endurance
Coach’s corner With Mark Wolff and Landie Greyling, running coaches and competitive athletes.
TRANSITIONING TO ULTRA-DISTANCE RUNNING F
or most runners, the ultimate test of endurance is the marathon – a 42.2km foot race that requires the perfect blend of speed and endurance to master. To illustrate the race’s popularity, the Marathon Statistics 2019 Worldwide report revealed that 1,298,725 runners completed a marathon in 2018, with marathon participation growing 49.43% between 2008 and 2018. But as more athletes master this distance, many look beyond 42km for their next challenge, which is something that South Africa’s unique breed of runners have done for decades.
Rich ultra-running heritage
The country has a rich ultrarunning heritage, boasting two of the most iconic road ultras on earth – the Two Oceans and the legendary Comrades ultramarathons. First run in 1921, Comrades is the world’s oldest and largest ultramarathon. It is the pinnacle race for almost every passionate South African runner. But for anyone who has successfully finished a marathon, 120 Dis-Chem Living Fit
the thought of running even 100m more can seem unfathomable, let along another marathon, and then a Parkrun to finish. Yes, the Comrades marathon covers a minimum distance of 87km on the ‘up’ run. The ‘down’ run is 91km. While the challenge has captivated the hearts and minds of 24,000 entrants for the 2020 event, many novices are probably wondering how they can successfully make the transition from the marathon to an extreme endurance event like Comrades.
that include lots of back-to-back long runs.” Having trained for a marathon, you’ll have a solid base from which to build. “Aim to increase your volume by roughly 10% every week, with an active recovery week included periodically,” says Landie, who prefers a three-week up, one-week down structure. Back-to-back training runs should also get progressively longer.
FIRST RUN IN 1921, COMRADES “Running 20km on Conditioning the IS THE WORLD’S Saturday and 25mind and body OLDEST AND 30km on Sunday, Landie Greyling, a BiogenLARGEST sponsored elite ultra-runner ULTRAMARATHON. for example, is what and running coach, succinctly conditions the body summarises the different It is the and mind to run on training approaches required. pinnacle tired legs.” Where marathoners require race for Landie recommends a balance between speed and almost every building up to a maximum endurance, Landie says ultrapassionate long run of 75% of race runners need to condition their legs for running when they’re South African distance, which you should ideally perform 4-6 weeks tired. runner. before race day. “This requires intelligent That equates to 42-45km program periodisation, for Two Oceans runners, with training blocks and roughly 60-70km for
