This is Ask Coach Parry and we answer the Comrades Marathon question of Adriaan Venter. He says he had a fall this last Sunday and he has injured his ankle. The doctor has said that he reckons it is a grade 2 sprain. He is off training for 4 weeks and he has been referred to a physio.

In general he is quite fit and he trains all year round and he did the ironman 70.3 in Buffalo City, East London in January. He has completed a number of runs between 20 and 26km's between September and February.

There is approximately 12 weeks to go till the Comrades Marathon after his break - will that be enough time or should he give up and focus on something else?

Brad Brown: This is Ask Coach Parry and we answer the Comrades Marathon question of Adriaan Venter. He says he had a fall this last Sunday and he has injured his ankle. The doctor has said that he reckons it is a grade 2 sprain. He is off training for 4 weeks and he has been referred to a physio.

In general he is quite fit and he trains all year round and he did the ironman 70.3 in Buffalo City, East London in January. He has completed a number of runs between 20 and 26km's between September and February.

There is approximately 12 weeks to go till the Comrades Marathon after his break - will that be enough time or should he give up and focus on something else?

What are the options?

Lindsey: That injury is not too serious. It does require some rest. It shouldn't require the full four weeks of full rest. In conjunction with your physio, start adding in some cycling as soon as you can and as soon as it is pain free.

That will at least help you to hang onto your fitness. As long as you are training by early March again you have still got plenty of time to build up, qualify, and train for the Comrades Marathon.

You will have to see how that initial build up goes and you can't do it too quickly anyway - regardless of the ankle injury you should build up at a pretty easy pace. You don't just jump straight back to 20 - 26km training runs.

Start off within the 6 - 8km range and steadily build up from there. That should give you just about enough time to qualify, and just about enough time to finish. But you are going to have to gauge it a little bit as you go.

If the Comrades Marathon is not meant to be, that build up will still allow you to get into a position where you can do the 70.3 Durban, or midlands ultra at the end of the year. Something else. And then focus on the Comrades Marathon 2016.