Category: Columns

Media personality, presenter, model and freelance writer Stacey Holland likes to challenge herself – from CrossFit and Impi to completing her first Momentum 947 Cycle Challenge. Now, she’s prepping to take on her first triathlon in 2015, while juggling her training in an unusual schedule.
– BY LAUREN VAN DER VYVER

MA: Is it difficult fitting in training?
Stacey: Diarising training helps and it’s about decision-making. One business session I attended explained life like a juggling act: You juggle glass balls and plastic balls. Glass balls break when they fall. Plastic balls bounce. You have to know what is glass and plastic. Work is a plastic ball, your children would be glass. If your kid is sick, that would be your main priority. People think health and fitness is a plastic ball, but it’s not! The benefit I have is that my time is flexible. I have to fit in auditions, writing for Longevity and castings, and I work around my diary.

MA: Then that session is unmovable?
Stacey: Yes, my agent would call me and ask me if I can go to a casting and sometimes it would fall on my gym time. You can hear him thinking, ‘Hello! This is your livelihood we’re talking about!’ but the industry revolves around us looking good. It was my escape when my mom was diagnosed with colon cancer last year and she underwent chemo. In a situation like that, you think ‘okay, cancel gym,’ but I needed it. A good cry is something, but you need an outlet. For most, gym is the first thing you reschedule when times are tough.

MA: You completed your first Momentum 947 Cycle Challenge last year. How did that journey begin?
Stacey: Pure Nutrition were looking for 10 novices and approached me. We received bikes that we eventually handed over to the Diepsloot Mountain Bike Academy for youngsters who want to pursue the sport. I loved that I’d be giving back, especially after sitting in a saddle for five hours, cycling a good 100km. I had never pushed myself to that extent before. On race day, I found out I was stronger and my strength work helped me up the hills, and I felt fresh until the 70km marker, eventually finishing in four hours 30 minutes.

MA: And it’s progressed to taking on your first triathlon this year…
Stacey: Discovery approached me because they saw I was cycling the 947. I will have to get used to being in the pool again and I’ll have to work on my road running. After doing Impi, I found out I love trails more. After my triathlon, I’d like to look at the off-road stuff because I prefer events where I can test my speed and agility. Every challenge leads to something else…

MA: Do you use your media work to find opportunities to test your fitness?
Stacey: Definitely! I write reports in Longevity covering topics like ‘when is the best time to train?’ or ‘how can martial arts help you?’ It’s cool because I have to research and be on top of things. I did a six-week cycle article before the 947 and it helped me prep. I use my own experiences and trying stuff gives me something to write about!

MA: Your husband is a pro golfer. Is it easier to keep fit having a partner who lives a healthy lifestyle?
Stacey: Warren rode the 947 with me and we shared that experience. He understands my desire to perform even though golf is so different and technical. He just thinks I always attract these crazy invitations!

MA: What advice would you give people who say they don’t have time to exercise?
Stacey: I always think I don’t have time to read. You have to find the ‘why’ and make time. Novels fuel my creativity, so I make time for it before bed. My bath is time for magazines. When I’m travelling, I read self-help stuff. Dr Miles Munroe said that when the purpose of something is not known, abuse is inevitable. When you know why you need to be healthy, it’s easy. If you don’t, you make excuses! You need to find your motivation.

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As a runner you are always looking for ways to improve your running. Take note of these five reasons why catching more quality Z’s can make you a stronger, better runner. Now go sleep on it… – BY SEAN FALCONER

 

For many people, getting a full night’s sleep is luxury, due to the demands of ever-busier lifestyles, but go ask the top runners about sleep and most will tell you they try to get a solid nine to 10 hours a night whenever possible, because they know that it is during sleep that your body recovers from hard training and builds you into a better runner. Sleep needs vary from one person to the next, but here’s why you should try to get more sleep if you want to improve your running.

 

5 REAONS WHY MORE SLEEP CAN IMPROVE YOUR RUNNING

 

1 In For Repairs: Sleep is when your body repairs and regenerates damaged tissue from a workout, and builds bone and muscle to be ready for the next workout. Therefore, distance runners especially need sleep and repair time to recover from training. Research from Stanford University in the USA has proven that increased sleeping time can improve running performance. Subjects who slept more saw their speed improve significantly, accuracy improved, and the runners said they felt their training improved after six weeks of lengthening sleep length. Also, the study suggests that reducing an accumulated sleep-debt can be beneficial for runners at all levels, and sleep should be a high priority in a runner’s daily planning and training programmes.

 

2 Growth Time: During the deeper stages of sleep, human growth hormone (HGH) is released by the pituitary gland and released into the bloodstream to rebuild damaged tissue while building stronger muscles. It also helps convert fat to fuel, and keeps our bones strong. If you don’t get enough sleep, you produce less HGH, and it becomes harder for your body to recover from workouts. Too little sleep also leads to an increase in cortisol, which contributes to slower recovery times.

 

3 Taking on Water: During sleep, the kidneys balance water, sodium and electrolytes, so if you are already dehydrated from sweating, especially in the hotter months, sleep provides vital time for water re-absorption. So, not only do you need to drink enough water to replenish lost liquids, you also need to get enough sleep so that body can absorb it properly, or you may suffer muscle pain and poor performance when running.

 

4 Keeping Trim: When you don’t get enough sleep, your appetite-related hormones can be thrown out of sync. Less sleep leads to more ghrelin, which makes you hungry, and less leptin, which tells you that you’re full, so sleeping a full night regularly helps keep your hunger signals in check. Added to this, if you’re not sleeping enough, your body won’t store carbs properly, leading to less glycogen stores, and you may hit the wall sooner than usual in your next race.

 

5 Improved Focus: It takes a few hours after you fall asleep to reach deep, quality sleep, usually into the seventh hour, so getting enough sleep helps you tune into your body and improve your concentration, which can help you greatly not only in work or studies, but also in improving your running by strategising your race.

 

GET THE ESSENTIALS TO IMPROVE YOUR RUNNIG

•    Determine your sleep needs and meet that quota every night.

•    Establish a regular sleep schedule by going to bed getting up at the same time every day. With an ever-changing sleep-wake schedule, your body never knows when it’s time to shut down.

•    Get one long block of continuous sleep at night. Power naps are a last resort if you have to make up lost sleep – snooze for 10 to 15 minutes, no longer, or you might become groggy.

 

Other articles you might be interested in:

Stronger Hammies, Better Runner

Slow Down to get Faster

Building Your Bones

 

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She dominated South African sprinting throughout the 80s, running world class times, winning national title after national title, and her SA records for 100m and 200m remain standing after more than two decades, making Evette De Klerk a true living legend of SA athletics
– BY LAUREN VAN DER VYVER

In a grade one athletics day meet, Evette was on her way to sprinting glory when she tripped and fell, but she dusted herself off and still managed to cross the line fourth. A year later she was back and this time finished top of the podium, a step she would frequent for the next 25 years… “I specialised in the 100m and 200m sprints and when I was 10, I ran times on par with the world’s best juniors,” she says. “At 16, I scored my first national record and started running against the seniors, and at 17, I was a Springbok, training with the great Bessie Windell. She was a mother and mentor – and I needed her on my travels, because I didn’t know much back then!”

Evette also received great support from her school headmaster: “He said I should take the first four months of the year to concentrate on my running and even arranged exams to be shifted! In those days, everyone appreciated athletics more.” Another aspect of her career that she cherishes is the support she received from her family, and later husband Gous. “When I went to Cape Town for nationals, my parents would be on a train, and Gous was there for my records. Also, at SA’s and Nedbank prestige meetings, the athletes motivated each other. There was zero politics and every meet was packed with spectators. We were a family back then.”

UNTOUCHABLE
In April 1986 Evette ran 50.57 in the 400m for a new SA record, but that was eclipsed just nine days later by Myrtle Bothma. Her two other SA records have stood for a much a longer time! In April 1989 Evette posted 22.06 in the 200m, which has not been beaten in over 26 years, and was the second-fastest time in the world that year. Just over a year later she clocked 11.06 in the 100m, on the same day that she ran a wind-assisted 10.94 in an earlier heat. “It’s incredible that the records have lasted. Hennie Kotze, who was also part of Bessie’s group, showed me a photo of those runs a while back. There I was, barefoot and strapped – I only wore spikes when it was raining or the tartan was too hot.”

From 1982 to 1991, Evette claimed 10 straight SA titles in both the 100m and 200m, and in 1987 she added the 400m national title for a cleansweep of the women’s sprints, which prompted a telegram of congratulations from the State President. She added another two 400m titles in 1992 and 1993, but the early 90s also proved quite frustrating. With SA finally back on the international stage, Evette tore her Achilles and was left out of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic squad. “I wrote them telling them I will be right when the time came, but there was politics, even though I qualified for the 100m, 200m and 400m!” She did get to the African Champs in 1993, bringing home a bronze medal in the 200m, but in 1995 she retired. “I was sick for six months with a coxsackie virus, which turned into glandular fever, so I stopped at my peak, then got pregnant soon after I made my decision to leave.”

YES, COACH
Today, Evette (49) still trains three times a week to keep active, and her daughter is proving a very talented 400m runner as well, while her younger son is more a rugby player. She teaches Life Orientation and Physical Education at Duo Edu, a learner-disabled school in Pretoria, and coaches young athletes at Waterkloof High School and Queenswood Primary, having taken up coaching in 1997. “I love coaching, but I’m not just a coach, I want to find out what they’re feeling and thinking. Athletics has been my calling, and while there were ups and downs, you learn to keep on. But I think if I had the same opportunities that athletes have today, I’d have run under my records!”