Benoni Northerns Athletic Club

1. To be a Comrades runner you need to decide on your goal for the race. We all have different goals and abilities. Running is a sport where you get nothing for nothing. Lots of hard work needs to be done to achieve the goals you have set for yourself (especially to finish Comrades). Your hard work will pay off if your training is planned well and performed sensibly.
2. I feel that your first priority will be is to get yourself a log book and a running program so you can do some forward planning. My Comrades planning starts in January where I start looking at all the races I feel I need to run. I normally run a couple of 21 k and 32 k races and about 8 marathons and 4 ultra marathons in my training. These races all get entered into my log book as goals with planned finishing times.
3. With the advantage of entering races on line, I pre-enter most of these races and this forces me to go and do them. What better way to do my long runs where you get enough to drink, some company with friends and maybe even a T-shirt at the end.
4. I also plan my weekly training in advance. All my training, type of session and total millage that I plan per week is pre-entered into my log book. The nice thing with this is that I have a goal for the week and I can tick off all the sessions as I go along and have some sense of achievement when all my goals have been reached for the week. This gets me into a positive frame of mind and gets me looking forward to the next weeks training.
5. A very important thing you must remember is that if you miss any of your sessions for any reason, DON’T TRY TO CATCH-UP THE LOST MILLAGE!!! You can maybe add 2 k’s to you next run or plan a morning and evening double session into the next 2 to 3 days. Don’t add your lost millage to your next session.
6. I feel that any Comrades runner should run at least 3 to 4 marathons and 2 ultra marathons in their build up. You need these races so that you can start experimenting with your best race day nutrition. What you eat can be very important. Note into your log book what you had for supper the night before a race, your breakfast and what, when and how much you drank and ate during the race. Also test to see if your Gu’s, Myprodol, Spasmed, Etc. worked for you and at what intervals you consumed them. If you had a good run, then stick to that eating and drinking plan and try it again on your next run. If you had a bad run, then change your eating plan slightly until you find what works for you. Now you see why I believe that you should run at least a hand full of longer races to get your eating and drinking plan as close to perfect as you can and with that get some long runs in before the Comrades. This knowledge that you know what and when you need to eat and drink will take a lot of unnecessary pressure off you on the big day.
7. I believe that 2 quality sessions must be planed per week. These sessions are not long runs but they focus on speed only (plus minus 5 to 8 k,s total). They can be anything from time trials, hill repeats, fartlec or track work. These sessions need to be done at good effort from start to finish and they will show you an improvement in your speed and strength within a couple of weeks.
8. You also need to plan 1 or 2 races in your build up where you force yourself out of your comfort zone. Pick a race where you run on your own and at PB pace. If you blow, so be it. But if you run a PB, great, what better way to create a positive mind set.
9. Rest is also a very important session in your training. My rest day is on a Friday. I do this because it gives me a rest day before my long runs and races on week ends and I then have to go on Monday and do my planned training for the week with tired legs. I feel that this is an excellent way to teach my body what it feels like to run on tired legs which is definitely going to happen on Comrades day. I also listen to my body in that if I feel extra tired I will swop my rest day with the day that I feel extra tired or even add an extra rest day.
10. The nice thing with a club like Benoni Northerns is that they have a lot of very experienced Comrades runners and they will do all the Comrades build up and planning for you to be able to have a successful run. If you do all of the clubs training runs and their suggested races, then your running programme for Comrades is sorted out. All you need to do is to get your eating and drinking tested and hopefully perfected in the races you run.
11. It is very hard and demotivating to train without an idea or plan on what needs to be done to complete the Comrades. The hardest part about running the Comrades is the 5 to 6 months of dedicated training. On Comrades day there are all the known’s, it’s a 90 km run, it’s going to be hot, you are going to hurt, you are going to wonder why you are doing this. Well I can tell you that if you have done all the Benoni Northerns training runs, you will have a great chance to complete the Comrades.
12. Comrades training is hard but if it is planned well and you have put in the effort, you will get the required results. All the best with your training, stay positive and most of all you must enjoy it. Let’s go and get that 100% Comrades record for Benoni Northerns. REMEMBER, BENONI NORTHERNS RUNNERS DO NOT BAIL!!!

Dieter Stapel - 11 times Comrades Silver Medalist 

 2012 Membership Fees are:

BANK DETAILS

BNAC
STANDARD BANK
ACCOUNT : 020018827
BRANCH : GREENSTONE
CODE : 016342

2012 Licence Form