Fordyce writes for us
Ionce asked well-known mega distance runner Eleanor Robinson how she trained for a 24-hour, a 1 000 or six-day race. Logic told me that if I was running 160 to 220km a week in preparation for the 90km Comrades she must surely try and run double or even three times that distance for the insane mega races she ran. Her answer was really illuminating.
“I don’t really train at all, Bruce,” she replied “The distances I race are so ridiculous that the best approach is not to train at all. The best way to prepare for an ultra is to be really well rested.”
Eleanor was a major force in ultra-mega running back in the 1980s and she retired with a persistent foot injury 15 years ago, but there is still great wisdom in what she had to say back then. When an epic journey lies ahead of us it’s best to be well rested before we embark on that journey. And in three weeks’ time an epic journey lies ahead for 18 000 Comrades marathon runners.
I know that Comrades runners are obsessed with completing their last long runs. (Several groups and clubs ran 60km training runs this weekend). I also know that there will be many who are stressing over lost training and interrupted schedules, but the intense training time for comrades is almost at an end. Lost training cannot be recovered and runners should remind themselves that even the elite Comrades gold medallists suffer from training schedule hiccups. I believe that there is perhaps one more week of hard work ahead and then it is time for Comrades runners to start the great steep training glide path to race day. At this stage there is very little that runners can do to get fitter. But there is so much they can do to over-egg the pudding. I would suggest a last 20 to 25km run next weekend as a last long run and a short distance race or time trial just to check fitness and readiness to race on the fourth.
Looking back at my old train- ing diaries I see that after the first week or 10 days of May 1983 I slashed my weekly training mileage drastically, dropping from 180km a week to 120km, 80km and finally a few easy runs in the week before the race. Obviously this is the training schedule of someone hoping to win the race, but the principle remains the same for every runner at Comrades; tapering for race day is an essential ingredient in preparing for the Comrades.
Illustrated here is my last training week for May 1983, but I followed this same pattern for over a decade; Sunday: steady 15-20km Monday: easy 8km Tuesday: easy 5km Thursday: no run Friday: no run Saturday: no run Sunday: Comrades Marathon, first in 5:30:12.
Rather like Eleanor Robinson, my mega-distance running friend, I always believed that the best last-minute preparation for a brutal ultra-marathon like the Comrades was no preparation at all. By the Saturday morning I was always keen to get started and champing at the bit to run. I liked that feeling of believing I was slightly overweight and undertrained for the race. And that’s the condition I recommend for every Comrades hopeful.
Get to the starting line in Durban in just under a month’s time feeling slightly undertrained, slightly overweight and very excited to run and a great result is on the cards.