Local runner joins prestigious club
His advice to athletes who want to take up the sport is to start with short distances such as 5km.
A local marathon runner has joined the prestigious Nedbank Running Club in January.
Stephen Madiye, formerly from Tzaneen Marathon Club, says he is looking forward to start competing for Nedbank. Meanwhile he has been making the most of the three hours he was allowed to train during the level 4 lockdown despite being employed fulltime at KM Bolt and Nuts in Tzaneen.
“Covid-19 is affecting me and my family as I earned extra income from participating in marathons,” he said.
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He told Herald that marathon running requires hard work if you want to achieve.
“Marathons differ from short distance running as short distances are not as taxing on your body. You may only experience chest pains, unlike long distances, where your whole body is in pain due
to the persistence required to finish a race,” he explains.
His advice to athletes who want to take up the sport is to start with short distances such as 5km. “From there you can gradually increase the kilometres to give your body time to adapt to the longer distances.”
Long distance running also requires a special diet. “You lose a lot of salt and sugar so it is important to eat food with those nutrients to replace what your body has lost.” His diet also includes greens such as cabbage and soft porridge and he tries to avoid oily foods such as fried chicken.
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Stephen participated in last year’s Comrades ultramarathon but was not satisfied with his performance.
“My problem was over-training and it resulted in an injury during the race which affected my time,” he recalls. He is adamant to prepare better by reducing the number of kilometres. He hopes to return to racing as soon as sports events are allowed again. “I can’t wait to start running again and to build my career,” he concluded.
