Get complete rest for the last three days before Comrades

HELPING Zola Budd with her preparations for the upcoming Comrades takes me back to my first one. I am running my 30th Comrades this year, and must confess that although I won the race nine times, it was from the other 21 that I learnt the most.

I diligently kept a diary and every single day I recorded how I felt emotionally, what I ate, what distance I ran, how I felt about my run etc. This helped me to get the formula right and help a number of runners conquer the Comrades.

Running a marathon is a fine feat, but after 42.2km you are on your own in unknown territory. You don’t know how you are going to feel, you don’t know what to expect.

The only thing you can rely on is advice from runners that have been there, and that is what I have been doing with Zola these past months.

Although there are runners who debut well in their first Comrades, it is usually after you have served your apprenticeship that you really know how to run the race.

Zola has been picture perfect in her preparations to date, but the last three weeks are crucial – less is more in these last few days.

Time

Spending time on your legs is the most important part of preparing for an ultra like Comrades.

Not many people stand for eight hours in a day, let alone run for such a long period.

My advice to her was to run over 500km in the months of March and April, and then May is spent tapering off, which means no run should be longer than 15km.

In her last week, she will run 15km on Sunday, 10km on Monday, 8km on Tuesday and 5km on Wednesday. Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be rest days.

The best advice that I can give is rest completely for the last three days. It always amazes me to see athletes running on Durban’s beautiful promenade the day before the race.

Energy

This leads to using energy that you are going to need the next day, and also builds up lactic acid. This is the time to watch TV, read books, dose off and put your feet up. On the Sunday she will wake up with butterflies in her stomach, get to the start and feel the trepidation of the mass of runners.

She will feel the energy of men and women who are facing the biggest day of their life, she will smell the menthol from the various ointments that runners put on, she will feel the wonderful camaraderie of fellow runners as they start singing the traditional Shosholoza, she will have goose bumps and start to understand why Comrades is such an iconic race.

As the clock on the Pietermaritzburg City Hall gets to 5.30am, the cock will crow, the starting gun will blast and she will be on a journey into the unknown…

Follow her on Facebook at theunlimitedzolabudd and on Twitter as @Unlimitedzola