(If you want professional advice regarding Comrades and any other form of running I recommend you get a copy of Dr Tim Noakes' book Lore of Running. It is the last word on running. The following is merely my subjective take on the subject of the Comrades Marathon.)
This is a rough guide to running the Comrades 90km (55.9 mi) race.
Novices : I've seen people run Comrades in June after starting as complete novices who have made idiotic drunken New Year's resolutions. This is Not A Good Idea. You will make the distance but you will also spend a lot of time off the road treating injuries en route to the start-line and after the race you'll wish you were dead. It is a better idea to give yourself at least a year to toughen up.
The trick behind Ultra-Distance running is to get your legs tough enough to withstand the continuous pounding. This only comes from time on the road. This implies that if you have been active in other sports apart from running you will be ahead of the game. If you have a job where you are on your feet for most of the day then you will also benefit. A worse-case scenario is to be a desk-jockey and overweight (like me). It makes life so much more difficult.
Injuries are par for the course for any novice. I am not certain as to the exact reasons this occurs (see Noakes) but what I've figured out from my experience and from running with other novices is that a lot of injuries that appear will go away and hopefully never be seen again if good judgment is applied.
There is a mantra to remember: The muscles seem to grow faster than the ligaments toughen up. And the ligaments toughen up before your bone-density improves. This is the reason "Too Far, Too Fast, Too Soon" results in injury. No matter how full of beans you feel, it is a good idea to tackle each new goal in running with a large dose of conservatism.
I have found that the mantra applies to bodybuilding as well.
Shin-splints will go away if you rest and allow the pain to go away. Then start out conservatively when you run again.
Ilio Tibial Band Syndrome is most often associated with running on a camber. Learn how to find the flat surfaces on the road on which you are running.
Pain across the top of your feet usually means your laces are too tight. Since your feet swell over long distances you should tie your shoes quite loosely at the start of a long-distance race. (My shoes can be slipped on like slippers.)
You only get stitches if you're unfit. So get fitter.
If you habitually blow your hamstrings you should pay attention to your hands when you run. If you're clenching them into fists you can create an asymmetrical tension in your body. You will then blow the hamstring on the opposite side of the body to which your hand is clenched. Think like a ballet-dancer or a Tai-Chi master. Your spine should be well-centred. You should feel balanced and light on your feet. Think of gliding on rails. You shouldn't be bouncing up and down like a yo-yo. Any energies not spent on moving you forward is a waste you will regret later. And you'll get injured more often if you run like a drunken spider.
Weight ? Now here's a bit of a bugger. I started running to lose weight and, yes, running is a great help. But....fitness and weight always works in plateaus. (This is worthwhile remembering if you're frustrated by weight or fitness-levels.) So I spend a lot of time busting a gut to get to the new level of fitness or weight loss. Invariably these things come with time and generally improve. Nevertheless, it is possible to get fit enough for Comrades while being 20kg (44 lbs) overweight. There's a nightmare for you ! This would imply that you're eating way too much. It's a delicate balance because if you diet and train you cannot train properly. What is more...you can send your body into Starvation Mode and then even looking at a doughnut will be the kiss of death for you. (I've Been There And Got The T-Shirt). I've found that 3kg (6.6 lbs) of surplus weight means I run Comrades 45 minutes slower. But, hell, it's nice to eat and training hard is sooo uncomfortable.
Genetics. If you're reading this then you probably don't have the genetics to run professionally. Nevertheless, I've been with a fair amount of people who can potentially run Silver-Medal Comrades. They're always too lazy or busy to put in the required training. I, on the other hand, cannot even get my legs to move that fast. (or so I tell myself). Here's a layman's test for you. After running a month or two go out and try to run 10km (6.2 miles) in less than 40 minutes. If you do it then you should take your running more seriously. If you don't then welcome to the life of the Average Runner.
Training. You will find your limits the hard way. Too much of anything and your body will break down. For example; every time I run more than 90km a week I get injured. This is a harsh limitation when one considers that the pro's can train up to 210km a week. My personal solution is that I should concentrate on quality instead of quantity. But quality hurts. Eventually we all discover and re-discover reasons to run. I like fitting into my jeans. That's a good enough reason for me.
Health. Get your heart tested on a treadmill before you start running. I've seen 3 runners drop dead in front of me while running marathons. I kid you not! The most common reason for this is that people often lead sedentary lives for 20 years and then they hit the road with a vengeance and attempt to do what they did as young adults. The body somehow remembers one's previous efforts and sets one off at a pace that is unrealistic. Remember, your mind and your body can kill you. Your mind can over-ride the warning signals from your body. Yet your legs remember what you did as a kid. It's so unfair.
You have to be rational and conservative in your efforts until you've proved your fitness. It's also not wise to attempt a 42.2km (26 miles) marathon without running 5km, 10km, 15km, 21.1km and 32km races first. Any quantum leap in distance or speed might be your undoing. On the other hand, I've seen fat people run 160km (100 miles) races. We're not talking pathological obesity here but definitely 20-30kg overweight. I wouldn't like to be their shoes though.
Drugs. I've seen people stop for a smoke in marathons of all distances. (I, too, had a smoke in the latter stages of the new Korkie Marathon. I was just soooo bored. That's my excuse.) Also John Walker from New Zealand set the world record over a mile in the mid-70's and he was a smoker. Smoking doesn't help your running. This is obvious. But smoking also won't kill you just because you've exerted yourself. I've trained while using steroids to get over injuries faster. All it did was make me too heavy and so I consequently ran slower. Nevertheless I have found useful drugs. Running ultra distances on caffeine does help me. It helps metabolise fat. I also use codeine-based headache tablets if I feel pain while running important races. I've also used Ephedrine (a Bronco-Dilator) with mixed results. It only seems to benefit me if I'm running at my limits and breathing heavily. I don't recommend using any drugs at all. You will get caffeine for free on the road because it is in Coca Cola and they sponsor a lot of racing.
Bizarre Story 1: (Choose your parents well.) I have a friend who ran 3x12km in training, a 10km race, a 20km race and then the 42.2km Wally Hayward Marathon to Qualify for Comrades. That was all he did in an entire year. He therefore only did 118.2km in training to run a 90km race. He finished in 9hours 45 minutes. According to Tim Noakes he should have not have finished the race. There are a few cases I know of similar to that. This proves that genetics, willpower or stupidity can go a long way.
Bizarre Story 2: (A lesson in humiliation.) We were running the "down" comrades and we were only about 15km outside Pietermaritzburg (still running about 10 abreast) when a guy who had the "squirts" made a break into the veld to try and relieve himself. He got 10 meters away from the horde of runners on road but was stopped in his tracks a mere 5 meters away from the long grass that would have preserved his dignity when he couldn't contain himself any longer. The poor feller dropped his pants right there and gave about 5,000 runners a site they would never forget.
Bizarre Story 3: (A commercial) I was running the Wally Hayward Marathon. It was the last opportunity to qualify for Comrades. It was raining cats and dogs. It was an unpleasant experience but the race was a "qualifier" so everyone had a grim look of determination on their faces and no-one was giving an inch. I was passed by a woman. She was huffing and puffing like a locomotive. "She's in a hurry" I says to myself. As she pulled away from me I looked down at her legs. It looked as if she was running in red stockings. Then the colour started running! She was bleeding. Even her blue shorts were so soaked with blood they looked black........this might explain why she was in such a hurry to get to the end of the race. But what would she do at the finish-line? It's riddles like these that keep one's mind occupied at the back of the pack.
The Race : It is a really stupid thing to run 90km. Nevertheless, it is a good thing to attempt if you've never done it before. It'll make a good story for your grandchildren. Seeing as how you probably won't go to war or become a Merchant Seaman.
The race is not as difficult as some people make out. One doesn't feel much for about 70km. There are so many people in the race talking and messing about and there are so many water-tables that the time passes quite quickly. After 70km things tend to get rather serious and one feels the bite in one's legs. But, hell, there are only 20kms left and that's what keeps people going to the end. Just accept that you'll do a lot of walking en route towards the end.
Always bear it in mind that to qualify for Comrades you had to qualify by running 42.2km in less than 4hrs30minutes. If you've done it then you're physically capable of the 90km distance. The rest is just inside your head. A distance is just a distance. There are no demons. hehe....
One thing I do swear by and only reserve for comrades is the Carbo-Load. Here is an example :
No CARBS : Means ABSOLUTELY no Carbohydrates. This is NOT NEGOTIABLE. We’re taking about a serious Meat, Fat and Oil only diet. If you eat a Vegetable it better be a radish. Don’t even look at a Fruit. Drink only Water or Black Tea or Black Coffee. NO Biscuits, Breads, Breads, Puddings, Rice etc....in fact one bite of a Mars Bar or a teaspoon of Sugar will upset the process that you are attempting to achieve.
THE PROCESS : is to put your body into starvation mode. Your body then responds by increasing your Glycogen storage capacity. You will start sweating Ammonia and other noxious gases which will not endear you to your loved ones. And you get bad breath.
But....this will set you up for the Carbo-Loading phase.
CARBS : means the reverse of the above process. The goal being to get 500g of carbohydrates into your system every day, over and above what you will normally eat. This is one packet of Spaghetti a day, or the equivalent thereof, (we’re talking about 500g dry-weight), in addition to what you would normally eat. You’ll find that you have to force-feed yourself continuously throughout the day to get the stuff down. My fave-rave is the baby potatoes that one can microwave in a packet. It is mixed with garlic and herbs and goes down a treat.
Variations would be ; Rice, Potatoes, Porridge, Cereal, Breads etc. Try and avoid too many sweeties until the day before and the day of the race. In which case your preferred poison should be Jelly Babies and Marshmellows. Avoid Chocolate as it contains Milk and Milk creates breathing problems, whether or not you are Lactose-Intolerant
The reason for no meat in the days preceding the race is to empty your gut so that you don’t have shit in the veld on the day. The high-roughage specs on certain days is to achieve a similar end.
RUNNING : the only run you have to do is the 21Km. The rest is for those who feel lost without keeping their wheels greased. Most people do not run at all after the Carbo-Depletion Run, in fact...some people lie in bed for a week trying to build up, and conserve, energy.
Muti Advice :
Take Dolomite or Slow-Mag every day for a month preceding the race. Tank up on Vitamin C and all letters through the alphabet, including Garlic, for the week before the race. You not only have to avoid illness but you have to make sure that the race itself doesn’t hit you too hard...which it will.
After the race you will enter a Mental and Physical Depression of some degree or other. So,.....you should have a Vitamin Cocktail waiting for you at the end of the race. eg. : 2000Mg-5000Mg Vitamin C, Arnica, Vitamin E, Vitamin B Complex, etc...in a liquid form. Go easy on Vitamin A or you’ll go yellow and die.
Repeat this daily for at least a week after the race.
Before the race you might want to do some actual training. Each runner has their own program that will lead them to nirvana. One man's meat is another man's poison. I won't be so bold as to advise anyone what the necessary distances are needed in training.
I have an alternative based on many years of helping novices get through any distance. This would be the litmus test of readiness that is explained below.
HOW DO I KNOW I'M READY TO RUN ANY DISTANCE?
1/ If one wants to know if one is ready to do a standard marathon comfortably then one would take that distance and divide it into 3 parts. Then one attempts to run a 3rd of the distance on 3 consecutive days.
i.e. if one wanted to run 90km in a race then:
Day1 = 30km
Day2 = 30km
Day3 = 30km
And if one gets through this without damaging oneself then one can reasonably expect that running the full distance will be achieved comfortably. (I didn't mention Fast. That is a whole other ball-game.)
2/ Although I have done long runs in preparation for ultras I'm not sure if they bring anything extra apart from acting as a confidence-builder.
I suspect that running 60km in one training session actually generates negative results because of the amount of recovery needed. (It also means giving up an entire day that could be better used otherwise. Whereas running 30km can easily be done after work and before bed-time. i.e. the example laid out in point 1 would allow one to break up a week like this:
Sunday: 42km
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 30km
Wednesday: 30km
Thursday: 30km
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: 42km
.....without taking too much pain in the process. Whereas running 60km on a Sunday would certainly deplete even the most experienced runners for at least a week.
Bearing in mind that if one is Racing (God Forbid! I'd rather leave that to the professionals.)...then one should calculate one week rest for every 10kms run. i.e. a 42km standard marathon at racing pace means you're not going to be able to run at your optimum racing speed for at least another month.
3/ The laziest training method I've ever devised for running any distance up to 90km is to run/jog 10km a day religiously at a comfortable pace without even breaking a sweat. (I also didn't do any special training and I never went beyond a jog in the qualifying marathon.)
Using this method I easily and very comfortably jogged Comrades in 9 hours 45 minutes.
If you think about it; this would imply that almost anyone who can jog for one hour a day can do the Comrades. The reason they don't attempt it is because they don't have the confidence.
BUT: one then has to use one's head. One has to know HOW to run Comrades efficiently.....
Tips, Tricks and Traps in running Comrades
1/ Don't walk at the water tables. Keep jogging through and grab your water as you go. The mathematics are simple. If you walk the tables and stop to chat then you will lose up to a minute per table. Since there are more than 30 tables en route you will lose at least 30 minutes.
One of one's primary skills in running marathons is learning how to drink, and to mix drinks, while one is running.
2/ Don't walk the hills. For the same reason. The only time to walk is if people start passing you while you're running and they're walking. duh!
Even under those circumstances you should think twice about walking. It sets a bad psychological precedent if you start walking and you're only 42km into the race.
Also, you will recover from the marginal effort it will take you to jog the hills. 90kms is an eternity. You will crest the hill and within 1km all the discomfort you had while going over the top will be a distant memory as you concentrate on the distance ahead of you. Plus, you will be building your confidence with each consecutive hill.
3/ Monitor your pace. It is of utmost importance for you to have already learnt how to calculate your average speed by using the distance marker boards and your stopwatch. Your mission is to run steadily no matter how you feel.
The biggest problem that both amateurs and professionals encounter in running long distances is not that they feel crappy and depleted but that they feel strong and over-confident.
Don't Surge!! Your energy has to be measured in teaspoons. If you start too fast, you will pay later. If you surge or race in the middle of the race, you will pay later.
This might sound obvious, but many a Comrades effort has been destroyed by ignoring this principle.
My best run was a nightmare because I kept having to hold myself back and stop myself from running like a lunatic when I felt I could conquer the world.
4/ Monitor your own chemistry.
a/ When the endorphins kick in you might feel over-confident. With the disastrous consequences mentioned above.
b/ When your glycogen levels are depleted you won't think straight. This can lead to "Runner's Rage" or lead to Depression or simply to stop you from being able to calculate your splits. The most common way to monitor glycogen levels is to keep calculating average speed and splits with the stopwatch.
The moment you cannot do the calculations needed will be your first warning sign. By this time you are already in trouble because it is difficult to get the glycogen level up again while still in a race. This is where wisdom plays a role.
Accept the fact that you are already insane and that your primary goal is to keep the intake of sugars up. No matter how sick you are of the Coke and Water mix you've been chugging. And to Keep Running Forward.
c/ When you're dehydrated it's time to step off the road. But to avoid this scenario it would be wise to drink some water at each table. You can, of course, over-hydrate. This would also necessitate you stepping off the road.
Everyone has their own level of water needs. Be wise. The hotter the day, The more water will be needed. But don't force yourself to drink if you're not up to it. The only time to force liquids is before the race. Same as the eating regime. When you're running you want a state of balance.
Most of your eating and drinking problems will occur before you actually stand at the starting line.
The difficult thing is to get into the habit of drinking in the early stages of the race (while you're still feeling hydrated from the water you tanked up on before the race) so that you don't die of dehydration later in the day.
It's easier to run into the bushes to pee during the race than it is to accept a intravenous drip at the end of a race. Just ask Alberto Salazar, who had to be brought back from the dead on more than one occasion.
5/ Run with a friend. If at all possible, it is a good idea to run (and train) with a buddy. The conversation will keep you distracted and ±10 hours on the road is long time to keep silent. Even the professionals at the head of the race talk to each other. What else is there to do?
6/ Have a loved one at the finish line. Nothing is quite as motivating as having someone waiting expectantly for you at the end of the race. My worst Comrades was when I didn't have anyone waiting for me. I hit a bad patch at 36km and simply stepped off the road and had a cigarette while waiting for the buses that were picking up stragglers. It just all seemed so pointless.
If, on the other hand, there had been someone waiting for me I would have persevered and made the distance in rather good time I am sure. That year was the best I had ever had up to that point. I had just run a personal best for the 42km standard marathon within the 56km Two Oceans Marathon. I was running well within my capabilities. But my mind wasn't there on the day.
7/ Realise that what you are doing is heroic. In spite of me treating the whole Comrades exercise lightly during this essay you should be under no illusions regarding the uniqueness of what you are attempting.
Just completing the Comrades puts you into a rather special category of human heroic human achievement. Since the dawn of mankind the amount of people who have run 90km still only numbers in the thousands.
More people have got PhDs at Universities.
More people have been CEOs of Multinational Corporations.
More people have been Multi-Millionaires.
More people have been members of Royal Families.
Running the Comrades makes you special. Never forget that.
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For more rational advice on training for Ultras see:
Ultra running Resource (UltRunR) Site , The Long Run , Comrades Training , My most Unforgettable UltraMarathon