Training guide for Surfers Challenge
How to prepare your body for the big race day
There is no way that any schedule will suit every person who enters the Surfers Challenge, so use this framework and adapt it to personal ability and fitness level.
Every runner has good days and not such good ones, for which they should be thankful or how else do we gauge what a good day feels like?
The experience and the effects of an uncomfortable race will teach a runner much or it should do.
Group training can be fun and lighthearted, while oneperson sessions are often serious challenges.
Similarly, fun on its own will not deliver the sought-after result, though hard work and self-introspection often will.
Balance in training is the key for a runner unlike the call for a “balanced diet” which invariably offers us a cop out to eat anything we crave.
Can you train seven days a week? Yes, you can if “balance” is programmed to an athlete’s ability and that the most important aspect of training, recovery, is included.
The other R which stands for rest — does not mean doing nothing on a given day, it could entail active rest, in other words an easy distance run, a moderate threshold session, a few strides, cross training on a bike, in the gym or pool.
With five weeks to go, I suggest, provided you have been training through the festive season.
If not drop to four per week. Sunday (in some circles called a day of rest) is best suited to the week’s long run also called LSD or long slow distance run.
The two distances at the Surfers Challenge will best be served by maximums of 24km for the Kwelerha to Nahoon and 15k for the Gonubie to Nahoon race.
Long run done; Monday should be an easy 8km with six strides. If you must have a day off, this is it.
STRIDES: It is not a sprint but rather a 10-15 second hard effort.
The objective is to stretch the legs in a short burst.
Tuesday: Easy 3km plus 4 x 4 minute hard with 2 minute jog between plus 3km easy. (can up that to 5-6 x 4 minutes).
Wednesday: Easy 12-15km.
Thursday: Easy 10
Friday: Easy 3 plus 8-10 x 200m hills at tempo pace with jog down recovery plus 3 easy.
Saturday: parkrun 5km is good and has the same sponsor (Discovery) as Surfers.
Heat and humidity are now a part of daily life, and most runners love it. Use it to acclimatise for race day on February 17. Keep hydrated by drinking at the start of training sessions, sip rather than gulp water regularly and keep the head wet.
Runners will have issued challenges to friends and family, which adds flavour to the day and if a challenge is incoming, embrace it and smile through the journey.
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