August 2011
Training Programme for Comrades 2012
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WESTERN PROVINCE PROGRAMME
NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW Where are we now?
There are 308 days to go for your big race next year on June 3rd 2012.
We have barely recovered from Comrades 2011 and we are already
planning for the next year's run. It will be late for Comrades
(May 29th last year). When the time arrives we will be feeling
that it is getting so cold which means freezing in Pietermaritzburg at
the start. Between now and then there is a lot of preparation needed to
be sure of getting a medal.
Key words: statistics, For some unknown reason this last Comrades in 2011 was reputed to be hard. The distance and route was the same as usual and the weather perfect. There was nothing wrong with refreshments or any other interference. Maybe the runners where not as well prepared after two holiday years with successive Down Runs. There was a greater failure rate this year on the Up Run, which is traditional, compared with the Down Run. So looking forward to the 2012 Comrades you can expect a better chance of success. For my part there have been very few hard Comrades in my time apart from a long 91,4km Down Run and an Up Run in the drought year when we had to drink shipped-in water from the Cape which was impure and gave nearly all the runners gastric problems on race day and again afterwards. It is unlikely that there will be a recurrence of either condition to make it a hard Comrades next year. Before you start your training and formulating plans take a careful look at the statistics for this year’s run on our site (http://www.alsoranrunners.info/DO2011summary.htm). It will give you valuable guidance where to pitch you targets for 2012. Your very first major target will be to qualify in late February 2012 and will be allocated a seeding batch. The statistics show you what the likely medal you will receive according to that seeding. Accordingly your training must be aimed at a certain marathon qualifier in late February 2012 which must be within your capabilities and not just happy dreams. The aim of this set of training programmes is to increase your chance of getting a Comrades medal. The monthly programme will set a goal each month which is easy to achieve and armed with that confidence of achieving a goal, you will step by step get to the start of Comrades and get a medal at the finish. In between will be hard times and good times. Right from the start you have to get used to one thing and that is to have a goal each month and achieve it. I will set the goal for you and you will achieve it. The first step in our programme is to make a commitment. You have got time to sort yourself out and look at the demands of such a programme. We will need your commitment by beginning of September because entries open on September 1st 2011 and close on November 30th 2011 or 18000 entries whichever comes first. The cost for early bird entries is R270 and after end of September is R300. All details for entries are on the official Comrades website. At the same time as you enter Comrades you put your name down on our Commitment list on our Forum. This year we had over 120 runners who committed and followed the programme and from our returns from these members, there was a better success rate of 91% than the overall field of only 85%. At this stage you need to feel very keen to get a Comrades medal. As the training progresses through to February and March that will have developed into a full blown dedication and obsession. Most people have a basic reason to do Comrades such as to prove to yourself you are capable of finishing the hardest race in the country. Other people were never a success in the sporting field at school and even afterwards but now have developed a need to prove to themselves and others that they have what it takes to earn Comrades medals that are respected by everyone. Any reason that is important to you will keep the desire in place. The training load starts off quite easily and progressively gets harder although the effort required remains the same as you get fitter and fitter. Overall you are looking at about 1200kms between January 1st 2012 and June 2nd 2012 which includes two standard marathons and three ultras. Allowing for the marathons and ultras you are only looking at less than 1000kms. That is about 160km/month. Although that is not overwhelming the need to keep up the relentless training for 6 days a week next year requires a lot of dedication and stamina. I am certain that all of you who are new to the programme have already done quite a bit of road running. That is what whetted your appetite. Don’t feel the beginning of this programme is not enough to train for Comrades. One of the first lessons with road running, in particular long distance road running, is to be patient. To be a good Comrades runner you have to learn patience over many hours on the road. If you become impatient and reckless you pay a very heavy price because there is never time to recover form an unwise change of pace. In August the wise Comrades runners keep up a very steady and active programme while never running to exhaustion. We start off with 4 days of running /week, the other days are made up of alternative sport but must include one rest day. Two days should be allocate to some useful gym, cycling, hiking, golf or anything that involves stimulating but undemanding physical effort. If you do go to gym follow a programme to develop your quads, strengthen your knees and improve your core balance. This will help as you run Comrades in the Down Run. Your final test will be a road race over 89km. You can start or continue going to road races but now with another thought in mind "I am going to do 89km next year.” Each and every race should be run with restraint and caution with Comrades in mind. Learn by your own experience when you are going too fast or too slow. Learn to discipline yourself to spread your effort over the whole distance of the race. No good blowing after 10km in a 15km race. Learn to run these short distances at what you judge to be a brisk and business-like pace. You will slow down naturally as the distance increases next year. In August I suggest you don’t race over more than 15km at most. . The training programme for August 2011. Objective: To train for 4 days running and two days alternative exercise/week.
Total kms for August 2011 = 126km Note: If you go to a road race on Saturday or Sunday it does not have to be exactly10km. It can be up to a maximum of 15km. Rest the next day. Thought for the month. "I made a start. Comrades is my goal.” Don Oliver Cape Town July 2011. For those Alsoranrunners considering running a Bill Rowan we have decided to include a Bill Rowan addendum to our programme each month. The Bill Rowan programme The
Bill Rowan medal is presented to about 17%-20% of the first runners
after the Silver medallists. There were 1723 this year. That puts them
in the really top group of ultra distance road runners in the country.
To receive such a prestigious medal will obviously require dedicated
training. The sub 9 hour barrier looks at first sight to be relatively
easy. The overall pace is 6, 06 mins/km for 89kms. To many, that appears
to be attainable but the huge distance of 89kms presents a formidable
barrier. To run 89kms comfortably at 6mins/km, over a shorter distance
of 42km you should be capable of running at 5mins/km. Taking it down
even further, for 10kms you should be able to run easily 45mins and an
8km time trial should be under 34mins.That is the speed required to get a Bill Rowan and now for the endurance and stamina. A total kms training between Jan 1st and June 2nd 2012 is 1400km. Included in that total should be two standards and three ultras. The most Bill Rowans come from the B grade seeding (693) which needs a sub 3hrs 20mins standard marathon. There is a smaller number from the C grade seeding (sub3hrs40mins) of 497 but only 78 from the D grade seeding (sub 4hrs 00mins). It is important to weigh up your present capability compared with the needs of the qualifying standards. In general, to attain a 30mins improvement in your Comrades time year on year is realistic. Having decided that your chances of success are good, the training in August should be:
Repeat for 4 weeks. Expected total for August month = 200km Don Oliver Cape Town July 2011 Internal links: 2011 race statistics, qualifier, commitment list, External links: Official Comrades Marathon website;  |
Copyright Don
Oliver 2011