CC Comrades Corner - Andrew Dollenberg

We are nearly through crunch-month, and everyone is probably feeling a little tired, sore, irritable, and generally gatvol for running. Don't worry - that's how its supposed to be.

I trust everyone made the most of the recent long weekend, and similar use is planned to be made of the coming Easter weekend too. Long weekends are made for distance runners, and being perfectly timed, these long weekends are excellent for Comrades preparation.

March and early April is the time for increased mileage, and getting the legs, mind and body used to spending long periods of time out on the road. The best way to do this is of course through long training runs. I believe the human body is capable of doing much more than we ask of it, but it is our mind that quits way too early. So these long runs are intended to get the mind used to running on tired legs.

Long training runs take their toll on the body, and as mentioned previously, rest and recovery is just as important a part of your training as what running is. Bearing this in mind, it should be remembered then that these long runs will require you to rest and recover before benefiting from the next training session. That considered, I believe it is more beneficial to run consecutive days for shorter distances than to cram all the mileage into one morning. Back-to-back 21km runs are probably more beneficial to your preparation, at this stage, than what a marathon would be. Using the long weekends then, and running 20-30km on each of 3 consecutive days will certainly help getting the head ready for the first weekend in June. If on the last day of the long weekend, you arrive tired and stiff at the start of your training run, and then you still go run 20km, you have done it right. The first day back at work after the long weekend can be used to relax and recover.

As they say: "Long distance running is 90% mental and the other half is physical"

Only 3 more weeks until the 6-week taper begins. Not that far now, so keep running, push through the fatigue, and remember why you are doing this.

Happy Feet!

Regards,
Andrew 

CC Comrades Corner - Murray Anderson-Ogle's 2011 Comrades Pt. 3

Murray blogged about his preparation for 2011 Comrades on Runner's World.It was his first and like this year's run also UP. Truly inspirational! We will be posting his blog entries as part of our build up to Comrades 2013.

Facing The Gym

FEBRUARY 14, 2011

In my last entry, I was mulling over the idea of running the Johnsson Crane marathon. It seemed like a good time for a marathon and a good place to gauge my fitness. A time to bellow my own battle cries for the months ahead. Maybe it’s a guy thing, kind of like marking your own territory.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my body felt like France in World War I. A dug-up mess, an endless stalemate between evenly matched insurgencies. The insurgents in this case were painkillers, antibiotics, and vitamin C against an insidious and obstinate infection that, truthfully, had been aided by me and running. Eventually, an armistice was called, and by Friday evening, I felt strong enough for the race on the Sunday.

I lined up at the start. I realised that I was alone in this. At the Soweto Marathon, I started with friends and the edge of my anxiety dulled. Today, my friends are somewhere in this throng of road martyrs. All I have for companionship is the sweet intoxicating smell of Vaseline washing over me. I feel like a junkie swimming in a sea of crack. I am able to smell and see the goodies but I just can’t get to them. In my case, I had forgotten Vaseline but I had taped my nipples. One has to be thankful for small mercies in life.

The race went surprisingly well. I did a sub 4-hour, which was a personal best. The great thing about new challenges and new activities is that in the beginning it’s easy to set attainable targets and reach them.
But I want to improve, and I buy the sappy Nike messages of; stronger, fitter, faster and the ‘new you’ campaign from Virgin Active. In admitting my ambitions, I have enlisted the help of a super athlete friend, Ange Bott, who is a personal trainer and has done the full Iron Man and run the Johnsson Crane in 3:27.
Ange obliged and drew up a 12-session strength and fat-loss plan. I am a little weak after several years of slothfulness and blissful slumber. The ‘plan’ has sat in electronic purgatory for a week or so, relegated to the recesses of my Gmail account. It stalked me across the electronic divide for days. On Tuesday, I submitted to it.

The major reason for my tortoise-like start to gymming has been the lack of finding a suitable location. I have always held a healthy sense of fear and bewilderment of the gym. I was so puzzled by the craze that I even shot a photo documentary on the whole sub-culture.

I tried to join the independent non-multinational and spread the love around. The bad breath of the salesman, stale surroundings and prohibitive joining fee squashed that idea, and I went willingly to Virgin Active and got a shiny red bag for my troubles.

Tomorrow is D-day for session 1 in the gym. Yesterday was my mid-week 1-hour 20 and tonight is time trial. Maybe, in a few days or months I’ll be wearing a wife beater, gazing longingly at myself in the mirror and saying things like “hey bru, how good do my pecks look in this.”

Part 1

Part 2

Upcoming races

Remember to submit your entries for Elands and Sudwala! Both races are pre-entry only with limited entries.

Download your entries here:
Elands Valley 42km & 21km
Sudwala Screaming Monster 21km

Easter weekend long runs - change of schedule.

Please note that changes have been made to the Easter Weekend schedule:

WhenFriday, Mar 29, 2013

WhereLVCC CLUB HOUSE 5:00

DescriptionLVCC - back of Enos Nelsville - Ilanga petrol station - Belladonna - West End - Enos - LVCC 20km

WhenSaturday, Mar 30, 2013

WhereVirgin Active

DescriptionVIRGIN GYM 5:00 - to Sasol garage outside White River and return back to Gym +- 30km

WhenMonday, Apr 1, 2013

WhereHalls Gateway

DescriptionHalls Gateway 6:00 - across to Mataffin & through to Sterkspruit road out & back +- 30km

Also im not here this weekend but have spoken to Marie-Louise & Juan and they will be organising the runs between them so any questions can be asked to them as well.

Thanks & regards,

Paul Norman

Bateleur Estate Memorial Run Results & Pictures

Please visit www.raceresults.co.za for full 10 & 21km results.

Images: Andrew Dollenberg

How to stay up to date using google calendar and your smart phone and/or tablet

If you would like to see our calendar on your smartphone and/or tablet you need a gmail account.

If you have a gmail account please send your gmail address to lvccrun@gmail.com under the heading 'sync calendar'. We will then share the calendar with you and all events will be displayed on your google calendar.

To be able to see the google calendar info on your standard smartphone/tablet's calendar: 

You need to visit the Google Sync site where you simply follow the steps. They have made it nice and simple to synchronize your google calendar with your Android or iOS phone/tablet. There is also an option to synchronize it with a desktop program.

Instructions on how to sync a Windows OS smartphone / tablet here.

Instructions on how to sync a Blackberry smartphone / tablet, here.

Another option is to install a google application:

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