Category: Racing

More than 2000 athletes took to the streets at the inaugural Discovery Duathlon, held in Sandton over the weekend of 24 and 25 October.

In spite of the scorching Johannesburg weather, fitness enthusiasts, aspiring athletes and novices took to the streets with the aim to complete a RunCycleRun.

Get your bicycles out and running shoes tied in preparation for the next Discovery Duathlon. Discovery looks forward to hosting you next year!

However, what took place on Saturday was probably more significant as the future of South African sport did battle on the Sandton streets.

The littlest Duathletes took over the streets as they participated in the inaugural Kids Discovery Duathlon with Disney.

Kids as young as five years old ran, cycled, and ran again as many of them competed in their first race.

Kids were treated to a magical race through their favourite Disney landscapes, including Frozen and Finding Nemo.

Congratulations to all participants who did so well!

Acclaimed sports coach Matt Fitzgerald has a simple motto, “Train the brain and the rest will follow.” And we’ve all heard the Comrades experts say that the race is 40% physical and 60% mental, and that your physical training will only get you to the 60km mark – after that, your mind has to take you the rest of the way. But is the mind really that important when it comes to running?

The answer is a definite yes. In his book Psycho-Cybernetics, Maxwell Maltz writes about the power of our self-image and how we limit and restrict ourselves based on our self-image. The truth is that most us achieve far less than we are capable of, simply because our self-image doesn’t allow us to.

I realised for the first time the power of the mind in October 2011, when I took part in the Munich Marathon. I lined up at the start aiming for a PB, but instead ended up tearing my Soleus muscle around the 14km mark. By the 16km mark I was ready to throw in the towel, because every step was excruciating, but at that moment I learnt an invaluable life and running lesson, about the power of the mind. I said to myself, “I have not come all this way to feel pain.” I literally switched off the pain and continued to run at the best possible pace I could manage. I ended up missing my PB, but still managed to cross the line in 2:57:29 – at which point the pain flooded my calf and I could hardly walk.

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR BRAIN
The training we do is not purely about the physical aspect, but also has a huge impact on our mental state. For example, every time we drag ourselves out of bed and head out the door to train, despite not wanting to, it makes us that much stronger mentally. Every time we push through a tough session, despite our bodies begging us to stop, makes us stronger mentally. While it is important to listen to our bodies and not overdo it, we need to learn when it’s our body calling for a time-out and warning us of looming injury, or when it’s just our mind giving in and wanting us to quit. When it’s the mind, never give in. You can conquer it, and if you’ve done so once, you can conquer it again. The bottom line is that if we quit in training, we will quit at one point or another in the race.

Another aspect of training your brain is mentally preparing ourselves for our next big goal. This process is called visualisation and should not be underestimated. There’s a true story about a prisoner of war who was locked up in solitary confinement for seven years. To stop himself from going insane, he would visually play a full round of golf every day in his mind. He would see himself lining up the ball, feel the club swinging through the air and making contact with the ball, then see the ball landing on the fairway and ultimately putting it into the hole. Before being locked up he was a very average golfer, shooting in the mid 90’s, but after he was released from prison he shot a 74 on his first round.

When building up to a race, visualise it in your mind. Feel your nerves as you line up at the start. See the start banner, hear the gun as your heart rate jumps a notch. Feel your feet hitting the ground and your lungs expanding with every breath. In your mind, run the route as you plan to run it on race day, then see yourself crossing the finish line and feel the emotions of achieving your goal. If we spend a few minutes each day for one to two weeks before race day visualising our race in this way, we will find that on race day we are mentally prepared for what’s coming. We’ve already ‘run’ up Polly Shortts. We’ve already conquered the route. We’ve already crossed the line.

SET YOURSELF GOALS
Lastly, set yourself challenging and achievable goals, ones that you really want. If you don’t really desire that Bill Rowan, or you don’t really want that sub-80 half marathon, or you’re not really sure why you’re tackling 160km, then it’s going to be very hard to achieve your goal. Part of the mental battle is already won if you’ll do almost anything to achieve what you’re aiming for. And always remember, it’s all in the mind!

Come the end of the year and there’s usually a mad rush in the form of end-of-year closing, long working hours before going on leave, family get-togethers, last-minute Christmas shopping, and ensuring you have everything bought and packed for the holiday you’ve been planning for the last six months. So, while you might feel overwhelmed, there’s always a way to fit training into your hectic schedule.

PLAN AHEAD
The best way to approach training over the next two to three months is to actually sit down and plan. Look at the calendar, identify the days where you can or can’t train, and decide what session you will do on the days you’ve allocated.

If you plan your training and think about it up front, you know what you need to do and there’s a good chance that you will do it. On the other hand, if you’re waking up each morning and thinking, “what should I run today? Should I do a 10k or 800m repeats? Maybe I should do hill repeats. Ah, I’ll decide later…” then there’s a very good chance that you’ll simply end up skipping the session altogether. You’ll probably end up saying, “I don’t really feel like training today,” or “I’ll do a hard session tomorrow,” and before you know it January has rolled around, you’ve lost your fitness, packed on the pounds and have a huge amount of work ahead of you. So plan your training, put your run session into your diary or calendar, and you’ll find that you have the time for it.

THE WORKING ATHLETE
If work pressure is simply too much, then you’re going to have to squeeze some training in where you can. Everyone needs to take a break at some point during their work day, so prioritise that time for a short quality run. Not only will this ensure that you keep your fitness levels up, but it will also rejuvenate you and leave you feeling fresh for the rest of the day.

The other possibility is to run to and from work. Now if work is only 5km or so away, a run there and back is perfect – and it definitely beats sitting in traffic! But what if you work 10km from home? In that case, try the following. On Tuesday, drive to work with your running kit and a change of work clothes for Wednesday, then leave the car at the office and run home after work on Tuesday, and run back to work on Wednesday morning. Take the car home on Wednesday evening. Not only is this a great way to fit your training in, but it also adds something different and adventurous to your training. (Oh, and shower facilities at work are must-have on this one.)

FIND TIME
If you’re going to supper at friends or family, tell your spouse or partner that you’ll meet them there and run from your house to theirs. Your spouse can always drive the same route you’re going to be running, just in case you’ve bitten off more than you can chew and need a lift for the last few kays. Another option is the gym, as most gyms are open until 10pm during the week. If you simply cannot get to your run before, during or after work, try going home and spending some quality time with your family before hitting the gym and getting in your run on the treadmill. Set it to between 1% and 5% incline and give yourself a solid 30 to 45min session.

You can always fit your running into your busy lifestyle and schedule. Just give it a little thought and planning and you’ll come up with many creative ways to do so. If you’re dedicated to your fitness and goals, then scheduling training will become a priority.

Hop on to your search engine, type in the phrase ‘training programme’ and you’ll find dozens of helpful yet overwhelming results, so make sure you understand and can keep going with your chosen programme for the best results.

Planning your training for a big race can be daunting. How long should your long runs be? What type of speed should you be doing and when? How many hill repeat sessions do you need? So you download one of the thousands of options glaring at you in your browser and now you’re ready to roll. It’s a better option than blindly trying to figure your way through what you think you should be doing for the next 100 days of training, but you still need to customise, adapt and tweak to suit your own needs. These generic training programmes are designed to be suitable for the masses and will never be an exact match for you. If you’re looking for a specific training programme for you, then you need to go to a coach, but now that you have your downloaded programme, here’s what you need to do.

1 Listen to your body
Unless the coach who developed the training programme has a crystal ball, there is no possible way to know anything at all about you – apart from the fact that you’re a runner and that you’re planning on completing an event. Only you know when your body begins to ache or when you’re waking up tired and fatigued. You know when you’re getting sick or when you’re heading for an injury. You know when your body is not handling both the training load and other outside stressors. You know all these things because your body tells you, so learn to listen to your body.

2 Make it your own
Unless the programme already comes in an editable spreadsheet format, start by opening a blank spreadsheet and retyping the programme. Next, insert your planned long runs and races – most programmes for the ultras will have suggested time frames for a qualifying marathon – and adjust the training in the weeks leading up to and following these long runs and races. With just these few adjustments you’re individualising the programme to your own needs.

3 Rest and Recover
This leads on from point 1: You know your body. Determine if the rest and recovery scheduled in the programme is adequate. If not, adjust by adding additional recovery days where you feel you may need them. You can also move rest and recovery days around, but always remember that a hard day should be followed by a recovery or rest day. Allow for some flexibility in each week’s training so that you can listen to your body when it’s calling for additional rest.

4 Keep it up!
Following a programme often keeps us motivated and helps us to listen to the body and overcome the mind. The mind says things like, “It’s too hot! Maybe I should rather just run tomorrow.” All you have to do is stick to the programme.

Good luck in the coming months and may you achieve the goals you’ve set for yourself.

In a world where mileage is king, always remember the short guys: The recovery run, the easy run and the high intensity workout. – BY RAY ORCHISON

A week of training should be made up of far more than just long slow running, or LSD as it is known. LSD has many benefits, such as developing aerobic capacity and endurance, and it also prepares the mind to go the distance come race day, but this is where runners go wrong. The focus tends to shift entirely to LSD with not much room for anything else in the week.

You don’t get fast by only running LSD – there’s a reason the middle word of LSD is SLOW. LSD runs should be done at Two Oceans and Comrades race pace, which will be slower than your marathon pace, and after two or three months of this, it will take a notable effort in the second half of the year to get some speed back into your legs.

GO SHORT

The good news is that shorter runs will help you rediscover your speed, and they have a number of benefits which supplement LSD’s:
• They teach the body to run in a fatigued state.
• They add bulk to the overall mileage of the week.
• They enable speed maintenance.

There are three types of Short Runs:

1. THE RECOVERY RUN: This easy run is usually done the day after a hard workout or long run, and the purpose behind the recovery run is not always recovery. It can certainly aid recovery by relieving stiffness, but the real benefit is teaching the body to run in a state of depletion.

Imagine you’re in a peak building week, running consecutively for six days. You’ve had two hard days and a long run on Sunday. Instead of taking your normal rest day on Monday, you get up and head out for a short ‘recovery’ run of 30 minutes. You will be doing this run on tired legs and with low energy reserves. This will teach your body to run through fatigue, something you’re sure to experience as you make your way up Constantia Nek or Polly Shortts.

Limit the recovery run to between 15 and 45 minutes. Doing it without a watch will help you avoid the temptation of running too fast, and be careful not to push your body too far and end up injured or sick! Make sure that you still allow yourself adequate recovery on a weekly basis.

2. THE EASY RUN: When it comes to Two Oceans and Comrades, the easy run makes up the bulk of the weekly training and should be done at Two Oceans and Comrades race pace – a pace that feels like you could run all day.

3. THE HIGH INTENSITY WORKOUT: This is usually a short but hard effort workout, like intervals or fartlek, and is taxing on the body. If you have never done these types of workouts, do not add them to your training just before a major race. Once you’ve recovered from your race, you can then reduce overall mileage and gradually introduce one light session of high intensity a week and build from there. I suggest you always keep a light session of high intensity work in your week, so that you maintain the speed developed in preceding months.

KEEP IT BALANCED

Each short run has its place in training, depending on season and upcoming races. Avoid trying to find that one ‘magical’ workout, rather keep a balance of training types as you progress.

Many of us do the same thing over and over when it comes to training, and thus we make the same mistakes over and over, too. So check out these top 10 training tips and make sure you get the most out of your training.

1 PLAN AHEAD: Approach the season with a plan. Getting out of bed each morning and thinking to yourself, “What should I do today, 800m repeats or 60 minutes easy?” is a recipe for disaster. Plan the structure of your training, and think about the races you want to do and what goals you want for each. Identify which races you are going to use as training runs and which races you are going to race.

2 RECOVERY IS KEY: Rest days should be the first aspect you build into your season plan. The purpose behind training is to take your body to new levels through a constant cycle of stress and adaptation. If you’re only ever stressing your body and not allowing time for adequate recovery, then your body never adapts and you end up injured, or never reaching your full potential.

3 LISTEN TO YOUR BODY: The older you are in training years – for example, if you’ve been running for three years then your training age is three – the more aware you become of your body. Your body sends you signals all day long, and the more experienced you are, the more you become aware of those signals. If you’re pushing yourself too hard for too long, your body begins to give warning signals, like niggles, signs of a cold, etc., indicating that you need more recovery. If you ignore these warnings, you will end up injured or sick. Having said that, you will learn to distinguish between the body crying out for recovery and your mind trying to take the easy route. In the case of the mind, fight it!

4 ALTERNATE HARD AND EASY DAYS: Continuous hard training will wear you down. Alternate hard days with easy days in order to benefit fully from the hard training.

5 ADD QUALITY: You only get faster by running faster. By gradually introducing quality sessions into your training programme, you will begin to train the body to run faster at different distances.

6 TRACK DOES NOT MEAN FLAT OUT: At school, a track session usually involved some teacher with a whistle and a stopwatch shouting at you to run faster. That is not a track session. Track sessions are designed to introduce your muscles and energy systems to new varying paces, and this never equates to a flat-out session.

7 THE KNOCK-ON EFFECT OF YOUR 10KM TIME: If you can teach yourself to run faster over shorter distances before building up to longer distances, then once you start introducing longer runs you’ve enhanced not only your running form but your running efficiency. A faster 10km time leads to a faster 21km time, which in turn leads to a faster 42km time, which ultimately leads to a faster Comrades and beyond.

8 YOU DON’T GET FASTER BY RUNNING FURTHER: Countless runners finish Comrades each year with new motivation to go back the following year with the goal of showing Comrades who is boss, and invariably the plan to achieve this involves more mileage. Distance running makes you slower, and as a result you don’t get faster by simply doing more mileage. You get faster when you adhere to the previous seven tips!

9 CORRECT MUSCLE IMBALANCES: We’re not the physically active bushmen in the Kalahari – most of us sit behind computers or drive in cars all day. Our modern lifestyles leave us weak in the areas we need the most when it comes to running: Glutes, calves and core. So, in order to avoid injury, focus on and strengthen these areas before introducing quality and distance to your training.

10 INTRODUCE CHANGES GRADUALLY: Any change in your training means that your joints and muscles have to adapt to the new session, shoe, running form or strength session. If you introduce the changes too quickly, or change too much, you will invariably pay the price with injury, so build up to it gradually.

If you follow all these tips, your chances of running smoothly and smashing your goal times or PBs will improve greatly. Now get to it!

Just over 4000 adventure seekers gathered at the picturesque Lievland and Warwick Wine Estates in Stellenbosch on Saturday, 17 and Sunday, 18 October 2015 to partake in the finale of the 2015 IMPI Challenge presented by Mitsubishi Motors.

Trevor Lagerwey and Chantel Nienaber set the course ablaze on Sunday securing victory in the IMPI Elite Race in impressive times of 1:46:12 and 02:13:20 respectively.

According to Lagerwey, he had a good race. “The race started at a fast pace with the trail runners taking the lead. I just stuck behind them. As the race progressed I managed to catch and stay ahead of Antoine Van Heerden. I only caught Chad Gordon close to the end. He was struggling with an obstacle. This is my fourth IMPI Elite Race, winning feels awesome. I’m a heavier guy, so I’m good at the heavier obstacles, but struggle on the run. I have been working hard on that though. FITstrong, the gym that I own, and IMPI go hand in hand. It’s the most balanced sport. You need to be both mentally and physically strong. It’s part of my life. I love it.”

Antoine Van Heerden came in second, while Chad Gordon finished third.

“I love coming back to the IMPI Elite Race,” said Nienaber. “I really enjoyed today. The first 5km is always intense as this is when you test the competition. The last 10km was the most enjoyable as I knew that I had a strong lead and didn’t have to worry too much about being overtaken. The IMPI Challenge is good, clean fun. You never have to worry about your own safety. You do have to put in solid, hard work. It’s tough, but attainable. Running across the final obstacle, the Lily Pads, is always such a cool feeling. It’s an awesome moment. I’ll definitely be back next year.”

Carina Marx came in second, while Ashley Harding finished third.

According to Pieter Du Plessis, IMPI Challenge Race Director, the 2015 IMPI Challenge season was met with great excitement. “The vibe in Gauteng and Cape Town has been amazing with entrants of all ages joining in on the fun. Exciting new developments in 2016 will see the IMPI Challenge boasting with a new venue in Gauteng as well as a reintroduction to Durban. Event dates and venues will be announced shortly. For now all that I can say is that the 2016 season will be bigger and better.”

Prize money was allocated to the top three finishers in the men’s and women’s IMPI Elite Race. Trevor and Chantel each took home an impressive R10 000, while runners up secured R5000 and R2500.

To add more excitement, the first male and female IMPI Elite finisher that was 45 years of age and/or older took home a well-deserved R2000 prize.

The IMPI Challenge supports the Pebbles Project. Thanks to generous IMPI Challenge entrants, Event Organisers were able to handover a whopping amount of shoes to this impressive organisation.

Entries for the 2016 IMPI Challenge Gauteng#1, Cape Town #1 and Durban #1 will open in November. For more information on the IMPI Challenge presented by Mitsubishi Motors contact 076 772 3735, email [email protected] or visit www.impichallenge.co.za

You’ve been running for a number of years and PB’s seem to be a thing of the past, so you tell yourself that “Age is catching up with me,” but a simple change to your training pace can set you back on the road to new PB’s. – BY RAY ORCHISON

When we first start running, we normally notice huge improvements in performance quite quickly, and with minimal effort, but as we age in running terms, and become stronger, faster and more experienced, most runners begin to find that improvements become smaller, and a much greater effort is required to better previous times. In most cases this is not because our training deteriorates, but rather because as we improve, we move closer and closer to our own personal maximum performance level.

The question then is what do we need to do to push new levels of performance once we reach this stage of our running career? The answer may lie in polarised training, which means to train at either a low or a high intensity, with very little training time spent in-between. This is by no means a new concept, but one that is often ignored by veteran runners, because as we become more experienced, we often fall into the trap of thinking that to get faster we need to train faster… all the time. While the first part of that statement is true, the second part, “all the time,” is not.

When the gap between our easy run pace and our fast interval or race pace is small, we find ourselves in no-man’s land, where we don’t run slowly and we don’t run fast, and end up with poor, sub-potential performances. The way to correct this is with polarised training: On easy days you run slower and on quality days you run faster. In other words, you need to get slower (on easy days) in order to get faster during your race.

FOLLOW YOUR HEART
The easiest way to ensure that you don’t get stuck in no-man’s land is to train with a heart rate monitor to keep your training primarily in two zones. Zone 1 is the easy zone, where you should do the bulk of your training, somewhere between 70-80% of your weekly mileage at between 60-70% of max heart rate. The second is zone 3, somewhere between 15-20% of your weekly mileage at between 80-100% of heart rate. Zone 2 is no-man’s land, which is run between 5-15% of your weekly total and at a heart rate between 70-80%.

(If you don’t use a heart rate monitor, run on perceived effort. Easy runs should feel easy and you should be able to have a conversation, while zone 3 is the anaerobic zone and should feel very hard. Interval sessions on the track or time trials would fall into this zone.)

If you’ve never done hard, fast sessions, then gradually start by introducing one session per week into your training schedule. I suggest that you start with four to eight short, fast hill repeats. These will push you into zone 3, but are not as hard on the body as a fast track session. Hill repeats are an introduction to track work and help strengthen your body to better handle the stress of a track session. Once you’re stronger, then gradually introduce a track session, like 4x200m at 3km race pace with a 200m slow recovery jog between repeats.

As you get stronger and faster, start to increase the number of repetitions and pace. With more time spent in zones 1 and 3, and less time spent in zone 2, you should start to see some improvement in your performance.

Claude Eksteen and Nicolette Griffioen were amongst the 1427 adventure seekers that celebrated Heritage Day (Thursday, 24 September) by testing their skill at the annual IMPI Challenge held at the picturesque Van Gaalens Cheese Farm near Hartbeespoort (North West Province).

“Having just come off of a massive training block, I had to run within my capabilities,” said Eksteen. “It’s definitely in my favour that the IMPI Elite Race features more running. I managed to build a decent gap in the beginning. After today’s race I am happy to say that my form is good and I feel ready for the Obstacle Course (OC) World Championships that will be held in October. I’ll definitely keep on supporting IMPI. The vibe is awesome, the obstacles aren’t too extreme and it’s ideal for family and friends.”

Eksteen claimed victory in the men’s Elite Race in a lightning fast time of 01:46:42. Thomas van Tonder came in second, while Greg Avierinos finished third.

Nicolette Griffioen was excited to claim her first ever IMPI Elite Race victory on the day. “Today’s race was challenging with a lot of competition. Having had a tough training week, I was not feeling rested and honestly did not expect to win. I went out at an easy pace and was behind after the brick carrying obstacle. I used the runs to my advantage and managed to catch up, passing Trish and then Hanneke. For a while it was a game of cat and mouse between Hanneke and me. Hanneke has more upper body strength, making her good on the obstacles, but I managed to take the lead on the long run. The IMPI Challenge is an amazing combination of fun obstacles and beautiful run routes. It really is a good workout.”

Griffioen completed the IMPI Elite Race in a well-deserved time of 02:10:31. Hanneke Dannhauser came in second, while Trish Bahlmann finished third.

NEXT UP: IMPI Cape Town #2
Date: Saturday, 17 October 2015 & Sunday, 18 October 2015
Venue: Lievland Wine Estate, Stellenbosch (Cape Town)

A trail run that features obstacles, the IMPI Challenge has five fun categories to choose from and is ideal for entrants of all ages.

Categories: IMPI Challenge: 10 km with 18 obstacles (age 18+ years)
IMPI Dash: 5 km with 12 obstacles (ages 10+, all adults welcome)
IMPI Mini: 1km with smaller supervised obstacles (ages 6 – 10 years)
IMPI Elite: 18- 20km with 25 tough obstacles (age 18+ years); timed event with prize money
IMPI Corporate: the 10km Challenge distance with extra benefits (age 18+ years)

An event favourite, entrants are invited to enter the best dressed competition. Pull out all the stops! There are awesome sponsor prizes up for grabs.

Family and friends are invited to relax in the Festival Area while loved ones conquer their fears out on route.

Like our Facebook page: Impi Challenge
Follow us on Twitter: @impichallenge

For more information on the IMPI Challenge contact 076 772 3735, email [email protected] or visit www.impichallenge.co.za

Mention the words strength work to a runner and images of bulging biceps and watermelons under the arms come to mind… but none of us can picture ourselves dragging around that much extra muscle baggage on the run. For endurance runners, strength is one of the important motor skills, but you certainly won’t look like Anold Schwarzenegger anytime soon just by incorporating strength work into your training. (For that, you’re going to have to spend hours on end each week in the gym, with no long distance training at all!) – BY RAY ORCHISON

There are a number of reasons why runners need to incorporate elements of strength work into our training weeks. For starters, our western lifestyles do not lend themselves to keeping us strong and our muscles engaged. Just get yourself a pedometer and you’ll be shocked at how little you walk in a day. Our lifestyles are extremely sedentary. We drive to work, spend eight to nine hours sitting in a chair hunched over a computer, then drive back home to spend the evening in front of the TV. This lack of activity results in the weakening and shortening of key muscles as well as developing biomechanical imbalances.

Secondly, and this builds on from the first point, because running is a continuous repetitive motion sport, it is a great exploiter of imbalances and weaknesses. For example, if you have an imbalance in the strength between your left and right glute, you will be favouring one side over the other with every stride you take. This will result in an overuse injury on the stronger side and could rear its ugly head in any of the muscles from the glute down to the foot. It may also result in strained muscles on the weaker side of the body, as subconsciously our brain tries to match the stride length of the stronger side.

Thirdly, in order to run as fast as we can for as long as we can, we need muscles which have been developed and strengthened in order to do so. Kicking in the last 300m of a 1500m race requires sound strength endurance. Maintaining some sort of decent pace and body posture in the final quarter of a marathon requires core, strength endurance and functional strength.

Not all strength work is equal
There are a number of different types of strength work for different purposes, such as:
• Absolute strength (increasing total maximum strength),
• Relative strength (increasing strength relative to body size),
• Power (increasing work output over time),
• Elastic strength (potential for energy through the muscles and tendons),
• Strength endurance (capacity to continue exerting force during fatigue),
• Core (stability muscles of the trunk), and
• Functional strength (movement patterns of specific muscles required in motion).

Focusing on or doing the wrong type of strength will bring about a different training outcome than what you might expect. For example, absolute strength would be a primary focus in events requiring strength, speed and power, such as sprinting or jumping. A distance runner would not be too concerned with absolute strength. Relative strength can be seen as the base work of strength training through which we rid ourselves of any muscle weaknesses and imbalances before moving on to event specific strength work.

Where do we start?
The most important strength elements for runners would be relative and core strength. The importance of identifying your muscle weaknesses and imbalances cannot be overemphasised. In order to enjoy injury-free running we must start here and strengthen those areas which will result in overuse and strained muscles. Our focus must be on the bigger muscles crucial to the running biomechanics. These include the glutes, hamstrings, calves and quads. If these big muscles are not firing, then we end up overusing the smaller muscles and developing all sorts of niggles and injuries. The core is also extremely important and assists us in maintaining an efficient body posture throughout our event.

Once we’ve addressed our base weaknesses we can then move on to the specific strength work which will bring about additional benefits and improvements in our race times. These would be elastic strength, strength endurance and functional strength. Elastic strength is developed through bounding, Olympic lifting, uphill and downhill running and plyometrics. Strength endurance is typically developed in the weight room. Weights should be based on 50-70% of the maximum weight you could lift for a single, all-out repetition. Functional strength is accomplished through weight training as well as through running itself. This type of strength work should include different terrain, inclines and varying speeds.

The golden rule with introducing anything new is always to start slowly and gradually build from there. When incorporating strength work involving weights, start with light weights and first master the movement of the exercise, and then slowly start increasing the weight.

What exercises can I do?
Here are some examples of exercises for the different types of strength. You can find images and videos for these exercises on the internet explaining how they should be done.

1. Core Strength
3 x 30-60sec Alternating leg planks
3 x 15 Stability ball bridges with alternate leg extension
3 x 30secs Straight leg bridge on stability ball
3 x 15 BOSU side crunches
3 x 30sec BOSU side planks
3 x 10 Stability ball back extension

2. Elastic Strength and Functional Strength
Includes running sessions of bounding, uphill and downhill running, and plyometric exercises.
3 x 10 Box jumps
4 x 40m alternating leg bounds
3 x 30sec Mountain climbers with BOSU
4 x 20-30m Carioca quick-step
3 x 30sec Jumping Jacks
3 x 30sec Square hop

3. Strength Endurance
Consists of various weight exercises based on 50-70% of your one repetition maximum lift.
3-4 x 15-20 Single leg press
3-4 x 20-50 Explosive BOSU squats (progress to single leg)
3-4 x 15-20 Single leg deadlift
3-4 x 15-20 Single leg hamstring curl (lift with both legs, resist with one)
3-4 x 15-20 Backward lunge (add weight gradually)
3-4 x 15-20 Bench steps-ups

The new running season is just around the corner, so invest the time now in improving your muscle strength. This will go a long way to ensuring injury-free running as you start incorporating higher intensity workouts and more distance.