Category: Columns

The Comrades Marathon happening on the 1st June 2014 is the world’s oldest and largest ultra-marathon run over a distance of approximately 90 km between the capital of the KwaZulu-Natal Province in South Africa, Pietermaritzburg, and the coastal city of Durban. This year, the marathon starts in Pietermaritzburg and ends in Durban, a ‘down-run.’

Nedbank has been a proud major co-sponsor of the “world’s ultimate human race” since 2002 bringing fun and flair to the only official spectator point along the route in a grand, enormously entertaining, eco-friendly Green Mile, which is situated along Kloof’s Old Main Road approximately 26 km from the finish line, called the #NedbankGreenMile, a major event in itself.

This magnificent ‘green’ community spectator zone is this year themed “Rock & Roll” and is free to all supporters, and is set to create an electrifying atmosphere for over a mile in length producing an important uplifting boost to runners who will have already run a gruelling 62 km at this point. Runners passing through the #NedbankGreenMile can look forward to receiving the first Green Energade available on race day plus live performances from some of Durban’s hottest bands and DJs. Add to this photographers, dancers, Sharks Rugby cheerleaders, drum majorettes, a Scottish Bag Pipe Band, a Steel Drum Band and a Marimba Band – all from Durban and surrounding areas – and the #NedbankGreenMile looks set to be a celebration of everything local!

The #NedbankGreenMile caters for the whole family on race day. Kids and the young at heart will delight in an action-packed Kids Fun Zone where entertainment includes face painting, balloon artists and jumping castles, plus much more. Here they’ll also get to meet their favourite Super Heroes.

Runner’s supporters will also be able to keep up with the race action from the large grandstand, which will be home to a large screen TV airing live footage and race commentary throughout the day.

Staying true to brand, everything available along the #NedbankGreenMile will be sourced locally and eco-friendly including all refreshments and food. All packaging and waste will be recycled in-line with environmental awareness and suitable sustainability practices.

Easy access to the #NedbankGreenMile can be gained from the M13 Hillcrest – Pinetown alternative highway travelling east towards Durban at the Pioneer off ramp. Follow the sign boards or follow www.facebook.com/nedbanksport or @nedbanksport on twitter for more information.

All are welcome and entry to the #NedbankGreenMile is free, so come be part of the action from 08h00 to 14h00 on Sunday, 1 June 2014!

The Comrades marathon occupies a special place in the South African soul. It’s an epic ultra marathon that many runners aspire to complete each year. Three runners have taken on the task of running the distance of 10 Comrades Marathons in 10 consecutive days to raise much needed funds for two South African charities.

The most common question for any runner in South Africa must be “Are you going to run the Comrades?”. Even as you set out as a beginner with your local running club, it won’t be long before the question is put to you. The reason? The Comrades occupies the highest rung in the climbing ladder, it’s the pinnacle, the big one, the ultimate human race, Probably the best of its kind in the world and it’s right here in our own back yard.

Even international runners eye the Comrades and a must do in their running career. An event that must be completed even if only once.

So imagine the overwhelming task of running this event ten times over ten days. Three runners – Hazel Moller, Hilton Murray and Carlo Gibson will be doing exactly this to raise money for Pets in Townships and Pink Drive.

Their journey of 900km will begin on 23 May 2104 from Bedfordview in Johannesburg and follow an 9 stage route down to Pietermaritzburg, finishing the tenth and final stage with the running of the official Comrades Marathon on 1st June 2014.

The Comrades is the yardstick for the daily stages, this is not an official Comrades Marathon event. Although in some ways this is similar to the carrying of the torch in Olympic terms.

They have called their charity drive the Ten10 Challenge and have setup a website – http://www.ten10.co.za. Donations can be made online and messages of support and encouragement can be posted on their Facebook page (facebook.com/tencomrades) or on Twitter (twitter.com/hazel_moller).

Their support team will be posting regular updates to share their experiences as they travel the incredible 900km distance through South Africa.

The challenge has already gained a lot of interest as runners, athletes and nutritionalists follow and discuss the demands of running such long distances each day.

Sponsors are also actively sought to assist with helping with vehicles, food, accommodation and other requirements. A list of requirements is on the website and sponsors would enjoy exposure as the challenge gains coverage in the media.

The runners would be grateful for donations of any amount towards their efforts and look forward to reading all the messages of encouragement.
 

This year marked the 35th anniversary of the first sub-three-hour marathon by a woman in Africa – run by then 22-year-old South African Clare Davie. In the span of just over a year, Clare slashed 13:07 off the SA record in four races, and today remains an active sportswoman. 

In 1979, Clare’s “plotting and scheming” after her 10:41 finish at the 1978 Comrades Marathon paid off when she clocked 3:01:32 at the Johannesburg Marathon that February, shattering the SA record of 3:05:02 that was set in 1974 by 15-year-old Suzanne Gaylard. A month later, she went still faster at the Interprovincial Marathon in East London, clocking 2:57:26 to become the first ever South African woman to break three hours. It was also the first sub-3:00 by a woman on the African continent.

“After Comrades, I joined Ivor Lazerson’s running group and worked on my speed, and I added golf course runs and hills,” explains Clare, now 57 and living in Johannesburg. “It was a special day in East London, because whatever level you’re on, a PB is a PB… but you always think you have a better time in you.” And that she did, because later that year, in September’s Stellenbosch Marathon, she lowered the record to 2:56:28, then chopped off a few more minutes the following March at the Peninsula Marathon, where she finished with a personal best and fourth and final national record of 2:51:55.

FROM POOL TO ROAD

Clare actually started her sporting career in the pool. In 1975 she placed third in the 800m freestyle at the SA Nationals, also competing in the 400m, but ironically, it was in the pool that her running career was kick-started, “George Jacobson, a 200m butterfly Springbok, told me that we were ‘Hot for Comrades’,” says Clare. So, after buying a pair of Tiger Onitsuka running shoes at a Men’s Outfitter – there weren’t any women’s running shoes on the market back then – and getting a running vest made to her size by a member of Rockies who owned a tie factory, Clare sewed the Rockies colours on herself and hit the road.

“We ran on our own during the week and joined Rockies for their Sunday run. By 1977, we were ready for a marathon, so off we went to run the Potch to Stilfontein Marathon, and that’s where it all began…” Her first sub-3:00 came at a time when she had just completed her B.Com and had signed articles with Alex Aiken & Carter (today’s KPMG), working to become a chartered accountant, so she had to dedicate mornings before work and lectures to train, or time after work. “The Board Exams were in May 1979, and I did the sub-3:00 in March. We got some leave, but two years working part-time while also training was difficult!” Somehow, she still managed to run four SA marathon records, and also ran the Sea of Galilee Marathon in Israel in late 1978, as well as the Avon Women’s Marathon in London and the Nike Oregon Marathon in the USA in 1981.

STILL SWIMMING

During the 70’s, the Masters Swimming Programme took off around the world, which Clare later joined, and this year she swam her 20th SA Masters Event. “I went as hard as I could for as long as I could. Up to my early 50’s, I would love to do endurance sets, say 20x200m, and grind my training partners to fatigue!” That saw her Masters Swimming career hit a high point in 2012 when she clinched the 200m backstroke gold medal at the World Masters in Italy in the 55-59 age category. However, her competitive days came to an end when doctors recommended she slow her heart rate.

“Now my swimming is social. I’ve changed focus and concentrate on technique, swim open water with anyone I can find, and I watch my heart rate in the gym.” Still, she hasn’t hung up her goggles completely – just last month she took on the Dolphin Mile in Durban alongside Comrades legend Helen Lucre. “I still get up to train in the mornings, six days a week, and if I was 30 years younger, there would be more events to do, but I’m quite happy to be acting my age.”

Today, Clare is retired from the SA Institute of Accountants but maintains her interest in income tax legislation, and she’s actively involved in organising swimming events, notably the annual Dis-Chem Sun City Swim. She says it’s all about living the lifestyle. “In my twenties, most of my friends were partying while I was marathon training, and I’m happy to still be fit and active today. My poor husband… he ran Comrades the year I was pregnant with our daughter, Stacy, and I managed to get him to swim a couple of Midmar Mile events, paddle down the Orange River last Easter and Ski in Italy in December,” she laughs.

No matter where you go, you will see runners leaning against a wall, lamppost, park bench or car, statically stretching before a run, going through the stretching motions as part of their usual warm-up routine… but scientific research is proving over and over that stretching to warm up actually hampers your running performance.

Nobody is quite sure where or when it started, but somewhere along the way athletes were told that stretching before a run, workout or sports match would loosen up their muscles, thus making them better able to handle the exertion of the upcoming activity. Thus static stretching became part not only of many athletes’ warm-ups, but they also believed it would help protect against injury, as the muscles would have an increased range of motion and could better deal with repeated stress or sudden over-stretching.

However, in recent years, study after study has refuted the long-held belief that static stretching warms a muscle up. In fact, the research has shown that it can reduce muscle power, or slow you down, because your muscles are over-stretched and less elastic, and can actually increase the chances of pulling up with an injury. For runners who are already quite flexible, static stretching can even make them more injury-prone by pushing the joint too far, into a position which isn’t optimal for running.

LATEST RESEARCH

In a massive study done in 2013 by researchers at the University of Zagreb in Croatia, which was recently published in The Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, the research team analysed 104 studies where athletes only stretched statically to warm up before they jumped, sprinted, lifted or otherwise had their muscular strength and power tested, with no running or other warm-up activity. They calculated that static stretching actually reduces muscular strength by 5.5%, especially when stretches were held for 90 seconds or more, and that stretched muscles are, in general, substantially less strong. In other words, athletes who stretch to warm up are likely to perform worse than if they hadn’t warmed up at all!

Another study, published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, concluded that if you stretch before you lift weights, you may find yourself feeling weaker and more wobbly than you expect during your workout. For this study, young, fit men performed standard squats with barbells after either first stretching or not. The volunteers could only manage 8.3% less weight after static stretching, but even more interesting, they also reported that they felt less stable and more unbalanced after the static stretching warm-up.

NOT THE DONE THING!

Together, these studies augment a growing scientific consensus that pre-exercise stretching is generally unnecessary and likely counterproductive, with the various study authors writing that they suspect the problem is that stretching does exactly what we expect it to do: It loosens muscles and their accompanying tendons – which makes them less able to store energy and spring into action, like a worn-out elastic band. According to Dr Goran Markovic, who headed up the Croatian study, “After this study, we can now say for sure that static stretching alone is not recommended as an appropriate form of warm-up. A warm-up should improve performance, not worsen it, so a better choice is to warm-up dynamically, by moving the muscles that will be called upon in your workout.”

What that means is a runner warming up for a training run or race should rather jog slowly to warm up those leg muscles, stretching them dynamically by putting them through the range of motion they’ll need for the run, and this can then be complimented by gentle skipping or hopping… instead of trying to bend your foot all the way up to touch your butt, which stretches your cold quad muscle way beyond the range of motion it will be asked to go through while running!

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE…

Stretching does still have its benefits, though, and it’s just a matter of understanding how to incorporate the right amount and type of stretching into your training programme, instead of writing it off completely, says Dr Markovic. “Stretching and flexibility training can give you a wider range of motion in your joints, which can help them to perform better and improve balance and posture as well as reduce the risk of more severe injuries, but the key question is whether you feel you have adequate flexibility for the performance you’re looking to achieve.” So if you wish to train at a higher intensity, you may find you need a bit more mobility in your joints and muscles to take your training to the next level – but this should be done as a complimentary part of your overall training programme, not as a warm-up before you run.”

There is much literature on the dangers of using pain medication and anti-inflammatories while running, particularly during marathons and ultra-marathons. The short answer is DO NOT DO IT! It could cause renal failure and ultimately death. Besides the physical dangers, there is also an ethical question around the use of these types of medication during races like the Comrades Marathon too. Is using these medications considered cheating and do you gain an advantage by using them?

Most of these drugs are not on the list of banned substances and are freely available over the counter at your local pharmacy, but does using them during a run make it ethically right? Isn’t the attraction of running hard races not to overcome the hardship and prove to yourself that you, and you alone without the help of outside assistance, can accomplish anything? Is it true to say that running a race like Comrades is not easy and if it were everyone would have a Comrades finishers’ medal?

I spoke to the Comrades Coach Lindsey Parry this week about the use of pain killers and he has some strong opinions on the subject. Listen to our chat and let us know your thoughts by commenting below.

There are few injuries that are as debilitating as a back injury. Running with a sore back is not only extremely uncomfortable but it can also be extremely dangerous. On today’s episode of the Ask Coach Parry Podcast Nonkululo Mcuntula asks about running with a sore back. She picked something up and felt a tweak in her back, she is obviously concerned because of the pain caused by it but she is also worried about how long she is going to be out of action for.

 

You have trained hard for the Two Oceans Marathon and you don't want to hit a night before panic by discovering that you left some running essentials back home. It might be something replaceable like safety pins or gels.

But maybe you forgot to pack both your racing shoes(confession) or left your favorite socks or lucky underwear at home. When traveling to a race, I always travel with my race day essentials in my carry-on back pack, in case my checked-in luggage gets lost.

For a change the weather forecast is looking good for Saturday, but be prepared for any weather.
To avoid the forgetful runner panic, make a checklist and check it TWICE!

Pre-race

– Hotel-and flight confirmation
– Race confirmation and address where to pick up your race number.
– Course map
– Chargers for cellphone and GPS watch
– Vaseline
– Safety pins
– Sunscreen, hat and sunglasses
– Pre race breakfast
– Water bottle

Race day

Get your racing gear ready the night before, to avoid last minute chaos in the early hours of saturday morning!

– Race number
– Racetec timing chip
– Running shoes or Racers
– Running shorts
– Sports bra
– Running Vest
– Sunglasses and sunscreen.
– Shocks
– Compression shocks
– Energy drink and gels
– Stopwatch or GPS watch FULLY CHARGED
– TOILET PAPER

Post Race

– Recovery drink
– Post race snack
– Dry clothes
– Socks
– Rain jacket
– Towel
– Plastic bag for wet sweaty clothes.

Enjoy every moment of the World's mosts beautiful marathon!

Pacing buses help thousands of runners around the country secure medals at races every year but are they for you? Once again at this weekend’s Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon and Half Marathon there will be ‘bus drivers’ pacing groups through to various time goals, as they will at this year’s Comrades Marathon too.

Are these groups more of a help than a hindrance? Will running within one help you secure the medal you are after? How do they work and do you have to ‘sign up’ to run in one of them? All those questions are answered on today’s Ask Coach Parry Podcast below.

Starting to feel the butterflies in your stomach with 3 days to go to Two Oceans Marathon? Nerves are normal as race day is creeping closer and closer. Believe me! Whether you are running the half marathon or ultra, racing to win or just aiming to conquer the distance. All runners go through the same emotions in race week. Uncertainties will arise during race week. Did I train hard enough? Should I have done more? Should my long runs have been longer?

The best way to overcome these uncertainties is to think back of the progress you have made, from December on the beach till now. Remind yourself of the weeks of preparation, early mornings and sacrifices you made to get you to this race. Don’t compare your training with anyone else’s, it will only plant seeds of doubt in your mind. Trust your training! No workout in race week can make you any fitter. Overdoing it in race week is more of a concern than under doing it.

Relax! Try and get your mind of the race by doing some non-running related activities, reading a book, watching your favourite movie or just spending time with family and friends. The most important thing to do now is to rest your body and your mind!

According to Wikipedia, Iliotibial Band Syndrome is one of the leading causes of lateral knee pain in runners. It is one of the most frustrating injuries a runner can pick up and anyone who has suffered from ITB can attest to this.

If you have a pain in your knee is it ITB? How do you know? More importantly though, how do you treat it? Get all the information you are looking for relating to Iliotibial band syndrome on today’s Ask Coach Parry podcast from the symptoms right through to its treatment.