Today on Ask Coach Parry we have a Comrades Marathon question submitted by Gustav Roos. He says that he has been running sub 3 marathons for 4 years now, with a pb of 2:47. He has however not been able to run a silver at the Comrades Marathon, he wants to know what is he doing wrong?

Brad Brown: Today on Ask Coach Parry we have a Comrades Marathon question submitted by Gustav Roos. He says that he has been running sub 3 marathons for 4 years now, with a pb of 2:47. He has however not been able to run a silver at the Comrades Marathon, he wants to know what is he doing wrong?

Lindsey Parry: Giving a pb is very limiting. Because we don’t know what sort of mileage he’s running those pb’s off, what sort of mileage he is doing for the Comrades Marathon, is he following the Comrades Marathon silver programme, etc.

Assuming that he is getting things right in training, that he is not starting the race from doing too much mileage, that he is not starting the race with an injury – then I can only look at race day strategy.

Because with a 2:47 he should be running fairly close to sub 7 hours. In fact, he should easily be running a sub 7 hour. He should be running around about 6:50. It is quite possible that he is going out too fast. We also spoke recently about a run/walk strategy.

What should he do?

Now for a 2:47 marathoner and potential 6:50 Comrades Marathon finisher, he is probably not a guy that would typically do a run/walk strategy. But the fact that he has done 4 Comrades Marathons, and not got a silver, means that just from getting it right on the day point of view – he might want to target himself as a 7 hour, 7:10.

Throw in a walk break every 10, 13, maybe even 15km’s with a couple of extra walk breaks on the big climbs – and that should see him fresh enough to get him across the line. Of course, if he gave us what sort of mileage he is doing, perhaps we may see in there that he is just a little light on mileage.

That is why he is running out of steam. He is not setting an appropriate goal. When we set a time of 6:50, we have got to take a marathon into account and the amount of training. So, it could be that with the amount of training he is doing he could be better off aiming for something much lower.

But those are only questions we can ask if he sends through a bit more information.