WITH a full two weeks left before the 96th edition of the 2023 Comrades Marathon, running trainer Prodigal Khumalo provides tips that can help runners achieve their goals in this year’s competition.
Khumalo is a two-time gold medalist in the Comrades Marathon and a two-time RMB Ultra-Trail Cape Town winner. He has a running academy called Orcas Running Academy in Durban which focuses on teaching young athletes about the sport.
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This year’s race will start outside Pietermaritzburg City Hall at 05.30, and the 87.701km route will end at Kingsmead Stadium in Durban, on June 11.
The coach said that those who say runners competing in the Comrades Marathon are mentally and physically strong is an understatement. “Comrades Marathon is not just your run-of-the mill ultra, it is one of the toughest races in the world. It is one of the oldest races but one of the newest trends in ultra-marathon running, often referred to as the ultimate human race,” he explained.
Khumalo outlined a few important training tips for runners to do before the big day.
- Increase your weekly mileage by approximately 10% each week.
- It is important to aim for one long run a few weeks before the race.
- Do not ditch speed work, including interval training and hill work. The Comrades includes the big five hills during the race, and therefore, interval training is a must.
- Rest and recovery are just as important as running in order to give yourself time to adapt to heavy training. Runners need to know that overtraining can cause injury and psychological burnout.
- It is vital to eat during training and while racing. As energy food and gels can be beneficial for short ultras, longer events like Comrades should include soft food such as sweets, bananas, rice pudding and potatoes, to mention a few.
- It is vital to reduce mileage to 75% of normal, then 50%, and finally 25% during the last week of training.
- Coming up with reasons you need to keep going well before the Comrades race will keep you motivated as you cross the finish line.
- A runner needs to drink lots of water during training and the race.
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