Having completed my 7th Comrades Marathon on 11 June 2023, I’ve had a few weeks to reflect on what was an amazing run and overall experience chasing a PB and a different medal category.  Had you told me a year ago that I would run under 9 hours at the 2023 Comrades Marathon, I would have dismissed you with a view that I needed two years at least to achieve that.  That is how much confidence – or lack of – I had about myself.  I remember posting about my age and how I would not be able to run the fast times I did a few years back on Instagram and thinking back at that now, I realise and appreciate the power of spoken words because this is the narrative of other people that I took in and believed.  I recall a person very close to me saying “you will never be able to run that time now (sub 3h40) you’re older now.” Just this thinking and how I ended up believing it, is worthy of a separate blog and I promise to put one together.  It will be long, in ‘chapters’ because it has been a journey worth documenting.  On this blog however, I want to capture some of the elements that contributed to probably the best Comrades run I’ve ever had, things that I think worked to my advantage this year, and how I raced the 2023 Comrades Marathon.

“You will never be able to run that time now; you’re older.”

Comrades Marathon 2022: Looking Back

I lined up for the 2022 edition of the Comrades Marathon with a few niggles and evident weaknesses in my legs.  Two months before the race I had picked up an ITB on my right leg which was so intense that at times I felt like my leg would collapse during a run.  This meant that at the time that I was supposed to increase training mileage and include more long runs, I had to rest and try and ‘fix’ myself for a chance to line up in August.

I was able to line up, full of confidence that I would at least run a Robert Mtshali medal time and although my target was a sub 9h30 time, I finished in good spirit in 9:55:18.  Unfortunately, after climbing the seemingly never-ending hills of the “down run”, the ITB flared up around 65km and would bring me to an almost collapse as I continued pushing especially on the flatter parts of the route.  Notwithstanding the challenges I faced, I had a great run, and I was emotionally and mentally present in the race. I focused on positive energy and each kilometre behind me was an encouraging force that propelled me to the finish at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.

Following the race, I focused on addressing the ITB and some other injuries and niggles that developed because of racing with an ITB.  Sadly, as the ITB healed, and I started getting into the next block of training, I developed shin splints and plantar fasciitis on both heels. The first steps in the morning were the most painful ones and the plantar fasciitis has become the most stubborn injury to heal and even with various interventions and with less than a month to the 2023 Comrades Marathon edition I still could not shake it off and with only right heel healed, I had to resign to the reality that I would line up with the injury which at this point I refused to call it that – an injury – and preferred to refer to it as a niggle.  I did this for my mind.  I had trained diligently to allow anything to stand in the way of the goals I had set myself.  I had also run the Two Oceans Marathon in April with that throbbing pain from 13km till finish and although the post-race rest at the hotel that evening was a painful one, the satisfaction of having ran according to plan was enough to sweeten the pain.

So, besides the plantar fasciitis, I felt in good shape and strong on the legs and core and had no other issues to deal with, but I was aware of the possibility of the plantar negatively affecting my run also because Comrades is a much longer distance.  I tried a few interventions leading to the race, but the time was not sufficient to rid of it.

Training for 2023 Comrades Marathon

Unlike my other Comrades Marathon editions’ training, I really prepared for this one and incorporated variants of training methods, such as, track sessions, long runs, fartleks, and very slow runs.  On the flip slide though is that I didn’t do as much strength training at the gym as I would have liked and done before. I did however do some amount of body weight strength training with exercises recommended by my Biokinetics.  I value strength training and I owe my 2019 Comrades medal to strength training and incorporating lots of speed work on the treadmill, guided by Johno Mentjies of JEFF training.  So, in a way I have ventured vastly with training for Comrades, and I believe I am at a point where I understand what works for me and will certainly be incorporating the great parts of what has worked over the years in my training going forward.

I also followed a structured training program and followed it diligently.  I gave feedback on how I was feeling and tried to get as much rest as possible in between training sessions.  I will elaborate on this on my detailed blog. My runs were usually very slow, saving pace and energy for track days.  My focus was not on recording fast pace on normal training runs but getting the quality of the run, i.e., running through the tough sections of the route, correct posture, and running the entire route with as less walks as possible.  On days where I could not hold a descent pace, I allowed myself to walk and removed the pressure of always having ‘great’ runs.  Surprisingly the runs where I wanted to call Uber and didn’t, were the most satisfying ones. There were days where I did not want to train, be it because of fatigue or just sheer laziness. I quickly learnt to differentiate between the two feelings and rested when fatigued and on lazy days just pushed to go for a walk or half the session. In a way, I trained myself not to easily give in to a weak mind.

Towards April I switched my Strava account to private because I wanted to lessen the pressure of having to post fast times or the usual pressure from the “elapsed time vs. moving time” Strava cops. This approach worked for me, and I would switch off my watch even if I had recorded a 9,82km instead of 10km.  I also viewed other people’s runs very little to avoid feeling like I was not doing enough. This change allowed me to focus on my training program and my best runs were for me to celebrate and on bad days I was able to get ‘disappointed’ with no pressure. Yes, we can debate that these are self-imposed pressures, but the reality is that they exist and each one of us has a different way of handling them, and it’s ok.

Long Runs

I ran several long runs at a slow pace, averaging at 6’30/km mostly. It became an effort of running the distance and not the pace.  I paid attention to how my body was feeling, rested when I really felt tired, stretched a lot, foam rolled (although not enough), and implemented various recovery methods. I prefer showering over soaking in the bathtub, but I learnt to take regular salt and ice baths for recovery. I also used long runs to establish my energy levels so during any long run longer than 3 hours, I paid attention and noted when I would normally go into a dip in energy and focus, for example.  This would later help me establish when I need to take a supplement during a race and, I could differentiate between general fatigue when racing and when it’s a bad day.  At first, I was not really enjoying long runs, I was catching up to years of not doing much of these and relearning to stay on the road that long and because I was training alone, I also had to get used to the ‘loneliness’ of solo training. I incorporated road and trail for long runs, but trail proved the toughest.  I would cover around 30km over 4h30 to 5hours depending on the trail profile and conditions.  I also ran less races and even when I did, I opted to pace others than to race.

What I enjoyed the most though were heat runs.  I would start most of the long runs around 11am or midday.  I’m not sure when this love of heat runs started and how, but I thoroughly enjoyed the mental challenge that running at 1pm on a scorching day brought.  I look back and sometimes feel like this was my own way of dealing with some of my emotional pains, and triumphing over them just translated into heat runs form.  At one garage they would eventually allow me to take water or energy drink and return later to pay.  I did go back after returning from Durban to thank them and show them my medal.  The longest training run I did was the Awesome Threesome 60km in April and that incorporated practising race day nutrition, trying my race day shoe and gear, and running at 6’min/km. I thoroughly enjoyed that run albeit being the toughest route I had run during this training block. I also ran most of the route alone. It was this training run that gave me confidence that a sub 9 run was possible.

Nutrition

Between September and December 2022, I watched what I ate and although I still had carbs and drank alcohol, I paid attention not to overindulge. The mistake I was making though was ‘rewarding’ myself a little too much on those cheat days which was counterproductive. When I began my base training in December though I quickly realized how heavy I was, as my speed sessions sounded like an elephant stomping wine grapes. I had to change my eating habits and got rid of cheat days and just focused on making slight adjustments and stayed away from fast food.  I focused on eating for energy and with alcohol I opted for red wine instead of spirits.  The energy levels increased and gradually the weight came down, but I was also very careful not to drop it too fast. I ate a lot of pap, fish, chicken, and greens.  I also ventured into beetroot which was not my favourite but was highly recommended and to my surprise I enjoyed it and still eat it frequently. The liking of pap really came as a surprise, but I found it very filling especially on weekends when I was putting in high mileage. I also increased my water intake.

All these minor changes helped with sustaining high energy levels to carry me through consistent training.

Race Week and Race Day

For me Comrades Marathon race day remains the easiest of everything about Comrades Marathon.  The many months of training is the most challenging part. Over the years I have learnt that Comrades decides for you on the day how things will unfold.  I know this sounds strange but not everyone who does not achieve his/her target necessarily did anything wrong, but a surprise is the nature of this race.  In 2018, as fit as a fiddle, my race started unravelling around 12km and it would totally collapse around 20km.  I walked the route a lot that year.  I just could not warm up and could not settle into a comfortable run.  I tried every trick I could think of, but I was done. A year in which I was probably best at chance to run a sub-9; I finished 10h43.

This year, much like last year I was calm and had my racing strategy all planned out.  I also made the commitment that since I had started my training wanting to run a sub-9, I was not going to back down from that commitment.  I kept myself accountable by posting on my social media page that I would, for the first time, race Comrades.  Two weeks before the race I stopped eating red meat, a personal decision based on how I normally feel days after eating red meat.  I gave up dairy the week of the race and continued to eat my normal meals, including pap.  I did not go the traditional route of pasta but ate greens and continued mainly eating fish.  I also increased some of my supplement intake, specifically iron.  I had been taking a monthly shot of multivitamins and further increased my water intake and yes, I stopped the red wine for two weeks.  So generally, I felt very light and in control on race week.  I was also mentally checked in.  I lined up having dealt with many psychological challenges I had in 2022.  I was in a good space except that I so wanted my brothers to be there on the road supporting as they did in 2022 but unfortunately, they were not able to come support me this year due to other pressing family demands.

The night before I slept peacefully and only woke up when the alarm went off.  I was excited about my race gear and felt good.  I made sure I do the race ritual – bathroom and all – and kept warm at the start.  Not even the disappointment of not meeting my friend Asanda at the start, whom I had planned to run with – would disturb how I felt.  As the gun went off, I said a little prayer and remembered all the months of training, the promise I made my support, and what achieving my target would mean.  I ran a totally controlled race and even when I hit the rough patches and reached out to my friend’s hand for support, I never doubted my ability to reach Kingsmead Stadium under 9 hours. Even with sub 9 busses passing me very early on in the race, I remained disciplined to the plan and confident in the training I had done. I paid attention to the pace and the plan and stuck to it. I remembered Bruce Fordyce’s words to get the win first and the record will come if it does. In my case, it was securing the Bill Rowan medal first and by how much was secondary.

My running club had support points along the route, so I had placed my nutritional stuff at each point.  I also had one or two people who were on the route whom I had requested to bring my favourite meal when running, DanUp!

 

I paid attention to how I was feeling and ate and drank as needed.  It all worked, I was never hungry and never hit a wall…the day was just long, which is normal.

Fortunately, I was reunited with Asanda at around 29km and from there we worked together to get the plan executed as we agreed. She was more technical and calculating (because me and calculations, wow!), I was more managing the runs and walks and the racing strategy overall. My breathing was easy, my legs remained with me throughout the race even when I thought I could no longer climb some hills. The plantar fasciitis pain was there but not so intense, mostly I ignored it, my quads were strong on the downs, but we controlled how we descended so we would be able to still run on flats.  We had planned to be on 6’00min/km by 18km but I had realized very early in the race that this needed to change and had adjusted to be slightly at faster pace by then because I was aware that we would lose pace around Drummond and Botha’s Hill.  This became the key to us achieving an ‘effortless’ Bill Rowan medal.  We were never under pressure, as we had not cooked up the pace.  We were almost running like we were doing a long run.

We targeted Joe Faber’s bus to have it behind us until very late in the race as we trusted his pacing to align with ours.  When he caught up with us, we adjusted our strategy so that on downs we would be ahead of him and on hills we would allow him to lead as he is stronger on this.  At this point we were running with two other runners, a club mate Lawrence and a friend – Sivuyile – whom till that moment, I had only known through social media. We were in great company.  We would keep Joe’s bus in sight but never chased him.  On summiting Cowies Hill, we knew the target was within reach, but we were also aware that things could go wrong.  I recall saying to Asanda, “it’s in the bag, but it’s fragile”.  Even before this moment, I never once entertained not achieving the target, I refused to settle for less.  I had invested in it too much, emotionally, and more.  We nursed it with tightly controlled runs and walks and in the last 3km we took the lead from Joe’s bus and chased our planned time of 8h55 finish. 

With my book handed to me in the last kilometre for Literacy 4 Life campaign, I re-pinned my ripped race bib, we wiped our faces, encouraged each other, and arrived to a packed and welcoming Kingsmead Stadium crowd.

“It’s in the bag, but it’s fragile.”

We had done it! We had raced Comrades Marathon as planned.  I saw the finish line, the clock above and I was reduced to a walk towards it.  Everything I had done leading to this moment came rushing through me in an adrenaline feeling and I allowed myself to look at the crowds raise my hands and give thanks.  An 8hours and 56 minutes journey of self-affirmation.  The moment after crossing the finish line and getting my medal is still a vivid memory, the blood rush and adrenaline was too intense.

A month has passed since then, and I have two versions of what running a Bill Rowan medal means to me. This blog partly explains it – hard work, commitment, and support. 

During the medal tour, with my medal dangling in the car rear-view mirror, I had an epiphany which then became the second version. I have a conviction that the run and the Bill Rowan achievement were God’s response to ………. (you’ll have to wait). Blog in draft.

I dedicate this one to: