The new athletics coach for Boksburg Athletic Club (BAC), David Gamede, launched the Comrades Marathon 2024 training plan and programme on November 13.
The programme aims to help the team C16 athletes improve their finish time in the ultra-marathons, especially Comrades and the Two Oceans.
According to Gamede, the athletes who want to qualify for the Two Oceans and Comrades Marathon will benefit enormously from the programme.
“On its own, it can deliver desired outcomes for athletes, but it requires athletes to be fully committed and dedicated. It equips athletes with speed and endurance built on a solid foundation of strength and power,” explained Gamede.
The programme aims to produce fast and strong runners.
“It’s divided into three generic training cycles. We have a weekly plan, known as the micro-cycle, the monthly plan, a mesocycle, and a season plan, the macrocycle.
“The programme is designed around the four energy systems, namely the aerobic capacity system. In this system, we focus more on oxygen intake. How much oxygen can an athlete’s lungs absorb while they are running at a fast pace? And it will strengthen the heart muscles,” he said.
He added that anaerobic conditioning systems help the athlete’s body to keep going with less oxygen.
“The athletes will do high-tempo runs with less resting time.
“Aerobic conditioning systems are practices where runners test their agility and endurance in long-distance races on weekends and mid-week.”
He said the system is designed to strengthen the muscle fibres of middle- and long-distance runners.
“The design structure of the programme consists of three phases. Phase one is the general fitness development phase from January to February. Phase two, from March to April, focuses on affording strength, speed and endurance to runners.
“In the peak phase, we strictly do low-volume races, training repetitions, sessions at high intensity, and the total of kilometres we cover in our training sessions is reduced,” stated Gamede.
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