You’ve trained hard and sacrificed a lot, and now the Comrades is only two weeks away! During the next two weeks your Comrades dream can be made or lost - no matter how hard you have trained, what you do from now until race day will help determine what happens to you come 1 June 2014.

• Cut your toenails and do not go for any pedicures, especially if you have never been for these before. Leave this till after race day.
• Enjoy our club’s Comrades function on the 24th of May
• No matter who you chat to or how nervous you feel, always say to everyone you are ready for the big day and feel good
• DO NOT listen to how much more hard training and how many hundreds of kilometres more your club buddies or friends have done in their preparation for Comrades
• Keep on visualising the race - from getting up and lining up, through running to crossing the finish line
• Go to bed early, keep up your healthy eating habits and go for your vitamin B injection
• If you take supplements on the run, buy them now and put them aside with all your other race day goodies
• Prepare two check lists, the first for everything you need to pack and take with to Durban, and the second for everything you need to remember on race morning.
• Stay away from family, friends or colleagues who are sick or have colds/flu
• If you get sick now, consider not going to the Comrades - next year there will be another Comrades!
• Support the training sessions organised by the club and dress warmly after training

Happy running!
Coach Rossouw

You’ve trained hard and sacrificed a lot, and now the Comrades is only three weeks away! During the next 
couple of weeks your Comrades dream can be made or lost - no matter how hard you have trained, what you do from now until race day will help determine what happens to you come 1 June 2014. 

• Study the route: no need to know it inside out, but know where the hard parts are and where you can ease up. 
• Decide now at which points you want to be within what time, and decide where you are going to take in your nutrition or special muty. 
• Keep up your faster, shorter weekday runs. 
• Make sure you get enough sleep. 
• Stay away from family, friends or colleagues who are sick or have colds/flu. 
• If you get sick now, consider not going to the Comrades - next year there will be another Comrades!
• Support the training sessions organised by the club and dress warmly after training. 

 
Happy running!
Coach Rossouw

Five weeks to go to Comrades 2014! You have done all the training and it is now time to taper and sharpen 
yourself for the big race. Make sure you are all sleeping enough and maintain your immunity. Visualize the race at every opportunity you have. 
 
Identify one or two short races and run them at 30 seconds faster than your anticipated Comrades pace. If 
you haven’t done any speed training, take it easy so that you do not injure yourself.  You can still do hill repeats on a Monday with the club and two Klapperkop runs on a Sunday just to get the final heat exposure you need. We have the Wally race on Thursday – please come and support/run this well-organised event. The Jackie Mekler 25 km run should be an easy run though. 

Please support the training sessions organised by the club. 
 
Happy running. 
Coach Rossouw

With Comrades in mind, the run on the Easter week-end was our last real long run – we are now going to start tapering in distance with the Magnolia run (45 or 30 km) the last official longish run.

Make sure you are all sleeping enough and maintain your immunity. Visualize the race at every opportunity you have. In two weeks’ time we will start with speed training to ensure that you all peak 1 June! Please support the training sessions organized by our club. 

Happy running!

Coach Rossouw

Introduction

Muscle cramps are disabling, involuntary spasms that may occur during training or racing, most often in the large muscles of the lower leg, although they can occur anywhere. Some runners or walkers will always get cramps provided they run/walk far enough while others are almost never affected. Cramping due to exertion tend to occur in runners/walkers who run/walk further or faster than they do in training.

Free radical production during exercise (or due to excessive lactic acid build up) may contribute to muscle fatigue, possibly leading to muscle cramps.

What can you do?

Risk factors for cramping may include older age, higher body mass index, longer running/walking history, no stretching, and a genetic inclination to cramping (family history). Exercise-related activities viz. hard running/walking, muscle fatigue, hills, and long-distance running/walking also contribute to the development of cramps. The following can however reduce the risk of cramping:

• Do more training, especially long distance runs if you run/walk marathons and longer races. On race day, running/walking faster or farther than you have trained will overwhelm your muscles making them more susceptible to cramps.
• Do not run/walk too fast early in the race.
• Adequate pre-race stretching is very important provided that you normally do stretch.
• Attention to adequate fluid (take note that an excessive fluid intake may dilute the amount of sodium in the blood (hyponatraemia) which could lead to cramping), and carbohydrate replacement before and during exercise. It is important to stay well hydrated since it may lessen the severity of the cramps.
• If you cramp while you are sleeping it may be due to a relative magnesium deficiency. Take a magnesium supplement to rectify the deficiency and take a magnesium/calcium supplements on a regular basis. There are also different formulations on the market specially formulated to prevent cramping. Experiment with these and see which one works for you.
• Take on a regular base a good multi-vitamin/mineral supplement rich in antioxidants to keep the free radicals in check.
• Take a supplement that is capable of buffering lactic acid during training or racing.
• The most effective form of prevention for cramps is to undertake a regular stretching programme that focuses especially on the muscles that are prone to cramp during exercise.

Treatment

Even if you take the necessary precautions, cramps may still strike. To prevent injury to the muscle, stop running/walking immediately and stretch the affected muscle. Stretching helps relax the spasm; you may however have to stop and stretch a number of times before the cramp abates. In order to provide relief, apply deep pressure at the site of the cramp by pressing with your fingers into the affected muscle and hold for 10 to 15 seconds. Icing the area may also be of benefit.

It is also important to drink a fluid with electrolytes - sports drinks that contain electrolytes can help resolve cramps as well as prevent them. About an hour or two before the run/walk take 450 ml of fluid and then between 150 and 350 ml every 15 to 20 minutes during the run.

When you start cramping, slow down for a while. If the muscle is sensitive after the race use an anti-inflammatory, ice and rest.

REFERENCES

1. Schwellnus, M.P. 1999. Skeletal muscle cramps during exercise. Physician and Sportsmedicine, 27   (November): 109-115.
2. Noakes, T. 2001. Lore of Running, Fourth Edition. Oxford University Press Southern Africa, Cape         Town.

Coach Rossouw

Recovery time after an event is largely determined by the training done in preparation for the event, the intensity of the event itself and nutrition following the event. Scientific research suggests that intensive physical exercise, acting as a potent stress stimulus, suppresses the immune system in the two-week period (‘open window period’) following prolonged endurance exercise. Although sports people training for an endurance event may be at an increased risk for upper respiratory tract infections during heavy training cycles, they must train intensively to compete successfully. The question therefore arises, what can you do about the effects of heavy training and the event itself on your immune system?
 
With current lifestyles e.g. very intensive training, fussy eaters, fatty diets, vegetarian diets etc. it is essential to have adequate nutritional support to complement the diet of every individual. The digestive system prepares the food we eat for use within the body; vitality is dependent on an active and regular digestive system - for an athlete this ‘petrol tank’ is of utmost importance. For this reason everyone is supplementing their diets with amongst others vitamins, minerals and amino acids. It is true that many of the vitamins and minerals play an important role in metabolism, recovery from exercise and injuries and adaptation by acting as co-factors in important reaction in these processes.

Nutrition experts have set a Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for most of the vitamins. A diet that provides less than the RDA for a vitamin is not necessarily deficient in that vitamin because a large safety margin has been set. However, if the diet constantly supplies less than 70% of the RDA, the diet ought to be changed to overcome the deficiency.

Antioxidants are natural substances which act as reducing agents trapping free radicals (which cause cellular damage and aging), thus preventing their harmful effects on the body. Antioxidants have been scientifically proven to lessen muscle tissue damage during exercise and may therefore speed up recovery. It has also been proven that antioxidant supplementation is indispensable for sports people during altitude training.

Eating for recovery is a very important, but often neglected, practice. The body needs two major nutrients after a workout: carbohydrates and protein. Carbohydrates restock fuel stores and protein helps repair any muscle damage. Research indicates that proper nutrition within two hours after an endurance event can greatly enhance recovery. To give the restoration of muscle fuel stores a "kick start", about 1g carbohydrate per kg body weight should be consumed as soon as possible after the training session/competition/heat. The snack (50 - 100g) can be in liquid or solid form and should be repeated every two hours until you eat your first mixed meal.

Examples of 50g carbohydrate snacks (Burke, 1998)

• 250ml of a carbo-loader supplement 
• 250 - 300ml of a liquid meal supplement
• 800 - 1000ml of a sports drink

• 50g packet of jelly beans or boiled sweets

• Three medium pieces of fruit

• A large Bar One

• One sports bar

Massaging the aching muscles after the event can also aid recovery by increasing blood flow to the muscles and removing by-products.

Rest enhances the recovery process, reduces risk of injury, and invests in future performance. To replace depleted glycogen stores completely, the muscles may need several days of rest with no exercise and a high-carbohydrate diet. So do the right thing and rest, you sure earned it!

References:                                                                       
Burke L. 1998. Food for sports performance – peak nutrition for your sport. 2nd ed. Australia: Allen & Unwin. 

Everyone is back on the road, just in time for the 21 km club championships this coming Saturday. It does not matter how fit you are, just come and do your best on the 1st of February – please keep in mind that the 21 km is a pre-entry event. 
 
The club will be hosting a race on the 12th of February –  please come and support your fellow runners and earn your medal on the 18th with the helper’s race. Our next talk on injury prevention will take place the 25th of February just after the time trials – please diarise. 
 
I will be at the McCarthy race on Saturday and the Bronkhorstspruit 32 km on the 8th of February if you 
want to chat, or run with me. 
 
Gibba Gibbons and I have been running together since the late 1990’s. After his terrible accident, he will be 
missing a couple of runs. Fortunately we get to see him at all the races as an advisor – please come and speak with him and get some insight into running that you will treasure for ever. 
 
Lastly I would like to congratulate everyone that finished the Johnson 42 km yesterday, with a special word of 
congratulations to Heleen de Bruin on running a personal best (PB). 
 
Coach Rossouw

The latest Comrades Programme has been posted on the programmes page. Just a few important points to take note of with regards to the programme:

• This programme is a 10 week programme to take you to the Old Mutual Om die Dam 50 km
  
• This is a built up programme to the specific Comrades programmes
  
• These programmes (Silver, Bill Rowan and finish) will be available after Om die Dam
  
• There will be an information session by me, Coach Rossouw at the club house on 21 January after the time trials
  
• It is important to attend this talk to understand the philosophy behind the programmes
  
• It will be an opportunity to get answers to all your questions regarding your personal training
  
• Mentors will be introduced to take guidance of different groups
  

With the new training programme and the buddy (mentor) system we aim to get the best Comrades results in the history of the club. It is therefore of extreme importance that you fall in with this programme, either on your own or preferably as part of one of the groups. 

We also want to manage the substitutions properly this year. If you entered for Comrades but won’t be able to run please let Wynand know immediately. On that note, he wants all the names of members who did not enter but want to run this year. We are sure that you will all be able to get an entry by means of a substitution.

Please direct any questions regarding the programme to our club captain Joy Nicholl at  [email protected]


Regards
Coach Rossouw

Running and heart rate

By exercising at the correct intensity you can avoid both over-training and under-training, and enjoy the benefits of an effective exercise program. Your heart rate, in a single number (beats per minute) gives you an up to date and accurate report on how hard you are training and how well you have recovered. The harder you train, the faster you use energy, the higher your heart rate. Your heart rate will also tell you whether your body has recovered from you last workout - recovery is key to improved fitness and vitality, as well as to injury and illness prevention. Heart rate-based programs are based on the following:

The foundation

1. Very easy: 60 - 65 % of your maximum heart rate (MHR). You feel as if you can maintain this pace all day long. It's where you do your warm-up and cool-down kilometres. It's also an excellent recovery pace when you're jogging between speed repeats.

2. Easy: 65 - 70 % of your maximum heart rate. Aerobic conditioning occurs at this pace. Do runs at this easy pace when you're recovering from a hard workout the previous day. Also, maintain this pace for the early kilometres of a long run.

3. Moderate: 70 - 80 % of your maximum heart rate. The majority of your base mileage should be done at this solid training pace. Long runs should also finish in this zone.

The foundation of the training is run at levels 1, 2 and 3, which, taken together, should account for about 80 - 85 % of your weekly total.

The quality zones

4. Hard: 80 - 90% of your maximum heart rate. Steady-state runs done at marathon race pace, tempo runs and tempo-pace intervals are all examples of running in this quality zone. Workouts done at this pace should account for roughly 10 to 12 percent of your weekly kilometres.

5. Very hard: 90 - 97 % of your maximum heart rate. Long intervals, such as 1600m repeats, 1200s, 1000s and 800s run at your 5km or 10km race pace will get you into this zone. Running at this intensity improves your VO2 max and should total 5 - 7 % of your weekly kilometres.

6. Full out: 98 - 100 % of your maximum heart rate. Running 400-, 300- or 200-meter repeats at anywhere from your 800-meter to 1600-meter race pace should get you into this zone. Workouts at this intensity improve neuromuscular coordination and accelerate leg turnover. Only 1 - 3 % of your weekly kilometres should be run at this level.

Always do one or two runs in zones 1, 2 or 3 after running in zones 4, 5 or 6.
 
There are many well-worked out training programs for different distances. The following are however key elements in any training program irrespective of the amount of kilometres trained:

Training for a 10 km race

• Hills
  
• Time trial
  
• Track sessions: 400m - 1000m
  
• Mid-week long run: 12km
  
• LSD: 15km - 18km
  

Training for a 21,1 km race

• Hills
  
• Time trial
  
• Track sessions: 1000m - 2000m
  
• Mid-week long run: 15km
  
• LSD: 21km - 25km
  

Training for a marathon

• 1 X Hill session
  
• 1 X Tempo run
  
• 1 x Mid-week long run
  
• 1 x Long run
  

The approaches to the hill, track and fartlek sessions are as follows:

HILLS Easy warm up of 3 km and then a hard effort sprint up a hill not longer than 300 meters. The gradient of the hill should not be unrealistically steep but should allow you to "run" the 300 meters. Start off with five hill repetitions, running/walking hard uphill and relaxed downhill. The objective of this specific session should be to run/walk the last repetition at the same speed as the first. Work hard with your arms; imagine there are two ropes in front of you and you have to pull yourself up the hill using the ropes. It is suggested to increase the weekly repetitions by two with a maximum of twelve.

TRACK Start a track session with relaxed stretching for about 10 minutes followed by an easy warm up of at least three km, which must include four short sprints of about 50 meters each to stretch the legs. The track repetitions recommend in this phase, are:

Week 1 - 10 x 200 m with 200 m jog recovery between each repetition

Week 2 -   8 x 400 m with 200 m jog recovery between each repetition

Week 3 -   6 x 600 m with 200 m jog recovery between each repetition

Week 4 -   4 x 800 m with 200 m jog recovery between each repetition

Repetitions should be run as fast as possible with the last repetition being as fast, if not faster, than the first.

FARTLEK This can be used in conjunction with track or as a substitute for track. The warm up should be the same as for track and the session can be run/walk on one of your regular routes. After a warm up of 3 - 4 km, pick up the pace to a near sprint for two minutes and then relax for a minute while still running. Running tempo is increased once again for say three minutes, followed by a two minute jog. A typical pattern of a fartlek session might be:

• Two minutes hard, one minute easy 
  
• Three minutes hard, two minutes easy 
  
• One minute hard, one minute easy 
  
• Three minutes hard, two minutes easy 
  
• Two minutes hard, one minute easy 
  
• One minute hard, two minutes easy 
  
• Two minutes hard, one minute easy
  
• Three minutes hard, two minutes easy, and so on.
  

1.  Eyestone, E. 2003. Run like an Egyptian. Runners World (September): 34.