When it comes to breaking off a piece of chocolate, you might have that sinking feeling of guilt that it will put a dampener on your training and runner’s lifestyle, but don’t fret, because it actually relieves the stress put on your body after the hard miles. Just remember, it’s all about moderation… BY ESMÉ MARÉ, REGISTERED DIETICIAN AT CHRISTINE PETERS & ASSOCIATES

Running helps to build strong bones, strengthen muscles, improve cardiovascular fitness, burn energy and help maintain a healthy weight, but it can also place stress on your body. Some runners therefore turn to certain foods to help reduce the stress placed on their body and to help improve performance and recovery, and thus both dark chocolate and chocolate milk have become very popular amongst runners.

 

Come to the Dark Side

Chocolate contains potent antioxidants called flavanols, which may reduce exercise-induced oxidative stress. Studies have shown that consuming moderate amounts of chocolate can boost heart health, and lower blood pressure and cholesterol. Other research suggests that these flavanols can ease inflammation and lower the risk of potential blood clots. However, not just any chocolate will do!

 

The darker the chocolate, the higher the antioxidant content and more heart-healthy benefits. Dark chocolate has a lower glycaemic index, which means that eating dark chocolate won’t make your blood sugar levels peak. Choose a dark chocolate 70% or higher, which will help keep your blood sugar levels stable. Just remember to take note of the calories, as chocolate is high in fat, contains sugar, and it’s very easy to over-indulge.

 

Drink Up!

Chocolate milk may help give you more power and help you run longer if you drink it before your workout. It can also improve recovery if you take it after your workout. The chocolate milk helps replace fluids and electrolytes lost during exercise and contains calcium and vitamin D, which will help in strengthening bones. Chocolate milk also contains the perfect ratio of carbohydrates to protein to improve recovery after exercise. The carbohydrates will replenish the depleted glycogen stores and the protein will help rebuild muscle.

 

It is worth mentioning that the benefits from chocolate milk are from the milk and not from the chocolate. The chocolate only adds to the flavour of the milk and the amount of cocoa in the flavouring does not contain sufficient amounts of antioxidants to be of benefit to the athlete. Therefore, any flavour of milk can be used.

Moderation Reminder

Even though chocolate can help your running performance, you still need to consume it in moderation as part of a healthy balanced diet, because chocolate and chocolate milk are high in sugar, fat and energy, and excess consumption can still lead to weight-gain.

Some Perspective

Four Lindt 70% dark chocolate squares equal one slice of bread and two heaped tablespoons of peanut butter, or 250 calories. To burn that many calories, you would need to do one of the following sets of exercise:

·         69 minutes of walking

·         29 minutes of jogging

·         21 minutes of swimming

·         38 minutes of cycling

She’s been setting the Collegiate athletics and cross country circuits alight while studying in the USA, and now Dominique Scott is hoping to turn her good form into a ticket to the Olympics so she can race in the green and gold.

When Dominique Scott won the 2010 SA Junior Champs 1500m title in 4:36.94 (and the 3000m title), little did she know it was about to change her life forever. Her win was featured on the TV news that night, which prompted her proud mother, former Springbok triathlete captain, age group World Tri Champ and Comrades gold medallist Renée, to post the video on YouTube. It was seen by a number of university coaches in the USA who began trying to enlist Dominique to come run for them in the States on a full scholarship. “I was really fortunate that I got to go on a recruiting trip and visited my top three pick schools, and I ended up loving the University of Arkansas, which is in Fayetteville, a small town that reminded me of Stellenbosch, where I had really grown as an athlete,” says Dominique. “I really liked the girls on the Razorbacks team, and thought Coach Lance Harter would bring the best out of me – fellow South African Christine Kalmer also studied there and I had seen how she came in with certain times and was running faster by the time she left. That showed me that Coach Harter really develops athletes.” (She also met her soon to be boyfriend, fellow athlete Cameron Erfud, during that recruiting trip, and they have been together since she moved to the States.)

And so Dominique took six months off after matriculating at the end of 2010, then went over to the States in the middle of 2011 when the US academic year started, enrolling to study business marketing with a logistics minor. She will complete both courses in May this year, following which she plans to complete her Masters as well. “It is pretty challenging being a student-athlete, because I miss so much school due to travelling to meets, and we train like pro athletes, but still have to juggle classes and sport. I think most people in SA wouldn’t even be able to comprehend the amount of work that we put in. My high mileage weeks get up to 120km, and we don’t do junk miles, every run is a solid effort – and we race a lot. But they’re giving me an excellent and expensive education in exchange for four years of running for them, so you really want to run hard for your university.”

Starting young

Dominique took up running at the tender age of seven, thanks largely to her mother. “I started running cross country for fun on Friday afternoons when I was in grade one, because my mom was the cross country coach at Herzlia Prep School and High School in Cape Town. I started to get more competitive and eventually won the SA Junior Champs. From there I ventured into track when I was in grade eight and loved it, so my mom looked for a coach for me and made contact with Johan Fourie in Stellenbosch. I started training with him twice a week, so halfway through grade nine I moved to Rhenish Girls High and started training with Johan on a daily basis. That’s when my love of running really blossomed.”

Under Johan’s guidance, Dominique won several SA Junior titles, or finished second to her great rival at the time, Caster Semenya, and she also ran for her country twice. Then came her big breakthrough at the SA Junior Champs and being spotted by the coaches in the US, and she has positively flown since then, although she first had to learn a few hard lessons about pacing herself. “That was hard for me to grasp at first, because in South Africa I had been winning race after race, but when I got to the States, I came to realise that the girls who are going to win Nationals are just playing around at the beginning of the season, because they know how long the season is. I learnt how to peak at the right time.”

Success in the States

In her Freshman (first) and Sophomore (second) years, she did enough to keep her scholarship while competing in the three main seasons per academic year, for cross country, indoor track and outdoor track. However, she felt she still needed to prove herself and justify her full scholarship, and then in her Junior (third) year, she says things just went crazy as she made a name for herself. “I won the South Eastern Conference (SEC) cross country meet and also helped my school get the team win, then went to Nationals and finished 28th. I was really pumped up after that for the indoor season, where I ran 9:02 to break Christine’s school record for 3000m, and we also broke the school record for the Distance Medley Relay (DMR). I won the SEC 5000m title and finished second in the SEC 3000m, and then at Nationals, my school won the DMR, which we had never done before, and I was second in the 3000m. After that, I got the outdoor school record for 5000m, and finished sixth at outdoor Nationals.”

More success soon followed in the first half of Dom’s Senior (fourth) year as she won five out of her seven cross country races, including winning the SEC title and the Regional title, and then finishing sixth at Nationals. “I probably worked too hard early in that Nationals race and cost myself a few places, but my coach thinks it was the best race I had ever run, because I really went for it.” Dom’s great results also saw her awarded All American status six times thus far. In NCAA collegiate competition, a top 40 finish at cross country Nationals and a top eight finish in indoor and outdoor track events are rewarded with this elite recognition, and this has turned Dom into a sporting celebrity in her adopted state. Now she not only has her name on several honours boards at school, but is often asked to do interviews, and is getting more and more invites to top level meets, where she often races professional athletes.

Olympic dream

Looking ahead, Dom says her big goal in the upcoming track season is to qualify to run for SA at the Rio 2016 Olympics. “My goal as a little girl was always to go to the Olympics, so I was blown away when my coach recently sat me down to discuss what I want to run in Rio. We decided that my focus will be the 5000m in 2016, so this season I am going to work on my speed and look to get some international exposure in Europe. The next year and a half will be instrumental in deciding my future. There is a definite possibility that I will stay in the USA to run professionally when I finish studying, but I also miss SA – my family, the weather, the mountain and the sea, and the SA accent! But I am living my dream right now, and just enjoying every moment.”

He comes bounding down the road in his Carbineers club colours and red socks, a huge smile on his face as he hugs friends and exudes a lust for life. He’s AJ Spieringshoek, high school teacher and hockey coach, runner, Red Socker and Unogwaja, and everyone he comes into contact with can’t help but catch his good mood and enjoyment of running. 

Shocked… that’s the only way to describe the reaction of the Spieringshoek family in November 2012 when AJ told them he had entered the 2013 Comrades, and what’s more, that he wanted to ride a bicycle for 10 days from Cape Town to Pietermaritzburg as part of the Unogwaja Challenge before running the 90km ultra. After all, he had been a good 400m hurdler at school, as well as playing first team cricket and hockey, and had carried on playing club hockey after school, but he had never done any road running, nor had he done any cycling!

It all started when AJ heard Red Sock and Unogwaja founder John McInroy speak at the school where he was teaching in Cape Town. He was so inspired that he decided to enter the Comrades that same day and apply to become an Unogwaja. “I started training and did the Sundowner 10km in December, finishing in 52 minutes. There were a lot of people running and the race had a festive feeling, and that really gets you in the mood to run more, so it was a very positive start to my running career,” says AJ.

“I ran 2:07 in my first 21km at the Kloofnek Half in January, and then in February I did my first marathon at the Peninsula, clocking 4:26. Then came Two Oceans in 6:27. I only started cycling after Two Oceans, and most of my training was on a bike that was too big for me, until I got my KTM two weeks before Unogwaja, and it carried me through the ride. Then I ran the Comrades and finished in 11:46, the last Unogwaja home. The others finished in 11:42 and they were a bit concerned, as they hadn’t seen me for a while. Thinking about it all now still gives me goosebumps!”

Familiar Face

Nearly two years after Unogwaja, AJ says he still gets people walking up to him to say they followed him in that 2013 journey, or saw him in the videos online, and how much he has inspired them. Typically humble at all times, he says that kind of feedback still blows him away. “We really were not aware of what we were getting into in terms of hype with Unogwaja. For example, at Comrades I met Greg Dove of the Royal Marines, who was stationed in Afghanistan. He walked up to me and said he recognised me from the videos on YouTube, and that our message was spreading all over the world. That’s just incredible!”

AJ (28) studied B.Ed at CPUT, taught at Fairmont and is now at Bishops, intern-teaching Maths and Information Technology, while also coaching the under-16 hockey team and third cricket side. He also coaches the under-18 Boland indoor hockey girls, the Foxes, who recently finished second in the National Pro Series. While teaching and coaching give him great satisfaction and joy, it is running where AJ now looks for his own sporting highs, and since his remarkable entry into running, he has improved his running times markedly. “I’ve learnt a lot in two years of running, and this year I will be looking to go sub-3:30 for the marathon, run 1:33 for the half and sub-40 for 10km. I would also love to run a Bill Rowan at Comrades, but for now a sub-10:00 will make me very happy. With Comrades, it is such a long way – you can set goals, but then the race will decide for you.”

“I just love being alive, and want to live my life as best I can. That’s the type of person I am – I go in wholeheartedly,” says AJ. “Every time I run, I want to smile, because I am using my god-given ability. I’m not going to win races or go to the Olympics, but I think I can inspire the average runner by being out there, sharing the same pain and joy on the road, and that makes me happy.”

Multiple ultra-marathoning SA, African and event record holder Johan van der Merwe likes to go long. In fact, the longer the event, the better he gets, be it chasing records on the road or going round and round the track in pursuit of 60-year-old SA records set by the late, great Wally Hayward. 

Ask multiple ultra-marathon record holder Johan van der Merwe what he thinks about running ultras, and he responds with an interesting cricketing analogy. “It’s like test cricket, really. Sometimes, things will be going smoothly and you could be going through a seamless partnership. Then, suddenly, things go from good to bad and your opponent grabs three or four quick wickets. It can change in a blink of an eye.” That said, this man obviously doesn’t hit many bad patches, judging by his impressive list of wins and records.

Johan only took up running in 1999, at age 27, due to being an overweight 87kg while working on the police force in Mokopane and joined Potties Athletics Club. “I had to get my health in check, and after starting to run, I lost 26kg in six months,” he says, adding that at first he just ran to lose weight, but then it became something he really looked forward to. “I was already onto my first Comrades run a year later in 2000,” and after coming home for an 8:38 Bill Rowan medal on debut, Johan realised that he had a natural talent for running ultras. By 2010 he had his Comrades Green Number 39957 and four silver medals to go with six Bill Rowans, but it was only in 2011 that he stepped up to his first 12-hour circuit race at the Dusk2Dawn and really found his niche. “I guess it was a tester,” he explains, “and I told myself if I did well, I’d up my training. If not, at least I tried.”

Well, he did do rather well – he broke the event record by 19km! And that win convinced Johan he could improve still more. “I guess from that point, one thing led to another. I was encouraged to do my first 100 Miler at Golden Reef and despite some niggles, I won it! But believe it or not, I was down in the dumps after that, needing to recover for a good three weeks. I knew I had to tackle another challenge, and that’s when the Washie dream was born…”

Washie Welcome

Johan says he knew the Washie course record was beatable. In fact, before his Washie debut, he was so confident about smashing the record that he posted about his planned record attempt on Facebook. That prompted a call soon after from a stranger who happened to know then record holder Manie Saayman way back when he set the course record of 13:13:38 in 1982, and the caller told Johan he’d never break what was considered an unapproachable record. “I was arrogant about it, I must admit,” says Johan. “I remember telling the stranger on the phone that I intended to better it and reminded him that he didn’t even know me! Before it all, I ran my Comrades PB in 6:24:35 so I knew I had it in me, and I got the Washie win that year in 13:07:05.”

After that, he managed to grab an equally impressive 13:18:02 in 2013, the all-time fourth-best Washie time, and this past year he clocked 13:21:49 for the fifth-fastest time. And it tested his endurance and willpower along the way, choosing the complete last year’s race without seconds beside him. He also put aside a foot niggle that he sustained during a 6-day race earlier that year. “I remember the constant headwind and me being alone,” says Johan, “it was a difficult one!” Johan also heaps praise for his online coach Nic de Beer who assisted in 2011 to get Johan to step it up before taking on anything more than the Comrades distance.

Breaking Wally

With the Washie record behind his name, Johan began looking for new challenges, and soon his eyes turned to Wally Hayward’s 24-hour SA record of 256.4km, set way back in November 1953 in England. No other South African had passed the 250km mark since then, and on his first attempt Johan just missed the record by 3.4km when he ran 253.076km in a race on his home track in Polokwane in April 2013. Putting that record aside temporarily, he then chased down the 48-hour SA and African records while competing in the EMU 6-day race in Hungary in May 2013. He completed 333.02km in just over 46 hours to beat the previous African best of 332km set by Namibian Johannes Gawaxamab in 2001, before leaving the track for scheduled rest in preparation for the next four days of running. Then on 7 December he went after Wally’s record again, this time in the Soochow International 24-Hour circuit race in Chinese Taipei, and coming home third overall, he finished on 258.064km to claim the SA record as well as beat the previous African record of 257.881km. (In the same race, he had also claimed the SA 200km track record in 17:34:20, taken as a split during the 24-hour race.) Even though he didn’t win that race, Johan rates it as one of his best performances, because he had achieved what he had set out to do, break Wally’s record! “Before trying it, it looked easy on paper. I needed to break that record, so when I achieved that, it was like a huge monkey off my back!” My wife went the extra proverbial mile during the last four hours. The eye contact was important. She also chased me out of the loo after I realised I had the record in the bag at 22 hours. My mind was playing tricks on me, ordering my body to go to the loo after every 400m. She ordered me to get back out there.”

Back home, Johan also continued to tick off the 100 Milers, and he currently holds the course records for the Coaldust Dreams and Capital Classic races to add to his Washie record, and he also celebrated circuit race records at the Dawn2Dusk 12-hour, Hout Is Goud Day Breaker 12-hour and Jannas 18-hour events. And somewhere in between this he still managed to run consecutive Comrades silvers from 2009 to 2014. “People keep thinking that doing Comrades must be easy for me, but it’s never easy keeping up your form on the day,” he explains. “That said, 2015 will probably be the first time I’ll take it easy and use Comrades just for training for Washie, where I’ll be looking to dip under 13 hours.”

What Wall?

So what preoccupies the mind of an athlete trudging along for 160km or circling a track for days on end. “You think of Washie and running through night-time and it’s hard to keep motivated, but I have this ability to hang in there! As for circuit races, I love going around and around, because there are no surprises, like a big hill after a corner, and you can measure yourself by taking lap times to ensure that your pacing is correct and that your goal is maintained,” says Johan, adding that his game plan is to approach each event aggressively and hang in there when the going gets tough – and it does get tough!

“My bonus is my mental state. My training buddy can beat me in a session, but when race day comes, beast mode kicks in. If you decide to break through that ‘wall,’ then your body can accomplish anything!” And with that attitude, it’s no surprise that Johan has the six-day world record pencilled in as a goal for the next few years, in between travelling the globe for more ultra events. “My golden rule is to believe in myself. It’s corny, but there is no such thing as a wall if you back yourself. Like cricket, a running event can swing either way, but once you get going, it’ll all work out.”

Every now and again, Matt Daneel posts a ‘Throwback Thursday’ pic of his ‘Fat Matt Days’ on Instagram, to remind himself where he has come from, and where he is going with his promising multisport career. 

Matt was always a good runner. He took it up while still at school when his mom joined a local running club in Stellenbosch, ran the time trial regularly, then did a few 10km races, and in 2003 and 2004 he ran the Old Mutual Two Oceans Half and clocked times of 1:28 and 1:29. However, having gotten into a typical student drinking lifestyle and then working in the hospitality industry, Matt’s weight had steadily climbed until he tipped the scales at 107kg in 2011, and he knew he had to do something about it.

“My friend Mia Mocke, a personal trainer here in Stellenbosch, convinced me to start exercising, and I actually tried to run a half marathon. I literally thought I was going to have a heart attack!” says Matt. “That was the last straw for me, so I bought the cheapest bike I could find on Gumtree and started pedalling with friends. A short while later Mia suggested a triathlon, and since I had done some running back in the day, I now had a bike, and I swam in primary school, I thought maybe I can string a triathlon together.”

Latent Talent

To Mia’s great surprise, Matt didn’t just finish that BSG Sprint Series event, he actually did quite well. “She said, ‘Hang on, you’re heavy, and you just started triathlon, but you beat most people I know, so you should do more of these!’ I had enjoyed it so much that I actually entered my next one that same day. Then I did my first Totalsports XTERRA off-road tri in February 2012 and had the most fun imaginable, even though it was a long day out, and at prize-giving I watched the age-groupers collecting their prize money, so I thought this is cool, and set myself the goal of finishing on the podium in my 25-29 age group.”

He duly claimed third spot in his group in 2013, and at prize-giving the two guys in front of him were handed envelopes with an entry to the XTERRA World Champs in Hawaii. “I sat there thinking, I only just didn’t make it, and that sucks, so next year I need to go World Champs!” And so the 2014 race saw a still leaner, meaner Matt at 75kg go all-out, and he finished 11th overall and first non-pro, earning his Hawaii slot – but still he was a bit disappointed. “The pro’s had a minute head-start on us, but I didn’t know the Italian just in front of me at the finish was actually only a few seconds ahead of me, so I came trotting into the finish, taking in the vibe, and walked over the finish line, just to see that I missed the Top 10 by three seconds! Still, I was the first guy with a day job over the line!”

Success has also come to Matt in other events. He can boast a half marathon PB of 1:16 and a 10km best of 34:50, and has finished on the podium at many events, including third in the Totalsports Challenge Terra Firma, second at the Slanghoek off-road tri, and first in the Die Burger mountain bike race. He is a product tester for sponsor First Ascent and also has nutrition, shoe and bike sponsors, and says he still can’t quite believe what has happened to him. “I am so incredibly lucky to have sponsors that make my sporting career possible, and I can’t believe I am now being asked to do interviews as well!”

Trying Again

Matt had a sponsor lined up to pay for the Hawaii trip last year, but that unfortunately fell through, so this year he says he will just have to qualify again. He will also race the SA Cross Tri Champs, along with various other tri events as well as trail runs and mountain biking events. The ProNutro AfricanX three-day trail run is another must-do on his list, with great friend Al Leslie, but that one is just for fun, as they literally laugh from start to finish. Then again, Matt is pretty much always laughing these days. Seems being lean and successful agrees with him.

Voted by CNN as ‘the most difficult and wildest eco race on the planet’, The Jungle Marathon is an extreme seven-day 275km footrace through the Amazon Jungle in Brazil, and SA’s Anthony Erasmus was there to experience it. Here are some extracts from his ‘race diary.’

Arriving via river boat at base camp in the Flona Tapajos National Park, surrounded by unspoilt jungle on the banks of the Amazon River, the Bombeiros (jungle military firemen) briefed us on a list of warnings: Plants to avoid, creatures we may encounter and what to do if lost. Our race packs were kitted with food, hammock, T-shirt, shorts, socks and 2½ litres of water – all weighing in at 13kg.

Stage 1 – 27km (Running time: 7:51)
The terrain was undulating, with 14 steep hills of 50 to 250m, roots of the massive trees forming vertical buttresses 40cm high, and muddy marshes in between. The leaves fill the spaces between trees, making the jungle track look flat! The going was tough and slow…

Stage 2 – 28km (8:54)
Water points were stationed every 10km with dehydration a major threat, as you sweat profusely. I found myself taking in 15 litres of water, electrolyte drinks and energy supplements in water! I made a point of stopping every hour to check the colour of my urine. You learn to read your body.

Stage 3 – 34km (8:39)
In the second half the terrain eased and it actually became a ‘run’, not a hike/power walk. You’re told to shuffle your feet when entering rivers to chase away electric rays, but thankfully the Anacondas are shy and hide in the swamps. Ticks, however, are not shy, and infest your legs and nether regions.

Stage 4 – 42.2km (11:43)
Suddenly, I felt as though a spear had been launched into my leg. A half-metre long tree branch was protruding at right angles from my shin, and whilst removing it, the point broke off in my calf, but I was fortunate to have Cody from Texas with me. I massaged the foreign body below the muscle while Cody guided the broken end up towards the shin wound. It moved up slowly, with Cody wanting to pass out, but after guiding it up, Cody managed to pull it out thanks to a Swiss army knife.

I realised there must be small bits of bark in the tissue tunnel, so I placed the nozzle of my water bottle into the wound and flushed about 800ml of water through it, then packed it with an antibiotic ointment and wrapped it with a bandage and zinc oxide tape. I immediately started a course of antibiotics. Couldn’t have come at a worse time, with the 128km night stage next.

Stage 5 – 128km (36:05)
We were told the night stage had been lengthened by 20-odd kilometres! Setting off at 4am, we had to reach checkpoint six by 3pm, otherwise we were not allowed to continue until the following morning, because it was considered too dangerous to traverse after dark! Nearly half the field didn’t make it. Cody and I pushed ourselves and made it at 2:30pm, then got to checkpoint seven at 4:30pm and decided to take a break. There was a ‘foot medic’ there, and I needed him – I had five toenails wanting to come off!

We left an hour later and then Cody’s headlight packed up, so I gave him a little LED light. We got lost so many times! The trail is marked every 30m by ribbons, but they’re not particularly visible at night. At 10:30pm, we reached a muddy marsh that I can only describe as a quicksand bog. It took us two hours to get through 2km of swamp! We ran through the next day, passing the villages and schools that benefit from the money raised by the race, making it huge for the locals, and finished late that afternoon. Nothing felt as good as a swim in the warm, green river water.

Stage 6 – 16km (2:27)
My backpack had been reduced to 6kg as we ran along the ‘beach’ of the Tapajos River, and I reached the finish in a total time of 75 hours 39 minutes, in 14th position. If I had entered the Jungle Run knowing what to expect, I think the achievement would not so much be in finishing as in the courage it would take to enter it. What an experience!

After two hugely successful years in the sport of triathlon, including four African championship titles, wins on the international tri circuit and a Commonwealth Games team silver, Henri Schoeman is fired up for the New Year while planning ahead for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
– BY LAUREN VAN DER VYVER

Two big wins in October really put the icing on the proverbial cake for Henri’s 2014 triathlon year, as the 23-year-old won the ITU Triathlon World Cup event in Tongyeong, South Korea and then defended his 5150 African Champs title in Germiston a week later. Earlier in the year, despite starting 2014 with an injury, he had bounced back with a bang to successfully defend his African Championship title in Zimbabwe in April, beating the likes of fellow South Africans Richard Murray and Wian Sullwald, and then in August he was in Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games, where he placed 17th in the individual event and helped the SA team win the silver medal in the mixed relay event, alongside Kate Roberts, Gillian Sanders and Richard.

With such a successful 2014 behind him, to go with an equally successful 2013, Henri’s road to the Rio 2016 is well on track, and he says that getting to the Olympics is very much his focus right now. “I always look at the bigger picture, and with the experience gathered in 2014, I can now focus on getting more podium finishes and wrack up as many good performances on the WTS circuit as possible this year to get qualified for Rio. The Olympics is always in my sights!”

Swim Sense
Born in Vereeniging, Henri moved to Durban at an early age and started out as a talented swimmer, also taking part in lifesaving, cross-country and duathlon for fun. “My parents wanted me to have a good sense in water, being by the sea, and growing up in an environment where your family is sporty, it’s quite easy to keep going.” That saw Henri take the natural step up to triathlon while still in school, and success soon followed as he won the under-19 title at the SA Triathlon Champs for two consecutive years, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing…

“The transition from swimming to running and cycling was slow,” he explains. “I picked up bad injuries in my shins. As a swimmer, you have ‘soft’ bones, so it’s a process to adapt. Then in 2011 I broke my collarbone after a fall, but it was definitely a blessing in disguise – because I came back stronger!” The enforced lay-off allowed Henri to concentrate on strengthening his legs as he worked his way back to full fitness, notably with pool-running, and it paid off. “There were times when I thought about giving up, but then the improvements came,” he says, “and with a good start in my first year on the international circuit in 2013, I learnt so much, could travel by myself and handle the pressure of it all.”

Success upon Success
That year, he picked up wins in the ITU African Cup, ITU African Championships, 5150 African Champs, South African Champs (in the elite under-23 category), ITU East London Premium Africa Cup as well as the KZN Provincial Champs. He also placed 14th overall in the ITU World Triathlon Series, and finished the year with a world ranking of 10th position. Then came the success of 2014, which saw Henri add to his reputation as one of the world’s best up-and-coming young guns, and he says his achievements thus far in the sport are thanks to the hard work he has put in.

“I guess it’s down to discipline, to training three times a day, putting in two to three hard runs, one hard bike and two hard swims each week. I have one rest day a week, but I take an easy swim anyway! I have this inbred drive to perform and I like that triathlon is demanding,” says Henri. “I believe that the Olympics will be a reality, and I have to thank my family and friends for their support in getting me to that point. Also, as far as the sport goes, I think our two medals in Glasgow have opened people’s eyes. There is still hard work to be done, but that keeps me motivated!”

While good old H2O is always going to be a runner’s tried and trusted whilst training or on race day, there are also healthy alternatives that can keep your body hydrated and replenished. – BY LAUREN VAN DER VYVER

When you run, your internal temperature rises and blood-flow to the skin increases. This transfers heat away from the body’s inner core and water is released through sweat, which means that you need to replenish your body’s water, electrolytes and sodium chloride (salt). So what are your options when hydrating? A sports drink with added electrolytes rehydrates well while adding a combination of sodium and carbohydrates, which in turn also help more water to be absorbed. (When you’re not training, it’s also vital to keep your body hydrated in order to keep energy levels up.)

 

These days the market is flooded with sports drinks, many with extra punches of concentrate and sugar, but there are a few simple but healthy and effective alternatives you could look at:

·         Coconut Water contains essential electrolytes, punching more potassium than a banana! There is no added sugar or fat, and it’s one of the healthiest options to replenish lost nutrients. It contains easily digestible carbs from natural sugars, which makes it an easy alternative to sports drinks.

·         Green Tea gives you a natural caffeine kick and antioxidants increase the body’s ability to burn fat as fuel, which improves muscle endurance. For the endurance junkies, drinking green tea can help your blood-flow, because flavonoids relax blood vessels, so blood can flow more easily.

·         Wild Water: Many people find it hard to drink plain water, so choose sparkling water with soaked strawberries and mint, or still water with ice, lime and apple slices. These drinks provide something different with the bubble, kick and flavour, but don’t overpower with sweetness, so you will cut calories, but if you need some sweetness, a spoon of honey will do wonders.

 

He’s got a few nicknames in trail running circles, most to do with his age, but none of them have anything to do with being slow. On the contrary, Noel Ernstzen is still giving the 20 and 30-year-olds a run for their money, despite being in his 50s.
– BY SEAN FALCONER

It’s been more than a year since Noel Ernstzen’s epic 2013 run at the Otter Marathon, when he became the first masters age-grouper (50 and over) to break the five-hour barrier in the Grail of Trail, but still people are talking about it. In fact, it has been called the most inspirational run of 2013 by quite a few people in trail running circles. That’s because Noel set out to do something that very few runners were able to do, let alone somebody in their 50s, and he brought the proverbial house down in the process. Pandemonium broke out when he popped out of the trees near the finish, and with race commentator Altus Schreuder going crazy and everybody cheering him on, Noel made it across the final water crossing, despite a few stumbles, to cross the line in 4:57:04. Then the emotion got the better of him and he lay down and had a little cry as his wife Meg embraced him. There were quite a few other people wiping away a tear as well.

“I did a sub-five and I think I was 17th or 18th. Three years earlier I would have won the damned thing with that time, but that 18th means more to me than any of the first places I had run,” says Noel. “The thing about setting yourself goals is that you need to visualise that you can do it, so I visualised breaking five hours a million times, crossing the line, hitting the watch and seeing sub-five, hugging my wife… I lived that moment many times over. And then I did it.”

Never Too Old
Noel (54) only took up running late in life, which makes his achievements in the sport all the more remarkable. He had last done serious sport in junior school when he started cycling and later mountain-biking in his 40s, then also got involved in adventure racing, and in 2010 he found himself lining up for a five-day adventure race in the Southern Cape that included a marathon-length run on the first day, along the Otter Trail. “I had to start running to train for that event, so I was not as fast as the other guys and not very good on the technical running, and I remember I was so peeved that so many people beat me on that run, because I am quite competitive. So, I decided to train for it and see how fast I can do it.”

“When I did the Otter proper the first time, I saw the top two guys doing sub-five hours, and I thought it’s unbelievable to run a race like this in sub-five, it must be such an achievement, so I decided to go for it myself.” That saw Noel embark on an incredible run of wins and podium finishes in race after race, usually beating all (or nearly all) of the much younger runners along the way. He raced the Namaqua Challenge, ProNutro AfricanX, Table Mountain Challenge, Fisherman’s Trail Challenge and many others, getting fitter and faster all the time, but everything was geared up to prepare him for the Otter, and his sub-five goal.

Family Man
Born and bred in Tokai, Cape Town, Noel is married to Meg, a fellow competitive runner and mountain biker who often podiums in events, and they have a daughter, Frances, who is quite the runner as well, having recently finished second in the Berg and Beach two-day trail running event in Kleinmond. He also has a son, Wayne, from an earlier relationship, and three grandkids, and true to his ageless character, he has a unique relationship with his grandson Kai: “He calls me Dude, because I refuse to be called Grandpa!”

Noel recently sold his kitchen design and construction company after 23 years and is currently a partner in the Trail & Tar bike and trail running shop in Tokai, in partnership with his future son-in-law, Grant Bender. “We opened Trail & Tar three years ago and we’re looking to open more branches soon,” he says, adding that one of the highlights of each week is the Wednesday evening trail runs that Trail & Tar host.

Taking a Break
Just before Otter 2014, Noel’s racing plans were derailed when he was diagnosed with a torn medial meniscus, which had been bugging him for a couple of months, and he required an operation. So he had already written off the rest of the year for recovery, when disaster struck: While doing a trail running photo shoot, he was walking towards his bag in order to change his shirt when he slipped and fell badly, ripping his ankle ligaments.

“It was the worst fall I’ve ever had, despite years of bombing down mountains at 60km per hour,” he says with an ironic laugh. “Now maturity doesn’t sit well with me, nor patience, but for once I listened to the doctors and kept the air boot on for the full six weeks, and now I’m seeing three physios, one for my knee, one for the ankle, and one for general aches and pains. I also waited until the exact day they said I could run again, although I was already cycling to work each day to get the legs going again.

Planning the Comeback
Now that Noel is able to start running again, he says he is undecided whether to make the Otter his focus in 2015. “I love the event, but I kind of feel I’ve been there and done that. I don’t want to go there just to take five minutes off my time – if I run Otter, I want to go for a sub-4:30 finish. I truly believe I am capable of that, if the conditions are right, because when I broke five hours, I ran it specifically with a five-hour finish as my goal, and felt I could have gone faster. But I also have unfinished business with the AfricanX, and I’m quietly confident that my fitness will be good enough to give it horns.”

“I often get asked by people how I can be competitive at 50-plus against the 20 and 30-year-olds, but I say it’s simple, I’ve been around longer than them, so I’ve had longer to train and should be faster than them. Seriously though, there’s nothing to say that a 50-year-old must be slower than a 20-year-old, especially in long races, where probably 80% is in the mind and 20% is fitness. To be frank, us older guys are better at mind games than the youngsters!”

The New Year is set to bring a new challenge for Olympic marathoner Tanith Maxwell when she steps up to ultra-marathons for the first time, but she says she is looking forward to this new chapter in her running career.   – BY SEAN FALCONER

Having run a best time of 2:32:33 represented South Africa in the marathon at the Olympics, Games and World Champs since 2006, as well as featured in many ‘Big City’ marathons as well, Tanith says the time is now right for her to step up in distance. “I think I need a new goal, to try something else, so the Two Oceans ultra will be my focus for 2015, and everything is geared towards that,” says the 38-year-old Durbanite.

“I don’t think my marathon career is over, but I have changed my training and diet to go longer. I have been invited to run the Dubai Marathon in January and I will use that a springboard into Oceans, because I think a good marathon athlete can hold on for the 56km of Oceans. I keep getting asked about Rio 2016 and the next Olympic Marathon, and I won’t write it off totally, but it won’t be my focus. My whole career has been centred on representing SA and qualifying to do so, and now I’m looking for a new challenge.”

FAMILY OF RUNNERS

Tanith developed a love for running from a young age thanks to her parents’ participation in the Comrades – Dad Brian ran it 11 times while Mom Jenny has three Big C medals. “After helping to second my parents at Comrades I became fascinated by distance training, and I started running at the age of seven when my school hosted a 5km fun run, which my dad ran with me,” says Tanith. “In the same year, my Mom’s cousin from the Free State, Kevin Flanegan, came down to Durban for the 1983 SA Marathon Champs and won it. I was at the finish and this left a big impression on me. He bought me my first pair of running shoes and helped me with training advice, and my first 10km was in Durban in 1988, the L’Oréal Femina Ladies Race. We started on the Kings Park athletics track, and I remember bolting out, then dying on the beachfront section and finishing looking the worse for wear, but I eventually got the hang of pacing.”

Meanwhile, the family began moving around quite a lot as Tanith’s parents explored work opportunities overseas, going over to the UK four times as well as stopping off in New Zealand and Canada. “Dad’s a vet and Mom is a histologist, so both could find work. They tend not to stay in one place too long, but have been back from the UK now for six years.” Tanith, who works part-time in her mother’s practice in Durban, initially studied at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, then transferred to Stellenbosch University, where she completed her B.Sc Sport Science degree. “My folks had relocated to the Cape, and I was desperate to try out the competitive athletics scene down there, so I moved down and joined Johan Fourie’s training group. That’s where my running really clicked.”

 

STEPPING IT UP

Tanith rapidly improved from a 1:30 half marathon PB to finish second in the 1997 Gun Run Half Marathon with a vastly improved 1:19. “I was very chuffed with my time, but I still had no ambitions to become a full-time runner. That came a bit later when I was invited to join the Liberty-Nike team and they sent me to run the 2003 Voet van Afrika Half, where I dipped under 1:17. That led to my selection for the 2004 Southern Region Half Champs in Mauritius, my first time representing SA, and I finished second.

Later that year Tanith ran her first marathon, when visiting her folks in the UK. “I got my folks to enter me in the Edinburgh Marathon and just ran it for fun, but then I finished second in 2:47, although I suffered because I didn’t have the distance in my legs. That led to an invite to the 2005 Frankfurt Marathon, where I ran 2:41 and finished ninth, having also finished seventh in the Vienna City Marathon earlier that year.” She also claimed that year’s SA Half Marathon Champs title in Durban, and her great form saw her selected for the 2006 Commonwealth Games team to go to Australia, which remains one of the highlights of her career. “There is always something special about lining up to represent your country for the first time at a World Games, and I was on cloud nine from start to finish, running another 2:41.”

Tanith finished second in the SA Marathon Champs in 2007 and then ran the 2007 All Africa Games Marathon, as well as the World Athletics Champs marathons in 2007 and 2009, with top 10 finishes in numerous international races in between. Then came 2010 and her best year to date, after she signed up with Cape Town-based coach Andrew Bosch. She finished second in the Xiamen Half in China and the Bristol Half in the UK, was third in the SA Half Marathon Champs, and in marathons finished 15^th in London and eighth in Berlin. “Running London was amazing, as I had lived there for quite a few years, and I was most pleased about my PB 2:34. Then in Berlin I ran 2:32, so 2010 was definitely a good year – I broke all my PBs from 15km to the marathon!”

 

BACK TO EARTH

After such a great year, it was almost inevitable that 2011 would prove to be less successful and Tanith struggled with illness, a chronic Achilles injury and a loss of confidence. Unfortunately, the 2012 Olympics in London then also proved a frustrating disappointment as a fit-again Tanith picked up a chest infection and was taken out of the Olympic Village so that she wouldn’t infect her marathon teammates, Rene Kalmer and Irvette van Zyl. “London is one of my pinnacle highlights, because I had watched the Olympics since 1984 and never dreamt I would be part of it, but the chest infection did spoil things a bit, even though I managed another 2:41.”

With a newfound confidence thanks to Andrew’s input and recent good results, Tanith is now looking forward to 2015 and her first foray into ultras. “After my competitive days are over, I see myself giving back to the sport through coaching, but for now, being able to have your sport as almost your full-time job, doing something that you love, is such a privilege – especially with incredibly supportive people like my parents, Andrew and my manager Rhyn Swanepoel behind me. It would have been impossible to reach the heights I have without them.”