Is it too late to qualify for the Comrades Marathon?

Is it too late to qualify for the Comrades Marathon?

Welcome to the latest episode of Ask Coach Parry. Today we answer the question submitted by Lawrence. He says that he is training for the Comrades Marathon and he is following your bronze medal programme.

As of yet he has not qualified. He wants to know when is the best time to qualify - does he leave it till March, is that too late, is that the right time, what should he do?

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Brad Brown: Welcome to the latest episode of Ask Coach Parry. Today we answer the question submitted by Lawrence. He says that he is training for the Comrades Marathon and he is following your bronze medal programme.

As of yet he has not qualified. He wants to know when is the best time to qualify - does he leave it till March, is that too late, is that the right time, what should he do?

Lindsey: The best time to qualify is as early as possible. I say that with an asterix, because you should be ready to qualify. So, the earliest that you are ready to qualify is the best time to qualify.

The later you leave it, the more you just need to be satisfied with the fact that you did qualify, and not worry too much about where you are going to be standing and what your seeding will be come race day.

That becomes difficult for people who really need to put their back into it to run 4.55. But if you do fall into that category, which I don't think you do because you're following the bronze programme which hopefully means you are capable of a sub 4 1/2.

So, if you then go and run a 4.50 to qualify, you should be fine and you should be able to continue training. But if you end up being in a space where you actually need to run really hard and dig really deep just to get your qualifier, then you have to make sure that you take a week off.

That's regardless of when you do your qualifier. Whether you do your qualifier in March or April, if you have run too hard then you have to take a week off, reload and start training again.

The fact that you are following the bronze programme tells me that you should be ready to pretty much be doing a qualifier middle to end of February, and that is when I would do it.

February you can probably risk it and race a little hard, take a week off and then get back on the programme.

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