time as our tenth wedding anniversary in April. We were planning an overseas running holiday later in 2016, so winning this trip to France will save us a lot of money while still giving us an overseas anniversary holiday.”

When asked about race-day plans for Paris, Panda says it will definitely be more sight-seeing than racing. “The Two Oceans is just a week before Paris, so I just want to run a sub-five-hour with my wife in Paris. She is normally 30 to 40 minutes behind me in marathons, so we’ll just take it easy and treat it like a honeymoon race, and then we’re planning to extend the trip a bit and also go run a marathon in Rome a week after Paris.”

Getting Into Running
Born in Port St Johns, Panda studied mechanical engineering in Cape Town and then worked in various locations around South Africa, including Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth. In 2006 he married Abongile, having met her through the SDA Church in Umtata, and in 2012 they moved back to Cape Town, now with two young kids, and he took up the position as Facilities Manager at Artscape. He started his athletic career with various walking events in 2004 and 2005, then upgraded to running. By 2007 he was regularly running half marathons, and then in 2010 he stepped up to 30km, then the marathon in 2011, with the aim to do the Two Oceans and Comrades in 2014. He has now done two of each. Meanwhile, Abongile ran her first marathon last year in Cape Town, then completed the Two Oceans and Comrades this year.

Both are avid runners, but due to their religion it has not always been easy to find races to run. “We run the Two Oceans on the Friday, and Comrades is fine as it is on a Sunday. It was easier when we lived in Gauteng, where most of the races in Johannesburg are on Sundays, and it is okay in the Cape, but it was terrible living in PE from 2008 to 2011, as there were no races on Sundays, except for the Spar Ladies race. We had to fly to Cape Town all the time just to run some races. That is why we are so glad Paris in on a Sunday!”

We often hear runners’ stories of ultra-distance races, but we seldom hear about these runs from the perspective of an athlete’s support crew, or seconds, and the critical role they play in supporting the runners. I hope that writing about my experience as a second in the recent Washie 100 Miler not only gives the event the attention it deserves, but also gives runners useful insight into the support they will need out on the road, and how they should assemble their support team. – BY THOLAKELE CHARMAIN SHANDU

Far less people have heard of the Washie100 Miler in South Africa than the Comrades Marathon, so for those who don’t know it, the Washie is a 160km road race from Port Edward to East London, with a 26-hour cut-off. The race starts at 5pm on a Friday and is run as close to the full moon as possible, but runners must still get through a long night of running, much of it along an undulating, busy highway.

It is a very long, gruelling run, and one of the requirements of the race is that runners must have a support team of seconds to look after them, in a car in good running condition and with enough petrol to drive up and down the route. And so this July, I and two running mates were invited to be seconds when our friend Gerald Pavel signed up to run the Washie for the first time, and that 160km trek was the longest thing any of us have ever been exposed to.

Esteemed Company
Gerald has four Comrades bronze medals, and his team of seconds included a Comrades gold medallist in Prodigal Kumalo, who has also won several races on the track and in cross-country, on the trails and over the marathon distance. Then there was Zisandele Mkhize, a Comrades Bill Rowan medallist who also boasts podium finishes in various trail races. And then there was me… I am merely a Comrades finisher. Against these talented Comrades runners, I couldn’t help but feel that I was second-best with my three Comrades Vic Clapham medals, which were all achieved in the last 30 minutes before the 12-hour cut-off. Also, the fact that my Comrades record includes two DNF’s did not help my confidence levels. Nevertheless, there I was.

Now let’s come back to the role of a second: You are supposed to supply the runner with food and ensure that they are adequately hydrated, and ensure that the sustenance is provided at the right intervals. The second is also a cheerleader, storyteller, jokes master, singer, poet, and reader and confirmer of the very big glow-in-the dark kilometre markers to the incredulous runner. The second must also have thick skin and be able to withstand verbal and emotional abuse from the runner, who may think the sun revolves around them…

Seconds also need to be able and willing to run, as one of their jobs is to keep the runner company by running at certain intervals alongside their runner, so they must be fit and have a fairly good understanding of what running entails. Our plan was that I would do most of the driving and just do a little running with Gerald, to relieve the other two main seconds.

Friend in Need
The race started and Prodigal and Zisandele ran a couple of 10km stretches here and there with Gerald, while I did just one 10km set and then stuck to driving. However, their 30km limit each was eventually reached, as they had to preserve their elite athlete bodies and protect themselves against overuse injuries, having just come back from Comrades barely a month before. And so, with 50km to go, when Gerald wasn’t looking too good, instead of just doing a few kilometres at a time, I ended up running and walking alongside him the rest of the way to the finish. He wasn’t taking kindly to stories, joke-telling or pep talks anymore, so I ran quietly beside him, just being there while also supplying him with food and drinks.

At about 22 kays to go, he wanted to “lie down for ten minutes.” I knew that if he did that, he might not be able to get up again and continue, so I talked him into continuing. Then just 4km from the finish, he started shivering from the cold, so I took off my very thin T-shirt – the only covering I had against the cold – and put it on him, covering his arms, straight-jacket style. I was left wearing only my sports bra. We must have made a very weird pair: A shuffling and shivering white man with too much clothing on, literally being pushed by a black woman with barely any clothes on!

Finally we had 2km to go with 24 minutes left on the clock until the final cut-off, but by then we were doing an average of 15 minutes a kilometre, and I realised that Gerald needed to run the last stretch if he was to finish. I firmly told him that he needed to run now, but he told me he couldn’t. I told him he can, and he will, and I started to push him in the back to make him go faster. He responded by taking off my T-shirt straight-jacket and not only did he start running, but Gerald ran harder in that last kilometre than he had in the previous 60 kilometres. We crossed the finish line with just under 10 minutes to spare.

Slow and Steady Wins
The short lesson from this long story is that the running experience of all his seconds helped Gerald with his Washie 100 Miler experience, but I believe that having a ‘finisher’ in his team got him over the finish line. As a finisher, I know that when the clock and the odds are against you, and when the thoughts hit home of all the hard work and the sacrifices you and your loved ones have made to get you to the point when you are race ready, when the faces of strangers swim before your eyes and they shout that you can make it, that you must just keep going. You need to dig deep and find that extra mental reserve that will get you to the finish line when your body can’t do it alone.

Gerald had never been under that pressure before in his four bronze medal Comrades runs, and neither had Prodigal or Zisandele with their stellar performances. I may not have been the fastest runner in the team, but my Comrades Vic Clapham medallist experience is what saw Gerald crossing that finish line. And as I sat down after eight solid hours on the road, I smiled with my newfound knowledge that sometimes second-best is actually best.

In light of the fact that I ran my 11th PUFfeR (Peninsula Ultra Fun Run 80km) from Cape Point to the Waterfront in August, finishing in 12:26:35, I thought I’d share my story about the horrific accident I had on the day of the race eight years ago in 2007, when I tried to take a short-cut down the mountain. – BY STUART PURCELL

It was a beautiful day – late winter in Cape Town with not a cloud in sight, the sun streaming down warmly, and a stunning view from Table Mountain of the city bowl and harbour at my feet. Life couldn’t get better. I was lying in fourth position in my favourite trail race, and I could just cruise in to the finish in Cape Town’s famous Waterfront in my own time. But then things went horribly wrong…

BITTEN BY THE BUG
I’d first been coerced into running by Jon Cane, a natural runner who never struggled to run up even the toughest hills. As a result of his persistent nagging, I ended up doing a few Peninsula Marathons and Two Oceans Marathons, and then one day in 1996, a mad trail runner by the name of Phil Struckman ‘gave’ me an entry to that year’s PUFfeR. He explained that he had participated in the inaugural running of the 80km challenge the previous year, along with 18 other nutters, that it had been postponed by a week because there was too much snow on Table Mountain and the weather conditions were too severe, that a few of them had gone up anyway to check it out, and that the race had taken place the following week. He’d loved it, and his enthusiasm (coupled with a delectable red) prompted my acceptance of his invitation.

I took part, in various stages of fitness, for the following three years, taking enormous strain with the distance, but the awesome terrain blew me away and I was addicted, convincing a few other people to take part. I took a few years’ break from running for various personal reasons, including some niggling injuries, but when I eventually got back into the running groove, my times over the longer distance seemed to have improved with age. Experience counts, obviously, and I was enjoying the running more, as my PUFfer position and time improved with each run. I finished in seventh position on two occasions, with my best result being sixth in 2006, and from taking over 12 hours to complete the race in 1996 to 1998, I was now able to finish in less than nine hours.

IN TOP RACING SHAPE
So along came my eighth PUFfeR in 2007, with some solid off-road training under the belt. I loved the Fisherman’s Trail Challenge and nearly died on the Hout Bay Trail Challenge, but was feeling really great about my progress and fitness. The Saturday morning of the race dawned cool but not freezing, breezy but not windy, and very dark. But it was a stunning day and all went as planned. The toughest part for me is always the trek up from Constantia Neck to Maclear’s Beacon, after 56 tough kilometres – by then it is hot, and the legs and mind are not working.

From Maclear’s to the top of Platteklip Gorge is two straight running kilometres, with the drop down to the path having a fearsome reputation, but it had never bothered me in the past. I was more worried about my fourth position, but knew that very few people could make up any ground against me going down Platteklip. On the path towards the Lower Cable Station, I felt strong enough to keep running, even though I knew that my position was now safe, and I knew the rest of the route like the back of my hand.

That being a very wet year, and the day being particularly warm, I decided when I came to a rocky overhang to reach out and grab some falling water in my cap to splash over my head. As I did so, I slipped and fell down the gorge, a distance of about 20 metres. I bounced once or twice, but it was essentially a sheer drop, and I was badly injured, unconscious and lying in a stream. I had a completely shattered right elbow, and my head had taken a few big knocks to the extent that my scalp split open like a melon. Not a pretty sight!

GUARDIAN ANGEL
However, luck was with me: A tourist spotted my antics and informed the next runner, Hayden Hobbs, of my predicament. Hayden, coincidentally, is a doctor, and he happened to have his cell phone on him. He abandoned his race to come to my aid, clambering down to my position, contacting the emergency medical personnel and stabilising me. From there, things were a bit of a blur for me – they usually are, according to my wife – and all I remember is being freezing cold, joking with Hayden, refusing to give him my wife’s phone number (because I didn’t want her to worry), dangling below the helicopter all the way to Groote Schuur Hospital, the discomfort of the neck brace, some indelicate interns pulling dozens of stitches through my scalp, and eventually the presence of my wife. Funny, there was no pain at all (except for the stitches). Morphine works!

My elbow was operated on the next day in Vincent Palotti Hospital, where the completely snapped bone was reattached using two pins. I was a bit of a mess, but luckier than the American tourist who had fallen from the same place, just two hours before me. She’d broken her back. I was home after three days, and only off work for a total of three weeks, but it wasn’t all plain sailing: My arm was basically useless, so my wife had to help me with nearly everything I did. Try shaving with your left hand if you are right handed! I went through weeks of physiotherapy, suffered from flashbacks, could only sleep with the help of sleeping tablets, anaemia kept me sluggish and tired, and my back and arm were constantly painful. But if you survive a six storey fall, who cares? I was lucky.

Today there are still some long-term effects. My arm will never be fully functional, but some would argue that with my scrawny biceps, it never was anyway. Meanwhile, my head is a funny shape – a great improvement, I have heard – and my back likes to remind me that it also took a bit of a hit, but aside from that, I am still running the PUFfeR. So my message to other runners is to get fit and get out on the trails, but try to avoid taking any vertical short-cuts!