Bruce Fordyce's Comrades Training Programme
Month 3 - March: CHOOSE HILLY COURSES FOR TRAINING
We may be running a “Down” run this year but experienced Comrades runners know even the “Down” run is full of monstrous hills. In fact, the first half of the “Down” run is particularly hilly. Apart from a couple of steep descents, such as Polly Shorts, most of the first half is a steady uphill pull. Many novice runners are known to get terribly frustrated when the so-called “Down” run proves to be anything but down for a few hours.
At the front end of the field the “Down” run is inevitably won on some of the last short sharp hills and the possibility of silver medals is often dependent on the runner’s ability to keep going up the final climbs. I would be willing to bet quite a large number in this year’s race will be decided on the climb up 45th Cutting, one of the last major hills on the “Down” run.
So how do we prepare ourselves for these hills? First, we must select hilly routes when training. It is often tempting to run a flat, easy route to make our run as enjoyable as possible. Comrades runners, however, need to look for hills in training. They need to get strong and more confident at running hills by encountering them on as many training runs as possible. There are two types of hills we will meet in the Comrades and we need to get used to tackling both types in training.
1. The first is the long, gradual climb that can drag on for a kilometer or more. On the “Down” run the climb out of Drummond is one. In fact, that hill goes on for three or four kilometers, with short breaks. These long climbs need to be tackled with a slow, steady rhythm. Always run well below maximum. It should be possible to chat a little while running these hills.
2. The second is the short, steep climb. There are dozens of these in the Comrades, mostly anonymous, because they are overshadowed by the bigger, more infamous hills. In the Comrades they can drain runners of their strength and they need to be treated with respect. In training they can be attacked and run at 80-90% effort. Run hard up the hill concentrating on maintaining effort and style.
Remember too, to run over the top of the hill. Too many runners naturally ease up at the crest of a hill. Those who continue to push over the summit build great fitness.
The famous marathon coach, Bill Squires used to advise runners to pull on two imaginary ropes, running alongside their bodies and to lean forward slightly. Running hills like these, produces tremendous strength and cardio-vascular fitness. World-class marathon runners training for flat courses still use hill-training sessions to develop overall running strength.
3. Toward the end of April start to run some specific hill training. Meantime, it helps to build basic strength by running as many hills as possible. Most of us will have to walk sometime in the Comrades, but if we build our hill training strength, we will be able to delay the inevitable.
Including one long midweek training run
All runners realize that in order to successfully run marathons they must run many long distance training runs. Because of the time constraints, however, these runs are almost always scheduled for weekends. Only elite, professional and very fortunate runners are able to choose the time and day that they will run these distances.
In the crucial weeks ahead, however, Comrades runners need to try and find the time to do at least one other longish run a week. Ideally this should be midweek, on a Wednesday. In order to find the time it may be necessary to run very early in the morning or in the early evening. I prefer the latter time slot since I am not a good early morning riser.
This midweek long run builds valuable strength and endurance especially when added to the Saturday or Sunday morning long training run. Next to my weekly hill training session I rate the midweek long run as the most important training session of the week.
I first incorporated this training session into my weekly schedule after reading an article on the training methods of the great Australian marathoner Rob “Deek” de Castella. Deek, a Boston, double Commonwealth, and World marathon champion, had a very high regard for this session and swore by it. Now I do too.
Before Comrades runners begin to panic let me emphasis that the distances covered in the midweek training session are nowhere near as demanding as those of the weekend long run.
A midweek long run can be any distance from 15 to 25 kilometres. (Occasionally I was able to stretch the distance to 30 Kilometres, but of course I was a very fortunate full time runner in those days). Now I have to contend with any run from 15 to 20 kilometres. The important thing with this training session is to choose a hilly rolling course and to keep the pace steady and consistent.
Unlike the long weekend run whose purpose is to emphasis endurance and not speed this training session helps to build up speed endurance. Training pace here should be the anticipated Comrades race pace, or slightly faster. This helps to familiarize the legs with race conditions and yet over less than a fifth of the Comrades distance.
It is important to take as few breaks as possible. One water or cool drink stop should suffice. It is also important to run steadily but not to race. Remember there are other training sessions in the week and if these are compromised then the guilty training session was run too quickly.
Also remember to wear light reflective clothing and to run defensively. By necessity these runs can take over an hour and a half and the days are getting shorter while the nights get longer and darker this time of year. Ideally it helps to run with friends, as shared discipline is a lot easier than individual discipline.
I can guarantee that by June a routine of midweek long runs will prepare runners wonderfully for the Comrades.