East London and its citizenry delivered immaculately for the 70.3 Ironman last weekend and there is every reason to believe that locals will reach to even greater heights for their most favoured event, The Discovery Surfers Challenge.
With only two weeks to go it would be prudent to take some lessons from what the Ironman contestants were confronted with.
The one thing we do know is that on race day, February 14, we will be confronted by weather. We just can never be sure what kind and that makes it imperative that training is done regardless of the weather. Fair weather runners are unlikely to reach their full potential if on race day they have adverse conditions to perform in.
The one sure aspect to be aware of is that the humidity will be high, regardless of overhead conditions, wind or rain.
It is therefore best to train at humid times of day so as to know what to expect and how one’s body is likely to react. Surprises are not ideal for race day.
The race has been run with strong following easterly winds that have propelled runners, and more especially paddlers from Kwelera to Nahoon on many occasions, but every once in a while a strong westerly has cropped up and while it may have a cooling effect it slows the pace dramatically.
The race is being run on an outgoing tide, which though not ideal, it means the underfoot conditions will be far superior to some of the extreme high tides the Surfers has endured over the years, 2010 in particular.
The week ahead is the last one that can add value to training and overall fitness and a few sharpening sessions should be added.
A perfect test of pace and endurance would be to run either a club time-trial in the week ahead or put in a couple of fast parkrun outings over the two weekends that remain. Over and above that one interval or fartlek session per week would be perfect. All other runs should be dead slow.
For good reading on the historical aspects of Surfers runners should visit the website www.surferschallenge.co.za and for the latest developments visit the facebook page.
ENTRIES:
Entries are literally pouring in to outlets such as Tribal at The Hub in Beacon Bay, Sportsmans and online. The discount price is available at the points of entry as well as online until Tuesday next week.
VISITORS:
Yolande MacLean will be a new celebrity visitor to Surfers this year. She is a top distance runner and much is expected of her in 2015. MacLean won the Johnson Crane Marathon in Johannesburg on Sunday in a time of 2:46 and recently placed second at the DisChem Half-Marathon in 81:26.
Myrette Filmalter will not be here this year as she is expecting her first child.
Meanwhile, the old Comrades duo of Bruce Fordyce and Shaun Meiklejohn will be back for more on the 17.5km Challenge.
Closing in on big day
With only two weeks to go it would be prudent to take some lessons from what the Ironman contestants were confronted with.
The one thing we do know is that on race day, February 14, we will be confronted by weather. We just can never be sure what kind and that makes it imperative that training is done regardless of the weather. Fair weather runners are unlikely to reach their full potential if on race day they have adverse conditions to perform in.
The one sure aspect to be aware of is that the humidity will be high, regardless of overhead conditions, wind or rain.
It is therefore best to train at humid times of day so as to know what to expect and how one’s body is likely to react. Surprises are not ideal for race day.
The race has been run with strong following easterly winds that have propelled runners, and more especially paddlers from Kwelera to Nahoon on many occasions, but every once in a while a strong westerly has cropped up and while it may have a cooling effect it slows the pace dramatically.
The race is being run on an outgoing tide, which though not ideal, it means the underfoot conditions will be far superior to some of the extreme high tides the Surfers has endured over the years, 2010 in particular.
The week ahead is the last one that can add value to training and overall fitness and a few sharpening sessions should be added.
A perfect test of pace and endurance would be to run either a club time-trial in the week ahead or put in a couple of fast parkrun outings over the two weekends that remain. Over and above that one interval or fartlek session per week would be perfect. All other runs should be dead slow.
For good reading on the historical aspects of Surfers runners should visit the website www.surferschallenge.co.za and for the latest developments visit the facebook page.
ENTRIES:
Entries are literally pouring in to outlets such as Tribal at The Hub in Beacon Bay, Sportsmans and online. The discount price is available at the points of entry as well as online until Tuesday next week.
VISITORS:
Yolande MacLean will be a new celebrity visitor to Surfers this year. She is a top distance runner and much is expected of her in 2015. MacLean won the Johnson Crane Marathon in Johannesburg on Sunday in a time of 2:46 and recently placed second at the DisChem Half-Marathon in 81:26.
Myrette Filmalter will not be here this year as she is expecting her first child.
Meanwhile, the old Comrades duo of Bruce Fordyce and Shaun Meiklejohn will be back for more on the 17.5km Challenge.
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