Don Oliver's
November 2008 training programme
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Where are we now?
This is the beginning of the official Comrades 2009 training programme. There are two important months left for this year and November rates, in my mind, of equal in importance as December where so many Comrades medals are already lost. The two items for you to concentrate on this month are: 1. Make a commitment to complete the 2009 Comrades and win a medal and closely followed by 2. Don’t do too much running yet. Make a commitment to complete the 2009 Comrades and win a medal. The half hearted and undecided runners don’t make good Comrades material. The undecided are continually postponing a full commitment and are waiting for some marker such as “I’ll see after Oceans”, "I’ll decide in the New Year.” “Provided that injury clears up”. "I am waiting to see if my running partner is going to do it this year.” It is endless and the same runner will be saying on the night before Comrades, when clubmates are asking for what time they are going for, "I’ll see at halfway”. They are the ones that miss that medal. The committed runner openly declares to everyone at home and at work, "I am definitely doing Comrades 2009 and will be bringing home the medal”. There are a lot of plans to make for accommodation, travel, time off from work. The injury prone must study the programme that avoids a recurrence of the problem. The sickly can start looking at a good supplement, balanced diet, good rest and avoiding too much to weaken your immune system. During November, get your lifestyle routine nicely organised to fit in running, which will be very heavy during February, March, April and May next year. Because the exam (Comrades), as I call it, is a road race, you can start getting race fit. Get used to running planned races in a set target time that is comfortable, leaving you weary maybe but never too tired to carry on. Never dig too deep in November. Every time you run, you are monitoring your effort to keep something in reserve. Get used to cruising and measuring tiredness. You must look at yourself and accept your weaknesses and gradually remove them before Comrades. Don’t do too much running yet.
Having made your commitment, you must avoid at all costs doing too much too soon. You have been running for a couple of years by now and you are feeling fairly confident you will make it at Comrades. You are eagerly listening to the hardened and successful Comrades runners and already feeling that I should start running long runs and running every day to fit in the huge mileage. The well advised, do not do too much in November. If you arrive at the beginning of January tired with the start of an injury, you will never take the 5 months of hard training planned for you in 2009. The clever November Comrades medallists run regulary, they don’t miss a training run and they don’t do too much. Look at the training programme for November and stick to 5 days/week running and never longer than 21kms in a race or training. Get your training partners lined up and several nice training routes with drink stops. Start measuring your mass twice a week and your waking pulse and record them in your logbook. You can learn a lot from this personal info which I tell you about in February. In the races you must run well in control for your effort but always faster than Comrades pace which is 7,4mins/km this year. There is a rule for Comrades training: “The longer the run, the slower the speed.” Therefore the shorter races of 10kms to 21kms should be at about 6,5mins/km and the training speed with stops can be roughly 6,8 to 7,0mins/km. Here is the November training programme for Comrades. November
2008 Comrades training.
Races: Saturday Nov 8th: West Coast A.C. Big Bay Sunday Nov 16th: Landmarks. Saturday Nov 22nd: Winelands Total kms for November 2008 = 203km Finally, sign up on Nikki’s Comrades Commitment Column before the end of November 2008. That is there for all to see. That’s really a commitment. Don Oliver. Cape Town, October 2008. Click here to continue on to Don Oliver's 2009 Comrades Training Programme External links: Official Comrades Marathon website, |
Copyright Don
Oliver 2008