Comrades step-by-step: The paradox of going up on the Down run

I’m writing this column in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic which as we all know has still not peaked, particularly in South Africa.

Like thousands of runners, supporters, officials, volunteers, sponsors and spectators I really hope the race goes ahead on the scheduled date in June, but we will have to wait for the next Comrades Association Announcement on April 17th.

On the assumption that the Comrades Marathon will be run on 14 June I will continue to offer advice until I hear to the contrary.

If there is a postponement I will be able to offer advice on adjusting training to the new deadline.

A few hours into the running of a Down Comrades it is quite common to hear novice runners complaining along the lines of “I thought we were running from Pietermaritzburg to Durban but all we’ve done all morning long is to run uphill”.

And by novice runners I’m including those running the Down run for the first time.

A quick glance at the race profile helps to explain why novices are so perplexed.

In the frosty dark of a Pietermaritzburg winter’s morning runners plummet down Polly Shorts after about eight kilometres or so of easy running.

From then on, with one or two exceptions, it really would seem that all they do all morning long is climb.

Despite the early morning chill runners are soon sweating as they labour up to Ashburton (Little Pollies).

And soon after the rising sun burns brightly into their eyes as they battle up to the climb to Umlaas Road, the highest point on the Comrades route).

There are several other smaller climbs to be negotiated and then approaching halfway, just after the Enthembeni School lies the tough 3km slog up the back of Inchanga.

There is a brief respite on the drop into Drummond and the hallway mark and then the climbing begins again as the road winds past the Wall of Honour, the old Rob Roy Hotel and then the pull to Botha’s Hill.

Slower novice runners will have been on the road for over six hours at this stage, they will have run the Two Oceans distance (around 56km) and will have battled up some of the most notorious hills in distance running.

That is why whenever I am asked to chat about the Down run I always introduce each route description with the warning “and because it’s the Down run we go up”.

It is easy to understand then that despite the fact that this year is a Down run it is important to train diligently for the hills.

In my better days – many decades ago at that – I made no changes to my training schedule regardless of the direction in which that year’s Comrades was being run.

I reserved exactly the same number of specific hill training sessions for the Down race as for the Up run.

It is important to understand that the key hills on the Down run match those going up.

The daunting Inchanga hill awaits you on both sides of Drummond (halfway). Cowie’s Hill could partner with the Up run’s third unnamed hill outside Camperdown and 45th Cutting and the steep motorway climb to Tollgate Bridge are the Down run’s Little Pollies and Polly Shortts.

I always found Cowie’s Hill particularly testing. After 70km of mountainous running Cowie’s felt like the Everest of the Down run.

Unsurprisingly hundreds of Comrades runners are reduced to a slow shuffle or walk down here.

Most of them forget that there is a television camera broadcasting their pitiful progress up the hill to millions of viewers.

So, in training runners need to pretend that they are preparing for the Up Comrades.

They need to:

1.Rolling, hilly courses

On their training runs they should deliberately look for hills and embrace them.

They should look for long steady climbs that simulate the climbs up Inchanga and to Botha’s Hill village or from the bottom of Little Pollies to Umlaas Road.

Runners need climbs that last several minutes because several of the Comrades’ most notorious hills are long slow pulls that take some time to conquer.

They also need to look for shorter steeper hills, hills that duplicate some of the sharp ascents runners will encounter on race day.

The steep off ramp from the bottom of the suburb of Mayville onto the Durban N3 Highway springs to mind.

2. Hill repeats

From the beginning of next month runners should begin to incorporate some specific hill training sessions into their weekly training programme.

My training companions and I always ran the famous Sweethooghe (Sweat Heights) from start of April.

This 410m hill rises steeply to the base of Johannesburg’s Brixton Tower and I credit it with helping me to become a very strong hill runner.

Following a three to four kilometre warm-up we would run sprint repetitions up the hill, concentrating on form and cadence as we progressed.

Our recovery was an easy jog back down to the base of the hill again.

We usually ran five to 10 repetitions gradually becoming faster as race day drew closer.

3. Stair sessions

Those who can find them might wish to run sets of stairs to build further hill running strength.

I trained on Johannesburg’s renowned Westcliff stairs.

Once again I ran fast repetitions up those legendary 210 steps.

In the 1980s the Westcliff stairs were deserted, my only companion was a sprightly sheep dog.

Now the stairs have become very popular with runners and walkers and on some mornings there is a human traffic jam progressing up and down the steps.

Those Comrades runners who choose hilly training routes and incorporating specific hill training sessions from the beginning of next month will be the ones who have successful run on race day, be it on 14 June or a possible later date.

They will be the ones who understood when they first started training that because the 2020 Comrades is a Down run, they must go up first.

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