Should I attempt a Bronze Comrades Marathon finish this year?

Should I attempt a Bronze Comrades Marathon finish this year?

Welcome to the latest edition of Ask Coach Parry. Today's question comes from Hugo. He gives us a bit of background. He says he's 47, been running for just under 2 years and he has never been a runner before that. He Completed the Comrades Marathon last year in a time of 11.42, with a Kaapsehoop qualifier of 4.15.

He also ran the Pick n Pay in 4.40 and the City to City in 5.35 and he had a good deal of injury time in March and April. He had a few injuries after the Comrades Marathon, so he started this years preparation in poor condition.

For 2015 he is following your bronze programme religiously. He qualified at the gift of the givers with a time of 4.31 and a better time was honestly not possible. Johnson Crane half was done in 2.02, and he also pretty much did that flat out.

After listening to podcasts and the all the things that you said at the road shows, the above makes bronze unlikely because Gift of the Givers and Johnson Crane are rather flat and the Comrades Marathon not so much. So this is what he is asking:

What can he do in the next three months to improve the situation and, more importantly, what must be done between June and December this year if his marathon time is to be reduced to 4 hours or below for next year?

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Brad Brown: Welcome to the latest edition of Ask Coach Parry. Today's question comes from Hugo. He gives us a bit of background. He says he's 47, been running for just under 2 years and he has never been a runner before that. He Completed the Comrades Marathon last year in a time of 11.42, with a Kaapsehoop qualifier of 4.15.

He also ran the Pick n Pay in 4.40 and the City to City in 5.35 and he had a good deal of injury time in March and April. He had a few injuries after the Comrades Marathon, so he started this years preparation in poor condition.

For 2015 he is following your bronze programme religously. He qualified at the gift of the givers with a time of 4.31 and a better time was honestly not possible. Johnson Crane half was done in 2.02, and he also pretty much did that flat out.

After listening to podcasts and the all the things that you said at the road shows, the above makes bronze unlikely because Gift of the Givers and Johnson Crane are rather flat and the Comrades Marathon not so much. So this is what he is asking:

What can he do in the next three months to improve the situation and, more importantly, what must be done between June and December this year if his marathon time is to be reduced to 4 hours or below for next year?

A plan of action

Lindsey:     At the moment he is sitting on an 11.15 as a finishing time, so it is unlikely that he is going to go under 11 hours. And unfortunately between now and the Comrades Marathon he doesn't really and shouldn't really have another go at running a faster marathon.

What he can do is there are time trials which he needs to run on that bronze programme. If he underneath the recommended time trial times, what it will then show is that he does have the potential for the marathon that he needs to run a sub 4.24 marathon.

If he has the potential to run a sub 4.24 marathon then it may be worth the risk of going for the sub 11. What I would ask him to do is either ask this question again on this forum in around the beginning of May with his time trail time, or to come and see me at the expo and then we can discuss the options that are available for him and what he can hope for.

The better thing for him to do is just to go out there, enjoy his Comrades Marathon, get his 11.15 to 11.20. Then, as he rightly points out, from June to December to work on a plan to specifically get faster over 10's, 21's, and then ultimately the marathon. Part of that will be him looking after himself after the Comrades Marathon.

If he looks after himself after the Comrades Marathon - recovers properly - then goes into preparing himself for faster 10's, 21's and marathons, and can train injury free through that period, then he will become a much better runner. The reality is that is that at the moment he is not a bronze medal.

He is a hopeful, but he doesn't really have the potential as it stands right now. So chances are that in going for the bronze in remaining injury free lies his best weapon, in terms of improving his running. Once you have been injury free over a period of 6 - 12 months - that is when you can look at adding things like speed work, hill training and the like to make you a better and faster runner.

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